Adaptive Music Stations

Hello all! This year has been a difficult one for many teachers, including myself. 
My mental health has suffered greatly, both at work and at home. As the school year ends, I'm finally starting to find some clarity and consistency with my days and wanted to share a new blogpost for those out there working with adaptive music classes. 

Every year, my adaptive class changes. I teach K-3rd so I may have students moving on to 4th grade and new ones coming in. Also, it takes several weeks for me to understand what each student likes/dislikes and how they interact with each other. 

In the past, most of my classes have been able to do short group lessons.
This year's group dynamic is the complete opposite - they struggle with sharing, don't respect each other's boundaries and almost all are nonverbal. Because of this, I have found that stations work best so these kids can have their own materials, time limit and discovery. 

Things that have worked well:

• 7 stations (5 kids total)
• No more than 2 at a station at a time
• Hula hoops for station placement or each student has their own hula hoop they move around with to mark their personal space & materials
• Students are responsible for picking up the station if they leave or when it's time to go
• Always have music playing (can be themed each day, have a strong beat or calming)

Here are the 7 stations I normally have set up: 

        1. Instruments

                -heavy duty, plastic instruments or Remo Kids
                -rain sticks, egg shakers, jingle bells, bongos & djembes

                -occasionally: boomwhackers

        2. Movement 

                -scarves or ribbons

                -move in their hoop or marked off area

        3. Plush/Buddies/Puppets
                **my kids have really gravitated towards these this year**

                -puppets to sing along with

                -beat buddies to bounce along

        4. Sensory

                -pop its with rhythms (ta & titi)

                -pop tubes

                -fidget spinners to move fast or slow with tempo of songs
                -Bellz! board game

                

        5. Storybooks (email me for more info on these!)

                -relative artist biographies

                -illustrated songs

                -"The Story of..." board books

                -Disney Soundtrack series

 

        6. Technology

                -iPads with Incredibox
                -DJ Trollex mixer
                -Tweet Beats birds & trees
                

        7. Keyboards

                -one for each student

                -$5 from 5 Below

                            

            

Occasionally, we will do big group things like Just Dance/Go Noodle or xylophone rotations. But, those are usually spur of the moment changes because sometimes the dynamic of the group can handle it that day while other times it won't work at all. 
Before I end this post, I'd like to share a fun story about one of my kiddos. This boy has Autism Spectrum Disorder and is mostly nonverbal. However, we discovered something amazing one day when I let each student choose a song for our playlist. He chose "We Don't Talk About Bruno" from the movie Encanto. All the kids were loving this song - the beat, the melody, everything! Then, before his paraprofessional could grab him, he clicked on a different version of the song: We Don't Talk About Bruno in 21 Languages. As the song played, he could identify the language by reading the text on the screen but also began singing it in the different languages! I can't share the video for many reasons, but it was one of the most heartwarming moments I've experienced as a teacher. Disney must have discovered how popular this type of video is because they've created a few more with other Encanto songs as well as other Disney hits. 

If you are interested in more information about the stations or any of the materials, please email me at msmusic4life88@gmail.com and I will be happy to help you!


***Disclaimer: I am not a music therapist nor am I certified in any classes or techniques relating to music therapy. I am simply an elementary music teacher asked to teach something that I wasn't prepared for and struggled to find resources or ideas for this class and its special students. If you are interested in music therapy or are wanting more information in regards to it, please visit the website for the American Music Therapy Association. Thank you!***