MORE Summer PD!

The global pandemic with Covid 19 has brought about so much pain, division, and negativity. BUT, there has also been some good that has come from this time of being home.  Today I am going to focus on one of the positives that have come from our current circumstances.

This summer is unprecedented in so many ways. Levels courses, workshops, and summer professional development has moved from specific locations to being available everywhere. This Wednesday I will finish my Land Ho, Falling Forward, Not Failing Forward Workshop and I have had over 600 people from the US, Cypress, Ukraine, UK, Ireland, Scotland, Cypress, Spain, Finland, Greece, Germany, and Estonia!  When else would I have been able to teach fellow music teacher friends from this many countries? It has been amazing. 

International Sunday Sharing

JaSeSoi, the Finnish version of the American Orff Schulwerk Association began in May with a Sunday gathering of International Sharing for music teachers. In June my friend Thom Borden and I continued with a USA version. Every Sunday at 11:00 AM Eastern time we experience singing, dancing, playing, and creating with hundreds of fellow music teacher friends from around the world. The session is about 30 minutes, then most people stay for the 10 minute break out session (a lovely zoom feature) with a random group of music teachers from around the world.  The presenters change each week and it has been SO WONDERFUL! How to join? On facebook, go to International Sunday Sharing USA and join. The link to the live zoom is published Saturdays.  At the end of July JaSeSoi will begin again and we will continue the sharing from Finland!

AMIS Online Summer Sessions

The Association for Music in International Schools (AMIS) has wonderful (and free) PD  EVERY Wednesday at 8AM Eastern time. Click AMIS Online Summer Sessions. Can't go? No worries- it is all recorded!  Check out the Getting the Most from SeeSaw session! SO good and shows how to create, share, and add skills to SeeSaw creations.

Sing, Say, Zoom and Play!

Rocky Mountain Orff Chapter and Regional Organization of Colorado Kodaly Educators (ROCKE) has free PD EVERY Tuesday from 11AM to 1PM Eastern Time. Check it out: Sing, Say, Zoom, Play! Summer Online Learning Series.

Looking for more?  There is a HUGE list of PD from a previous post several weeks ago - go check it out!

Manipulatives to Use for Remote/E-Learning

We music teachers love our manipulatives, whether they are the mini-erasers from Target, stuffed animals, popsicle sticks, or printed items.  Engaging students to actively create while in remote/3-learning is challenging.  I have been using Google slides to create manipulatives students can move around and wanted to share these with you here.  You can use these in many ways - the final slide has the ones you may want to use with students to go with the Bee Bee Bumblebee rhyme. 

Here is what the moveable slide looks like - with cards the students can click and drag to create new rhythms based upon the traditional rhyme.

There are other slides to use as well in the classroom:

Here's another to use with Bluebird Bluebird: 

Hope you enjoy these and let me know how you use them! 

Lemonade, Crunchy Ice Twice as Nice

If you have been on my blog for any length of time, you know my love of clapping and singing games. I liked them so much that I wrote two books of clapping games and one book that just came out about singing games! See on the left side or go to www.singsmileplay.com to see all of my books.
This is a natural pairing - two songs with Lemonade in the title and therefore, "twice as nice". This works beautifully when paired together!  Summer is almost here and it's soon to be time for lemonade stands and the very expensive lemonade at fairs and festivals.
This is a perfect mixer dance/game/activity and will keep your kiddos singing into the end of the school year.

Clap Partner - Clap partners hands
Flip Clap R - Right hand palm toward floor, left hand palm up. Clap right hand down on partners upturned palm.
Flip Clap L - Left hand palm toward floor, right hand palm up. Clap left hand down on partners upturned palm.

Twist dance down - Twist hips one way and upper body the other way, reverse, back and forth down towards the floor.
Enjoy!

A

Summer Reading

Hi everyone! Hope you are having a wonderful summer!  I love my summers!  The first part we spent in Maine - my home state.  We go almost every summer, for 2 weeks, and rent a cottage on an island.  It is truly amazing.

I always pick some summer reading - some that is required by my school - this year is Disney, other summers we have read books by Daniel Pink, Sir Ken Robinson, or other books on parenting or educational thought or trends. This summer I chose to read World Music Pedagogy Volumes 1 and 2, and For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood. I have already read the World Music Pedagogy Vol. 2 and really loved a lot of what was in there!!  I am taking the Vol. 1 and the other book with me to Finland.  I have a 9 hour layover (!!) in Stockholm and am not looking forward to it so am planning on finalizing my new book about Singing Games from Around the World (not titled yet), and we begin editing this fall! I am also going to read some of these on the plane and during that layover, too!

 It has been a difficult summer to sit down and read - gone to Maine for 2 weeks, home for 2 weeks, gone to the beach for a week, home for a week, going to Finland for 2 weeks, etc. Difficult to find time and other distractions - garden, crafts, jewelry to make, fun to be had with my daughter, etc., often get in the way! 
So, what are you reading this summer?