Lesson 4


Today we focused on Weather to go along with what they're studying in Science. We started with an exploration of the question: How does weather affect our lives? (This is part of one of their science benchmarks.)

I had each table be a group and I assigned them to discuss a specific kind of weather. Sunny, Snowy, Windy, and Rainy respectively. I asked them to discuss a series of questions about how the weather impacts their choices.

What will you... wear? Do? Eat/drink?
Where will you go?

After that we talked about how when weather becomes extreme it can be dangerous. We talked about the recent Pole Creek and Bald Mountain Fires. The students had a lot of comments and stories to share because many of them knew people who were evacuated. Many of them knew a bit about how it started. We talked about how when it doesn't rain for a long time then the earth gets dry and then when lightning strikes it catches on fire more easily. Then we talked about how in the recent fires the wind made it worse because it gave the fires fuel and pushed them into dangerous proximity with towns.

We switched gears a little bit and reflected on how throughout history the weather has had a huge impact on people's ability to survive and prosper. We learned words like "drought" and "famine." I told them about how people would often call on a higher power (God, the gods, the great spirit, or whatever they believed in) for help. They would do this through things like prayer, ceremony, and song. This is when I brought up the song we would be learning, "Kumbaya." I told them that although the origin of the song is somewhat of a mystery, we do know that it was a plea to God. No matter what, people wanted to know they weren't alone and that they had divine protection. I talked about how the song has become a summer camp standard and a campfire classic. Many people associate it with closeness to nature and peace in it.


Song Time

I had them do rain sounds by snapping (or patting softly) and then do wind sounds by blowing in their hands. I didn't do traditional conducting but rather moved my fingers to show them how fast to make the rain drops and then I moved my hands like I was controlling their wind.

Once we got into the singing portion I conducted and one of the students said "Hey that's 4/4!" I taught them the first part of the song and then I taught them the harmony to it. This specific version we were learning has the lyrics "Rain, Wind, Fire Lord Kumbaya!" as the climax so I thought it was fitting for what our discussion had been about. I split them into two groups and sang with the harmony group while Mrs. Bruce sang with the melody group. The harmony was really tricky for the kids, especially without me singing loudly to help them. I think they could get it eventually but it was really tempting for them to simply sing the octave above what the other kids were singing.

After some technical difficulties I finally was able to play a recording I had made with all of the parts and told them that I was thinking we could have three students sing the solo part as a trio and three other students do the echo as a trio, but only after we got a little more confident and solid with the parts we had just learned. They seemed excited about this. One student said "Wow, that's beautiful!"

That was all we had time for, but hopefully we can come back to the song. It's a stretch for their current abilities but I think it's attainable. It's also nice that it doesn't have a lot of lyrics so it helps the students focus on what's going on with the pitch.