Teaching Pre-K Students

Author: Sarah Smith

On Monday and Wednesday mornings I serve at Easton Elementary in the Pre-K classrooms. One Wednesday I had to miss service because I had a doctor's appointment so I sent in a volunteer to help my team members with that day's lesson. On my next service day there, I sat down to work with one of the students and he just looked at me with his big eyes and said, "I am so glad that you're here." At that moment I could have cried because it was just so heart-warming that I've been such a consistent influence in this student's life that one absence made a difference to him.

Also on Monday mornings, I serve at Mt. Zion Baptist Church with their Pre-K students. I teach the children basic aspects and concepts of music, so the kids know me as Ms. Sarah, the music lady.

My main goal with these students is to introduce and expose them to music. I've been doing this in several different ways. We sing a lot of songs and we play rhythm games, but my favorite is when I can bring in a volunteer to play music for them. So far I've been able to play ukulele and French horn for them (because I play both of those instruments) and I've been able to bring in someone to play classical guitar as well.

When I am able to bring in someone to play live music for them it's almost like a magic spell is cast over the students. They are enthralled by what they see and hear because it is an entirely new experience for them. After they listen to the music we talk about the instrument and what they heard. Through this process I am trying to allow them to experience different types of instruments and their sounds, different types of music, and how to talk about the music that they're hearing.

I hope to, eventually, bring in every member of the orchestra so that they can learn about and hear all those different instruments. Then we can have a discussion about how when all of those instruments come together they create a team that can make lots of wonderful and different types of music.