Sing hellos in different ways. Pat the beat or play on jingle bells.

After a few weeks, you will have shown the students several instruments. I like to do an activity I call the Mystery Box. I put 5-6 instruments in a box so the children can’t see what I’m playing. I play it, and they identify the instrument. It’s a great way to introduce them to the timbre of unpitched instruments, and to help build their vocabulary as they learn the names of all the instruments!

This month we have used: jingle bells, tambourines, hand drums, and triangles.

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Practice distinguishing between speaking and singing voices by introducing a toy elephant named Melody. Melody the elephant will do what the children tell her, if they tell her in a “singing voice.” If they speak, she does nothing. Tell Melody to “jump up and down” using a speaking voice. Melody won’t move. Then sing to Melody to “jump up and down” and make your elephant jump. Invite the children to sing to Melody what to do. This activity helps the students to learn the difference between singing and speaking voices. It’s also great to encourage solo singing. You can soon tell who is matching pitch and who you need to work with when they sing to Melody.

Say the fingerplay for your students with the actions. (or show them the kids demo video) Then, invite the children to do the actions with you while you say it. Ask the children which parts of the fingerplay might be said quietly, and which parts would be said loudly. Perform it with the dynamics that they suggest, and ask if changing the dynamics helps to show what the poem is about.

Sing (or play) the song for your students and invite them to do the actions with you as you sing. (or show them the kids demo video) Then, invite the children to sing all the echoes in the song and do the actions. The repetitive verses in this song make it easy for the children learn, and they LOVE this song!

Invite the children to do the movements with you while you sing the song. Sing it again, and invite the children to sing the echo parts. Finally, teach them the last phrase and tell them to sing it each time it occurs.

Do the actions for "I Made a Snowman".

Optional: Create a word rhythm pattern with the words "snowman" and "hat"
Choose body percussion or instruments to play the sounds.
This prepares your students to learn when there are one or two sounds on a beat.

Do this as a teacher-led activity, and then leave this activity as a center for the class.

Children join hands and circle left as they sing. On the words, “We all go together”, they raise hands and swoop to the center of the circle. Invite the children to think of other kinds of weather. (sunny, rainy, foggy, windy) If you have barred instruments (xylophones, metallophones) have some
children accompany with a solid bordun while you sing the song. Have students show how the melody goes with arm motions

You could use the song as an interlude between parts of a story book. The story, “Millions of Snowflakes” will work really well for this. In this book a little girl counts snowflakes. Sing the song after the poem for each number.

Listen to the song and invite the children to do the actions with you while you listen. After listening to a few verses, ask the children to sing the “do do” part. Soon the children will be able to sing along to the whole song. Invite children to make up verses about other members of the shark family - Aunty Shark, Uncle Shark, etc.)