Thursday, February 11, 2016

Valentine Fun

I wanted a quick, fun activity to help celebrate Valentine's Day with my second grade classes today. I recalled taking a screenshot of an idea someone shared in a Facebook group. It was a take-off on "Bow, Wow, Wow." They had changed the lyrics for Valentine's. I found the picture I had taken and got busy getting the activity ready.

Suggested lyrics:
  • 1, 2, 3.
  • Who will it be?
  • Who will be my Valentine?
  • 1, 2, 3.
I had loved the idea of the movement activity, in which students stand in a circle, perform movements with one partner, and end by facing a new partner. I decided to tweak the lyrics a little to make the final lyrics different from the first line.

Tweaked version:
  • 1, 2, 3
  • Who will it be?
  • Who will be my Valentine?
  • Let me see!
Next, I created a PowerPoint presentation that included music notation (created in Sibelius). I included a slide for students to identify "mi-re-do" at the end. Also, I made up some silly lyrics to help demonstrate the movements we would be performing.

Movement lyrics:
  1. Pat, pat, pat.
  2. Shrug shoulders now.
  3. Join your hands and circle round 
  4. Wait, wait, turn!
  1. Pat hands with partner 3 times.
  2. Hands out, as if to ask a question, and slightly pulse the 3 beats.
  3. They actually just trade places, instead of circling all the way around.
  4. Cover eyes on "Let me" and then turn quickly in place & uncover eyes to discover who the new partner will be.
Students stand in a large circle and face a partner. After they join hands and switch places, they will turn at the end to face a new partner. Song/movements repeat until students return to their original partners.

You can grab a copy of the PowerPoint presentation at the link below:

Here is a video clip of second graders having fun with this activity. (We literally spent 15-20 minutes on this, so it really was quick!) The class was an inclusion class, and the children with special needs were able to participate with success. (I used a filter to protect the privacy of students.) 

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