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It’s almost springtime and it’s also time to celebrate music in our school’s month. So, I’m sharing some music activities for march is music in our school’s month.
The options are endless! You can fine tune your activities to meet the needs of your students and your school!
Unfortunately, many schools are still not allowing singing activities. So, I’ll share some ideas on how to adapt these songs to playing instruments, body percussion and chanting experiences.
And there are movement activities as well as folk dance activities.
I’ve included playing instruments and steady beat activities too.
Keep reading to get all these fun ideas for your music lessons.
I came up with the idea to celebrate different styles of music during the month of March.
It’s the perfect time to teach students different styles of music from around the world and cultures.
Or, using simple movement cards or Freeze Dance posters and some YouTube Videos, you can have students easily moving to the music.
I created a set of easy to do activities to give students some experiences moving to a variety of musical styles.
In the Free download there are dance moves, actions, and video links that you’ll be able to use for class activities anytime.
Here’s a sample of one of the activities you can do with different grade levels.
Have students practice playing the strong and weak beats using body percussion.
Use these options with different grade levels. All can begin with option #1 and then you can try the other options depending on how your students do during option #1.
OPTION #1
OPTION #2 CIRCLE
OPTION #3
In the Jazz music section there are links and a dance tutorial that you can use with jazz music.
Learn about Ella Fitzgerald and watch her sing “IT DON’T MEAN A THING (IF IT AIN’T GOT THAT SWING)
And a super fun Zumba Easy dance activity to “I Like to Move It” which I know the kids will love!
In this section of the freebie I’ve included some super fun Latin dance workouts and tutorials.
Selections include; BAILA, CHA CHA, SAMBA and the SALSA.
Movement can also be folk dancing!
Integrating folk dancing with instrument lessons is a great way to add in some variety to your lessons. Some of your students will love learning about the instruments and other will love to do the folk dances. And If you want to know a bit of history about Irish Music in America, the LIBRARY OF CONGRESS has a wonderful site with some great information and links. LINK
GREAT IDEA! Connect instrument lessons with folk dancing to broaden the experience. CONNECT CULTURE and MUSIC. There are many resources on the internet to learn about Irish instruments.
If you want to do some folk dancing, you may want to look at this post;
You’ll find links to many other blog posts on folk dances from around the world.
If playing instruments for music in our school’s month is something you’d like to try, then you may want to look at these resources.
Music in Our Schools Month Orff Song: “MARCH IS MUSIC MONTH”
Celebrate Music in Schools with Ukulele Song: “March is Music Month”
Over the years I’ve seen many teachers try different things during music month.
One idea that was very successful, was for small groups of students to perform during lunchtime during one week of the month.
This included the band and strings classes as well as my General music classes.
Overall, I found that tailoring different activities for different grades worked best for me.
For example;
Kinder and First graders did movement activities like the one I share in this post, and the instrument rhythm play along activity.
Second, Third and Fourth Graders played instruments according to their levels.
Fifth and Sixth Graders did the writing, creating and bulletin board activities.
My afterschool Chorus sang during lunchtime.
No matter what you choose, it’s important to involve your students in march is music month in our school’s activities.
Whether you can sing or not, these FREE songs can be used to celebrate music in our school’s month.
Adapting these songs using instruments is easy.
IDEA #1 USE RHYTHM INSTRUMENTS
Use rhythm instruments and have the students echo the lyric rhythms.
First, have the students play the beat as you say the “chant”.
Next, echo teach the lyrics and have students tap or clap the rhythms for you.
Then give them some instruments to tap rhythms.
Finally, have half the class play the beat on the drum and the other half play the rhythms as they chant the song.
Switch parts!
IDEA #2 INCORPORATE MOVEMENT
Students can come up with actions for the lines in the song.
Brainstorm together as a class and use some ideas to model your expectation.
Then, divide students into small groups and have them work together to create a movement pattern for the song.
The rest of the class can chant and clap as they do their patterns for each other.
IDEA #3 WRITE A RAP!
Get some ideas from these FREE songs and share them with the students.
Next, have them brainstorm on things they’d like to share about their school.
Divide into groups or have individual students write their own poems/raps and share them with the class. I’ve found this activity works really well in the upper grades.
Hopefully, these songs will provide some ideas for your students.
Freebie Music in Schools “March is Music Month”, “We Love Music” SSA ACAPELLA
Music in Schools Month Acapella Round: “I Love Music In My School”
In addition, you can use any student work to create a bulletin board.
I typically had my students make the bulletin boards. Have them make large MIOSM letters on the butcher paper and then you can post other student work underneath the letters.
Alternatively, you can use some of these FREE writing and poster activities on a bulletin board.
FREEBIE: Celebrate Music in Schools Acrostic Poem Writing and Music Activity
FREEBIE: Celebrate Music in Schools Posters, Cards, Writing Activities
Hop on over to these blog posts to get some more creative ideas to help you plan march is music in our schools month.
How to Celebrate MIOSM
CELEBRATE MARCH IS MUSIC IN OUR SCHOOLS MONTH
Ideas to Celebrate Music in Our Schools Month
Music Class Activities for March is Music in Schools Month
Lastly, include your students in making the decisions about how your school will celebrate music in our schools month.
And, share your enthusiasm for music education with your parents, peers and students.
Hi there! I’m Sandra, one of the authors behind Sing Play Create. My goal is to provide teachers with interactive resources and activities to improve the effectiveness of their teaching and enhance student learning.
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