Shoo Fly, Fermatas, and Form!

NOTE: Since making this post, I have discovered the racist history of the song "Shoo Fly." Because of this, I have decided to take this song out of my curriculum. Here is more information if you are interested. I am leaving this post up so that others that check out my post will have this information as well. 

2nd Graders have been learning about musical terms! In first grade, they learned about many different opposites in music (fast and slow, loud and soft, high and low, long and short) and now they are learning the real Italian vocabulary. So far, they have learned about dynamic markings such as forte, piano, crescendo, and decrescendo and now they are learning about fermatas!

The students learned the song, "Shoo Fly," and quickly discovered that there was a fermata in the song! Then they learned some choreography and performed a circle dance mixer together.

They started out working with partners...

And then we tried it in circle formation...

Introduction/Interlude/Coda - students pretend to play guitar, banjo, and harmonica

Section A - Students clap hand with partner on "Shoo" (R, L, R), point to self with thumbs

Section B - Students clap both hands with partner on "Feel"

Fermata - Students draw the fermata in the air

(Music Teachers: I am using the arrangement from the "Share the Music" curriculum.)

To create the circle dance, I had the students form two concentric circles. The inside partners remained in place while the outside partners rotated to the right on each fermata (Oh!).