Today is Monday

Well, today is actually Friday the 13th...but this post is about a book called "Today is Monday." You can find the book here for purchase from Amazon. I am currently using this book as a method to teach my preschoolers the days of the week. Not only does it have awesome illustrations, but it also includes the sheet music in the back so you can sing the lyrics.



You might recognize Eric Carle for his illustration seen below:



The Very Hungry Catepillar is a childhood classic!

Andrew over at the MTI in the ATL helped me the other day when I needed a days of the week song that started on a Monday. Since the book starts on a Monday, to keep consistent, my other songs/materials should also start on a Monday. Thanks for your help, Andrew.

Michelle Obama Doing 'The Dougie' & 'The Running Man' Dances (Official V...

Get the Kids Moving

My boss just sent me a great link to Beyonce and Michelle Obama's anti-obesity campaign. I do a few Movement and Music groups, which focus on, what else...moving to the music. These particular clients live rather sedentary lifestyles, making them great candidates for this group. My entire sessions are planned to keep them moving and get their heart rates pumping. We have done dances to Elvis, The Black Eyed Peas and are currently working on a Michael Jackson dance to "The Way You Make Me Feel." My first steps in creating a dance are:

- Get the client's input - What songs do you want to dance to? I usually bring in three songs and then let them vote on which one they want.

- Watch the music video (if appropriate) - This way, they can see the moves the singer and back up dancers are doing and get an idea of dance moves they might want to do.

- Let each client decide on at least one dance move - It's their dance, right? Let them decide what moves they want to do! :)

- Write the moves down, or video - I can't tell you how much this helps from week to week to remember the dance steps...I'm one to forget!

- Rehearse - It will take them some time to get the sequencing and moves down, as well as to get the dance moves in sync with each other.

- Record - Once the dance is mastered, use your handy dandy flip camera and record their performance.

- Share - Make DVDs of their dance so they have a final product to show their families, peers, and support staff. Even better, perform it for an audience.

Beyonce has adapted her song "Get Me Bodied," and made a video and song called "Move Your Body."

Click here for the link to the article and videos.


There is also an instructional video to help teach your students/clients the dance moves. I can't wait to share this with my clients--they will be excited to learn from Beyonce and they really enjoy watching videos as well.

10 Days of Easter - Visuals

I made a video with my visuals for the "10 Days of Easter".

Here is the link!

Ten Days of Easter

Major holidays always make lesson planning easier. It gives my sessions a theme and allows me to teach my clients about what's happening around them. Easter allows us to talk about springtime, flowers, baby animals, Easter (of course), and all the fun things to do during Easter time. Piggy-backing off of Rachel's post "Ten Days of Thanksgiving," I came up with the "Ten Days of Easter."


Working backwards, here are the lyrics:

On the 10th day of Easter my true love gave to me:
10 BABY LAMBS
9 SUNS A SHINING
8 CHIRPING BLUE BIRDS
7 CHERRY BLOSSOMS
6 GEESE A LAYING
5 GOLDEN EGGS!
4 FLYING BUTTERFLIES
3 ORANGE TULIPS
2 MARSHMALLOW PEEPS
AND A BUNNY IN AN EASTER BASKET!

My clients favorites so far are the peeps, eggs, and baby lambs.

This is a wonderful intervention to work on counting forwards and backwards, sequencing, and speech production. I like to have my higher functioning client(s) be my Vanna White :) They love to help flip over my pages.

Pictures to come.

Music Sparks

Music Sparks is a great blog that I follow. You should check it out. Joann Jordan, MT-BC is a blogger who has recently blogged about springtime interventions. My latest post discussed my excitement about Spring!

Here is the link to Joann's April Shower Songs. Hope you may find it as helpful as I have.

St. Patrick's Day

I found this song (set to the tune of "This is the Way We Wash Our Hands") in my boss's huge "Holiday Songs" binder. However, it talked about things my preschoolers would not understand...like corned beef and cabbage, and 'top of the morning', etc. I adapted it and this is what I came up with.

Two goals we are working on:

Numbering/sequencing of events
Body parts/naming and finding

This song is not only fun, but addresses these goals.

Lyrics (chords are G and D7):

This is a song for St. Patrick's day, St. Patrick's day, St. Patrick's day.
This is a song for St. Patrick's day, St. Patrick's day is a comin'.

Put the shamrock on your belly, on your belly, on your belly.
Put the shamrock on your belly, St. Patrick's day is a comin'.

Put the shamrock on your finger, on your finger, on your finger.
Put the shamrock on your finger, St. Patrick's day is a comin'.

Put the shamrock on your elbow, on your elbow, on your elbow.
Put the shamrock on your elbow, St. Patrick's day is a comin'.

This is a song for St. Patrick's day, St. Patrick's day, St. Patrick's day.
This is a song for St. Patrick's day, St. Patrick's day is a comin'.



Each student/participant gets a turn to pick three different body parts out of the bag. This allows for suspense and gives them a 'choice'. They then get to turn around to the group and place the "MAGIC SHAMROCK" on the appropriate body parts. After the 1st body part, I'll say, "What's next?" It is the classes turn to tell us what is next!

Adaptations: Instead of having one person do it at a time, you could make shamrocks for every participant. I have a class of 5-6 so everyone gets a turn.

The shamrock is a stock image I found on the internet, cut out, laminated, and then I taped a shape drum mallet to the back (nope, didn't have a popsicle stick)! Resourceful if I do say so myself!

New Goodbye Song

Since it's a new month, it is also time for a new Goodbye song. Like previously stated, I like to keep my clients on their toes.

Here's my new Goodbye Song: Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye

I used the melody "With a Little Help From My Friends" by the Beatles.



What do you think?

Well Hello Everybody!

It's a new month and it's time for a new 'Hello' song. I like to keep things interesting and one way to do that is to introduce a new 'hello' song. Many, many of my adult clients L-O-V-E Elvis Presley...so I thought I would adapt a famous song of his as our new hello song.

I chose "Hound Dog" and the new version is here for you to enjoy. My clients are a little less mobile and less active due to their age, so movement is a great way to get our classes started and the blood flowing.



Enjoy!