Waka Waka This Time For Africa

Year Level/s:

Pre-Primary

Date:

13 September 2014

th

Curriculum Area:

Geography/English

Time: 9-10.30am

Australian Curriculum Links:

Geography: The representation of the location of places and their features on maps and a globe (ACHGK001)
English: Language - Understand that English is one of many languages spoken in Australia and that different languages may
be spoken by family, classmates and community (ACELA1426)
English: Literature Replicate the rhythms and sound patterns in stories, rhymes, songs and poems from a range of
cultures (ACELT1579)
Purpose of the Series of Lessons:
These first two lessons are meant to introduce children to Africa. The first lesson introduces children to Africa as a
continent, which is made up of 54 countries including the surrounding islands. It also introduces the mother tongue of East
African countries Swahili. This is done through the integration of Geography, Music, and English as a whole class and in
small groups. The second lesson then introduces children to non-verbal music through body percussion and drumming,
which is used all over Africa. This lesson has been structured as a whole class lesson allowing for hand up stand up partner
shares, discovery and exploration, and working together as a team to create a magical classroom atmosphere through
music.
Specific Lesson Learning Goals:
~ Engage in learning basic Swahili words and phrases
~ Recognition of Africa the continent on the map
~ Comparing and contrasting of African traditions and cultures to childrens own traditions and cultures
Students Prior Knowledge:
Children havent been formally introduced to the continents and countries of the world in school before this unit and have
just learnt previously learnt about Australia, how multicultural it is, traditions of the Indigenous Aboriginals, and have
participated in dances, songs, poems and storybook reading sessions all to do with Australia. Waka Waka its now time for
Africa! Children have started being introduced to the letters of the alphabet and the sounds and can copy words. They can
also read simple one two syllable words and familiar words. The activities in this lesson will draw on childrens previous
knowledge of writing, placing objects in their correct positions, and comparing the African culture to childrens own ways
of life. Children have also previously been introduced to the iPad app Barefoot World Atlas and know how to use it.
Preparation: (classroom layout, resources, groupings)
Laminated Jambo card for the world map mural with various ways to say hello placed near the matching countries
Song: Jambo Bwana by Them Mushrooms from Putumayo Kids African Playground
Book: Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book by Muriel Feelings
iPads for use during rotation time: Barefoot World Atlas
Coloured paper to make Swahili flipbook vocabulary books - in conjunction with the Swahili Alphabet book
Card paper draw something from the Swahili alphabet book versus. familiar way of experiencing it e.g. food
Africa wall outline - children to place their chosen two countries in the correct positions
Miss C Resource: http://brittanycarvalho.wix.com/exploringtheworld

Time:

8.50am

9.25am

15 mins
rotation
each
activity

10.20
10.30Recess

Lesson Progression

Comments/notes

Introduction

Welcome children and their parents in the classroom with Jambo
Sit children on the map for the normal morning routine and
introduce the word Jambo meaning hello in an Eastern African
language called Swahili. Why? Because we are going to be learning
about AFRICA the continent for the next few weeks. So what do
we do when we learn a new word that means hello? We put the
laminated Jambo word on our map mural wall in the East African
region.
To begin we are going to head on over to our exploring the
exploring the world itinerary webpage and read a little bit about
Africa but first question the children whether they know anything
about Africa?
Introduce the song Jambo Bwana and the webpage and play it
seeing if children can catch onto the chorus allowing them to
dance while sitting on the mat. If children are having trouble
catching on, then explicitly teach the class the chorus
Introduce the book of the day: Jambo Means Hello: Swahili
Alphabet Book by Muriel Feelings and read through asking for
children involvement throughout

Activity

Introduce activity time by a tambourine and explain what each of
the four stations are about:
~ Jambo Means Hello book activity: children get to make
their own flipbooks using the A-Z Swahili vocabulary
making sure to neatly copy out the Swahili word and
writing on the same page the English translation (if there
is time, pictures can be drawn)
~ Jambo Means Hello book activity: choose your favourite
Swahili word and copy it onto card paper then draw
similarities between African traditions and cultures and
your own traditions and cultures e.g. different types of
instruments, djembe versus drum kit. Try and make it neat
as it will be mounted and placed around the room
~ Africa map activity: prepare for a lucky dip and choose two
countries to colour in and cut and place on the outlined
wall map of Africa creating our own class map of Africa
(website)
~ Barefoot World Atlas iPad activity: explore Africa through
this brilliant app at your own leisure (website)

Conclusion

What did you learn about Africa? Jambo

Packup

The website is easy to
use as there are tabs
up the top but you can
also get to various
places by pressing on
links that say click
here or on the home
page clicking the
continent names.
Plenty of songs,
videos, and fun
activities not to be
missed! Enjoy J

In Pre-Primary
children dont have
long mat sessions and
based on my prac
experience participate
in rotational group
activities allowing for
deeper exploration
and social interaction


Informal Assessment of Student Outcomes

What will you assess?

How will you assess? What evidence will you collect?

Engagement in learning basic Swahili words and

phrases

Recognition of Africa the continent on the map

Comparing and contrasting of African traditions

and cultures to childrens own traditions and
cultures

Observation

Lesson Reflections
Students
a.
b.

To what extent did students meet the specific lesson learning

goals?
How will I use this information to plan future lessons?

Self
a.

Did the lesson go as I expected?

b.
c.
d.

What did I do well?

What did not go well?
What would I change?

African Music: Drum Circle Introduction

Year Level/s:

Pre-Primary

Date:

14 September 2014

th

Curriculum Area:

Geography/Music

Time: 9-10.30am

Australian Curriculum Links:

Geography: Make observations about familiar places and post questions about them (ACHGS001)
Music: Develop aural skills by exploring and imitating sounds, pitch and rhythm patterns using voice, movement and body
percussion (ACAMUM080)
Music: Sing and play instruments to improvise, practice a repertoire of chants, songs and rhymes, including songs used by
cultural groups in the community (ACAMUM081)
Specific Lesson Learning Goals:
~ Engage in working with other children in a large group
~ Developing listening skills
~ Ability to form a rhythm
~ Ability to form questions about African traditions, culture, music, etc.
Students Prior Knowledge:
Children havent been formally introduced to the continents and countries of the world in school before this unit and have
just learnt previously learnt about Australia, how multicultural it is, traditions of the Indigenous Aboriginals, and have
participated in dances, songs, poems and storybook reading sessions all to do with Australia. Yesterday the children began
learning about Africa and basic Swahili words and phrases through a song and book. They also got to explore the shape of
Africa as the continent and then the countries it is made up of as well as simple traditions. Children have previously been
introduced to body percussion earlier in the year and as music is a big cultural aspect of Africa I thought we would head
there next!
Preparation: (classroom layout, resources, groupings)
Display table: represent African music e.g. shakers, mbira, African drums like West African djembe, etc.
Variety of African and percussion instruments for drum circle time
iPads for class use
YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsj9238u4Uo (referring back to this often)
Miss C Resource: http://brittanycarvalho.wix.com/exploringtheworld

Time:

8.50am

9.15am

9.20am




9.30am

10.20

10.30Recess

Lesson Progression

Comments/notes

Introduction

Ask the children to bring in objects that represent Africa and add
them to the display table of instruments and costumes and flags
Sit children on the map for the normal morning routine and then
begin asking children what they remember from our previous
lesson when we were discovering Africa?
Acknowledge how everyone is curious about the discovery table
and we will get 15 mins to explore the table and instruments on it
(give explicit instructions) and the sounds the instruments make
after we take a look at our exploring the world itinerary webpage
on African music (website). Go through the different instruments
and hear the sounds as they appear on the website allowing
children to be introduced on how to play them and respect them
Discovery and question time (inclusive of instruments, and other
items on the discovery table, iPads website and Barefoot World
atlas)
Revisit body percussion allowing children to explore as a whole
class and then in partners for five minutes

Activity

Introduce African drum circles by watching videos placed on the
class webpage (website)
Go through drum circle rules and do a few practice drills
Get children to form a circle on the mat and place instruments
(drums and percussion instruments) in the middle allowing
children free choice
Make sure children are abiding by the drum circle rules
Drum circle activities:
~ Practice drum circle rules with instruments
~ Introduce drum circle signs and symbols and always use
words like pass the popcorn when teaching rhythms
~ Say your name beating a rhythm on your instrument
~ Call and response (teacher facilitating)
~ Call and response (children taking turns)
~ Introduce counting four beats and using drum circle signs
and symbols to move on to the next part, new rhythm,
new player etc. (the possibilities are endless, just go with
the flow!!)
~ Introduce dynamics and the rumble
~ Teach children with melodic instruments Twinkle Twinkle
Little Star and play it as a class reggae style

Conclusion

Hands up for questions

Great job everybody. Stickers for great workers!

Pack up

In Pre-Primary
children dont have
long mat sessions but I
thought it might be
nice to explore drum
circles as a whole class
because there is so
much more you can
do and all children will
get involved even if
they dont like music
or dont think they are
good enough that is
the amazing
advantage of a drum
circle in that everyone
is included.


Informal Assessment of Student Outcomes

What will you assess?

How will you assess? What evidence will you collect?

Engagement in working together with other

children in a large group

Listening skills

Ability to form a rhythm

Ability to form questions about Africa

Observation

Lesson Reflections
Students
c.
d.

Self

To what extent did students meet the specific lesson learning

goals?
How will I use this information to plan future lessons?

e.

Did the lesson go as I expected?

f.
g.
h.

What did I do well?

What did not go well?
What would I change?