Workshop Wonders

Sorry it's been awhile! These past few months have been full of stuff. 

Anyways, I'm sharing some ideas that came from the workshop I attended today. It was great to get together as a small group of elementary music teachers. We all have neat ideas and experiences to share with others from our classrooms.

Here's a great photo of "Heel and Toe Polka" by my friend and former classmate Lydia! She shared the scaffolding for this fun day with music by New England Dancing Masters.

I also learned a neat trick for teaching different partners - BEADS! I don't know how I didn't think of this before. You can have partners wear two different colored bead necklaces or have one partner wear one and the other not. It helps them look for their next partner and doesn't create chaos. So fun! You can buy them in bulk from Oriental Trading. It would even be fun to get these in our school colors!

 

I also learned some fun body percussion for the song "Oats, Peas, Beans." To begin, have the students pat the beat or march in place. Next, sing the song with something on "oats" (maybe snaps?). Do it again and add something for peas (clap). Finish with something for beans (pat). Then, add them all together and sing the song. See if the kids can sing the whole song while they are marching and doing the body percussion pieces. Next class period, add unpitched percussion in place of the body percussion. Cool!

My contribution was about children's literature and music lessons. I shared a fun movement activity with the book "My Many Colored Days" by Dr. Seuss. It's wonderful to talk about feelings or do a collaborate lesson with the guidance counselor and art teacher. You can find it in my movement and literature bundle here: 

  

I didn't get a chance to present this book, but it's really fun for those wiggle days. You can read the story and add egg shakers on the "scratch Shaggy Dog's back" or split the group up and have one group do the "scratch Shaggy Dog's back" and the other do "the itch came back!" The kids love egg shakers and they fit perfectly into their little hands.

If you aren't able to meet with other elementary music teachers at least once a year, you should think about creating a professional development day. It's wonderful to connect with others and share ideas!