I overthink things. Inclusion is a necessity.

I belong to some groups on Facebook called "Music Teachers", "I'm a General Music Teacher", "Elementary Music Teachers".  I found these groups earlier this year and have found them a great resource tool.  Questions come across about how to teach certain concepts, new song games to teach, dances to use, etc..........  It's like a virtual collaboration team.  I love it.

These groups are also used as a venting source and it reminds me that I don't have it bad at all.  Music teachers working on a cart, teaching in a "closet", being treated as a "prep period".  I have it WONDERFUL where I work.  

Recently on one of these groups a program from a concert came across.  The person posting was very discouraged about how a student in a wheelchair was not being included into their concert program.  The program listed the students name and as a side note at the bottom said "and Jade".  This teacher was very distraught that the wheelchair limited their inclusion into a program that had been great at including them previously.  This got me to thinking.........  Dangerous, I know.

We have a student in 1st grade this year that is wheel-chair bound.  Noah has an infectious smile and a will to get him through any obstacle.  I, however, have treated his wheelchair as an obstacle and not allowed him to be who he is which I'm embarrassed to admit.  Thanks to social media, I was able to realize how I was putting MY limitations on him and what he was capable of. Considering I have a special-needs daughter of my own, this should be on the front of my radar.

My focus this year has been on rhythm.  We have drilled rhythmic dictation throughout the year sometimes without the kids realizing it.  I found a great game called "Rhythm Races" on Teachers Pay Teachers.  This was a game created by Lindsay Jervis and I highly recommend it.You can purchase it here. Rhythm Races

The concept is simple.  Based on their rhythm ability level, I tap a rhythm, they race down on their scooters, search through the rhythm choices and race back.  The kids love it and their rhythm skills have SKY-ROCKETED!!!!!  This is a game I will use for years to come.

The races on the scooters blind-sided me as to how Noah could participate.  The scooters are on the floor and I saw it as a way Noah "could not" participate.  I had him help me keep score.  He was thrilled to sit by me and be the teacher's helper and I never thought about it.  

After my Facebook group brought the idea of inclusion to my frontal lobe, I realized I was doing Noah a dis-service by not allowing him to participate in the game.

Today when his class attended, I had the scooters all set out, and he wheeled right up beside my chair to get the whiteboard for scoring.  I told him he was going to play on a team today and I am not kidding..............  I almost cried in front of them.  His face was BRILLIANT!  If ever there was a word to describe his excitement, this is what his face resembled.  Those that know Noah can imagine the face and hand gestures he made when he's excited.

I pulled a "chair-height" table out of my office and put the rhythm cards on top of it.  His team would all scooter down, stand up and search through the cards and scooter back.  Noah would simply wheel himself down and the cards were at his height.  The first round he got the correct answer and the word BRILLIANT doesn't even do justice to his face.  His team cheered him on, and I wished I would have caught it on video.  I did, however, catch another round on video to show how simple this adaptation to this game was for him.  How humble I was made today that I wouldn't think of something so easy to make him so happy.

The end of days.............

This post is being written when there are literally 11 hours of school left, but I'm going to revert back to two weeks prior.........

These last weeks of school have actually been really good as far as "end of the year" chaos goes.  The weather has stayed cool which kept the kids more focused until just recently.

However, why not just have fun in music.  Concerts are done, kids are doing tons of year-end-testing and assessments.  They need time to just be kids.  These are videos of very cool songs called "Animal Action".  These are 2 songs from the CD Kids In Action.  This is a CD from 1987 by "Greg and Steve".  These are old songs, but I still use this CD on a regular basis. 

Below are two videos of Kindergarten and 1st grade using the song.  I use it all the way through 2nd grade.  They love acting like animals and get very creative.  My only limits are they have to stand back up when the music starts.

 

This is a group of 2 Kindergarten classes combined.

This is a group of 1st graders.

I love letting my kids be kids and use their imaginations.

Kody

If I could describe Kody with one word, it would be "joy". 

Kody joined our district a few weeks ago.  He has some special needs so his schedule looks different than most 5th graders.

I get to start 3 of my 6-day cycles with Kody in some one-on-one music time.  When I first received the "assignment" I'll admit I was a little nervous.  I haven't done anything like this, I hadn't even gotten to meet him yet.

The first day he walked in, he immediately walked to some instruments and started playing.  I threw on some "rock out" music, as he calls it, and we beat on drums, played xylophones and just had a blast.

After that first half hour I decided 1 day a cycle would not be enough.  I now get to start 3 of my mornings with him.  He is one of the best ways to start my day.

Yesterday morning we got out the guitar and we were just jammin'.  He then started singing me a song.  I told him he should sing a song to Ms. K who is his aide.  He started singing and I realized how cool it was and had to record it.  The following is his song "Ms. K is awesome".

I am a music teacher with no claim to any music therapy training.  This is just a time for Kody and I to have fun singing, and playing music.  If anything, he is therapy to me.

"Joy".

Carnival of the Animals

 We started listening to Camille Saint-Saens "Carnival of the Animals" today in Kindergarten.  We listened to the "Chickens" and they got to bounce the eggs on the parachute.  We then listened to "Tortoises" which is very slow and calm.  I gave the students a stack of cups and told them to slowly make a tower of cups as high as they could.  Using the slow beat of the piece, they were able to focus and take their time.  Some towers got very high.  Some were very sturdy on the bottom which helped them go higher.  Very interactive classes today. 

Solo Contest Finale!

Just a quick update on the band side of things today............

March 19 we held our annual 5th-8th grade Instrumental solo & ensemble Contest.

I had 42 of my 48 5th grade band students participate doing an accompanied solo.  We ended with 8 (1-) ratings, 19 (1) ratings and 15 (1+) ratings.  It was a hugely successful day.  These 4 students earned Best of Center ratings from the judge that day.  Wyatt Thompson on Baritone, Peyton Smith on French Horn, Taylor Mustaine on Flute and Emelia Hauser on Clarinet.  The judge had a very hard decision and struggled narrowing it down to 4.  Congratulations!!!!!!

Aiken Drum Day

Now that we are done with our concerts for the year we try and cram in a ton of fun things before the end of the year.  One of them I haven't done in years is the great nonsense song of Aiken Drum.  This is a very old folk song that originated in Scotland.  There are many different versions of it, and the possibilities are endless.  

Today my 2nd graders sang the version I had by Music K-8.  They thought the song was hilarious as it's very catchy and easy to sing.  Then I asked students to help us design our own Aiken Drum for their class.  I think we ended up with a watermelon head, cheese body, string cheese legs, apple wedges feet, noodle arms, lettuce leaf hands, green olive eyes (not black), orange slice mouth and spaghetti hair.  My artistic skills are pitiful at best, so I didn't take a picture of him.  Maybe next time.  

Then the real fun began.  I split them up into groups with a simple task: make their own Aiken drum out of classroom instruments.  I gave them a few expectations before turning them loose.

1. Treat instruments with respect

2. Collecting, not playing

3. Work as a team

4. Put them back where you found them

Their creations turned out very unique.  When we do them again, we're going to start working on the correct names of the classroom instruments and what families they belong to (pitched, unpitched, shaken, scraped or hit). Here are today's creations

Hockey Singers

We got the chance to share our hard work at our school assemblies today. The hockey game is this Sunday in Des Moines at 5pm.  These 51 students have given up extra sleep on 12 Wednesday mornings to come practical 7:30am. They are so excited to share their efforts at the game.

 

What a great day we had at the Iowa Wild hockey game.  This was an experience I hope they never forget.  We felt like fish out of water with not knowing how to meet and which door, and ticket issues, but we managed to get everyone where they belonged on time.  Our PR coordinator led us to the lowest point of the arena where we had to wait for the LONGEST time EVER!!!!  A whopping 30 minutes with 50 elementary kids who are excited and nervous did make for an interesting wait, but they did great.  We proceeded to get lined up and watched the zambonis come on and off the ice.  After their last pass, it was time to lay out the green carpet.  When we got out there, they announced the players and they skated on to the ice right up next to us.  Very cool experience.  We led the way with God Bless America and another school group sang the National Anthem. 

We had practiced and practiced and practiced and it all paid off.  They looked, sounded and behaved in an extraordinary manner.  Very unlike elementary students.  I was so proud of them how they performed and how they showed respect on the ice.

When we were done they shooed us back upstairs and we found parents and the rest of the game was ours to enjoy.

This was a really unique experience that I might consider doing again.  Now that I have an idea of how it works I would be able to communicate better to my parents involved and help them through the process of ordering tickets, doors, etc.