What is Climate?

Welcome back to More with Music!

Lately, I've been going through all of my songs that I've written and I've started a list of songs to share this summer here on More with Music.

Today's song share is one that has to do with weather.  I call this song "Climate song"  and it helps students understand more about climate.  Mark Twain is quoted for saying, "Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.".  I think this quote is a wonderful way to explain climate to students.

When we travel and go to different places around the world, we expect certain types of weather from certain places, during certain times of the year.  We depend on this kind of information when we pack for our trips.  Sometimes we are prepared and sometimes we are surprised.  :)

Thanks for stopping by!  Stay tuned for additional songs over the summer.  

Summer is Hot!

Welcome back to More with Music!

Summer break is here and another school year has come to an end.  I love working with all the students each year, but I also look forward to having the summer off and getting a break from my normal daily schedule.

Even though summer doesn't officially start until June 21st, I sing about summer with students the last few weeks of school each year.  We talk about summer weather, activities, foods,etc.. One of their favorite songs about summer is  "Summer is Hot, Hot, Hot!".

Within this song, many summer vocabulary words and conversation starters are included.
Some key words in the song are:  summer, hot, sunscreen, sunglasses, popsicles, ice cream, seashells, seashore, swimming, fishing, sailing

To sing this song, I first assign students the repeating phrase, "It's Hot, Hot, Hot".  For students who are nonverbal, I record this repeating phrase on a BigMac voice output device and give them time to try it out and encourage them to participate.  In most groups, I repeat each verse twice.

I also use pictures to represent each vocabulary word for summer.  Students can point to or label each picture and then add comments like, "I have red sunglasses", or "I like chocolate ice cream".  If there's one thing I know for sure-students love to talk about food!  So, songs with any kind of food in them are great attention-getters. :)




I hope you enjoy your summer.  Be sure to stop by More with Music over the summer to hear more songs!

You have to FREEZE!

Welcome back to More with Music!
The weather is getting warmer and warmer and there's only one more week of school (plus a couple of work days for me).  I'm ready for summer!

I've shared today's song post before, but today I'm adding additional ideas for using this song with small to larger groups.
The song is called "Play and then FREEZE!".  Many students have a hard time controlling their impulses.  When the song directs students to "FREEZE",  students have to use self control in order to stop playing their instruments.  They have to resist the impulse to continue playing their instrument and stop playing instead.  This is easier said then done for many students, but the songs allows them to practice this skill in a fun way.

Once students practice freezing and have pretty good impulse control, you can incorporate a few additional ideas with this song.  If you have a smaller group of students, you can introduce new instruments and/or instruments that require following specific instructions with this song.  Each student can have a turn playing the one instrument and when the song says "Freeze", the student stops and you pass the instrument to the next student.  Another idea would be for small or larger groups.  You would need pictures or extra instruments to hold up as examples.  Students all pick a rhythm instrument and you hold up a picture or sample of the instrument you want to play during the first verse of the song.  At each "FREEZE" you hold up a different card, signaling those students to play their instruments (i.e. drums play one verse, then bells, then rhythm sticks,etc.)  This way, students have to control their impulses and attend to others while they take turns.  The students also have to pay attention to figure out which instrument is playing next and then follow directions.

How do you implement the "freeze" in your music therapy sessions?

'Round up your rhythm sticks!

Welcome back to More with Music!

On this last day of May, I'm slipping in one more song post.

This song, entitled, "Where will we go?", helps students understand and practice different directions, or positional words.  Positional words are words that describe the location of something, often in relation to something else.  Students hear these words everyday, but many need to put them into practice (especially the kinesthetic learners) in order to grasp what these words really mean.

I've had a lot of fun singing this song this month with many students (and many different age groups).  I use rhythm sticks with this song and the students have been tapping away!

When first introducing this song, I visually show students each direction/positional word and we say the positional word aloud while tapping.  Next, we give it a try with the song playing and me modelling the directions/positional words as the group leader.

The students love to take turns being the leader as well, so I always try to incorporate this as part of the song.
I lead the first time, then we do the song a second time with a student leader.  You could also assign individual students certain positional words to lead as they are sung in the song.

As always, I'd love to hear what you think!   Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for more song posts!  

What would you buy?

Welcome back to More with Music!

My three most  recent song posts featured songs about our needs and wants.  Today I will be sharing a song that fits within those topics.  What do we all need to purchase our needs and/or wants???  Money!

I wrote this song this year for students in the kindergarten through 5th grade classrooms I work within.  They really liked it!  It's very catchy and some of the students request it as "the money song".  :)

I used visual aids with this song to show different stores and asked the students, "What would you buy at the book store?", or "What would you buy at the grocery store?"  Many of the students identified the store fronts on the pictures and were very engaged when sharing what they buy (or their parents buy) at the different stores.

When singing this song with the students, I used egg shakers.  Each student was given a shaker and I modeled "Shake slow" and "Shake fast".  On each verse of the song where it sings about a store, we shake slow and find the beat.  When the chorus is sung ("You need money, money,etc..), we shake fast.  They really like shaking fast, trust me!

Isn't it catchy?  :)  This song is also a great song to sing and warm up the students to talk about money and in particular coin values. How could you use this song?

As always, thanks for stopping by and check back soon.  With summer quickly approaching, I'll have more time to post! :)