Does your winter music class look like antsy kids wiggling in their seat because they can't go outside due to weather? I'm here to provide some ideas and products that you can use in your music class to get your kids moving and having fun!
Misbehavior & Dealing with Expectations
It's already hard for kids to sit still, but when they're being asked to sit still for hours on end day by day, you'll run into all sorts of "misbehavior". I put that word in quotes because as teachers we have to ask ourselves - are they really misbehaving or am I just not providing an environment that suits them and their needs right now? Is there disobedience a result of my high expectations? What can I do to help my students get their wiggles out inside the classroom?
Teachers have more control over behavior than they think. I wrote a blog post about behavioral issues and why my firm belief is that it's oftentimes the teacher (or school system) and less the students. I encourage to check out that post if you have any problem students in your classroom.
Get up and Move!
Let's start with movement! Movement (after establishing expectations - see a helpful post here on my general music flow) should be one of the first things that you do within the music classroom. Movement gets the wiggles out, engages students in the lesson, and encourages more participation and less misbehavior later on.
Here is a Write the Room winter music activity which is a great way to get students minds turned towards music and encourages individual work or collaboration and just plain fun! Students love this activity because it's like a treasure hunt but for music! This particular activity has multiple levels for different age groups.
Other activities include any number of singing games where students move in circles to songs, grab partners, and dance. I highly recommend the blog Beth's Music Notes to help you find fun game ideas to familiar (or new!) songs.
Interactive Activities
Interactive activities are a little different than movement activities as they are more focused on learning. This is a great time to pull out the smart board or white board and get students clapping and focused on learning music rhythms, solfege, and cues.
One set of activities that I particularly enjoy is interactive Google Slides. I have made quite a few, and whenever I pull them out my students are keenly engaged in their seats, desiring to be called on so that they can come up and choose the correct answer.
This particular activity is super cute, and I had so much fun making it. It's a little girl who's trying to get to her friends and their snow fort, but she has to answer correct rhythm and music questions along the way. Encourage your students to listen and engage even when another friend gets called on and call on students who are putting in an effort to follow along. However, always be encouraging to students who may have a harder time sitting still. This again goes back to the redirecting misbehavior and knowing that sometimes the student is less to blame than you realize.
Down Time
Lastly, I highly encourage downtime at the end of the class before your students get picked up. My most popular (and favorite amongst students) is color by rhythm or color by note pages. Even my older students enjoy spending time expressing their creativity through a simple coloring activity. Coloring has a huge benefit for students which I go over in this blog post, as it helps their minds to focus and retain.
This product is a freebie that you can download and enjoy from my TeachersPayTeachers store! It includes 2 color by note coloring pages and 3 winter themed color for fun coloring pages.
Additional resources can be found on my TeachersPayTeachers store, as well as in my freebie library on this blog.
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