The holidays are magical for kids. One time a year activities are anticipated and never seem to get old but and bring such joy every year. That is how I feel when I teach music from November through December. I look forward to some of my favorite lessons with my students to explore, create and play .
All of my classes experienced the March from the Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky . The preschool through grade one joyfully explored the form of the piece through movement with scarves where the grade two students showed the form by paper plate movement all the while working on steady beat , identifying instrument families and working together as a team.FullSizeRender
Part of this time of year also involved recognizing the Native American cultures.One of my favorite things is to introduce music genres through books . All grades learned the Native American song Grinding Corn and added the melody to my reading of the picture book Fry Bread . The younger grades explored playing steady beat on native drums with the song while grade two worked on their rhythm reading skills as they decoded the rhythm of the song .
These we’re just some of the magical moments of the season I have enjoyed with my students . I continue to enjoy getting to know them and I am continually amazed at how bright , kind and talented they all are. I look forward to a bright new year of singing, creating and playing with all of them!