Opening and Closing Songs for Lower Elementary General Music
One of the most effective musicianship and classroom management strategies I know of is to bring students into the classroom musically. When we begin the warm up routine with an active musical entrance procedure, students are immediately immersed in the tone of the lesson.
Active musicing as an entrance procedure can take many different forms. Students might enter the room listening to music, they might enter speaking, they could enter with body percussion, they might copy the teacher’s movements, or they might sing. Today we’ll focus in on songs for entering the classroom, specifically geared toward lower elementary students in Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades.
Similarly, we have an opportunity to maximize music and student engagement in the way we bring class to a close. Reading the room for a calming or energizing musical ending is part of our practice of pairing responsiveness and flexibility with musical purpose and pedagogy.
Today we’ll look at the warm up routine as a whole, active musicing options for entering the room, and specific songs and processes to facilitate opening and closing music time.
Let’s jump in.
Musical Warm Up Routine:
Many educators use a combination of several items inside the warm up space. The order, emphasis, and musical complexity might change depending on the musical goals for the lesson and student age. However, the core pillars often look something like this:
Enter the classroom: Students enter musicing
Movement: Stretching or getting the wiggles out
Vocal greetings & vocal conversations: Melodic focus
Rhythmic conversations: Rhythmic focus
Transition out: Move into the core activities or other communal musical experience
Especially with younger grades, there may be an additional Welcome Song in the mix as well.
Entering Musically
An active musical entrance could take the form of active listening, speaking, body percussion, movement, or singing.
Here are a few examples of what these musical processes look like in a musical entrance.
Active Listening
The teacher might greet students in the hallway and give two questions for them to consider about the piece they’ll hear as they enter. Questions might be convergent or divergent. After students are in the room, they can discuss what they noticed about the piece.
>>>Blog post: Active Listening in Elementary General Music
>>> Blog post: Creative Listening in Elementary General Music
Speaking
The teacher might greet students in the hallway and give an ostinato option or two for students to speak as they enter the room. As students enter, they speak their chosen ostinato pattern while the teacher sings or plays a recording.
>>> Podcast Episode #32: Layered Ostinati
>>> YouTube video: Steps to Singing Harmony
Body Percussion
The teacher might greet students in the hallway and ask them to come up with a four or eight-beat body percussion steady beat pattern. As students enter the room to recorded music or a known song, they play their beat pattern. Once they’re inside in their spots, they might take turns teaching their pattern to a partner or the rest of the class.
>>> Blog Post: First Day of Music Lesson Plans
Movement
Students might enter to a recording of Seven Jumps, Highway Number One, or another movement piece.
>>> Podcase Episode #5: Using Movement to Teach Musical Concepts
Singing
Singing is my favorite way to bring students into the classroom! Let’s look at some options for choosing an opening song.
Songs to Start the Music Lesson
Virtually any song works for this!
Choose a song students love and sing it as you enter the room.
If you’re looking for ideas, here are a few to consider. Each of these songs emphasizes movement, and the imagery connects to walking in a line.
All ‘Round the Brickyard
This is an American play party.
Students sing as they enter the classroom, and suggest words to change in the song.
Musical uses in the warm up:
Vocal Conversations:
Kinder / 1st: Echo animal sounds (cockadoodledooooooooooooo)
Transition out:
1st / 2nd: Isolate opening phrase, “all round the brickyard” s-s-s-l-s
3rd: Change the motion to “paint it,” and paint the last phase that uses m-d-l,-s,-d-d-d-d. Notice low la and low sol.
Come on In
I wrote this song for The Planning Binder curriculum this year.
If you use this, you may want to bring students into the classroom with the song and do some partwork, then sing another song to set major tonality for the vocal greetings. Again, this is dependent upon the musical goals for the students and the lesson.
Musical Uses in the Warm Up:
Movement:
The teacher leads a movement (jumping, twisting, heel & toe, etc.) as they sing the call. Students copy the motion when they echo sing.
Partwork:
Sing as an echo song with half the class singing the call and half the class singing the echo.
Students “talk to themselves,” singing both the call and the echo. When students are ready, sing the song in four-beat round.
Engine Engine
This rhyme is already a staple in many lower elementary classrooms, and is likely one students can speak along right away. It also lends itself nicely to imagery of keeping everyone in a line and following the leader.
Musical Uses in the Warm Up:
Vocal Exploration:
Echo train whistles
Ask students to be the conductor and show their train whistle
Vocal Greetings:
The teacher sings a question to students, and students sing their answer back.
Teacher sings: “Would you like anything from the dining cart?”
Student sings: “Yes please, I’d like a grilled cheese sandwich”
Student sings: “Yes please I’d like ice cream and gummy bears and a watermelon popsicle”
Gamle Sine
This song is sourced from Nordic Sounds. I cannot recommend this website highly enough! It was put together by a thoughtful Orff team in the Nordic countries. The editing team for the project was made up of Elfa Lilja Gísladóttir, Soili Perkiö, Kristín Valsdóttir, Nanna Hlíf Ingvadóttir and Elisa Seppänen.
Musical Uses in the Warm Up
Movement:
Students take turns leading the steady beat dance motions
Go Round the Mountain
McIntosh (1957) collected this play party from Leata Ross in Illinois.
The original dance repeats the melody with several verses. Motions to the verses include movements like swinging, moving “through the windows,” and switching partners.
In a classroom context, students can suggest other motions to do instead of going round the mountain, such as “jump up and down,” “tap your toe,” etc.
Musical Uses in the Warm Up
Partwork:
The song references going around the mountain, so this is a great time to practice singing in a round. After students walk into the classroom in a line, they can continue walking in a line around the circle. The teacher sings the second part of the round while walking the opposite direction in the circle.
Rhythm Conversations:
Students sing the first and third measure (“go ‘round the mountain”) and create body percussion rhythm improvisations during measures two and four.
Hey Betty Martin
According to the sources for the song, this tune was popular during the war of 1812. The words continued to evolve as the years went on and the song was eventually turned into a play party. Reportedly, it was also a favorite of Abraham Lincoln - young students certainly have this in common with the former president.
Musical Uses in the Warm Up
Movement:
How else could Betty Martin move?
Consider non-locomotor and locomotor options, depending on what students need at the time.
Vocal Greetings:
The teacher sings a question to students on an improvised melody, and students sing their improvised answer back.
Teacher sings: “Betty Martin, where are you walking to?”
Student sings: “I’m walking to Disneyland.”
Student sings: “I’m walking to my nanna’s house”
Transition Out:
Sing “Hey Betty Martin, walking to your spots”
One Two Three (Walk Around and Follow Me)
This is another song new in The Planning Binder this year, and there are many possibilities for an opening routine!
Students suggest movement words to replace “walk” such as “hop around,” “slide around,” “twist around,” etc.
At the end of the song, the teacher claps a pattern and students echo
Musical Uses in the Warm Up
Rhythm:
At the end of the song, students echo the teacher’s pattern on body percussion instead of clapping
Eventually, students turn to a partner and have their own rhythm conversations
Vocal Greetings:
The teacher
Transition out:
At the end of the song, the teacher claps the opening four beats of the next song. Students aurally identify the rhythm from a list of known songs on the board.
Closing Songs: Reading the room
Part of flexible teaching is sensing when the class would benefit from a calming song, or an energizing song.
There are times a class ends and we need to get the wiggles out! More often than not, students are asked to sit still and quiet when they need a chance to move. We often see this need in the form of things like fidgeting, talking, or distracted behavior. In these cases, an energizing closing song is likely the most appropriate.
Sometimes, however, we want to use a calming song. Perhaps students have engaged in many high-energy musical tasks and we want to end the class on a relaxed note. For some students, this may be one of the few calm moments they have in their day.
In a school setting, students need space to be energized, and space to be calm. We do ourselves and our students a service when we can adapt lesson plans to the energy we read in the classroom.
Let’s look at a few examples of energizing and calming songs. Similar to the entrance song options, virtually any well-loved song works for this! Choose
Energizing Closing Songs:
An energizing closing song will be a selection students love, and one that invites students to use large muscle groups through jumping, stamping, patting, twisting, etc.
Counting-Out Rhymes
Consider using a rhyme or song like All Around the Buttercup, Bee Bee Bumblebee, Zapatitos Blancos, or another of your favorites. The person who is “out” chooses two or three other friends to line up. As always with counting out rhymes, the class keeps a steady beat through movement even if they are not the one pointing around the circle.
Note: This is a nice time to establish criteria for what it looks like to be ready to line up. If your expectation is that students are ready when they are seated in their spots with a silent thumbs up, the student choosing friends will need to pick students who show they are ready.
Everything is Awesome
This song from The LEGO Movie is one of my personal favorites.
Transition to Lining Up:
Play the song and keep beat motions a variety of ways (jumping, stamping, patting, etc.)
Eventually students choose to keep a steady beat patting their shoes, knees, shoulder, elbow, or head. The teacher calls on beat body parts to line up.
“If you’re keeping your beat on your knees, please walk to line up.”
Johnny Works with One Hammer
In this action song, Johnny works with one hammer, two hammers, three hammers, four hammers, and eventually five hammers.
With each new repetition of the song, add a different hammer:
One hammer - one fist on the ground
Two hammers - two fists on the ground
Three hammers - two fists and one foot
Four hammers - two fists and two feet
Five hammers - two fists, two feet, and nod head
Transition to Lining Up
After singing the song one time through, pause between each verse and call on the appropriate number of students to line up.
Johnny works with one hammer, one hammer, one hammer. Johnny works with one hammer, then he works with two.
Call on two people to go sit in line. In their line at the door, students sit and continue to sing and and do the motions to the song
Johnny works with four hammers, four hammers, four hammers. Johnny works with four hammers, then he works with five
Call on five people to line up
Depending on the size of your class, this will take about two times through the song to get everyone lined up.
Just from the Kitchen
This African-American ring game is sourced from many places, but is often associated with Bessie Jones.
Students stand in a circle. The leader sings the call, and changes what comes from the kitchen (a handful of chicken, a handful of cotton candy, etc.). Call students to “fly way over yonder” and switch places in the circle.
Transition to lining up
Sing student names two at a time to line up: “Isabella and Emmett, shoo li loo, fly way over yonder, shoo li loo”
Alternatively, call students by groupings: “Everybody wearing yellow, shoo li loo,” “Everybody with two feet on their spot, shoo li loo,” “Everybody wearing tennis shoes, shoo li loo”
Eventually call the rest of the class to line up: “Everybody in 1st grade, shoo li loo, fly way over yonder, shoo li loo”
Calming Closing Songs:
Sometimes the energy has been high all class long, and we sense that students would benefit from a calming song instead of an energizing song.
Consider turning the lights down for the final few moments to end the class on a calming, breathable note.
Colita de Rana
Many students may already know this popular Hispanic rhyme! It’s spoken when a child has injured some part of their body.
Transition to lining up:
Speak the rhyme. Students gently rub their elbow, knee, head, ear, or shoulder.
The teacher calls on students to line up by body part
If you’re touching your elbow, please walk to line up.
Over in the Meadow
Songtales at the end of class are often associated with the Feierabend approach and many teachers enjoy using them to end the class in a calm way.
Katherine Floyd Dana wrote under the pen name, Olive A. Wadsworth. She wrote the text of this rhyme in 1870.
School libraries often carry a picture book of the song, or you can consider using a version from Epic Books.
Transition to lining up:
On the last verse of the story, students stand from their spots in the circle and follow the teacher around in a line (“all around the meadow”) as the teacher continues singing.
Lead the class to the door.
Sulla Rulla
This is a lullaby from Norway, and is also sourced from Nordic Sounds.
Transition to Lining Up:
Sometimes simple is best!
Students sing the song while swaying back and forth.
The teacher walks around and taps students on the shoulder to line up.
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
This is another familiar song for many students, and they’ll often have motions they do at home to accompany the song.
Transition to Lining Up:
After singing the song one time through, the teacher sings student names to the melody of the first eight beats
Isabella, Emmett, Aiden, Jacqulyn, Tucker, Asher, please line up
Sing the full song again with students doing the motions. Continue singing names until everyone is in line
Today we’ve looked at the warm up routine as a whole, and several musical options for entering the room musically. We’ve discussed specific songs and processes to facilitate the transition into the room. We’ve also considered the need for a flexible closing routine that takes student energy into account.
When we utilize musical transitions, we not only maximize instructional time, but we increase student engagement. We provide many opportunities for creative, communal, and intentional musical interactions that set the scene learning.
