Planning for the New School Year - Celebrating Tanabata

 Are you feeling this way-

Yay, school planning should be starting.  Ummm... Covid.. higher numbers, Delta variant, what does that mean for school this year?  Will we be able to sing, play instruments, get back to "normal" or does that mean we will have to continue social distancing, quarantining, masking, no instrument playing?  How do I plan for that?

The short answer- I don't know. The long(er) answer - much depends on CDC recommendations, Governor, state, and local school board decisions. And then there is vaccination issues, and the comfortability of those wanting to mask or unmask. SO many decisions. 

I am making plans as I know my students will be in person and we will be able to do a little singing and will be able to share instruments as long as we are sanitizing hands and cleaning.

I have been enjoying the Olympics, which in turn renewed my interests in learning about Tanabata, a Japanese holiday celebrated on July 7. Although the holiday will be over when we return to school, I am going to be teaching about Tanabata as part of the first few lessons. 

Tanabata

First, share these images: 

We will chat about the Olympics and events students may have seen or cheered for, then we will talk about the holiday of Tanabata and read this book which shares the story of Tanabata, also called the Star Festival.
For older students, we might make this origami "paper river":

We may also watch this story of the two stars, Orihime and Hikoboshi:

Then we will learn this speech piece and develop the lesson.

Since Tanabata are wishes, we can create wishes for students for the new school year. 

Then we will learn the Tanabata-sama song. Many thanks to Beth from bethsnotes!  Check out the beautiful video! 

Then to further connect culture and knowledge of Japan, here is another book to share about an artist who wants to fill the world with polka dots and a couple further books featuring polka dots! 

Hope you enjoy these ideas!

Jan Ken Pon Yo

In Japan, there are epic battles that have played out for centuries. Yes, you guessed it, Janken or "Hand Games".  In the US we call this game Rock, Paper, Scissors.  I use Rock, Paper, Scissors as a way to determine partners, and as a way to determine who plays what instrument. My students are allowed to choose Orff instruments when we use them - and so I call small groups of students and if two students go the same instrument at one time they immediately go into "Rock, Paper, Scissors" mode and that determines who plays what.  It is a random determiner and the children never fuss about who won as it is solely by chance! Win win!

This is a great song for mixed meter.  The body percussion is something my students helped me to create as when I first taught this I had a class that struggled with the feeling of 2 vs 3 so we quickly devised some body percussion patterns to reinforce that feeling. It stuck! Once the song is learned, students can play the game:
Class stands in a designated area, each facing a partner.
Sing song, performing body percussion. At end of song, students tap one hand in a fist onto the other hands open palm on "one, two, three, four" and on "five" they reveal rock, paper, or scissors.
Those who win stay in the designated area and find a new partner, all others circle around them. Everyone sings again, performs the game with new partners, winning partners remain to find new partners, etc. until there is one winner. My students beg to play this game and it is a great one when you need a quick 3-4 minute activity or brain break.

You can also add the extension activity with the cards below.  Print out enough for small groups to create rhythmic B sections in triple or duple meter (or both!) and have some fun with having students create the corresponding hand signs as an added challenge. Transfer to unpitched percussion-  it works out nicely as there are 4 cards to go with the 4 timbre groups of metals, skins, shakers, and woods!
This song and game makes a great addition to a unit on Japanese music.

Enjoy!