Woods Cross School Song

So many of you fabulous teachers have hidden talents. It turns out Sharlene Greenfield at Woods Cross has quite the talent for composition!

Woods Cross is a "Leader in Me" school. The program teachers leadership and life skills and empowers every child with the knowledge and skill to be a leader: leadership, responsibility, accountability, problem solving, adaptability, communication, initiative and self-direction, creativity, cross-cultural skills, teamwork. As part of the program, the school motto is:
  

 "Live with Kindness - Lead with Integrity - Learn for a Lifetime." 

When there was conversation about a school song, Sharlene took the initiative to compose a school song that embodied their school model. Everything about the song communicates a feeling of school pride, and I love it. I think you will, too.

Learning Center Class - Obiswana

I had the fabulous opportunity to work with some students at Washington Elementary. We took a video of this particular class so the teacher there could watch it later for reference.

I wanted to post the video here, too, because how to best teach these fabulous students is a question that comes up a lot.

Before the video started, we did some movement activities. Talking Drum, an adaptation of Talking Piano, and they loved it.

As the video started, we were echoing each others improvised rhythms, which was entirely done for the purpose of keeping them engaged while I went to get the recording started. It's always a great idea to have some things in your pocket that will keep the students learning and engaged while you take care of a need that required your attention to be diverted from your class as a whole.

The song, Obwisana, can be found in the USOE songbook. I learned this song before I knew of the existance of the USOE Songbook, so I pronounce Obwisana" slightly different than the Songbook. Choose the pronunciation you like best!

When I have more time, I'll go through the video and pull out some shorter clips or time stamps to explain why I taught the way I taught. I haven't done that yet, so I decided it would be better to at least get the video up so you can see it! Happy Teaching!

Yankee Doodle - Lynette Winterton

(Post by Lynette Winterton)

 I had a really fun week with Yankee Doodle. I teach the history of the song, how it was meant to be a ridicule or put down song about Americans, sung by the British AT us during the Revolutionary War. We internalized the song, and used it to rally and shoved it right back at them, so to speak. The word MACARONI is especially fun to talk about, as they were teasing us about our clothing, horses, "going to town" etc. in general our country bumpkin life style as compared to what we had left behind in England's class society.

I have always taught it but found a song in the Making Music CD's called Souvenir of America by Henri Vieuxtemps that used string instruments.  I learned the history of the composition and didn't tell the kids what melody they would hear but asked them to listen for the souvenir Henri took home from America.  It was an opportunity to talk about history, instruments, dynamics, emotion created by music, an element of surprise and a very enjoyable CLASSIC piece of music.  It really added something to the lesson to incorporate this new piece of music.  

THEN, one class a student commented about a book they had read in SEM called Abigail's Drum. I borrowed the book, very short, and read it over the weekend.  Yankee Doodle Fife and Drum adventure.   

https://www.amazon.com/Houghton-Mifflin-Reading-Paperbacks-Above-Level/dp/0618062181

Lynette, Thank you for sharing!!!

Room ideas

One of my favorite parts of my job is all of the fun ideas I see in each of your classrooms. Here's some inspiration to cheer us in the middle of a long, snowy winter.

Patty Johnson, King - emoticon theme

This actually was an idea I found online, but I thought it was share worthy. I've seen several of you organize boomwhackers in your classrooms using those cardboard or plastic book holder containers on a shelf. I'll have to add a picture of that, too!

Quiet Signals

I snapped this picture in the teachers lounge at Foxboro. If you're searching for the perfect attention signal, there are plenty of ideas here!

Here's an idea for hanging your ukuleles. These were hand made, and this is the pic before they were mounted on the wall, obviously.

recorder setup

This one is kind of a room setup idea, kind of a logistics for teaching idea. Lynette's classroom is in a room that is actually part of the community center, so she has to have her room setup be something that can be easily set up and taken down. She asked for music stands, and they work so well for teaching recorders. It helps give the students more physical structure, and it creates a more authentic feeling ensemble experience. In this picture the students are getting set up/warming up.

I attended a drama integration training this year. The teacher who did the training used the 5 words below as her positive management system for her students. To wrap up the class, the students shared how they thought they earned stars in each of the 5 categories. Their answers were fabulously specific, and it was a great opportunity to put the power of self-evaluation in the hands of the students.

Here's another management/positive reward idea that takes shape throughout the whole school year. Lori Tilley at Tolman shared this idea. Students earn the privilege of writing their name on whichever symbol represents that month. Their name/symbol is placed in the chain on the wall to create a fabulous unifying effect. Students feel a part of a much larger whole, and it doesn't cost Lori any money...it does take a bit of time, though.

This colorful bulletin board was also a product of the students at Tolman.

This idea I was probably more excited about than most. Kendra at Windridge uses velcro on her carpet for the students to line up on as the leave the classroom. Last year, I was looking for a durable way to create a music staff on the carpet in a music classroom, without damaging the carpet. The custodial staff doesn't love it too much when we use tape... we found some really nice, expensive industrial velcro. I don't know why we didn't think to look into this. Kendra purchased a large roll of velcro at a fabric/craft store, and just used the hook side to place on the carpet. It's held up well. I even tried kicking at it, and it stayed nicely in place. 

Wendy, at Muir had a fabulous talent show, and shared it with the school on their music bulletin board here.

Wendy also has contests where students can design the bulletin board, or part of the bulletin board. It's a great way to get the students excited to create, and also to highlight specific students.

This is more of a manipulative idea than a room idea, but it has to be shared. Alyssa at Colombia made these staff manipulatives for her students. The students were asked to bring in the milk caps, and they brought in more than enough. Alyssa made enough of these that all of the students can be using their hands and having a tactile experience while working on their staff notation.

I've seen sooo many amazing ideas in all of your classrooms. If you have an idea you'd like to share on the blog, please let one of us coaches know! You could write a guest post, or we could share the idea for you.

Zemir Atik

I had the privilege to teach some dances with Sharlene Greenfield at Woods Cross. She loves what she does, as you can see in the video that follows. 

This was a third grade dancing Zemir Atik, a folk dance from Israel. This was their first class/lesson with the dance, and we had just barely tried it without the prompts.