This week, I'm blogging about my playlists for each grade level, in my music room. For more information about how and why I'm using playlists,  check out this post . Today, let's talk about fifth grade! Here are three recordings from my fifth grade playlist: #1: I Love a Rainy Night by Eddie Rabbitt  A few years ago, I found a dance for this song in a resource from Sanna Longden, which you can now view for free here . My fifth graders LOVE this line dance...and when you find a dance that fifth graders love, then, well, you have to do it every year! #2: Oh a Shoe a Shoe As I wrote about in this post, I read "World Music Pedagogy, Volume 2," by Christopher Roberts and Amy Beegle this summer. It was such a great read, with really practical ideas for implementing world music listening lessons in your classroom. This song was mentioned in the book as a possible listening lesson, with opportunities for students to listen intently, identify words......

With the start of the new year, many of us are thinking about being more healthy and getting more exercise. As music teachers, we are very lucky that we aren't sitting behind a desk all day and can get up and dance with our students! Below are three of my all-time favorite folk dances, as well as three of my favorite folk dance resources. These dances are GREAT for getting exercise, working with a partner, understanding dance formations, keeping in time with music, and so much more! "Highway No. 1" by the Shenanigans This is one of my absolute favorites! You can buy the track on iTunes here , and the directions are within the song itself. Students simply listen, pretend to drive a car around the room, and make stops on Highway No. 1 (which is a highway that goes around the perimeter of Australia.) At each stop, students do motions, like "walk, walk, run, run, run," or "step, together, wiggle." Students really love this dance! I've used it at inform......

With the start of the new year, many of us are thinking about being more healthy and getting more exercise. As music teachers, we are very lucky that we aren't sitting behind a desk all day and can get up and dance with our students! Below are three of my all-time favorite folk dances, as well as three of my favorite folk dance resources. These dances are GREAT for getting exercise, working with a partner, understanding dance formations, keeping in time with music, and so much more! "Highway No. 1" by the Shenanigans This is one of my absolute favorites! You can buy the track on iTunes here , and the directions are within the song itself. Students simply listen, pretend to drive a car around the room, and make stops on Highway No. 1 (which is a highway that goes around the perimeter of Australia.) At each stop, students do motions, like "walk, walk, run, run, run," or "step, together, wiggle." Students really love this dance! I've used it at inform......

As a music teacher, we have the opportunity to buy some really fun things for our classroom! Perhaps you've seen tennis balls or ribbons in another music teacher's room, and you've wondered how they incorporate those props into their music classroom. Here are my five favorite props for the music classroom: #1: Stretchy band I first saw a stretchy band as a way to incorporate movement into an early childhood music class. There are truly SO many possibilities for using the stretchy band (which you can purchase here .) My favorite way of using it so far is to help students learn how to stay in a circle during a circle dance. My second graders will be performing "Seven Jumps" for their performance this week, and the stretchy band is a GREAT tool for this (as otherwise, with that dance, kids might lose their balance!) Here is a video of "Seven Jumps" without the stretchy band; you can purchase the music on iTunes (my favorite recording is by the Shenanigans).......

As a music teacher, we have the opportunity to buy some really fun things for our classroom! Perhaps you've seen tennis balls or ribbons in another music teacher's room, and you've wondered how they incorporate those props into their music classroom. Here are my five favorite props for the music classroom: #1: Stretchy band I first saw a stretchy band as a way to incorporate movement into an early childhood music class. There are truly SO many possibilities for using the stretchy band (which you can purchase here .) My favorite way of using it so far is to help students learn how to stay in a circle during a circle dance. My second graders will be performing "Seven Jumps" for their performance this week, and the stretchy band is a GREAT tool for this (as otherwise, with that dance, kids might lose their balance!) Here is a video of "Seven Jumps" without the stretchy band; you can purchase the music on iTunes (my favorite recording is by the Shenanigans).......

This past week, my fourth graders performed a program based on the book, "Olivia's Birds" by Olivia Bouler.  The book is a really inspiring true story about an 11-year-old named Olivia who helped Audubon by donating her art to people who contributed to the Gulf Clean-Up Campaign. All of the art and text throughout the book is created by Olivia! Today, I'm blogging with a summary of songs and dances I used for the program, as well as scenery ideas and an idea for donating to Audubon! I did this program with fourth grade, but it could easily be adapted for third or fifth. Here are the details; keep in mind that I jumped around a bit in the book, since the book isn't exactly chronological. I split the text up between 28 narrators, but I didn't use all of the text, and I added a little text to suit my needs (I'll include the text I changed.) Most of the book is about different types of birds, so you could exchange some of the songs I suggest for different bird......

This past week, my fourth graders performed a program based on the book, "Olivia's Birds" by Olivia Bouler.  The book is a really inspiring true story about an 11-year-old named Olivia who helped Audubon by donating her art to people who contributed to the Gulf Clean-Up Campaign. All of the art and text throughout the book is created by Olivia! Today, I'm blogging with a summary of songs and dances I used for the program, as well as scenery ideas and an idea for donating to Audubon! I did this program with fourth grade, but it could easily be adapted for third or fifth. Here are the details; keep in mind that I jumped around a bit in the book, since the book isn't exactly chronological. I split the text up between 28 narrators, but I didn't use all of the text, and I added a little text to suit my needs (I'll include the text I changed.) Most of the book is about different types of birds, so you could exchange some of the songs I suggest for different bird......