Up, Down

Here's another one of my favorites for 1st and 2nd grade to sing and play around Halloween. . .that isn't necessarily "Halloween."

Here it is:

Formation: children are seated, scattered.  They are "houses" and the spaces between them are the "streets".

Action:  One student is chosen to be "it".  Now, I don't actually have my Granny's nightgown but I have my old robe that my Granny made for me and my students LOVE to wear it if they are "it."  The "it" person acts out the song and can pretend to scar the "dog" or "cat" that is on the front porch of a house.  The person they end up behind on the end of the song becomes the new "it."  There is absolutely no point to the game, but the kids love it.  

I am preparing rest for 1st grade so we add instruments on the rest.  Specifically  on the rests that have a "boo" we play the vibraslap (really, who doesn't love to play the vibraslap?).  For the other rests we ply finger cymbals, but you can use any instrument of your choice.  With my second graders we are practicing so-mi and are preparing la (Oh, I wish I saw them more often then ever fourth day!), so this works nicely for this as we perform body signs (I use touching head for so, touching shoulders for mi and hands slightly above the head for la.  This really helps with the physical preparation for la.  Remember, you can use what ever body signs work for you, as long as you're consistent.)

I hope you all are having a good week!  Tomorrow is a double header concert for me (4th grade's is "Of Thee I Sing" (all patriotic) and 5th grade's is "Songs of Hope and Inspiration"), wish me luck, lol! :)