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Integration of special needs students into the regular classroom is the norm today. We can have a wide range of abilities and behaviors in every class that we teach. Most districts now require that we include options for differentiation in our lessons.
Movement Activities
by Denise Gagne
Organizational 102
by Martha Stanley
In our Kodaly levels classes, Lois Choksy taught that children may not be able to pitch match either because of production or perception problems. Production problems occur when children get stuck in chest voice or they simply haven't experienced head voice. Perception problems require assessment of whether the child can "hear" the pitches that they are supposed to match. Checking whether or not children can tell if a sound is high or low is one way to assess their perceptive ability.
It's important to give students of all ages the opportunity to create their own music. Even before students know how to read and write musical notation, they can create simple compositions using speech rhythms. In today's newsletter, I'm going to use Song #9, Follow Follow Me, from Musicplay for Kindergarten as the idea for creative activities. In this song, the children make up new movements as they follow the line. It's perfect to use as a "line-up" song at the end of music class, or any time you want students to line up. These visuals come from the Musicplay Digital Resources.
In this newsletter I'd like to give you some ideas for manipulatives for the music room that you could make over the summer break.
Some of my American teacher friends are already finished school, but for many teachers you are into the home stretch and looking forward to the end of the school year.
Some or our American teachers will be finishing school this week, but for many teachers you are into the home stretch and looking forward to the end of the school year. Report cards are not anyone's favorite job, but it's important to communicate how the students have progressed in music. If we don't assess, evaluate and report on what we've taught, it's possible that parents will look at music as a "frill" or "something extra" that we do if we have time, and not as a subject area that's really valuable to our students.
There are songs for Kindergarten Graduation in Musicplay for Kindergarten.
There are songs for Earth Day in all levels of Musicplay.
Musicplay K - #137 We've Got the Whole World
Musicplay 1 - #92 Let's Save Water
Musicplay 2 - #74 Garbage, #77 Recyle, and #29 Make a Difference
Musicplay 3 - #78 Walk, Run, Ride a Bike
Musicplay 4 - #73 Plant a Tree and #72 We've Only Got One Planet
Musicplay 5 - #81 Show you Care