Circle Time Music

1. Circle Time Music John Oates AST Primary Music Westbrook Old Hall Primary johnoates66@yahoo.co.uk

2. Resources • Quality Circle Time – Jenny Mosley • Music & Circle Time – Margaret Collins & Claire Wilkinson • Tam Tam Tambalay – Helen MacGregor • The Little Book of Music for the Classroom – Nina Jackson • Sing Up – www.singup.org • Westbrook Old Hall Primary VLE

3. Benefits of Circle Time • Develops the notion of equal responsibility. • Sense of belonging to a group they can trust. • Develops a willingness to share thoughts and feelings. • Promotes self-esteem and positive behaviour. • Enables children to help each other. • Encourages self-discipline through identification of behaviour or work problems.

4. Circle Time Structure • Introductory phase – a fun warm up to help the children relax, release tension and feel the joy of being together. Vital for creating the right supportive climate. • Middle phase – an open forum related to the needs of the class. • Closing phase – winding down, activities to lighten the mood and return to warm positive experiences.

5. Key Stage 1 Music Teachers should involve children in: • Listening to music and sound • Responding to a range of musical and non musical starting points • Performing • Composing • Appraising • Developing skills and understanding through a range of musical activities • Working on their own, in groups of different sizes and as a class

6. Music for the Mind Listening to music: • Helps the learners get into the right mental state for learning. • Helps the teacher get into the right mental state for teaching. • Acts as an anchor – it is a direct link to feelings and emotions. • Baroque music has been shown to be effective in accelerated learning. • It can bring a group of learners back down if they have come into the lesson over excited. • It can lift a group of learners. • It helps with motivation, as a way of celebrating good work or behaviour. • It expands horizons – diversity of recorded sound. • It can tap into the likes and values of the learners. • It improves memory. • Music we like causes us to release dopamine – the ultimate feel-good learning neurochemical.

7. How might this music help our mood or activity? • Wake me up before you go go • Schindler’s List • Moon River • Proud • Beethoven, Egmont Overture • Gladiator, Now we are free

8. Sound and Percussion ActivitiesConcentration, Listening, Fun • Clapping around the circle – each child makes a clap in turn. (Any child may make two quick claps to change the direction of the clapping.) • One clap means sit, two claps means walk on the spot, three claps means walk in one direction around the inside of the circle. Use different notes on a xylophone to control the actions. • Teacher sets pulse with clap and then adds a simple chanted phrase (‘I like orange and tea!) – the children must copy. • Guess the sound – the children close their eyes whilst the teacher uses an object to make a sound (keys, coins) • Pass the keys – a child stands with eyes closed in the centre, keys are passed around the circle quietly – the child in the middle must identify where the keys are. • Musical daydream – the children close their eyes and listen to a piece of music – the children must imagine a scene that changes as suggested by the music. • Musical feelings – The children listen to different pieces of music with their eyes closed and are asked to imagine what feeling the music suggests. • Noises – teacher has noises hidden in a box, each noise is a different instruction – rattle: stand on head, Scrunchy paper: kneel on all fours, Hooter: sit, fold arms • Music and movement – children stand in circle, fun music played, one child performs simple movement in the centre keeping to the beat of the music. All copy before new child goes to centre. • 1 2 3 – 1 = clap, 2 = click, 3 = stamp • Metre – with partner – hands touch on beat 1, clap on other beats. (Metre of 3 = hands, clap, clap)