Music is magic! Music makes things memorable. We all learned our ABC’s from a song and we can retain lots of information when we sing it.

Start your day with a Hello Song! This one is a substitution song. You can insert into the song whatever you are doing that day. Greet your students with the positive message that you are happy they are here with you today.

Hello My Friends
By Pam Donkin ©2006
A free mp3 of this song is on the Music Downloads page.

Hello my friends, I’m so happy that you’re here today
Hello my friends, I’m so happy that you’re here
Hello my friends, I’m so happy that you’re here today
Because you’re here we’re going to:
(examples: count, count by twos, write our names, bake a cake etc.)

Here is a Goodbye song that you can end your day with. Additional lyrics are shown for the end of the school year. It’s a call response song so you can sing a line and ask the children to be your echo.

Time To Say Goodbye
By Pam Donkin ©2006
A free mp3 of this song is on the Music Downloads page.

Time to say goodbye
Goodbye everyone
Time to say goodbye
We sure had fun
We sang some songs
We made some friends
Time to say goodbye
Now our time must end

For end of school:

Time to say goodbye
Goodbye Everyone
Time to say goodbye
Now Kindergarten’s done (or Preschool’s done)
We learned to read,
We learned to write,
We learned to play,
And not to fight.

Time to say Goodbye
Its time to go
We learned so much
Had time to grow
We made some friends
We’ll not forget
First grade is next
And we’re all set

Here is "Planting Seeds of Love" that you can sing any time. There is a free mp3 download of the following song on the Music Downloads page. Also, feel free to download the musical accompaniment or music notation.

Planting Seeds of Love
By Pam Donkin ©2004
A free mp3 of this song is on the Music Downloads page.

Chorus
And as they grow
They overflow
In every part
Of my heart
Heart to heart
Friend to friend

Verse 1
I am planting seeds of love in my heart
I am planting seeds of love in my heart
And as they grow, I take them everywhere I go
I am planting seeds of love in my heart

Chorus

Verse 2
I am planting seeds of peace in my heart
I am planting seeds of peace in my heart
And as they grow, I take them everywhere I go
I am planting seeds of peace in my heart

Chorus

Verse 3
I am planting seeds of song in my heart
I am planting seeds of song in my heart
And as they grow, I take them everywhere I go
I am planting seeds of song in my heart

Chorus

Verse 4
I am planting seeds of love in my heart
I am planting seeds of love in my heart
And as they grow, I take them everywhere I go
I am planting seeds of love in my heart

Kitchen Jam

We don’t necessarily need to buy expensive percussion instruments. Sometimes it’s just fun to have a kitchen jam. To play along with the song hitting a pot or oatmeal box, or scraping an empty plastic ice tray. Then we can feel we can make music any old time!

Home or classroom activity: Use wooden or plastic bowls, potato masher, spoons, colanders, oatmeal or chip containers, plastic ice trays etc. Take an empty container like a yoghurt container and fill it with dry beans. Tap, shake or scrape them (that’s the definition or a percussion instrument) and then talk about the different sounds you can hear, how are they different, can they be changed etc. Does a small bowl make the same sound as a large one? Play along with the kitchen jam song. Do a marching band! Here’s an idea for making a cookie tin marching drum that I got from my friend, Anna Stange. Use ribbon to desired length and simply put the ends between the tin & its cover--close the tin, and you have a great marching drum. Give the children materials to glue on the sides & bottoms of the tins.

Find the rhythm. Demonstrate the rhythms to your students. Tap out a rhythm and have them echo it back to you. Try 4/4 time and 3/4 time.

Listening skills: Listen to the different sounds from wood vs metal, high vs low etc. soft and loud.

Curriculum Connection: Science, Music, Imagination

Make an instrument:

Toilet Paper Kazoo
Punch a hole in one end of the toilet paper tube. On the other end, secure a piece of wax paper with a rubber band. Make sounds into the open end making sure not to cover the punched hole. Then there is no need to make any kind of a slit in the wax paper at all.

Shaker
Take a film canister or yoghurt container and fill it with either dry beans or small macaroni. Close the container and put tape around the cap to secure it. Shake it, shake it, shake it in your favorite jeans, along with the Kitchen Jam song on Pam’s CD "A Hop, Skip, and a Jump!"