Reply To: Fifth Grade Songs in General Music

[nafmeadmin]

How long have you taught these students? If you’ve only been their music teacher for a year or two, they’re not going to be comfortable singing with you in 5th grade. Even my current 5th graders, who I’ve had since they were in 2nd grade, don’t sing very well for me. I honestly don’t do a lot of singing in 5th grade music in the spring semester because they don’t like it, and you get some boys with changing voices and it’s just not fun for them or me.

Once you catch them singing in kindergarten and keep them singing all the way up, they’ll know you and your expectations and feel safe with you, and you will have more success with singing in the upper grades.

Instead of singing, I focus on recorder and on mallet instrument skills. We also spend a lot of time learning about/reviewing the instruments of the orchestra, and listening to and learning about the pieces that our local symphony performs for us on a free children’s concert at the beginning of May.

I know it’s not our job to make it fun all the time or entertain them, but at a certain point, why fight it? That’s my philosophy, anyway.