As a music teacher who uses the Orff Approach to teach (and believes strongly that it is THE way to teach music... hee hee!) I can't separate music and movement! That's not to say that every song we sing HAS to have movement, but we do move and groove a lot!
There are so many wonderful resources out there. I have a generous music budget and complete freedom to purchase what I want for my program; blessed, I know! However, every few years I go through my materials and if I haven't used something in a few years I either stick it in the music library or donate it to a fellow music teacher not so richly blessed. There are many resources I use but these are my favorites; if I had to move to a foreign country and was only allowed to ship one box, these would go right on in!!!
Step Lively:
This is an EXCELLENT resource and of course, comes with a great CD! I LOVE Kinderpolka- you can literally do this with kindies up to fourth/fifth grade and is such fun. GREAT for large groups.. I've done this with 300 kiddos and it's awesome!!! Another dance that is wonderful for upper grades through adults is Sasha, a lovely Russian dance. I've done it with third graders and I did it with our faculty one year. It begins in scattered formation and everyone has to find a partner which is such fun b/c dancers find a new partner each time. My students LOVE this dance and beg for it! There are MANY others in this book.
Another Step Lively I don't use as frequently but still chock full of good stuff:
I also should say that Step Lively has 2 French resources; one is a collection of French songs/dances and another is a Canadian resource. If I still lived in Maine I would definitely use these as we have large populations of French Canadians (like me; my grandparents were from Canada.. oui!).
Who in the world could do without the New England Dance Masters and the Amidons. LOVELY people, amazingly talented folk musicians, storytellers, teachers, and dance instructors!
One of my students favorite dances, Sashay the Donut, can be found in this book... SOOOOO much fun, people!!
There are other wonderful resources that I couldn't do without, also by the New England Dancing Masters:
Hope you enjoyed this post and got some new ideas for movin' and groovin' with your students! Now go "MOVE IT"!
This is an EXCELLENT resource and of course, comes with a great CD! I LOVE Kinderpolka- you can literally do this with kindies up to fourth/fifth grade and is such fun. GREAT for large groups.. I've done this with 300 kiddos and it's awesome!!! Another dance that is wonderful for upper grades through adults is Sasha, a lovely Russian dance. I've done it with third graders and I did it with our faculty one year. It begins in scattered formation and everyone has to find a partner which is such fun b/c dancers find a new partner each time. My students LOVE this dance and beg for it! There are MANY others in this book.
Another Step Lively I don't use as frequently but still chock full of good stuff:
I also should say that Step Lively has 2 French resources; one is a collection of French songs/dances and another is a Canadian resource. If I still lived in Maine I would definitely use these as we have large populations of French Canadians (like me; my grandparents were from Canada.. oui!).
Who in the world could do without the New England Dance Masters and the Amidons. LOVELY people, amazingly talented folk musicians, storytellers, teachers, and dance instructors!
One of my students favorite dances, Sashay the Donut, can be found in this book... SOOOOO much fun, people!!
There are other wonderful resources that I couldn't do without, also by the New England Dancing Masters:
Hope you enjoyed this post and got some new ideas for movin' and groovin' with your students! Now go "MOVE IT"!
I am, of course, very fond of the New England Dance Masters books, but I had not heard about the Step Lively resources. I will definitely check them out! I'm with you on the importance of movement. I mean, if you look at how music is normally experienced in life, here, around the world, and throughout history, it is only a very tiny sliver that is experienced without full body movement. And come on, we're talking about KIDS! ;) Thanks for sharing your favorite resources. Very helpful. #fermatafridays
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