So many of us are excited to hear of the warmer weather this weekend. Now its time for some creative melting while playing descending accompaniment on Orff!
Warmer weather and melting snow also reminds me of the time I got to see Subnivean! The melting snow exposed the little City Under the Snow!
The kids LOVE to sing and act out this amazing magical place and learn its for real! Visuals/PowerPoint and lessons are free to members in the curriculum and Music Box.
Huge thanks to Deb Hernandez who took time out to warm my heart! XOXO
“Music Rhapsody has been so life changing for me! I always used many of your resources but after taking your summer training, my whole class has been restructured in a way that makes everything click! Thank you a million times over!”
Dates don’t work for you? Registration is coming soon for training at SMU, Dallas – June 13-15, be the first to know when registration opens. Or you can complete online training anytime!
Many teachers ask, “what do we do when we don’t have snow in the winter months and the curriculum is all about snow and cold weather?” Some even go: “my students can’t relate to snow songs! They’ve never seen it!” We think this is a great opportunity to share pictures and props and let the learning about other climates happen!
Music Rhapsody is in Southern California by the beach. We don’t get snow but that doesn’t stop us from pretending we do! Classroom props are our best friend during the winter months. Here are some snowy ideas on how to create a winter wonderland in your classroom! Download our mini workshopfrom October 2022 for more on this topic.
Let It Snow!
Cotton balls and a parachute are great to make it snow in the classroom. Cotton balls are easy to pick up and use again and again. Use recorded music such as “ Let it Snow. ” (Composer Jule Styne and lyricist Sammy Cahn)
Paper Plate Ice Skates
“Ice skating” on the thin, cheap paper (not plastic!) plates is always fun (works well on carpet). Skating from A Charlie Brown Christmas by Vince Guaraldi is awesome for paper plate skating! Consider forward and backwards, spinning, figure eight, etc!
Paper Snowflakes
Use props like paper snowflakes for rhythmic notation for snow songs such as Snow (Yuki) and White Feathers from In All Kinds of Weather Kids Make Music and Each Little Snowflake from Holiday Songs and Winter Adventures. Music Rhapsody Members, Snow (Yuki) can be found in your Big Kids and Young Musicians curriculum in your member area.
Snow Cloud and White Feathers
Wrap a strip of white fur around a hand (frame) drum and fill with white feathers. When the feathers fall, the children play their instruments (I like metals such as finger cymbals, triangles, metallophones and glockenspiels for sparkly, glistening music!). See In All Kinds of Weather Kids Make Music for the song and activity White Feathers. Music Rhapsody Members, this activity can be found in your Big Kids and Young Musicians curriculum in your member area.
Puppets Galore!
Wintery puppets like the snowy owl are great additions to help to present and lead snow activities. Snowy the Owl is a must have prop to present and direct snow activities. Also great for pitch matching!
I hope this video will inspire you and your students to create a magical snowfall through movement. Glockenspiels and metallophones can very easily add sparkle to this lesson too!
Before watching the video, here’s a bit of background info we share with the class:
Snow begins as a tiny ice crystal… crystals fall… new crystals are connected to it by their hydrogen “arms, hands, or fingers.” The “arms” make an angle like the arms on the letter X.
Tiny crystals, all connected, falling through the air. You will never find two snowflakes that are alike. Every snowflake is different.
Watch the video to see these children form some beautiful connected crystals!
Now form your own snowflake shapes. For those who prefer (or need) to watch, a warming hut is off to the side for viewing. But stay quiet! Then watching is magical too!
Adrienne, one of our elementary teachers shared this with the classroom teachers to prepare for their winter concert. They said the kids couldn’t stop singing it!
Both of these are also now in Music Box. But wait… there’s MUCH MORE in the Box!
The kids LOVE the little animals and the disappearing food as they accompany with their rhythm sticks: Tap the beat on the carpet during the song, then play nibble, nibble, crunch (chewing sounds are scraping, bite sounds are tapping).
