Reply To: new to K-5 any teaching advice

[nafmeadmin]

John Feierabend’s First Steps in Music materials are wonderful for grades K and 1. Movement is very important in all grades, so have them create movements to songs or Classical pieces. John Feierabend also has great collections called Move it! and Move it!II which are movement routines to classical music pieces. There is a CD/DVD for each set. Grades 2 and 3 can do easy partner games, clapping games. Grades 2-5 enjoy folk dances and singing games. Some of my students’ favorites come from the Amidon’s collections. I’ve also used several from the Step Lively collections. Singing in tune and being able to keep the beat are important skills for the younger students that you can then build on when you start teaching them to read music.