Musicplay PreK

January Week 1 ~ Lesson Outline

New Songs: Objectives:
59. Chubby Little Snowman - The students will say a poem using voices that are quiet/loud.
60. I Made a Snowman - The students will echo a melodic phrase.
61. Snowflakes are Falling - The students will show how the melody goes with movement.
62. E - Ellie Elephant - The students will move to the beat in 2/4 and 3/4 meter.
63. The Elephant Goes
I Can Statements:
64. Elephants Have Wrinkles
I can keep a beat when I move to music.
65. Elephant from Carnival of the
I can sing an echo.
Animals
I can show how a melody goes higher and lower.
Review Songs and Poems:
Materials:
46. It’s Music Time
Toy elephant (Melody), scarves
51. I Like Playing in the Snow
tambourine, unpitched instruments
10. Skinamarink
Letter E poster, story
Elmer the Elephant storybook

Purpose: Activity:
opener 46 It’s Music Time - tap beats on beat strips at the end of the song
names Preschool Beat Chant - sing hellos in different ways, pat the beat or play on a
tambourine
vocal warmup Melody the Elephant - sing to Melody, and Melody does what you sing
fingerplay 59 Chubby Little Snowman - say fingerplay with actions, loud/quiet voices, add
instruments to accompany the poem
echo song 60 I Made a Snowman - have students copy actions and sing echoes
moveent 61 Snowflakes are Falling - move with scarves or snowflakes to show melodic direction
instruments 51 I Like Playing in the Snow - add instruments to the song
letter song 62 Letter E Phonics song - show poster, read story
letter song 62 Ellie Elephant - sing song and do movement
fingerplay 63 The Elephant Goes - say with variety of dynamics
action song 64 Elephants Have Wrinkles - sing echoes, do movement
movement 65 Elephant from Carnival of the Animals - move to feel 3/4 meter
goodbye 10 Skinamarink
storybook Elmer the Elephant by David McKee
- read the story, discuss
- create patterns with color words

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 59. Chubby Little Snowman Rote
Concept: quiet and loud voices, poem, actions I can say a poem using quiet and loud voices.
Objectives: Students will say a poem using a quiet voice and loud voice.
Interactive: Skills: say, move, create, play
January

A Chubby little snowman, make a big circle with your arms

Had a carrot for a nose. show a carrot where your nose is
Along came a bunny, make bunny ears (peace sign) with fingers and hop 4 times
And what do you suppose? gesture “why” with palms up
That hungry little bunny, rub your tummy
Looking for his lunch, look out
Ate the snowman’s carrot nose, mime eating
Nibble, nibble, crunch! grab with fists two times with small motions, and one big motion
Week 1

Teaching Suggestions: Say the poem for the children and demonstrate the actions. Invite the children to
say the poem and do the actions with you. Ask the students to tell you which words in the last line should
be the loudest. (crunch!) Ask them if there are other words in the poem that should be said louder.
To keep your students engaged when doing a fingerplay four or five times, explore many ways to perform
it. Say the poem in a quiet voice, then in a loud voice. Say the poem slowly and then say it quickly. Say it in a
high voice and then in a low voice. Not only does this keep students engaged, it’s giving them the opportunity to
experience all of those musical concepts.

Playing and Creating: Create a word highlight accompaniment for the poem using unpitched instruments. Find
the important words in the poem and underline them. Choose instruments to play on those words. For example:

A Chubby little snowman, play on guiro

Had a carrot for a nose. vibraslap or castanets
Along came a bunny, play drum 4x
And what do you suppose? finger cymbals, triangle
That hungry little bunny, play on guiro
Looking for his lunch, play on drum (4x)
Ate the snowman’s carrot nose, vibraslap, cymbal or castanets
Nibble, nibble, crunch! all play quiet, quiet, LOUD

Teach one instrument part at a time. (With some classes you might only be able to teach one part.) For example,
have the students say the poem and add just the guiro part. Ask the students to tell you where you played the
guiro. Give the guiro to a student who can identify where to play it. Say the poem again with the student playing
the guiro and add another part. Pass out a second instrument or instruments. Have the child who had the guiro
teach the part to the child next to him.
You may not have all of the suggested instruments available, or your students may not be ready to play just one
part of the poem. The orchestration that follows uses only rhythm sticks, but suggests different ways to play
them. The whole class can accompany the poem with sticks.

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 A Chubby little snowman, scrape the sticks
Had a carrot for a nose. click sticks
Along came a bunny, drum sticks on the floor 4x
And what do you suppose? click sticks
That hungry little bunny, scrape the sticks
Looking for his lunch, drum sticks on the floor 4x
Ate the snowman’s carrot nose, click sticks
Nibble, nibble, crunch! click sticks quiet, quiet, LOUD

Centers: Manipulatives to make a loud/quiet center will be added to

the printables section. There is also a snowman printable available for
colouring.

Snowman

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 60. I Made a Snowman
I Made a Snowman Rote
Concept: echo, move to the beat
Objectives: Students will sing echoes in an echo song. I can sing echoes in an echo song.
D. Gagne
Interactive: Skills: sing, move

& 44 œ œ . œ œ
January

Œ Œ
œ œ œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
I made a snow - man, (I made a snow - man,) Nice and round. (Nice and round.)

&œ œ Œ œ Œ œ œ Œ œ œ Œ
œ œ œ œ œ
Rocks for eyes, (Rocks for eyes,) That I found. (That I found.)

&œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Œ
˙ œ œ ˙.
Week 1

Snow - man, snow - man, likes to play, on a win - ter day.

1. I made a snowman, form circle with arms

Nice and round. sway circle back and forth
Rocks for eyes, point to eyes
That I found. hands palm up
Snowman, snowman likes form circle with arms and
to play, on a winter’s day. sway back and forth

2. I made a snowman, form circle with arms

2. I made a snowman
Just for me. 4.toI self
point made a snowman
Just for me He has buttons, With a carrot nose
point to chest
He has buttons1-2-3. point 3 times
Along to chest
came a bunny
1-2-3 Snowman, snowman likes formOff
circle with arms and
it goes
Snowman, snowman likes
to play, on to playday.
a winter’s swaySnowman,
back and forth
snowman likes to play
On a winter’s day On a winter’s day
3. I made a snowman, form circle with arms
Big and fat.
3. I made a snowman make circle bigger
Big and fat Gave him a scarf, mime tying scarf
And a black top hat.
Gave him a scarf hand on head
Snowman,
And a black top hat snowman likes form circle with arms
Snowman, snowman likeswinter’s
to play, on a to playday. sway back and forth
On a winter’s day
4. I made a snowman, form circle with arms
With a carrot nose. pull nose off with fist
Along came a bunny, make bunny ears, hop
Off it goes. pull nose off with fist
Snowman, snowman likes form circle with arms
to play, on a winter’s day. sway back and forth

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 Teaching Suggestions: Invite the children to do the movements with you while you sing the song. Sing it again,
and invite the children to sing the echo parts. Finally, teach them the last phrase and tell them to sing it each time
it occurs.

Literacy: Help develop the child’s vocabulary by giving them a snowman visual
(in printables) and having them point out the parts of the snowman as they sing
about them. When they sing, “Rocks for eyes” point to the eyes.

Developing the Child’s Singing Voice:

Echo Songs: Echo songs are a great way to help your PreK students
develop their singing voices. In an echo song, they only have to
remember the words of the “call.” The melody fragments are short and
easy to learn.
Slide Whistle: You can purchase a slide whistle at many music stores.
Kids are intrigued by the sound of the whistle. Play a descending pattern
on the slide whistle and have the children try to make the same sound
with their voices. I like to have them put a hand on their head and make
the hand move the same way their voices moved.
Shape Cards: Make shape cards and have the children “sing” the
shapes.
Demo videos of the Slide Whistle and Shape Cards will be included in
the PreK Part 2 Digital Resources.

Snowman

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 61. Snowflakes are Falling Rote
Snowflakes are Falling
Concept: move to scarves, melodic direction, improvise I can show melodic direction with scarves.
Objectives: Students will show melodic direction with scarves.
Interactive: Skills: sing, move
Craig Cassils

&b c ˙ œ ∑
January

œ œ œ œ œ w
Snow - flakes are fall - ing on the ground.

&b ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ w
∑
Snow - flakes are fall - ing all a - round.

&b ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ w Ó Œ
œ
Week 1

Snow - flakes are fall - ing on my head. I

&b œ ∑
Fine

œ ˙ œ œ œ œ w
think I'll crawl back in - to my bed.

..
D.C. al Fine

&b ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑

Teaching Suggestions: Give the children scarves and have them move to the music with the scarves. I have my
students stand in one place for the sung section of the song, then use locomotor movement to the instrumental
part. The best size scarves for preschoolers are 24” squares, but you can use any size that you have.

Centers: If you have a set of resonator bells, use them to make a melodic direction center. Take the bars out of
their case in random order. The students would then put the bells in order from lowest to highest.

improvise movement

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 62. Letter E Rote
Concept: Letter E
Objectives: Students will sing a letter song. I can sing a letter song.
Interactive: Skills: sing
Letter E
## 4
January

& 4 œ œ œ œ œ œœœ œœœ œ œ œ œ œ œœœ œ œ œ

œœœ œœ œ
Short let-ter E says, "E e e, E e e, E e e," Short let-ter E says, "E e e," Like El-lie E - le-phant.

Objective: The students will identify the letter E and can tell what sound it makes.
Teaching Suggestions: Introduce the letter song by showing the children the poster and telling them the
story. If you can develop the ability to be a story-teller, you’ll find it another way to engage preschoolers.
(Google “learn to be a storyteller.”) Sing the phonics song, tell the story, and teach the action song.
Week 1

Ellie Elephant Story

Ellie Elephant lived in an elephant sanctuary in Kenya. Elephants eat as much as 600 pounds of food each day.
The large elephants would eat the grass, leaves and twigs. Most of the elephants were bigger than Ellie was, and they
would eat up most of the grass and twigs before she could. Ellie was always hungry. Whenever Ellie saw some
grass that had been left by the bigger elephants, she’d eat it up. When Ellie didn’t get enough to eat, she’d wander
near the neighboring farms and eat the farmer’s hay, cabbage, or vegetables.

The farmers were afraid she would eat all of their crops and they wouldn’t have food for their families. They
took Ellie back to the sanctuary and asked the elephant helpers to please give the small elephant her food first so
she’d have enough to eat. After that, the workers at the sanctuary gave the small elephants their food first so they
didn’t have to eat the farmer’s crops. Ellie Elephant was happy to have lots of food to eat.

© 2005 Themes & Variations

Alphabet Posters are available

for your bulletin board from
Themes & Variations.
or
Print the posters from the
PDF at musicplayonline.com

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 62. Ellie Elephant Rote
Concept: move to the beat
Objectives: Students will move to the beat. I can move to the beat.
Interactive: Skills: sing, move,

b
January

&bb c œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Œ Ó œ Ó œ
œ œ œ œ
El - lie El - e - phant eats eve - ry - thing she sees. She

b
& b b œ œ. œ œ œ œ œ Œ œ œ. œ œ. œ œ Œ Ó
œ œ
eats 'til my house is emp - ty but nev - er gets e - nough to please.

b bb
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Œ Ó œ œ œ œ ˙. œ
Week 1

El - lie El - e - phant eats eve - ry - thing she sees. But

b ..
&bb œ œ œ œ œ ˙. œ œ œ œ œ Œ Ó
when my house is emp - ty, stay a - way from me!

Ellie Elephant Eats Actions:

Ellie Elephant join hands and swing back and forth and back to the middle
eats bring hands to mouth as if holding a big sandwich (add gulp sound)
everything she sees. lookout - from right to left, bouncing on each beat
She eats ‘til my house is empty, bring hands to mouth as if eating - left, right, left, right
But never gets enough to please. cross arms and shake head back and forth 4x

Ellie Elephant join hands and swing back and forth and back to the middle
eats bring hands to mouth as if holding (and biting) a big sandwich
everything she sees. lookout - from right to left, bouncing on each beat
But when my house is empty, wag pointer finger 4 x
stay away from me! beg - clasp hands together for 2 beats, then bring hands into chest

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 63. The Elephant Goes Rote
Concept: dynamics I can perform a fingerplay with different dynamics.
Objectives: Students will perform a fingerplay with different dynamics.
Interactive: Skills: sing, move, play, create,
January

The elephant goes like this and that. sway one arm back and forth like a trunk
He’s terribly big. reach up high with your arms
And he’s terribly fat. make a big circle with your arms
He has no fingers, make fists with your hands
He has no toes, point to your toes
But goodness gracious, extend hands palms up - “what’s up?” move
What a nose! point to your nose

Teaching Suggestions: Say the fingerplay for your students with the actions. (or show them the kids
demo video) Then, invite the children to do the actions with you while you say it. Ask the children which
Week 1

parts of the fingerplay might be said quietly, and which parts would be said loudly. Perform it with the
dynamics that they suggest, and ask if changing the dynamics helps to show what the poem is about.

Playing and Creating - Language Improvisation: Invite the children to think of words from the poem
or from their other elephant songs that you could use to chant as an introduction to the poem.
For example: What a big nose! What a big nose!

• They could add body percussion to the words. For example: clap-clap clap pat clap-clap clap pat
• You could transfer the body percussion to unpitched instruments. Play the pattern on hand drums.

If you have adult assistants in the room or if you do this activity with older children, you could try dividing the
class into two groups. Group 1 says the introduction as an ostinato - a pattern that repeats over and over - while
Group 2 says the poem.

Centers: Manipulatives to make a loud/quiet center will be included in the printables section.

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 1. Elephants Have Wrinkles
64. Elephants Have Wrinkles
Unison with Piano
Rote
Concept: beat, echo song, move to the beat
Objectives: Students will perform movements to the beat. I can perform movements to the beat.
Interactive: Skills: sing, move

##
January

& ∑ .. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ
œ. œ . œ œ
œ. œ . œ
El - e-phants have wrin - kles, Wrin-kles, wrin - kles. El - e-phants have wrin - kles,

## .. œ œ œ œ œ œ .. œ œ œ œ œ œ
repeat as needed

& œ. œ œ. œ . . . . œ œ œ œ
˙
Wrin-kles ev-ery-where. On their toes. (on their toes) No one knows, (No one knows,) Why-y - y - y
On their knees. (on their knees)
On their hips. (on their hips)
Week 1

On their ears. (on their ears)

On their trunks. (on their trunks)
On their teeth.
## Π..
& œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ
œ.œ œ. œ.œ œ. œ. œ œ
El - e-phants have wrin-kles, Wrin-kles, wrin-kles. El - e-phants have wrin-kles, Wrin-kles, ev - ery-where.

Elephants have wrinkles, Wrinkles,wrinkles swing “trunk” (arm) back and forth
Elephants have wrinkles,
Wrinkles everywhere shimmy down
On their toes, (on their toes,) point to the body part
No one knows, (no one knows,) shrug - palms up, hands outstretched
Why-y-y-y move hands down as notes move
Elephants have wrinkles, Wrinkles, wrinkles swing “trunk” (arm) back and forth
Elephants have wrinkles,
Wrinkles everywhere shimmy down

Teaching Suggestions: Sing (or play) the song for your students and invite them to do the actions with you as
you sing. (or show them the kids demo video) Then, invite the children to sing all the echoes in the song and do
the actions. The repetitive verses in this song make it easy for the children learn, and they LOVE this song!

(on their teeth ? That's ridiculous!)

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 65. Elephant from Carnival of the Animals Listening
Concept: beat, move to the beat
Objectives: Students will perform movements to the beat. I can perform movements to the beat.
Interactive: Skills: move, listen, create, play
January

Teaching Suggestions: Watch the kids demo video (in the digital resources) and copy the movements that
you see on the video. If you don’t have the digital resources or access to www.musicplayonline.com, the
following movements are used. Invite the students to create their own movements to the music.
Ask the students if the music is slow, medium or fast. Discuss why the composer might have chosen the
tempo.
Locomotor Movement: Non-Locomotor (Seated)
Intro pat clap clap 4x Intro pat clap clap 4x
a. step pat pat 8x a. pat belly - head - head 8x
b. bend reach up 8x b. pat one leg - other, other 8x
c. sway left (3 beats) sway right (3 beats) 4x c. sway left (3 beats) sway right (3 beats) 4x
Week 1

d. hop pat head- pat head 8x d. tap nose - belly - belly 8x

e. step pat belly - pat belly 8x e. pat clap clap 8x
f. step clap clap 8x f. pat belly - head - head 8x

Melody the Elephant

Melody the Elephant helps students sing alone, and helps them to distinguish
between speaking and singing voices. Melody the elephant will do what the children
tell her, if they tell her in a “singing voice.” If they speak, she does nothing. Tell
Melody to “jump up and down” using a speaking voice. Melody won’t move.
Then sing to Melody to “jump up and down” and make your elephant jump. Invite
the children to sing to Melody what to do. This activity helps the students to learn
the difference between singing and speaking voices and gives them a wonderful
opportunity to sing alone. There is research that shows that children who sing
alone may develop in-tune singing more quickly. In my classes I used a small
stuffed toy elephant. (not a puppet)

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 Story Time:
Elmer the Patchwork Elephant, David McKee Publisher: Andersen Press (Sept. 25 2007)
ISBN-13: 978-1842707319

Ask your librarian if she has this book. If not, you can order this storybook from Amazon, or watch a video of
the story on YouTube. The message of the story is that it’s OK to be different. A coloring page of an elephant is
included in the manipulatives folder in the digital resources. Invite the children to color the page that way that
they’d like to be if they were Elmer.

Some preschool children are still learning their colors. Cut out squares (like Elmer’s patchwork squares) out of
different colored construction paper. (or print the manipulative that’s included) Cut 3-4 squares of each color.
Invite the children to choose two colors and make a pattern with them. For example: Red Red Yellow Red
Say and do body percussion with your pattern. For example: Pat - Pat - clap/clap - Pat. Transfer the body
percussion to instruments. Create a little composition using this poem as the A section.
Elmer Elephant, it’s OK. If you’re colored instead of gray.

Play the color patterns as a B section. Decide on the form. ABA or AB. Maybe the students will want to make
another color pattern as a C section. Then your form could be ABACA.

Note: While the storybook is included in January lesson one, it could be used in any of the January lessons.
You can repeat the story. Repetition is great with PreK students. Add the storybook to your musical storybook
center.

Color Elmer the Elephant Red Yellow

Name:______________

Green Blue

Pink Purple

Black White

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