November 2008

Chilly Day

November 12, 2008

Hey there, everyone! I hope you are all doing well on this Wednesday – though it feels like another Monday to me after the Veteran’s Day holiday. It’s a short week, as I’ll be heading to Orlando on Friday for my friend Vanessa’s wedding. But for now, I thought I’d share another weather song with [...]

Ten Little Turkeys

November 11, 2008

I’ve been trying to hold off posting my Thanksgiving-themed songs, but I can no longer resist! My students and I have been singing about Turkey Day for a week now, and I know that lots of teachers and music therapists out there are probably looking for such songs right about now. So the first song [...]

Tap Tap Your Rhythm Sticks

November 10, 2008

Kids love rhythm sticks, and with good reason: they are loud, and they get to hit them together. It doesn’t get much better than that when it comes to instruments. I use the 8″ Basic Beat sticks, which you can find at West Music, but there are lots of others out there from which to [...]

Songs for Teaching

November 9, 2008

Over the last few days, I have had the pleasure of conversing with the wonderful people at Songs For Teaching, a one-stop website for educational children’s songs, lyrics, sound clips, and teaching suggestions. After taking full advantage of this resource over the last couple of years, I now have the opportunity to make my own [...]

Friday Fave: Wedding Music

November 7, 2008

Zach and I have dubbed November as “Wedding Month” due to the fact that we’ll be spending the next two weekends traveling the country for the nuptials of our friends and family. Next Friday we’ll be jet-setting to Orlando for the wedding of my friend (and former bridesmaid) Vanessa and her fiance Luis. Then the [...]

Silly Sounds Hello

November 7, 2008

Hello, and happy Friday to you! I’d like to start the day with a greeting song: it’s called “Silly Sounds Hello,” and it targets consonants. This particular tune was written for a little boy named Rocco, who I worked with two years ago, so it was tailored to the consonant sounds he was struggling with [...]

You Can Vote However You Like

November 5, 2008

Just because your students aren’t old enough to vote, that does not mean they don’t understand or care about the election. In fact, the very opposite is true. In one of my classes this morning, the first question my students asked was, “who did you vote for, Miss Rachel?” As I mentioned earlier today, my [...]

Everyone is Doing the Maraca Rock

November 3, 2008

At least, they will be after hearing today’s song! Maracas (and shakers in general) are a favorite instrument for most of my students, so I’m always looking for ways to incorporate them into music therapy. Maraca Rock does just that…and as a bonus, it also addresses an important skill: discrimination of space (high, low, back, [...]

November is Here

November 1, 2008

I hope you all had a fun and happy Halloween! Now that it’s over, it’s time to dive into November and all the fun things this month brings. I love Thanksgiving, and I’m excited about the songs I’ll be posting in relation to it in the coming weeks. But before we get to those, first [...]

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