Songbird Studio

At my previous placement, I never got to teach summer school, but I would prepare a few "substitute" music sessions that teachers could easily do in their classrooms so students still got some music time!  I created PowerPoints, using YouTube videos and self-recorded videos, as well.  Then I boxed up all their needed supplies and sent them the PowerPoints on Google drive.  It worked so well!  Here is one, simple, very straightforward example. :)  (BTW, I've never had luck viewing the videos in Google Slides, you will probably have to download, then watch.  LMK!) Click here to check it out!

My littlest kiddos came in after a rambunctious round of PE outside that had been punctuated by a lot of larger students also outside--who were out of control and interfering with their group.  As a result, my littles were escalated and upset and out of sorts when they came to me.  So my emergency calming protocol kicked in. Every class includes our hello song, a movement activity, an instrumental play activity, and a boo k , capped by a goodbye song.  Today we still included all those components, but changed them up a little. First we dimmed the lights.  I have 3 rows of lights, and I turned off 2. Next, I began fingerpicking on guitar, using the chords for our hello song. Once everyone was seated and settled, we began our hello song intervention, but I shortened our greeting practice, decreasing demands but increasing support in order to improve emotional regulation. We did some gentle movement imitation, using scarves to this relaxing AniMusic video ....