Paz y Libertad

Hello all! My posts have been a little sparse in the new year so far. I have been a little swamped with the end of the semester grades and report cards, but I'm introducing some things during the new semester and I'm hoping to share some of them!

In 3rd and 4th grade we have been beginning the class all year with a greeting song, but after a few months of that I think they are ready for something fresh and a little more involved. We are learning Paz y Libertad, by José-Luis Orozco.

This is from his album De Colores, which I love. I have both the book and the CD:

 

The book has the lyrics, music, and beautiful illustrations, but I wanted to make sure my students could understand the song they were singing. So I created a lyric sheets with some key words illustrated. (You can find the PDF here.)

I had my students see if they could read and understand the main ideas of the song, with the support of the pictures. We went through each verse individually, adding actions, and then sang the whole song together with music. It's simple and repetitive enough that the kids could sing along with the chorus almost immediately.

We also spoke about what peace and liberty mean, and real life examples of each (in a kid-sized context.) To wrap up the lesson I had kids illustrate one of the verses on the back of their paper. (Lots of people wanted to illustrate the last one.) I reminded them that they should illustrate what peace and liberty might look like in each of the situations mentioned in the song... so we didn't just produce pictures of bombs and kids fighting.

When we sing the song together, we'll use the lyrics sheets and illustrations as a listening activity - kids will listen for their verse and hold up their illustrations when we get to it.

Pie charts for all!

No más. Sí, mas.

For my kids, this was a successful (and meaningful) way to introduce a new song. I hope it can be useful to you, too!