Happy Easter, 100 followers and a forever freebie!

Last Friday (March 27) I reached 75 followers on Teachers Pay Teachers, so I posted a little freebie I developed to the "Bunny Hop!"  You can find it here.  It's been pretty popular, and now I'm over 100 followers, so I'm throwing a sale today!  Everything in my store is 20% off!

Here's a preview of the freebie:

I developed a little rhythm stick play-along for my 1st graders, as they are practicing ta and rest right now.  The form of this song is so repetitious, it is so easy for my 1st graders to follow along:

Then, I thought it would be fun to extend this into a stick-passing game.  Now, I don't know if you have ever tried stick passing games with your young ones before, but it is basically impossible to ask 1st graders and Kindergartners to pass sticks to the beat.  They just haven't developed enough yet.  But, I am preparing them for the future.  So, when you first start a passing game, just work on passing the correct direction.  Also, start with only one object.

Once they are doing well with the right direction, you can start encouraging them to pass only on the downbeat.  This reinforces the downbeat, as well as slows it down enough so that your kids can be successful.  Add more objects as your kids feel more successful.

Older grade levels could have fun with this as well.  Have them pass to the rhythm of the rhythm stick play-along.  On the fourth measure every time, though, have them hold on to the stick instead of passing it right away.  They tap to their right (in front of neighbor), then in front of themselves, then to their right again, where they finally pass it.  It's kind of like the end of "Pass this Shoe," if you've ever played that one before.  If not, check out Amy Abbott's blog here.  She has a fantabulous post about shoe passing games.

Of course, the Bunny Hop would not be complete without actually doing the dance.  Here are the steps, if you are not familiar:

You can also see people doing it on the Lawrence Welk show here:

My kids are really enjoying this!  Hope you have fun with it as well!

Just Dance!

I don't know about you, but I rarely have time left at the end of class.  I tend to over-plan, because I just love keeping busy.

However, in those rare times that I have a few minutes at the end of a class - or when they just need a brain break, I have discovered something magical.  Kids LOVE it.  It's a game called "Just Dance."  You have probably heard of it, and probably played it, but I have found that there are so many videos - free on YouTube - and the kids love it.  I do these only a couple of times a year, but it's always a big hit.

The week before Christmas is always crazy - I feel it's way more about crowd control than anything else - but in the last 5ish minutes of class, I've put on one of these videos, and the kids walk away from my class smiling.

Here are a few Christmas favorites:

This one is "Bollywood."  As my theme this year is music from around the world, it really fits in!  However, it is at the advanced level, so it is best used with upper grades.

This one is "Crazy Christmas Santa Clones."  It is great because it uses several different styles of music, and you can talk about them.

This one - "Jingle Bells" - is great for your K-1 kids!

And last, but not least, is "Let It Go."  I actually found it funny that my boys had more fun with this than my girls, who were still having fun :)

Happy Dancing!