Homemade Ribbon Sticks

I recently visited West Point Elementary and saw Melody Brogdon working her magic with the kindergartners.  I love when I hear about teachers using things they learned in trainings and today was no exception.


At the Kindergarten training in March, Mizan gave out a CD full of great music (or MUZIK as Mizan would say) to all the teachers.  It was a fun compilation of songs from the USOE, Making Music and fun things she had found.  One of those pieces is called Moving to Music. This was a great piece of music that told the kids how to move their bodies to the music. 


Melody's Kindergartners loved exploring movement.  Melody was very clear about her expectations and reminded them frequently to use their own space.  When she saw something or someone not following the expectations she would stop the music and ask the class to tell her why she had to stop the music.  Soon enough she started again and the fun continued.


Melody went to the dollar store and bought some plastic table cloths, cut them up in strips and taped them to some dowels to make her own ribbon wands.  Once the kids had explored the movement with their bodies they got to explore movement with their ribbons.  I couldn't believe the change in their energy when they were given such a simple prop.  Suddenly they became less self-conscious about their movements and what they created was magic!  The best part was seeing the expressions of concentrations on their face as they created movement to match the music.  Here are some fun photos of the kindergartners at West Point.

 

I certainly am not a very good photographer (I need to take a class or something), but I think I captured some good moments in the class with Melody.  The ribbons were so much fun!  And guess what?  Those scarves you got at training can be used in the same way!  I hope you have fun with this too!