I want to make sure I am using music and movement to enhance my students' learning experience. They don't always have to be about academic subjects. Music can also lift the heavy mood in the classroom, teach social skills, and promote understanding of differences in the classroom.

Places to buy music:
http://www.songsforteaching.com/positiveattitudes.htm?url=tomchapin/uhohaccident.htm- Cd's, lyrics, and sheet music for teachers.

Set the Mood with Music!

After realizing how effective it is to bring technology into the classroom, I made a simple addition to my lesson during my student teaching. I recorded the words to the poem and put them to music instead of reading it aloud. When I played the track, all students went silent. The music really set a mysterious mood as we read the poem.

If you want to do something like this, you can find works under a creative commons license at http://www.creativecommons.org/. Enter in the topic or style of music that you want to find, and click on Jamendo or another listed source with music. You can listen to and download a variety of works for free, as long as you follow the terms under the license, which often just includes giving credit to the artist.

Finding Free Resources

One challenging part of teaching can be finding the right resources, free to use. I often find myself making up my own ideas and creating my own resources on Microsoft Word. Here are some resources that might prove useful in the quest for better or new teaching ideas:

Free resources for grades K-3: http://www.k-3teacherresources.com/free_stuff_for_teachers.html

Videos, music, and pictures free to use with giving appropriate credit: http://creativecommons.org/

Clipart: http://www.clker.com/ (no registration necessary for clipart use. If you register, you can create/upload your own as well to be in the public domain.)

The Power of the Video

I am doing my student teaching in a Kindergarten class right now and have found that Kindergartners love watching educational videos, especially videos with peppy music. With 31 students in a class, it has been a challenge to find ways to keep all of their attention. That's why it surprised me to see all of them completely silent and engaged in a video my cooperating teacher was playing for them. Is that all it takes?

When I play videos, the students usually end up singing along, which is a good thing, especially if the words have educational value. These are some of the videos that I have found either helpful in the classroom or that I would possibly consider using in my classroom sometime.

Dinosaur Song- Directed by Bernard Derriman

3D Shapes I Know- Harry Kindergarten

The Rules of the Classroom Song- Harry Kindergarten

I Can Count to 100- Harry Kindergarten

The Animal Sounds Song- A.J. Jenkins

Animal Action Song- Harry Kindergarten

Let's Get Fit! (Counting by 1's to 100)- Counting songs for kids by Jack Hartmann
Shapes Shapes Everywhere!