Class Openers for Elementary Music

The tone we set at the beginning of class can have a tremendous impact on the success of the rest of the period. And establishing routines for the beginning of class can help students transition more quickly and comfortably into music time. This year I'm establishing some new routines for the beginning of class to address a number of goals I have for my students and I, so today I'm sharing those plans with you!

I've had a set procedure for the end of my elementary general music classes since the beginning of my teaching career (read about that in this post), but I've never actually had a set routine for the beginning of class, other than always meeting the class in the hallway and giving them a specific direction for where to go/ what to do when they come in.

There are a few reasons why I've decided to add more structure to the beginning of my classes this year:

1. Last year there were several times when I had to mediate a conflict from before music at the beginning of my class, and I wished I had something already established that the rest of the class could do independently without needing my help.
2. I have been looking for more ways to have students take leadership in class.
3. I have been looking for a way to have students practice reading/ performing solfege more regularly.
4. I wanted to replace one of the student jobs I used last year with something new.

I think this new plan will address all of these issues, at least to some extent, and will also give more predictability and structure to the beginning of class, which is good for everyone!

My plan is to have a set of warm-ups, or opening activities, that I select from each day. I'll have a word to describe the type of activity we're doing up on the board, and I'll give my student leaders who are assigned to lead warmups as their job any tasks they need to do to get the activity started. Usually I'll still be leading, but this way if the situation does arise it will be easier for me to manage a conversation with an individual or small group of students while the rest of the class gets started on their own more quickly.

The new job I am planning is called warm-up leader, and my plan is to make sure that no matter what the opening activity is, those students have some leadership role to play in it. Depending on the grade level and the specific students who are doing the job at that time, I can give them more or less independence while still encouraging more ownership and leadership within the activity. I'm also hoping that, as the year progresses and the students gain experience, they'll be able to lead the activities more independently.

Here's the "menu" of general ideas I plan to use throughout the course of the year. For each one, I've listed the word I'll have on the board to act as a visual cue as students enter, and the different ways I plan to have students take leadership in each type of activity.

Here's a little more explanation of what each type of activity will entail:

• Move: a) class face one leader and mirror their slow movements (no music), b) class copies one leader's movements with the steady beat of track, or c) class moves with the music but has to change their movement every time a leader calls out "switch"
• Listen: listen silently to a piece of music, sometimes with a particular student-chosen element to listen for (what instruments are playing, how loud, what type of mood....)
• Circle: these will be a continuation of the circle discussions I detail in this post
• Rhythm: class practices reading rhythms from notation
• Melody: a) students identify individual pitches, either by solfege or letter name, that leader notates, or b) class sings patterns with solfege names and hand signs that leader selects
• Play: class echos leader on body percussion or unpitched percussion instrument(s)
• Draw: vocal exploration, following a line with their voice

I tried to make sure that in every case, the leadership roles are low-pressure. This is supposed to make students more comfortable, not less, after all! And I am hopeful that with the variety of options I have to draw from, I will be able to create predictability without making it monotonous.

Do you use openers to start your elementary music classes? How do you structure them, and what sorts of activities do you like to include? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments below!

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