Upper elementary can be a tough level to teach in the music room. They are sometimes "too cool for school" and self-conscious of their singing voices. Academically they are advanced, yet musically they may need the basics.
A little background about my situation: I’ve had most of the fifth graders I teach since kindergarten. However, I have been in other situations where they needed a lot of help with the musical basics, where behavior was an issue, and where students didn't want to sing. Here are my suggestions for teaching and planning for upper elementary:
Choose songs and games wisely
When choosing song literature for fourth, fifth and sixth grade, I am very careful. I make sure to choose songs and games that I know kids will love, yet can be used to teach concepts on which they are working.
Pull concepts from songs
It's not uncommon to hear people talking about which songs work well for certain concepts, like which folk songs work well for teaching half note, or which work well for teaching low sol.
I do often start with the concept and then brainstorm songs when I'm planning for lower elementary, but for upper elementary, I sometimes do the opposite. First, I come up with a list of songs that I think would work well for the upper elementary music classroom, then, I decide which concepts would work well for that song.
Give students a challenge
Students in fourth, fifth, or sixth grade may need some music foundational basics, but academically, they are ready for a challenge!
Here are a couple ways I've given students some challenges to keep them on their toes, while teaching them the basics:
- Partwork rhythm: Take the rhythm to two songs and stack them on top of each other, in two different colors. Then have half of the class read the rhythm to one song while the other half of the class read the rhythm to the other!
- Beat in feet, rhythm in hands: This is also a great activity for building partwork skills. Have students walk around the room, keeping the beat, then put the rhythm in their hands as they sing a specific song. It's pretty tricky and will give them a challenge!
Make it relevant
As much as we have a curriculum to teach and have things in mind that we want to do with students, sometimes we have to sit back and listen to them.
What do they want to do? Now, in some cases, you'd have students tell you they want to listen to inappropriate rap songs, and of course you can't do that.
But if you can pull something from what they tell you, or what you hear as you listen to them talk about music, then they will be that much more engaged.
"Best Day of My Life" by the American Authors is a good example: kids at my school LOVE the song, and it's completely appropriate. I've tried an Orff arrangement for the song, I've had kids perform the song on a program, and I've used it to practice re (since the melody is d s m s m s m r d/ s m s m s m r d).
In all three instances, kids were very engaged. For the longest time in my teaching, I didn't touch pop music at all, but I have realized that on top of students being more engaged, they were able to transfer their knowledge from folk songs to pop songs, which we definitely want them to be able to do!
Another way to make it relevant for students is to figure out which games they are playing on the playground and bring those into your music classroom.
One night before a choir concert, I saw some of my upper elementary students playing a game called Silent Ball, so I adapted the game for one of their known songs so they could play Silent Ball in music class.
By listening to your students, challenging them, and choosing songs and games carefully, you will give your students ownership of what they do in music class, which will help their musical understanding and foster a joyful environment!
