It’s the first Friday in March, and this means it’s time for our monthly giveaway! The month of March is Music in Our Schools Month. In fact, 2015 is the 30th anniversary of this annual celebration. I can’t carry a tune or play an instrument well, but I love me some music!
How do you incorporate music into your day? Leave your answer right here at the blog, and you’ll be entered in this month’s giveaway. Just be sure to do this before midnight EDT, Sunday March 15. What could you win? Well, since we’re talking music, I think a $15 iTunes card seems appropriate! If you don’t have an iTunes account, no worries; an alternate and comparable prize will be awarded.
Always eager to sing your praises!
Diane
PS: Is anyone else hooked on The Voice?
Hi, When reading my story times to my Prek children, and i visit 28 pre k centers a month- I sing rhymes to the children- ESPECIALLY the tiny ones between 1-2 years old – my younger children story time consists of mostly singing rhymes because this gets their focus and attention..
I sing hello and goodbye songs and the children join in. I am always listening to new childrens songs to keep my story times exciting and fresh- especially those songs they can interact with clapping, stomping.
I used to worry about singing but i now love doing this as i know children don’t judge they just love to interact.
Thanks for all your great blogs and thoughts they make me smile and are a great start to a day
Regards Heather Rhyne
p.s. I love the voice but i have watched the British version.. when i go home to England..
I do music time every morning in my 4 year old class. We after breakfast we read books for about 15 minutes, then we do music. We listen to music and dance around the room, sometimes I bring out movements scarfs for them to use. I’m already thinking of songs I would buy for my classroom!
I teach a head start classroom so we are constantly singing! We have welcome songs, circle time songs, songs to clean up, to line up… it never ends! My kids love to sing & that’s how we learn in my classroom.
Music is a huge part of our program! I am a Pre-order teacher. We begin circle time with a hello song that mentions each child. We then sing a song for each letter. We are currently on letter V. (At the end of the year the children put on a graduation “show” with the letter songs. Most of the songs have some kind of prop). Throughout the day we sing a clean up song, line up song and songs pertaining to the theme we have for the week. We also have days of the week song, months of the year song. Boy we sing a lot! I feel it helps the children learn better and singing is fun! Next week is music week. We will discover different types of music! Music is a fun way to learn!
We use music videos in my cassroom for brain breaks. A catchy tune and some movement seems to refresh my kiddos between lessons. Our school also does a community assembly every other Friday. They always have a group dance song, (The Cha Cha Slide, Cupid Shuffle,etc.)on the speakers in the gym when everyone is entering. This always seems to bring 550 students under control and ready for the Assembly Showcase. It seems crazy but it works!!
We sing all day long, we have our greeting song, days of the week song and clean up song and goodbye song.
Each month I pick a different song for each class I teach and we sing that daily as well.
Then when we have a free moment to fill we sing one of our past songs. We love to sing at my school.
We do songs during circle (Look Who Came To school today, Get Up and Dance and other children songs. The Children also like to dance their favorite music and movement song is We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and We Are The Dinosaurs.
We do brain breaks with music, we sing every morning in reading using a song that goes with our concept for the week, and we use music to practice skip counting from 2-10.
In kindergarten, I play music for them while they are writing. It inspires them to write about what they hear. For example, if I play rainforest music, they draw birds, frogs, rain, etc. it is a calming and fun way to use music for writing.
We do quiet music for naptime. Music and movement as an activity.
I use music during our quiet work time and to dance and release extra energy during the day. My kids love music!
I play classical music in the morning as my students arrive and begin their morning work. This helps to set a calm tone in my classroom. I put similar music on anytime students are working independently.
I use music in my class for transitions! Music is a simple way to let me students know that it is time to move on, they get 60 seconds of a song (which they love), and then they are ready for our next activity! Simple and sweet!
I play music as my 5th grade students enter and exit the classroom. I also play music to transition from activity to another.
I use music in my classroom all day long. Different songs signal transition times between activities. I also use music as a calming backdrop when we have quiet working time during activities like our writer’s workshop time or morning work times.
We always have background music on in the morning when students come in. Also, I play classical music at a low volume during independent reading time. But my favorite way to incorporate music is the songs we learn (or make up!) to help us remember important science and ELA concepts. We’ve learned the preposition song from my school days & made up a song for Mitosis. Students can even perform songs for a grade!
We sing our multiplication songs in math class! I also use music to signal transitions, especially getting ready for lunch and recess.
I incorporate music and TPR to help students learn what we are studying about in all subject areas. The kids really enjoyed the water cycle lessons to the tune of “She’ll be coming round the mountain”. “It’s catchy”, they replied!
I use music in my 5th grade classroom every day for our “sing and stretch” times. We sing and/or dance twice a day to get the blood pumping and the oxygen moving to our brains again. I also love to use music to help the kids memorize their weekly Bible verse or to help them learn their spelling words. And sometimes the kids use music when doing their own presentations/performances.
I use music to help students remember tricky words, rules, etc. For example, we sing B E C A U S E, U S E, U S E, B E C A U S E, Because, Because, Because.(Mary Had a Little Lamb) And There is no a in they, there is no a in they, it sounds that way, but that’s okay, there is no a in they. T H E Y, there is no a in they! (The Farmer in the Dell)
Yes I use music during morning work. I have students listen to all kinds of music and have them tell me what instrument are playing in the song.
The easiest way to work music into our day is through our daily transitions and our daily routine. We sing at our morning meeting, we sing when we wash our hands, clean up our centers, line up to go to go to outside or other activities, walking down the hallway, praying before we eat. We really do sing all day! I get to be a music enrichment teacher in the afternoons, so I literally sing all day!
In my class we do various things to incorporate music into the children’s daily routines. We start the day off with songs, finger plays to songs, or by movement to songs. We also have a music and me class that we do every week! Music is very important for children because it helps bridge learning concepts for them and makes learning fun. In my class all you have to do is walk over to the cd player and the children start to get exited for the music.
I love incorporating Music and chants into my first grade classroom! Whether it be a chant to line up, a song to remember the continents, a chant to remember to write your name on a piece of paper…… you name it I find it and use it! I have seen such a difference in my students learning when we use songs! It helps them remember skills or procedures that they’s otherwise probably forget. Sometimes when they are off task, I sing telling them what I’m expecting of them… they think it’s totally silly but it works!
I use music for remembering concepts, welcome time in mornings, and during seatwork time. I found some great Rock A Bye cds which are instrumental with tunes from well known groups such as Bon Jovi and The Eagles. I frequently give music cds as gifts for new babies and this how I found this music.
We sing throughout the day to help cement concepts we are learning in my Kindergarten classroom. We sing bout what a plant needs, the Days of the week, what is the weather today, a good morning and a goodbye song. Each month we learn a new patriotic song after the flay salute. Music and song is an important part of learning!
Our school does morning announcements and pledge over our closed circuit TV and when that ends, the music starts! I start singing to signal time to line up and our class takes a restroom and water break, and once that is over, we return to the classroom, sit together at the carpet area and sing our “good morning” song, start calendar activities (including songs about days of the week, months of the year, counting, and greeting one another). It is a daily ritual and my first graders absolutely LOVE this … if we don’t start right away, the students all look around, start humming and toe tapping …. because they love this special music and singing time so much. Later in the day, when students are working independently, they know that I will turn on pandora to one of our favorite channels, or pop in a CD or our ipod to some of our favorite ‘working tunes.’ Every day is better with music. Thanks so much for recognizing this and celebrating this important fine arts component – with education focusing on more and more rigor in the curriculum, it is so refreshing to take a moment to recognize how much music can impact our students in a positive way!
I sing about everything! Connecting concepts to a song is one of the most effective ways to help students retain information. We dance daily! Brain Breaks are dancing breaks to Just Dance Kids. I play classical music as background noise all day long. We learn patriotic songs to help with American history concepts. We listen to music from different periods of our history. We listen to music from other countries to help us learn about other cultures. We dance and sing to celebrate or just because we are happy! I play a song to call students to the whole group area. I can’t imagine my classroom without music and dance!
Music is included all day with my 5th graders. From the moment they walk in, they know that a song of the week from now or times past will give them a cue to get ready for class. In all subjects, we use music as a way to remember and just to relax or work with.
Since children learn in different ways, we like to incorporate singing with sign language or movements or “read” a rebus chart with the words to the song on them. Our Pre-K children love knowing how to spell all the color words by singing the tunes! We use classical music during quiet time and they love our favorite fun songs to get the blood pumping and moving.
I use music to engage my lively young students with autism. We listen and sing along to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. We get our library rocking!
At our preschool, we have a designated music and movement time. We incorporate lots of great music during this time. Some of the music is structured where it asks students to do specific musics. Other music we have learned to sign (ASL). Other music is just fun dance-type music. We also use songs and rhymes during all transitions during our day.
I have a home childcare with about 10 children ranging from 6 months to 5. We do music each day ranging from singing a morning song with our names incorporated in it to dancing around playing “freeze music” I also have a Music therapist come in once a month to do a little music time with the children. We live up north and have long winters so music is a big part of our day to release some of that energy!
I use music for classroom management. I play all genres. My students really enjoy listening to classical music while working. It exposes them to other types of music. I play Native American music to give them a taste of my heritage. I use songs or raps to help teach concepts from Story elements to figuring perimeter. We do “brain breaks” with music. I teach 3rd grade and music integrates to all concepts of my classroom. We also use musical scales as a callback for transitions.
We sing in our classroom. I also sing to my students. They love music. We try to listen to a variety of music genre.
I use songs to help teach the letter name and sounds, color words, number words, you name it, and we sing a song for it. My students love music! So we listen to all kinds of genre.
I incorporate music in our morning circle time especially when I can tell my Kindergarten class is getting restless. We have math songs to help with double digits, adding my 10’s, and different parts of speech.
I’ve learned that children remember better with actions and music.
We teach spelling with music and colors. There are so many great ideas here.
I incorporate music in every lesson. I also use them for brain breaks. Students learn so many concepts by learning a song-it stays with them. From singing the days of the week, months of the year, 2 and 3d shapes, sight words, letters sounds, forces of motion, seasons and weather-the list is truly endless. Our class is known as a the musical kindergarten and we even have the music teacher’s daughter this year! Music can brighten anyone’s day and cheer their spirits! Music is playing when students come in the room in the mornings. I use it for transitions and for rule reminders.
This year, on each students birthday and other special occasions, each student gets to pick a song, play it to the class and we all dance in honor of their birthday. One of my students recently left our school classroom, and the student played her their favorite song during her good-bye snack. The students learn computer and social skills while having fun. We all get to learn a little more about each other, too!
I use music in the library. I start out early with Pandora playing over our system. I use it for games and getting K- 2nd graders to line up and get themselves ready for hallway travel!
I use music to review skills that have previously been taught, for brain breaks, rainy day recess movement/exercise and sometimes to introduce a new skill I love Dr. Jean’s music/songs because they keep the children moving and reinforce skills. Sometimes I play classical music (very softly) while the students are in centers and I am teaching small groups to help students relax and stay calm.
In my preschool class we use music to teach the letter sounds with Abekea learning posters. “Alexander, Alligator, A says “a” “a” “a” apple, Adam, Africa, Astronaut and Acrobat A says “a.” I also use music for the weather, days of the week, clean up time. Morning “Hello” time and we have a goodbye song. 🙂 Finally when making a craft we let all the paper trimmings fall to the floor and then we have a “Clean up” party. We turn on a CD/radio of upbeat music as we clean up the floor!! 🙂
I make up songs for everything we do to old tunes like Mary had a little lamb, camptown races, or bingo. we learn to use scissors with keep your thumbs up song. we sing a sound alphabet song, we go up the stairs with hold the rail song. my calendar is sung. our brain breaks are songs. what can I say we SING!
I use music as a “brain break” and movement time. . .I also use music as a way to memorize math facts, etc. . . music plays a very important part of my every day teaching experience! Any way I can use music. . I WILL!
Music plays an important role in the daily routine of our preschool classroom. We use music for transitions: we have special songs for lining up, clean up, and coming to the carpet. Quietly played songs from different genres played during center time adds a peaceful ambience in the classroom and helps to cut down on the need for constantly reminding students to use their inside voices. We use “brain breaks” as the need arises throughout the day. We have a time for music/movement built into our daily schedule. If songs are available when teaching a new concept we use them and encourage out students to sing them during the day and to share them with their families.
I teach SDC middle school science and history. Music is a part of our daily routing for many reasons. For one, many of my students are better able to remember difficult concepts through the use of songs (for example, the difference between physical and chemical changes). This is true in both science and history. Also, one of the classes I teach is world history. We study many ancient cultures, and they are fascinated by the traditional music of other parts of the world.
We sing and sing a lot! WE sing at circle, we sing to line up, we sing to wash our hands. Musical instruments are always available to the children as well as dancing scarves. Our 1&2 year olds love to have dance parties. The teachers put on fun, upbeat music and the children dance away!
We use music for transitions and for special breaks that we have earned.