Pets & Other Animals Level: Key Stage 1 - Skills & games

Singing in Tune

Singing in tune is a skill that develops at different rates in different children. Here's my singing helper, Mrs Crocosaurus who is half crocodile and half dinosaur! When the children are all singing in a group, Mrs Crocosaurus provides a non-accusatory way of gently pointing out that not everyone is singing in tune. It goes without saying, I hope, that the days of teachers telling children they are 'non-singers' are well and truly over. Everyone who can speak can sing but it takes some children longer than others to find their singing voice and to control the pitch to match what they hear.

Incidentally, if you find it difficult to stay in tune, the simple explanation is probably that you don't sing very often! Singing these easy songs will help - honestly! Practise in the car on the way to work (but maybe not on the bus!) and after a few weeks you'll feel much more confident. A lovely way of getting over self-consciousness is to let the children know that you're all in this together and everyone is going to work on singing better in tune - they will love you even more for being honest!

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons (PSED link)

You will need to buy the book before starting these activities. Everyone watch the video first, which makes a good point about not crying over lost things and provides a starting point for rhythm-based activities. The 'rap' parts of the video demonstrate to you how to read those parts aloud.

Before you read the story again (once isn't enough!), every child needs to paint two paper plates to look like big buttons! Have four children to show one of their buttons and, as the buttons pop off and roll away, one child at a time puts their button down until there are no buttons left..

Make a Rap (rhythm, pulse)

The children could, individually, take turns at being a rap star, making the chant into a rap by saying these words rhythmically, in time with the backing track below. It's quite fast!

• My buttons, my buttons, my four groovy buttons
• My buttons, my buttons, my three groovy buttons
• My buttons, my buttons, my two groovy buttons
• My buttons, my buttons, my one groovy button
• No buttons, not buttons ... NO groovy buttons

If you record these you will have an individual record of achievement for each child and you can select one of them for use in the next activity.

Paper Plate Percussion (rhythm, pulse)

Using one of the raps you recorded, everyone could practise patting their paper plate buttons together in time with the pulse. Pat the plates on the strong beats, like this:

My BUTTONS, my BUTTONS, my FOUR groovy BUTTONS

Beat means the same as pulse - the word, 'beat' is used more often in relation to popular music whereas 'pulse' is usually used for classical music.

You can buy a Pete the Cat puppet too!