Problem: How can activities of the past, such as storytelling, hand clapping games, jumping rope rhymes, playground games be kept alive/not lost to time?
Students have little familiarity with school year hand clapping rhymes and games. Children are in need of 'stuff to do' to keep them getting bored, especially when there are no electronics or toys with which to play. Lincoln's 3rd grade students are attempting to bring back this nearly lost art form to the playground. Update: We have exciting news to share about our question 'How can Lincoln's 3rd Grade keep hand clapping games alive on our playground?'
We have been collecting data during lunch recess about hand clapping games. Our questions included the following:
Do you see anyone playing hand clapping games?
Number of kids playing in the group
Grade level of kids playing
Use of nonsense words
Use of challenging movements
The first two times we went out, we saw not a single student playing hand clapping games. The 3rd grade started to play games we learned in class out on the playground during lunch recess and would you believe, that we are starting to see these games catch on? This week, we have seen as many as 10 groups playing and the students playing are from all grade levels! This is exciting to see on our playground!
We've learned that hand clapping games are fun, but we do not know enough games to keep them from growing stale. Each group of 3rd grade students (4-5 in a group) have been given the task of creating a new hand clapping game to present to our playground. We have been working hard and are ready to show our work!
3rd graders are busily prepping for a practice presentation at the end of this week. Hopefully, we will all hear some good feedback as to what is going well and what needs some attention. We will present our new games to some experts on December 4th. Our experts include music teachers, local college music professors, playground supervisors, and administration. Wish us luck!
Check out some pictures of our work in progress on the Music blog: mrspassinismusicblog.blogspot.com
Mrs. Wendee Passini Abraham Lincoln Elementary [email protected] mrspassinismusicblog.blogspot.com