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!