Pioneer Path Teacher Bev Adelmann Uses Music to Teach 4th Graders

Singing songs about the continents and the geographical features of the United States is how teacher Bev Adelmann’s fourth graders work to learn geography. And music is not limited to geography class.

With a different song, her twenty four students sing, “The numbers to the right end in zero’s,…The numbers to the left, leave them alone,”

The tune is “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” but the math concept is about rounding numbers. And the fourth graders seem to get it.

Adelmann, who started her career as a music teacher, incorporates singing into her lessons, so her fourth graders at Pioneer Path can be engaged and have fun while learning. The tedium of memorizing the three branches of the Federal government is eased by singing it to music and using body gestures to reinforce the words, which her class does with enthusiasm.

“We put song into everything we do, and, anytime we can, we build in movement,” she said about her teaching style. “I think that makes our class unique.”

And sometimes, she had her youngsters stand and do a quick review with their songs.

Adelmann also has an upright piano in her classroom, which she was given to use in her classroom many years ago, when, at N.B. Galloway School, it was no longer needed for music class. A fun song dealing with students’ names and changing consonant sounds is one the students enjoy. Another one is “I’d like to eat, eat, eat pepperoni pizza,” which is an exercise in changing vowel sounds.  When she runs into her former students, they often ask about the “Fifty Nifty State Song,” which has remained a favorite year after year.

Many of the rhymes and jingles were created by Adelmann and put to simple tunes.

She will say that in her many years of teaching (she’s slated to retire within the next several years), she’s seen many changes. More content is being taught, and there is little time for fluff or activities that don’t fit into the curriculum, she said.  But, there is always a way to work in time for singing.

“If we come to the piano, it’s a treat,” she said. “You want them (the students) to like it…it’s a balancing act.  How much can we get through, yet I want them to like coming, to like to be here.”