Last week I presented a part of my jazz unit where I am teaching the song It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing. To I’ve got one more Black History Month activity for your elementary music class! I have done MANY activities over the years, but I always struggled to come up with an activity that focused on the positive of black heritage (not focused on slavery or Civil Rights).
Obviously these are important parts of history but I didn’t want students (especially students of color) to feel defined by these dark moments in history. Here is one activity I created that I think fits that criteria.
Somebody’s Knocking At My Door
I took the spiritual song “Somebody’s Knocking At My Door.” I have students learn the song and the knocking part (three knocks after the word door).
Musical Concepts We Work On
Depending on the class and what musical goals we are working towards, I can take this song many different directions.
We may take some time to learn about classroom instruments (woodblock is a great one to use). Once students know the clapping part, they can play it on instruments (only a couple at a time, passing the instrument around to a new person during the song).
We could focus on rhythm echoing. I could say a rhythm at the end of the song and the rest of the class (or individuals could echo my “secret knock.”
Or we might focus on loud and quiet and learn the terms forte and piano. I might sing the song loudly or I might sing it quiet and students have to listen and identify what they hear.
Adding in a Game to Learn Famous Black Americans
This is where I add in a game where students get a chance to learn about different black Americans. We do the song and at the end, one student gets to pick a door and learn about a famous black American.
I purchased these trading cards from Rich Carlson’s TPT Store, cut them out and put them on 3×5 cards decorated as doors. The only recommendation I would have for you (or myself if I ever redo) is that the cards printed out SUPER small (font is probably size 8 or so). So I would probably find a way to blow up the size to make it more class friendly.
But what I really liked about these cards is that there are 32 different people. So students get to have a little peek at lots of different important black Americans instead of just focusing on say Martin Luther King for example.
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