Winter song for classroom fun or stage

I'm offering a winter season arrangement for classroom or stage that you can preview at this link:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Christmas-and-Winter-Song-k-5-uses-boomwhackersOrff-and-Hand-Bells

It's based on the popular Carol of the Bells melodies and uses several different classroom instruments in a circle activity. There are no references to any particular holiday so it can be used any time during the winter season.
Students will be able to learn their part by singing the lyrics for the instrument that they are assigned to play. My vision is that eventually students will learn all the parts and be able to move around the circle to each instrument grouping and play each part. This can be extended over several weeks of learning and since students change instruments and parts, it will stay fresh and exciting. To purchase the score, classroom teaching instructions and student music parts, go to:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Christmas-and-Winter-Song-k-5-uses-boomwhackersOrff-and-Hand-Bells

Boomwhackers play
Snow on the ground
Family around
Cheer in the air
smiles everywhere

Handbells play:
building snow forts
bundled up tight
see the snow flakes
swirling at night

Glockenspiels play:
cookies with sparkly sprinkles
some sweet hot chocolate
with floating marshmallows too

Xylophones play:
skating on the ice
and whirling around
on my sled I'm speeding
over the ground

Thanks for looking.
Leslie

How to motivate students

Motivating students to practice or do their homework is difficult in the best of times but during the holidays, it can be really daunting. How can we as teachers and parents help?  For my own children, I find that routine works best. I just keep the routine of practice going even when we are on vacation or have house guests. I keep practice sessions short and usually try and put the session right before a really fun excursion or event. For example, if we are planning on going ice skating in the afternoon, I have the kids practice right before we are getting ready to leave and if they drag their feet which they often do, I can remind them that they are losing out on their skating time by not getting their instruments out and working with me during our session together. It works really well. I've tried practice charts, achievement ribbons, and other reward systems that do work too at least for a while. One idea that lasted for several months and that I might just start up again is an at home store where my kids earn tokens by practicing and then get to go shopping once a week for prizes. I'm working on an olympic theme for my students at school where they can earn ribbons for different skills achieved.

Orff arrangement going well

We began the Orff arrangment of Rockin' to the Zoo.  Students are succeeding in large part because they know the rhythm already and the basic melody after already learning the boomwhacker parts. I am noticing that the students are mastering the different phrases very quickly. We are learning the parts as a class so today we worked on the bass part only. During the next two classes, we will work on the alto and soprano parts and then be ready to put it all together.

Last week, I introduced a new piece called Rockin' to the Zoo to all my students. It is an arrangement that is first introduced to the students using boomwhackers and then the rhythms from the boomwhacker arrangement are also used in the Orff instument arrangement. Orff instruments are xylophones, metalaphones and glockenspiels. The melody lines are a bit more complicated than the boomwhacker arrangement so it is appropriate for older elementary students in 3rd-5th grade. I was pleasantly surprised how quickly my 1st and 2nd graders learned the boomwhacker arrangement. It took about 12 minutes of class time and they were able to play through the entire song with about 90% accuracy. They seemed to enjoy learning and playing through it several times. This week, we are going to work on it again and I will add some drum beats with my electric keyboard to spice things up a bit. I also plan on introducing the Orff instrument parts to the older students.

The full version of Rockin' to the Zoo which includes the score, Orff Instrument arrangement and Boomwhacker arrangement can be purchase at the following link for $5.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Boom-whacker-and-Orff-Instruments-Arrangement-grades-1-5