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The Educational Songs and Children's Music Blog
Assessment of Performances
Submitted by Denise Gagne
If your students have performed in a holiday concert, give them the opportunity to identify and give examples of their strengths and areas for growth as musical performers and as audience members. There are different ways that they can evaluate their performance.
Discussion
The teacher could ask the class questions.
For example:
- If you were to perform this song again, what would you change and why?
- What parts of the song did you find challenging?
- What parts of the song did you find most interesting to sing? Why?
Quick Self-Assessment
- Show me 1 finger if you didn’t sing.
- Show me 2 fingers if you sang, but you didn’t try your best.
- Show me 3 fingers if you tried your very best, and sang with your best singing voice.
Use 1 finger, 2 fingers, 3 fingers as a reflective response for many other areas:
Were you a good listener in the concert?
- Did you like the way you performed in the Christmas concert?
- Did you behave well for the substitute teacher yesterday?
- When you were moving, did you try your best?
To view the rest of this article, please click on the link below:
http://www.songsforteaching.com/articles/assessmentperformances-denisegagne.htm
© Denise Gagne. All rights reserved.
See our Musical Plays and Operas.
Send to a friendMake Your Own Jingle Bells For the Holidays
Submitted by Daria
MAKE YOUR OWN JINGLE BELLS FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Throughout time people have loved the sound of bells that jingle. You can hear them on the wrists and ankles of dancers from India. You can see them placed around the collars of reindeer up near the Arctic circle or on horses as they pull a “one horse open sleigh”. They are worn around the wrist, ankle or waist by some Native American tribes and can be found attached to a jingle stick as a percussion instrument in bands or to play along with music at home.
Here are some ideas for making your own jingle bells.
WRISTS, ANKLES AND WAIST BELLS
Jingle bells of various sizes are available at practically any craft or sewing store. To make them into anklets or bracelets is simple. For the easiest project, begin with pipecleaners in your favorite colors and wrap or twist the pipecleaners stopping at regular intervals to string on a jingle bell. Stop when you’ve created the right length to fit your wrist or ankle. For a waist belt of jingles, keep twisting in more pipecleaners and adding bells until you’ve reached the desired size.
If you braid or finger-weave...
To view the rest of this article and to receive a FREE Song Download,
please click on the link below:
http://www.songsforteaching.com/articles/rockin-jingle-bells-daria.htm
Written by Daria Marmaluk-Hajioannou
Please Click Here to view Daria's Music Products
It's Halloween!
Submitted by Music with Mar.
It's Halloween ~ a favorite holiday for many of us who grew up before all the 'bad' connotations started being put on it. Don't let the politically correct police ruin a wonderful holiday. There are many parts of it that are quite good for children (young and old.)
Peter Alsop says in his workshops that there are no such things as negative and positive emotions. Rather, there are comfortable and uncomfortable emotions. Uncomfortable emotions are important because they make us affect change. We will all experience an uncomfortable emotion once in a while, if not even on a daily basis. If we do not give children the experiences (in a safe environment) to feel those emotions and know they are safe, they will not have any tools to deal with them when they do happen. And, they will.
To view the complete article, please click on the link below:
http://www.songsforteaching.com/articles/Its-Halloween-by-Mar-Harman.php
- Mar. Harman
See all of Music with Mar.'s Music Products
See our Halloween and Holiday Song Lyrics.
Listen to a sample of The Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid of Anything in the Audio Player, below.
Anti Bullying - Anti Discrimination
Submitted by Prue Whoo
Plato once said that music “is a more potent instrument than any other for education”.
Music is an undeniable source of connection. I have said it before, but we can all take a piece of music from somewhere and connect it to a place, time, event – something. It can evoke emotion, timelessness, peace, memories, even fury, lessons can be learnt, but whatever the means.......the association is there. It’s real and accessible anytime you want it.
In saying this, the same principle can be attached to teaching young children about the effects of bullying and anti-discrimination and the often long term dire consequences associated with it. Using music as the instrument to associate and therefore connect the subject matter, allows children a chance to absorb the message without confrontation, without fear. Making the song fun & interactive is the start, engaging your kids. Actions can be done to consolidate the story line in the verses and chorus etc.....
To view the complete article, please click on the link below:
http://songsforteaching.com/articles/bullyingpw.htm
Please Click Here to view all of Prue Whoo's Musical Products.
Anti-Bullying Character Education Positive Attitudes
Listen to a sound clip of Prue Whoo's It's OK to be Different Song.
Play Audio:The Power of Music
Submitted by Prue Whoo
Plato once said that music
“is a more potent instrument than any other for education.”
I cannot agree more! Studies* have demonstrated the value of using music to stimulate the brain and retain information. Think about how music has impacted in your life somewhere along the line. There will be a song that takes you back to a ‘situation’, a ‘place’, a ‘time’ of inpact or association in your life.
We have all used music in some way or other to sooth our soul, take us back in time, re-enact a memory. In this way, I believe, we can also use the power of music to teach our kids. Associate fun, educational and interactive songs with learning outcomes. The association engages your kids. They WANT to learn AND the practicalities are simple for teachers.
The only problem I see is that so many teachers (& parents) are inhibited by their ‘musicality’. They say ‘I don’t play an instrument’, ‘I can’t sing’ and ‘I’m not musical’. Well, I believe I have taken all those excuses away from them by writing a program which is specifically connected to Early Childhood outcomes (EYLF in Australia), and a ‘Learning English Through Music’ (International) interactive music program for early childhood 0-5 yr olds.
Parents too can get involved with using this music to connect and interact with their kids and become involved with the process of their development and understanding.
Come on board. Help me help educate the educators!!
* Bibliography: *Dr Arthur Harvey ‘The Power of Music as Therapy Musicogenic Eutherapeia’.
Listen to a sound clip of Prue Whoo's It Doesn't Matter If You're Little song in the audio player, below.
Music Appreciation Character Education Positive Attitudes
Please click here to view all of Prue Whoo's music on Songs For Teaching.
Listen to a sound clip of Prue Whoo's It Doesn't Matter If You're Little Song, in the audio player, below.
Play Audio:Musical Fun From Homemade Household Items
Submitted by Daria
If you got the chance to travel around the world, you’d find some unique and wonderful musical instruments made from everyday items. For instance, in the rural United States, the washboard left it’s soap and suds behind and was turned into a dynamic rhythm instrument that you can hear in Cajun music or keeping the beat in old-timey or jug band music. In Peru, a donation box used in churches to collect offerings became a little box instrument called a cajita. Simple to play, it creates great rhythms while encouraging both motor and listening skills as well!
To view the complete article, please click on the link below:
http://www.songsforteaching.com/articles/Musical-Fun-From-Homemade-House...
Music Appreciation Songs Campfire Songs Multicultural Songs
It's Summer Time - Do the Limbo!
Submitted by Daria
Have you ever enjoyed the limbo with your kids or in your classroom? It’s great fun and can be adapted to almost any age, grade or ability level.
If you’ve seen movies about Trinidad or Tobago or the other beautiful islands in the Caribbean you’ve probably watched a crowd of people trying to bend under the limbo pole. Music is playing and everyone forms a line that circles around to dip under the stick and find out, “How low can you go?”
Sadly, the history of the limbo is not a pleasant one. The limbo was brought to Caribbean islands with slaves from Africa. The slaves were held separately – with men and women in different areas of the ship...
To read the rest of Daria's article, click on the link below:
http://www.songsforteaching.com/articles/Do-the-Limbo-Daria.php
Please Click Here to view this blog in Spanish.
Play Audio:Warm Weather Activities
Submitted by Jamie McElroy
It's warm again! Time to plant gardens, dust off the bike, and spend some time in the park. Take the time to teach about the importance of staying active and eating healthily.
Plant a vegetable garden that the whole family maintains.
It's worth the work after you've tasted food you've
grown yourselves!
Going somewhere close by? Take a bike ride instead of the car.
(Be sure you're familiar with bike safety and traffic rules.)....
See more of this article at:
http://songsforteaching.com/articles/Warm-Weather-Activities.php
No matter what you plan on doing to enjoy the weather, let music be part of your day. See our songs about gardening, safety, action and movement, food and nutrition, weather and animal songs lyric pages.
Mother's Day
Submitted by Daria
There are so many wonderful songs celebrating mothers. And many people like to consider Mother’s Day the same type of holiday as Earth Day – a concept that should be honored daily and not just one particular day each year.
A while ago I recorded one of my favorite songs about mothers. It’s called “Here Come Our Mothers, Bringing Us Presents” and it comes from the Zulu tradition of South Africa. I learned the song and the story from a wonderful traditional group of singers from South Africa called Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Ladysmith Black Mambazo was formed in 1960 and has been creating beautiful vocal music with South African roots for almost 5 decades! You can listen to a short sample in the audio player below.
You can see my video of this wonderful song in full at Free Songs for Kids. You can also download free coloring pages One and Two to accompany my song...
Please Click Here to read the entire article.
Celebrate Earth Day by Making Recycled Instruments
Submitted by Daria
Have you ever wondered what the first musical instruments might have been? Anthropologists say that they were very simple but powerful creations made with natural materials, such as a log drum from Africa, a bone flute from South America or corn kernels or pebbles placed inside a gourd and sealed to make a Native rattle. You might even say that early people or indigenous people were the original reusers and recyclers. But that type of creativity doesn’t need to be a part of an ancient or far-away civilization. If you work with children and have access to recycled materials, then you can also create some awesome instruments that work very much like their real counterparts around the world.
For instance, take the guiro. A guiro is a simple instrument with ridges often found in Latin America countries and it is scraped with a stick or pick or rasp to create wonderful rhythms. The last time I visited Lima, Peru, young kids had created their own guiros from soda bottles with ridges and were playing them with plastic hair picks, while singing their favorite songs. It sounded fantastic. If you want to hear a guiro, color a guiro, hear a guiro song or find a pdf to make one yourself, Click Here.
And how about a didgeridoo from Australia?...
See the entire article at
http://www.songsforteaching.com/articles/musicalinstrumentscrafts.html
See all of our Music Appreciation, Multicultural, Earth Day, April, Recycling, Folk and School Concert Song Lyrics.
Listen to a short sample of Daria's "You Gotta Didg" in the audio player, below.