Students in Mrs. Julie Dail’s Washington Center music classes have been learning how to use their voices in 4 different ways and/or to recognize these sounds in the voices of others around them.
Students began their learning by singing and moving to a song, “Whisper, Talk, and Shout, and Sing.” As the Quavermusic song played, the teacher modeled sign language for each of the 4 voices and encouraged students to do the same. Later, students participated in an activity that helped them match teacher-made speech symbols of the sounds to the correct voice recorded on the voice output device.
A favorite part of the lesson was when students discovered a mechanical Birthday Bear in the Surprise Bag. After activating the button, the bear sang and moved to the “Happy Birthday to You” song. Students were then encouraged to answer the question, “what kind of voice did the bear use to sing the song?” Toward the end of the lesson, and to show that students were learning, Mrs. Dail read the book, Goldi Rocks and the Three Bears, by Corey Rosen Schwartz and Beth Coulton.
Students helped her select appropriate voices that could be used during the story to make it more interesting and enjoyable. Students especially liked the part of the story where Goldi Rocks woke up from her nap to find 3 bears looking at her. She used a loud shouting voice because she was so afraid. A few of the students enjoyed using their shouting voices on that part of the story too!
