Happy May!

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Happy May, everyone! As a teacher, I think of May as a time to wrap up my year and a time to think about how I can do it all over—better—next year. As a Songs for Teaching teacher-musician, I’m happy to help you to do these things—with songs and classroom-tested activities!

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It’s time to wrap up the year. I have created an “Ultimate End of the Year Extravaganza Package,”
which features “The Hug Song” from my Make Good Choices CD. Wrap up your school year with lots of hugs and tons of fun, user-friendly craftivities. I’ve included instructions for modifying assignments for grades K-3. From Kindergarten Graduation fun, to 5-paragraph essays, your students will enjoy reflecting and learning until the very end of the year.
This end of the year packet features:

1. “Memories” cover art for grades K-3 in full-color and black and white.

2. “Sweet Cinquains and Other Poems” Ice-Cream Cone Writing Craftivity: Children write one line of an end of the year poem on each scoop of ice cream. I’ve included instructions, templates, and ideas for modifying to meet your children’s needs.

3. “My Favorite Books” Craftivity and Shape Book: Children choose which face and hair best match theirs, add a book, add hands, and then add pages to make a shape book.

4. “Celebration Hat–Glyph, Shape Book, and Wearable Hat:” Children answer questions about school preferences and color the hat based on answers in the glyph section of this craftivity. Add writing activities to make a shape book, and/or choose to create party hats from 2 different templates.

5. “Sun-sational Summer Plans” Shape Book: Choose from blank pages, lined pages, or prompt pages to meet your students’ needs. I’ve also included instructions for writing longer essays.

6. “Keys to Success” Shape Book: Children write a “key” to success in your classroom on each page of this book.

7. First Place Ribbon “School Favorites” Shape Book: Children write their favorite things about school, as well as favorite songs, movies, etc., in this project. I’ve included blank, lined, and prompt pages as well as ideas for expanding the assignment.

8. “Friend-Ship” Autograph/Shape Book: Children sign one part of the ship each. I’ve included several different templates so that children can choose to simply sign their names or write longer notes. I’ve also included a suggestion for ensuring that all students sign all books.

9. “Graduation Cap” Shape Book and Wearable Hat: Children write about what they’ve learned, their goals for next year, their goals after high school graduation, and their goals after college graduation. I’ve included prompt pages, blank pages, and lined pages as well as ideas for making wearable hats and expanding the assignment to meet all students’ needs.

10. Simple Memory Book Pages: Attach these basic memory book pages to covers at the beginning of the packet if you are ever running short on time.

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Now, to think about how we can do it all over—better—next year. Why not align your entire curriculum with songs? Songs make standards come to life. Children love singing. The repetition is like a commercial—but better. While commercials play in the background, using songs in the classroom involves active listening for the purpose of learning. As your children sing, they are repeating important information. They can also do motions to help cement the information in their brains. Alternatively, they can read the words to improve reading skills as they continue to reinforce content each time that they sing.

For those of you who teach Common Core State Standards, I’ve designed my Common Core KinderMath and Common Core 1st Grade Math CDs to teach concepts and strategies in every single Common Core K-1 standard. My Early Phonics, Phonics Time, and Advanced Phonics programs teach K-2 Foundational Skills and more. Six Traits Writing teaches the six traits along with presentation skills and parts of speech. The book features charts, rubrics, and activities to enhance learning. Start the Day With a Smile and Make Good Choices offer fun ways to make each day exciting in your classroom.

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My goal in creating CDs is to give teachers complete musical programs. Teachers often ask what they should use in various grade levels. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Preschool Teachers: Please take time to look at my Early Math, Make Good Choices, and Start the Day With a Smile CDs. I’ve designed these programs based on my experience in the classroom, based on teachers’ needs, and based on comparing preschool standards of many different states.

Kindergarten teachers: Your students will also enjoy Make Good Choices and Start the Day With a Smile . In addition, please try Early Phonics, Phonics Time, Science Songs, and Common Core KinderMath. These programs will meet your curriculum needs for an entire year.

First grade teachers: Your children will love to Start the Day With a Smile as they Make Good Choices as well. Please try Phonics Time, Advanced Phonics, Science Songs, Health and the Human Body, and Common Core 1st Grade Math.

Grades 2+: Please try Advanced Phonics, Six Traits Writing, Science Songs, Health and the Human Body, and Make a Difference. In addition, my Skip-Counting Chants are great for giving children the fluency they need for multiplication and division.

“Miss Jenny,” founder and president of Edutunes, is a teacher, children’s song-writer and national teaching consultant. Miss Jenny has created over 200 educational songs in top-quality programs. Click here to find all Miss Jenny’s Products at Songs for Teaching