This game is a fun way to learn the names of the students and to get to know each other.

In this game, pat a steady beat. Pat-pat - then gesture with hands out 2 times.
When the hands go "out" you say your name.

Say names, favorite food, a sport they like, someplace they went in the summer etc.

This song is included to help the music teacher learn the names of all the students, and for the students to learn each other’s names and experience speaking a solo. Introduce the chant by listening to the recording. Then the teacher leads the chant and uses each student’s name in turn. Ask the students to tell you if they are using a singing voice or a speaking voice (speaking).

Denise Tip: One year in December we modified the words a little to reflect the holiday season. We included a recording of the students saying the poem on a Christmas fundraising CD. Parents had a lasting memory of how their child sounded when they were in kindergarten.

Teach the names of some of the classroom instruments.

Choose an instrument that you can give to the students. Show them how it is held and played.

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Hand the instrument you've chosen out to the class. I like to have the students close their eyes while I hand out instruments as quickly as possible.
The second they open their eyes, play the instruments with the chant.
If you do this chant every time you hand out instruments, it not only manages behaviors and instantly engages kids, they get to explore the instrument right away.

This is a song in Musicplay PreK, but students in k-3 all love it.

Play along with the music.

Find ways to keep the beat with the music from "Vivace".

You could use body percussion, but better still, play with the instrument you've given out.

This is music written by Handel.

Echo the teacher in the poem #7 "This is my Speaking Voice".

Learn the movements and learn about types of voices by watching the Kids Demo video.

Do the movements and say the poem with the teacher.

Choose two kinds of voices and say the poem.

This song will give students an opportunity to explore different ways of moving. Choose a leader and have all the students follow the leader doing the action that the leader performs. Stop and freeze at the end. The leader moves to the end of the line, and the student at the head of the line becomes the new leader. Repeat as many times as the students can think up new ways to move. Sing without the audio and try it faster/slower and louder/quieter. You can also use this song to have students line-up to. Begin the line-up with the teacher as leader, and the students make a line
without chaos.

Sing our closing song, "Skinnamarink".