Poi in Elementary Music

I've been teaching a unit on Maori music in my 2nd grade general music class for years, and poi was something I started briefly mentioning a few years ago but didn't spend a lot of time on. This past year I put a lot more focus on it because my students were moving quickly through the curriculum, and I don't think I will ever go back! Here are some resources and lesson ideas for incorporating poi in your elementary music curriculum.

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First, I think it's important to contextualize poi for your students, especially if you are, like me, not Maori. Poi is a traditional dance from Maori culture that has since been taken around the world and adapted to different tools. This video gives an overview of the history and origins of poi, and this video shows Maori people explaining the significance of poi in their own words (this one would be good to show students). Some students may be familiar with things like fire poi or glow poi, which are different from traditional Maori poi in the tools and the movements they use- those can be a good connection point but it's also good to show what Maori poi specifically is like both in the past and today. I show a series of videos (over the course of the unit) that show traditional poi and how poi continues to be a significant part of Maori and New Zealand culture today, in this order:

In terms of actual poi for students to use, there are a lot of options. For a long time if I did have students try it out I just used the movement scarves I already had to let students practice the moves without needing to prepare any new equipment, and that worked fine for a quick activity or two, so you can always start there (making sure students are seeing what actual poi are like and explaining that we're just using the scarves to practice the moves). I know many people have also used knee-high socks with a tennis ball, or anything soft balled up really, in the foot. If you have a lot of socks you can get somewhere for free or cheap then this could be a good step up so kids can actually experience a little more closely the feeling of swinging something with a ball on the end that they can use to tap rhythms etc. I found that when I actually went to look at buying a bunch of socks in bulk to make a "cheap version" to use as poi, they were in fact not that cheap (to get a whole class set)! So I went the route that many who are actually learning poi use and made them out of rope.

I wanted to make my poi in the colors of my color teams (if you know me you are not surprised) so I got all 6 colors of this rope. It was cheap and it worked really well, and so far has held up great, so I recommend it! Making a knot in the rope to create your own poi seems intimidating at first (or at least it was to me) but after watching lots of videos I got the hang of it and then I was able to bang out 60 poi pretty quickly while I mindlessly watched a movie. Here's a demonstration of how I made mine, but you can also look it up online like I did and find plenty of tutorials:

In terms of activities, there are lots of great resources out there to choose from depending on your curricular goals/ the concepts you want to teach. Poi are a great way to teach and practice steady beat, quarter and half notes, whole notes, duple meter (you can pair this with tititorea, like I did, which is traditionally in triple meter- see this post), or even high and low by having students move their poi high and low to match a melody. 

I incorporated poi with the Maori lullaby "Hine E Hine" because I wanted students to learn this song, which is one of the more famous Maori songs in New Zealand, and also to use it to have students begin to experience whole notes. Although this is not traditionally a poi song specifically, after we learned the song it was a great way to do some slow basic poi moves, criss-crossing across the body, spinning above their heads, and on each side, to practice the moves while also getting the feeling of the long notes. This was a great way to introduce notes longer than half notes and get students to physically demonstrate and experience them. 

For actually learning some basic poi moves and focusing more on the poi, the traditional Maori poi song "E Rere Taku Poi" is perfect. This video has children of different ages demonstrating the moves with Maori singers demonstrating the song- I just had students follow along with the video to learn the moves and after a few tries most of them were able to do it! 

Another great way to practice some basic moves in a fun way that is a little more challenging is with this "Spin Your Poi" song. I would not do with in the beginning, but I used this at the end of the unit to challenge the students who were getting it more quickly and do something more high energy with them:

Those are all the Maori poi lesson activities and resources I used. I hope this is helpful for you as you consider incorporating poi into your elementary music classroom- they are so much fun for the middle grades and a wonderful tool for experiencing rhythm, beat, and meter concepts especially, and of course a great addition to a unit on Maori or Polynesian music and culture. If you want to see all of the other lesson activities and resources I use to teach Maori music, you'll find those in this blog post, where you'll also find links to all of the other cultures I teach as units in my elementary general music curriculum. 

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Summer Reading for Music Teachers 2024

I know some teachers prefer to turn their teacher brains entirely off during summer break- and that's totally fine- but if you enjoy having the time and mental energy to reflect on teaching and are looking for books that will get you re-energized and invigorated for the new year, and give you some big ideas to chew on, I highly recommend these!

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As much as I enjoy drinking my coffee slowly, going to the lake with family, and taking extra naps during the summer, I also love reading and reflecting on big picture ideas that get me excited and reinvigorated to teach. I know I'm a little late sharing this list but after reading several fantastic books at the beginning of this summer I had to share!

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt

I nodded my way through this entire book, and it helped me think concretely about thoughts I have been having but haven't been able to fully articulate while also giving concrete solutions and action steps I am eager in implement both as a parent and as a teacher! 

Culturally Responsive Teaching in Music Education (2nd edition) by Constance L. McKoy and Vicki R. Lind

This was one of those books that I honestly don't know how it took me this long to read. The many examples directly from music teachers, and all of the suggestions and ideas that directly apply to music teaching specifically, are so wonderful. 

Unlocking Learning Intentions: Shifting from Product to Process Across Disciplines by Shirley Clarke

OK so this one I actually read last fall when I was stressing about the new mandate in our district to post written learning targets and success criteria for every lesson, but it's worth mentioning because I know many districts have similar mandates and are similarly giving inadequate or misguided guidance on how to do it, especially for us music teachers. Guess what?!? When it says it gives practical suggestions for each subject area, it actually includes music! Shocking, I know, and incredibly helpful. (If you want to read more about how I have implemented these ideas in my classroom you'll want to catch up on this previous post.)

I hope you'll take the time to read these if you haven't already- I HIGHLY recommend them all! And if you haven't seen my previous music teacher reading suggestions, you should definitely check out my previous recommendations as well below:

 

What have been your favorite books related to music teaching? I need more book recommendations for the rest of the summer, so let me know (and share with everyone else) in the comments below!

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3 Ways to Teach Duple vs Triple Meter

In the last few years I've developed some series of lessons I love to use with my 2nd and 3rd graders to teach duple vs triple meter. These lesson activities help students identify, perform in, and respond to music in each meter and compare the two meters together. Not only are they super fun but they have been very effective for my students, who now have no trouble identifying the meter of a new song and are able to work in triple meter so much more naturally!

1. Frog Songs

I went down a bit of a rabbit hole of frog songs from around the world last year after discovering some wonderful songs about frogs in different languages, but my favorites are the Puerto Rican song "El Coquí" and the Japanese song "Kaeru". For each of these songs, I like to have them sing the song, move with the downbeats, and add instrumental accompaniments to reinforce the meter. Here are the detailed lesson plans I use with each song:

 

2. Mary Poppins

This may sound a little random or old-school but my 2nd graders LOVE learning "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and these days most of them have not heard of it until I introduce it to them in class! They love learning how to say the long word and they're so proud of themselves once they get it. I teach them to do a basic vine step with the song and they also learn a simple clapping pattern to do with a partner while they sing. Then I teach them "Let's Go Fly a Kite" and I teach them a basic waltz step and triple meter clapping pattern to do with that song. It's fun to show them the short clips from the film for each song when I'm first introducing the songs and having them identify the number of beats in a group.

The great thing about the songs from Mary Poppins is that there are an unusual number of songs in triple meter, so after we spend some quality time with those I have them practice identifying the meter of other songs from the soundtrack: "Feed the Birds", "Chim Chim Cher-ee", and "I Love to Laugh" are all in triple meter and songs the kids love, and "Step in Time" and "Spoonful of Sugar" are great ones to use for duple.

3. Move and Freeze

My favorite way to have students experience, respond to, and identify meter is through movement. This can be used as an assessment as well if you watch closely to see who is able to move with the meter independently (without following other students)! The idea is to pick a movement word (run, spin, hop, march, etc) and sing the word in either duple or triple meter, preferably with an instrumental accompaniment that emphasizes the meter, and tell students to move to match the word you sing and freeze when you sing "stop" (which obviously happens at random times in the song). Here's an example:

I know comparing duple and triple meter is a common skill we ask our students to demonstrate, so I hope these ideas give you some fresh inspiration to use with your students! My students really enjoy these lessons and their learning has improved significantly since I started using these activities to teach them! To see all of my tips and ideas for teaching meter in general, and for lesson ideas to teach specific meters, here is my post on teaching meter.

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Illustrated Learning Targets for Kindergarten & Early Childhood

I know I'm not the only elementary school teacher who is now required to post written learning targets for every lesson, including for early childhood and Kindergarten students who can hardly read. This year I came up with a strategy to make my learning target visual something that my youngest students would actually benefit from, using pictures to illustrate the words, and it was a great success! Not only did it check the box for my district policies but it actually did help my students and was surprisingly easy for me to manage as a teacher as well.

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I've said this before but first a word about language. When my district administration announced the requirement for all teachers to post "learning targets" I started doing a lot of research on where this initiative was coming from, and it's clear to me that all of the educational researchers who have promoted this practice use the term learning intention, not learning target or lesson objective. So although I have included the other more commonly used terms in the introduction and title so everyone knows what I'm talking about, I use "learning intention" when I speak and will be using that term in the rest of this article. They refer to the same idea but I think the word "intention" does a better job of communicating what we're trying to do.

My Setup

There are 3 basic supplies I used to set up my learning intention display for my Kindergarten and self-contained classes: 

-cards with clipart representing the skills, concepts, and vocabulary from my curriculum

-boards with sentence starters on which to put the cards

-moveable adhesive to attach the cards to the boards and switch them out for each lesson

I made sure the display was at relative eye level for the students and as close as possible to where I teach from the majority of the time. In my case I had a small area on the wall I wanted to use, so I laminated the cards and printed and laminated the sentence starters out on regular copy paper, then put this Tack-It Over & Over glue on the back of the cards so I can attach the laminated cards to the laminated backgrounds and change them out. If you haven't heard of this removeable glue stuff it is a game changer and you should check it out! But obviously you could do the same thing with velcro dots or something similar (although if you do that you'll need to have set spots where the cards can go), and if you have a magnetic surface like a whiteboard or metal door you could use magnets as well.

Illustrated Concepts

Illustrating the actual concepts I teach in my Kindergarten music classes- not the activities- ended up being more complex than I initially thought. There are plenty of teachers out there using visual schedules/ agendas that have pictures showing common music class activities, but not concepts. I was fortunate to get the super talented Jane from SillyODesign, who already had graphics to match a lot of the instruments and activities for early childhood music, to design the illustrations, and she went above and beyond in creating representations of the concepts from my curriculum that are not only clear but also highly relatable, with emoji-style faces, farm animals, and children representing a broad range of identities. 

I took those images and added the words as well so that students get used to seeing and reading the words at the same time but can clearly understand the concepts at first glance. You can grab the cards I made (with labeled and unlabeled versions) here if you want to use them too!

If you wanted to do the same thing digitally you could also use the cards I made, or get the clipart from Jane's TPT store here so you can set them up in your slides however you like.

In-Class Use

The way I actually reference and use them in class varies significantly depending on the lesson. For Kindergarten I start every lesson with a welcome song and often jump straight into the first activity with no explanation so I definitely do not have any type of long conversation where I'm "reading" or explaining the learning intention to the students at the beginning of class. I use the visuals to reinforce what I'm saying when the concept comes up in my teaching. So if the goal is to learn loud and quiet, any time I say the words loud and quiet I'll point to the pictures. If, after learning a concept initially, we're doing an activity where students are practicing something and/or I'm informally assessing their understanding, I'll use the visuals to review their prior learning before we start. 

When I'm on my game, I do find it very helpful to go over the learning intention and reference the display at the end of class to review what they learned, practice any vocabulary, and check for understanding. Admittedly that didn't always happen if I ran out of time or it felt like their attention spans couldn't handle it that day, but it was very helpful when I did. 

Benefits

Using this visual display definitely fulfilled the purpose I originally set out to fill, but it also had many other benefits that I did not anticipate. In terms of communicating the learning intention and success criteria to non-readers (or early readers or language learners), it was definitely the best solution I have ever come across. I find that, for students who can't read easily, adding words to the wall just adds to the visual clutter. Not only is a written learning intention not helpful for those students but I find it to in fact be harmful because it is distracting and intimidating and sucks all the joy out of the playful learning environment I maintain. Having these illustrations made the visuals easy for everyone to "read" regardless of their language ability, and kept it fun and relatable with the playful illustrations.

Beyond that though, I found that having the visual reminder was very helpful for keeping students focused on the concepts we were working on, and made the learning accessible for many students beyond just early readers. Pointing out the concepts throughout the lesson redirected students' focus and improved their understanding of the focus concepts, and reviewing the learning intention and success criteria at the end of the lesson significantly improved their retention (which we all know is a major challenge in music class which generally doesn't meet every day). Students knew what the purpose of activities were- they could still be fully immersed in the fun but their brains were more attentive to the specific concepts we were practicing. 

These benefits applied not just to early readers but also to new students who joined the school throughout the year from non-English backgrounds. Even more than the early readers, language learners were able to catch on to the concepts- not just following along with the activity but actually learning the musical concepts- without needing to understand my verbal explanations and directions. This was a HUGE benefit that I did not anticipate! 

I also realized these are perfect for nonverbal students. I could take them off the wall and have students point to the picture that matches what we're doing, or to select a musical element to participate in creating / composing, without speaking. It is a quick way to basically serve the function of an assistive communication device without having to pre-program words and concepts into their device.

As much as I hated being forced to post written "learning targets" for students who can't read, I am thrilled with the results I have ended up with in the process of figuring out how to make this work for students. I HIGHLY recommend trying this in your classes, even if you aren't required to post lesson objectives / learning targets / learning intentions - I have seen the benefits to student learning and I am a believer! If you want to get all the materials I used to set up my display, here are all the visuals including the cards and several versions of the backgrounds. If you have any questions please leave them in the comments below, I'd love to chat about this further! And if you want to read about how I have implemented learning intentions with my older students to make it beneficial for them without eliciting too many eye rolls, here's my post on learning targets in the music room.

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