Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks

This week I wanted to do Mussorgsky's Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks. I really enjoyed doing Peggy Bennett's version, from her new book Playing with the Classics, when we did it at the MEI conference in Vancouver. I decided to do it with my kindergarten classes and first grade. I basically followed her suggested script in the book: discussing chicks, finding out what they know and don't know. The first graders had quite a bit of information about chicks and were happy to share it! They had some chicks in their classroom when they were in kindergarten last year and our discussion could have lasted hours. This is often one of the hardest things to do in a class when you are on a time schedule; cutting students stories short. You have to find the right words so that feelings aren't hurt and they understand that you really do want to hear what they have to say but it will have to wait for another time. If I ask them to "hold on to that thought" they are okay and will wait until later. It is important though to make sure you let them tell you at some point, either at the end of class or the next time you do the activity. Students need to know you care about what they have to say. Consider this principle from the SongWorks approach:

• Students have the right to be treated with respect and dignity for their ideas, skills and stages of development.

Sorry- I went a bit off subject- important, but a sidebar.

Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks: This went very well. The students loved it. They were wonderful chicks in eggs. We even merged the ideas together. The first part of the music we were chicks in the eggs, then came the stretching and then we were chicks outside of the eggs walking and scratching about. It was a lot of fun and I think one of the first grade classes will perform this for our Young Author's Day at my school. Another side bar here- Young Author's Day is like a literary field day of sorts. The activities are all centered around reading, books and stories of all kinds. In the last two years we have combined it with our Artfest and have students' art work on display throughout the building. We also have a concession area after school and parents are invited to come in the evening for performances and to tour the "art museum".

Initially, I used my SmartBoard Notebook to display pictures of chicks, the composer and the title of the piece. This week, when we return to the piece again, we will do a Thinking Map when we talk about chicks and the music. I'll post more about Thinking Maps next post for those who are not familiar with them.