Three Things

I'm very excited to be joining up with fellow bloggers for Aileen Miracle 's  
Linky Party called "Three Things".  In these posts, we will be blogging about three fun, exciting things we are using in our classrooms. 

 

#1.  Puppets Vocal Exploration and Call and Response

I teach Junior Kindergarten through Fourth Grade and especially for the little ones, JrK/K I often use these stick puppets to teach call and response and vocal exploration.  They always crack the wee ones up and I find so many uses for them; exploring vocal ranges, types of voices (animal, alien, etc.) and for teaching movement directions as well (hold one in left hand for actions to the left, another in right, etc.).  These little critters are durable and oh-so-fun.  Available here.

 

#2. Hands to Hands, Clapping Songs and Games from Around the World

I have used many songs from my book that my kiddos love, especially Global Greetings!  The middle part of the song has "hello" in 8 different languages and various ways to say "hi" in English.  A very fun clapping mixer game is included!! The book is on the upper left part of the page, and is available from Beatin' Path Publications

here.

#3.  Stretchy Bands!

One thing I couldn't do without are my stretchy bands!  I have several I made years ago out of white nylons I dyed.  You can get boxes of flawed white nylons from Hanes/Leggs companies (or used to be able to get them), cut the legs into 4-6" segments and dye the hose with Rit dye.  You then twist them into slip knots and create long chains then connect them.  I use these not only for circle dances, to move and groove and assess rhythm notes (piece of upbeat music playing, call out "quarter notes" students move the band up and down to quarter note beat, etc.), but I also use them to differentiate areas of the room or instrument parts as seen below.  This is especially effective with little ones who just can't contain/control themselves around instruments that are set up around a room!! :)