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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Let's say, "Good Morning!" Song Sheet

Welcome back to More with Music!

I shared the first song of my "Back to School Batch" earlier this week.  It was a short and simple Good Morning song.  If you missed it, you can find it by clicking here.

Today I'm sharing the song sheet that goes along with that particular Good Morning song.  The song sheet features the lyrics and guitar chords for the song.


If you would like a copy of this song sheet via email, send an email to me at morewithmusic@gmail.com

Stay tuned later this week for another post!
Have a great week!


Sunday, July 29, 2012

The Back to School Batch!


Welcome back to More with Music!

I hope all of you had a great weekend!

I have been enjoying the summer.  Although it seems to go by faster than the school year, I still enjoy it.

I enjoy receiving emails from so many of you who are teachers from a variety of grade levels.  So, in light of that fact, I want to help by posting songs to get you ready to go back to school.  Some are oldies and some will be new.  I'll also be taking requests if you have any!

Today's post is the first of the Back to School Batch! :)

Many teachers across the country work on communication everyday of the school year.
Usually we hear several greetings each morning, such as "Hi", "Hello", or even, "Good Morning".
Today's song is about the latter, saying "Good Morning".

This song repeats the phrase, "Good Morning", several times, allowing the therapist or teacher ample opportunities to model speaking, signing, and/or use a voice output device to communicate the phrase.  The song is intended to be sung in the morning when most teachers have circle time or their morning daily group.

So, here it is.  Be sure to stop by tomorrow, when I post the song sheet (complete with lyrics and guitar chords), for this song.




Have a great day!

Monday, July 9, 2012

Welcome back to More with Music!

I hope you had a great weekend!

Today's post is related to a song I posted last week about My Hands.  If you missed it, you can have a listen here. When I used this song in classrooms, I wanted to have visuals that featured the different textures mentioned in the song:  soft, hard, rough, bumpy.  When creating the visuals, I wanted to be sure they were small enough to carry around in my cart that comes with me from classroom to classroom.
I found a picture of the back of a hand via Google images.  (Don't you just love Google images? :))

I made a book of 4 hands, each hard laminated and cut out.  Here's an example of what one hand looked like laminated and cut out.









Next, I applied the different texture examples to the insides of the hands (where you would feel them).  My examples were cotton for soft, puzzle piece for hard, sand paper for rough, and packing bubble wrap for bumpy.

Here's a pic of the finished "soft" textured hand.









These visuals worked great for me and were easy to get out and use.  You could choose whatever textures you have on hand and keep them all together by hole punching the bottom of the hand and using a binder ring to clip them together.

Stay tuned this week for another song post!
Have a great day!

Friday, July 6, 2012

A video post!

Welcome back to More with Music!

Today I'm sharing a windows movie (video) I made to go along with my song, "Everyday I use my senses".

I posted the song yesterday, and if you haven't heard it yet, you can just scroll down below and have a listen to it.  The video also features the song, with visuals to represent what the song is talking about.

I make my visuals with Power Point and then convert the slides into .jpeg files so that they can be inserted into Windows movie maker.

If you would like more info about using Windows movie maker, just send me an email to morewithmusic@gmail.com

Below is the video.  I hope you have a great day!




Thursday, July 5, 2012

Everyday I use my senses

Welcome back to More with Music!

Today I have another song to share about the senses.

This song is called, "Everyday I use my senses,"  and it is an introductory type song to introduce all the senses and what they help us do.

When introducing the 5 senses to students, you can ask each student to touch their eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and hands while singing this song.  Then you can break off into whichever sense you are talking about that day.

Another idea is to have pictures of the senses (eye, nose, mouth, ear, hand) via picture cards or on augmentative communication devices or voice output devices (GoTalks, Dynavox, etc.), so that students that are nonverbal can participate, identify and say the names of each sense also.




Be sure to stop by tomorrow to see a windows movie I made for this song!
Have a great day!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Our sense of touch

Welcome back to More with Music!

Today I have another song post for you.  I'm sticking with the 5 senses theme and today's song post is about our hands and our sense of touch.

When working with students with special needs, the sense of touch is a very popular topic.

Some students can tolerate many textures (sensory stimuli,etc.), while others are extremely sensitive (also known as hypersensitive), or appear to be under-responsive to textures and other sensory stimuli (also known as hyposensitive).  There are also students who crave sensory stimulation and who can be very impulsive in seeking sensory stimulation.

When I wrote the song, "My hands", my main focus was to write a song that would allow students to explore various textures.  I work with many young students (with a variety of disabilities), who appear to be under-responsive, but need tons of exposure and assistance in order to explore the world around them.

I selected 4 main textures to sing about:  soft, hard, bumpy and rough. These 4 textures are also featured a lot in board books designed for infants and toddlers.

When I sing the song, the teacher and assistants graciously help by taking samples of the various textures mentioned around to each child and each child is assisted in touching and exploring each texture.



I would love to hear what you think and what other songs you've been able to use or write to help address sensory processing issues with the students you serve.

Stay tuned for another post next week!

Have a great weekend!








Monday, July 2, 2012

I have 2 ears

Welcome back to More with Music!

Summer is off to a good start and I have several upcoming posts that I'm working on.

I've been busy taking a break (very, very busy :) ), organizing my songs into albums and reorganizing some of my songs and visual resources for the new common core standards for school.

But, today, I'm sharing a song about one of the five senses:  our ears

Awhile back, I posted a windows movie featuring this song complete with sound effects.  Today I'm posting the song in its original form.

I like to use this song in both forms-with and without sound effects.

When I use this song without the sound effects, I ask the students to make the sound effects.  For nonverbal students, these sounds can quickly be put on voice output devices (BigMacs, GoTalks, and other switches), so that these students can readily participate as well.

When teachers use the windows movie with the sound effects, it has worked out well to have students identify the sounds they are hearing via pictures (a lot like instrument bingo games).

So, here it is, "I Have 2 Ears".




If you would like a song sheet complete with lyrics and chords for this song, just send me an email to morewithmusic@gmail.com

Stay tuned for more songs posts and have a great day!