Monday, January 21, 2013

Let's say the Alphabet!

Welcome back to More with Music!

I hope you had a great weekend (and hopefully a day off yesterday for MLK day!).

I've been going through my library of songs and discovered several I have yet to share.
Today I want to share one of those songs called, "Let's say the alphabet".

This song is different from the usual ABC song that we all sing.  (Phew, right?!?)
"Let's say the alphabet," is a very simple song/chant which features a little bit of time between each letter.  I left time between each letter so teachers, therapists, and/or parents have time to visually show each letter and/or ask child to repeat or say each letter.  This could be used for a variety of academic and speech goals.

You can incorporate clapping hands or shaking maracas throughout the song.  I've tried it both ways and the students have fun either way.





Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for another post next week!



Friday, January 18, 2013

"Do This"

Welcome back to More with Music!

I've been staying busy as usual, but have a song to share today.

Today's song is "Do This".  In many of the classrooms I work in, the students are working on identifying body parts.  We all know "The Hokey Pokey" and "Head, shoulders, knees and toes", and those are great songs for young students, but I wanted to add a breath of fresh air to the mix.

When putting this song together, I also wanted to add a verbal cue to motivate students to participate and follow along, so I added the verbal cue (used in many of the classes I work in), "Do this".  This song has worked really well for me.  The repetition and time given for each body part gives the students extra time to participate and be successful with touching each body part.

The body parts mentioned in this song are head, nose, eyes, cheek, mouth, chin, shoulder, wrist, hands, hips, knees, ankles and toes.

I'd love to hear what you think and how you might use this song to help students in your groups and/or private MT sessions.


Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Monday, January 14, 2013


Welcome back to More with Music!

Today's song post is a "re-share".   I wanted to share a song that I've shared before.  Just in time for January 21st, I'm re-sharing my song "I had a Dream" to help celebrate Martin Luther King day. The best part-it's FREE to share!  (Now that's at least one great thing that actually happened on a Monday ;) ).

I came across a very nice poem about Martin Luther King online a couple of years ago, and I quickly put it to music.
The poem was written by Esther Yost, a former preschool teacher.

Here is the poem:

I have a dream, said Martin Luther King
We're gonna make that dream come true.
Let freedom ring, said Martin Luther King,
It's up to me and you.
It's not the color of your hair,
It's not the color of your skin,
It doesn't matter what you wear,
It's the character within.
I have a dream, said Martin Luther King
We're gonna make that dream come true,
Let freedom ring, said Martin Luther King
It's up to me and you.



I hope you enjoy this song as much as I do. It's not too complicated, and if you would like to see the visuals I created to go along with this song, simply email me at morewithmusic@gmail.com and I'll be happy to share them.

I'd love to hear what songs you like to use for this topic, activities you do,etc.. Feel free to leave a comment below.

I hope all of you have a great week and if you're lucky, enjoy the day off from school on Martin Luther King day!

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year!

Welcome back to More with Music!

I hope everyone had a fun and safe New Year's.
We enjoyed celebrating New Year's with family friends.  The kids had a blast dancing into the new year with the wii and "Just Dance".  It was fun :)

Speaking of new year's, one of my new year's resolutions/goals is to post more frequently here on More with Music.  With work and family, I find it hard to squeeze in extra hours in the day to complete blog posts.  So my new year's resolution is to share something here at least once a week.

But wait, that's not all!  I'm sharing a song today too! :)

I wrote this catchy song to help some of the middle and high school students learn about congruent shapes.  By definition, congruent shapes have the same shape and size.  It gets tricky and confusing for some students when the shapes are turned, or rotated.  So, I also added a short explanation for that in the song as well.  I highly recommend using visuals to relate this concept to students whenever possible.

The lyrics are pretty simple, and if you would like a song sheet complete with lyrics and guitar chords for this song, send me an email at morewithmusic@gmail.com



Happy New Year and have a great week!