Celebrating Black Musicians in The Dancing Primes (Toddlers)
For Black History month in the Dancing Primes classroom, we decided to really focus on learning about and celebrating black musicians. We listened to a lot of different music by black artists such as Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Prince, the list could go on and on.
We ended up taking an extensive look at the work of Ella Firzegerald, an icon in jazz music history. She was dubbed the “lady of song” and “Queen of Jazz.” One of her most popular songs, “A-Tisket A-Tasket,” is well-known and is a classic children’s song. Her rendition of this nursery rhyme warmed hearts and made the rhyme the beloved song it is today. In our class, we played “A-Tisket A-Tasket” for the students as our introduction song to Ella’s work. When we put the song on, we observed many nodding heads, soft smiles, and even fingers shooting up into the air. Every child was really struck by the music. Many could be heard singing it or requesting, “Gerald.” Others made up dances to the song or sang it to their friends.
During our morning meetings, we watched a music video of Ella Fitzgerald performing this song and then talked to the students about how much people loved Ella Fitzgerald and how much she gave to people through her music. We focused on teaching about the joy that music makes people feel and just how important Ella Firzgerald was to so many people. We also read a book with the lyrics to the song, giving us a chance to slow down the words and really learn them together. After reading the story once, students asked their teachers to read it again and again. They all seemed to really internalize a love for Ella Fitzgerald and many remembered her name when teachers asked who was singing. We spent weeks listening to many different songs of Ella Fitzgerald’s. This music has had the ability to get every student up and dancing, even those who don’t usually participate in our dance parties. We’re grateful to the Queen of Jazz for getting us up and moving and we’re looking forward to celebrating more Black music even as Black History month comes to an end.
