Implementing Songs (post 2)

Happy Groundhog Day!  If the groundhog is accurate we will get an early spring this year.  Sounds great to me!  In the meantime, I'm going to keep singing about winter. :)
Today I'm posting tips to implement another song from my album,
All things Winter.

"How many Buttons?" combines snowmen with counting.  This song is a great one to use with a group of students while they are learning about winter.  I mostly use this song with students who are kindergarten to second grade.

First, you need to get one of your dice from a board game or purchase one of the big foam die to use with this activity.  The students will take turns rolling the die and counting to do this activity.

Then you need to make a snowman visual.  You can use paper, you can use felt or even a large stuffed animal snowman and use velcro to attach buttons.  (I also use the smart board for this activity and have snowmen on each slide and use the Smart Die that is interactive on each page.  Students come up and tap the die, we count, then use a button image to drag buttons onto a snowman.  The button image is cloned.  If you need a pic of this activity please let me know.).  

When you have your visuals ready, you are ready to go!  I like to ask the students what they put on a snowman and then talk about buttons we are going to use that day.  We clap or pat our knees when I introduce this song and I show the students what we are doing first.  I sing the song, roll the die, model counting how many on the die and then put that many buttons on the snowman visual.  Then I look for a good listener as we sing the song again (patting or clapping to feel the beat) and call a student to come up and roll the die and count.  Then they get to practice counting the buttons and putting them on the snowmen.  We reset the snowman and take the buttons off at the end of each turn (unless you have a couple of snowmen...which would be a great way to use an art activity the students could all make!).  Many times I have students help each other count as we place buttons on the snowman and this helps keep their attention focused.



Stay tuned for more implementation ideas!  Feel free to comment below if you have additional ideas of how to implement this song with the students/clients you see!