Photos from Adobe Stock unless otherwise noted
BASIC CONCEPT: STEADY BEAT
LET'S MARCH!
It always helps children understand better when they are given visuals, along with listening, along with actually moving the body to the music.
SHOW VISUALS
Nice, large, real photos are most effective when the children first explore steady beat through marching. I like to show little ones a picture of a marching band.
PREPARE THE CHILDREN: PRACTICE MARCHING
Next we practice the motions of marching, so I demonstrate to the children and then they practice with me. I like to say, "March, two, three, four...March, two, three, four..." while I show the children how to move to the steady count, lifting the knees and using the arms to move and balance.
ADD A PROP: MINIATURE FLAGS
Miniature flags are often an integral part of the Cultural Area of the Montessori Preschool Classroom, and waving flags lends itself very well to marching! You can give each child at Music Circle a miniature flag to wave while marching along to the marching music you play on your classroom sound system. Here is the link for a great classic: Mitch Miller's "Marching Music for Children" and here is the one from Bizet: George Bizet's "Marche de Toreador".
Photo from Magical Movement Company Archive
In my Musically Montessori eCourse, "First Twelve Weeks" we use the music from the Classical Fun Singalongs cd that happens to be a free download that comes with my eCourse. I have been so fortunate to work out an agreement with the authors of this music (one of my favorite music cd's) and in this lesson, we use the music from Bizet's "Marche de Toreador."
PLAY WITH A STEADY BEAT
I love using rhythm sticks to play along with Steady beat activities and the children do too, of course! If you've read my blog in the past, you know that my favorite rhythm sticks are these from Basic Beat (from Amazon) pictured below:
Recently, we enjoyed this lesson using "Music Babies" as an alternative to rhythm sticks. My groups have been making music with me for some time now, so it was fun to have a different experience with this marching music. If you are just starting out, I highly recommend playing rhythm sticks along with marching music and then at another time, you could offer a fun variation, like "music babies".
I like these simple muslin dolls (from Amazon) for my groups. However, you could even have your children bring in their favorite stuffed animal toy to school one day as a substitute for "music babies" so that you don't have to invest any money with this fun extension for the lesson.
Little children have yet another way to experience and explore steady beat!
Photo by Kiran Sharma
WATCH OUR VIDEO
Kiran from Kiran's Montessori Preschool in Pleasanton, CA. has a lovely little group of children who really enjoy our music class each week. She took the video footage of our wonderful steady beat activities that you will see in my Youtube video below!
Do you need some shelf works to go along with your Music Circle "Steady Beat Lesson?"
INDIVIDUALIZED SHELF WORK,
MONTESSORI-STYLE
I have some fun activities you can create for your group as large group, small group, and individualized work that focuses on the music concept of "Steady Beat."
This Lesson Plan Activity Pack ($4.) is available at my Teachers Pay Teachers Store at this link: TpT Is It A Steady Beat?
This one is a FREE Resource for my Subscribers at my Freebie Collection.
You'll find lots of free resources at my website, including my newly revised eBook, "Musically Montessori, First Lessons" ($12.99 retail)
FREEBIE COLLECTION FOR
MY SUBSCRIBERS
You can subscribe right here on the sidebar of this blog!
SUBSCRIBE TO MY EMAIL LIST
And, for more free resources, articles and videos check out my Facebook Page, where you'll find wonderful freebies and more on my Montessori Magic Fridays!
(and I would LOVE it if you would LIKE my page, too!)
I am so happy to have you visiting my blog today and I hope you have gotten lots of ideas for your group to have fun exploring Steady Beat with Marching!
Advertising Disclosure: Magical Movement Company may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. Thanks for your support!
