Cuarta sesión

(English text below)

Comenzamos Círculo hoy con dos juegos que probaban la memoria de l@s niñ@s. En el primer juego, l@s voluntari@s daban una descripción de una palabra del vocabulario de la canción "El portal de Belén" que han practicado. La mayoría de l@s chic@s recordaron rápidamente las palabras y demostraron que sabían el vocabulario de la canción. En el segundo juego, l@s voluntari@s tenían tarjetas con fotos y palabras coincidentes, como un juego de memoria. L@s niñ@s emparejaban las imágenes de las palabras. Este juego fue un poco más difícil que el primero, pero l@s chic@slo disfrutaron.
    Después de los juegos, empezamos con la música. Primero, l@s niñ@s practicaron  diferentes tipos de ritmos, rápidos y lentos, y los diferentes volúmenes, fuertes y suaves. Para hacer esto, caminaron con el ritmo del piano y cantaron al volumen que llevaba el piano. Luego cantaron "A la nanita nana" otra vez. Una de las chicas tuvo la oportunidad de cantar un solo de la canción para todo el grupo. Tomando un descanso de la música, l@s voluntari@s los llevaron afuera para jugar aprovechando el buen tiempo. El objetivo del juego fue esconderse detrás de l@s voluntari@s, quienes estaban simulando ser velas, y luego cada chic@ sin un lugar para esconderse tenía que ponerse en el centro del círculo. Es@ chic@ le hacía una pregunta a un@ de l@s voluntari@s al tiempo que l@s demás corrían a encontrar una vela para esconderse otra vez. Un chico, sin embargo, mencionó que quería jugar "zombie tag" y esta idea se aprobó por votación.
    Cuando volvimos adentro, pudimos disfrutar de un bocadillo de queso, galletas saladas, zanahorias y galletas con agua o jugo de manzana. Después de eso, volvimos al salón donde caminamos por la habitación y bailamos una canción pop sobre velas. Luego practicaron la nueva canción llamada "Candelikas". Se formaron dos grupos y cada uno cantó una línea de la canción según lo asignaba la instructora. Luego practicamos "El portal de Belén". Entonces algun@s niñ@s se ofrecieron a ser cantantes solistas, y el resto fue el coro. Y al final de la sesión, la instructora les enseñó un poco sobre profesionalismo en el escenario.
Nos vemos el próximo domingo!



    We started today’s Círculo with two games that tested the kids’ memories. In the first game, the volunteers gave a description of a vocabulary word from the song “El portal de Belen” that the children have been practicing. Most of the kids were quick at guessing the words being described to them, which proved how well they knew the vocabulary from their songs. In the second game, the volunteers laid out cards, with pictures and their matching words, face-down on the floor. The children took turns flipping the cards and trying to match the words with their pictures. The kids had to recall where the matching card was if they had seen it before or guess where the matching card was if it hadn’t been flipped yet. This game was a little harder than the first, but the children enjoyed it.
    After the games we began our music lesson. First they practiced the difference between fast and slow tempos and the difference between loud and soft volumes. In order to do this, they either walked or ran around the room in relation to the piano’s tempo and the students either sang loudly or softly in relation to the piano’s volume. Then they were split into two groups and each one was given an easy beat to clap out with their hands. During this session the groups were better at maintaining their own beats while clapping at the same time. Afterwards they practiced singing “A la nanita nana” again. One of the kids also got the opportunity to sing a solo from the song for the whole group. Taking a break from music lessons, the volunteers decided to take them outside for a game because of the good weather. The point of the game was for the kids to hide behind the volunteers, who were pretending to be candles, and then the child left without a spot was put in the middle of the circle. The center child had to ask one of the volunteers/candles a question which made all of the kids run to find a candle to hide behind again. One child, however, mentioned that he wanted to play zombie tag and the volunteers allowed a democracy in which the students voted to play zombie tag instead.
    When we went back inside the children were able to enjoy a snack of cheese, pretzels, carrots, and cookies with apple juice or water. Then the students returned to the room where we walked around and danced to a pop song about candles. Then the students practiced the new song called “Candelikas.” Two groups were made and they each sang a line of the song according to which group the music instructor pointed at. Afterwards we practiced “El portal de Belen” and we did the same thing with alternating the lyrics between groups. Then a few kids volunteered to be soloists while the rest were the chorus. And at the end of the session, the music instructor went over the way to bow as a group and discussed how to be professional on stage.
See you next Sunday!