Favorite Lesson Ideas for St. Paddy's Day

Hi everyone! 

My first post on the blog, so exciting!  There are quite a few music teacher bloggers out there that have been such a source of inspiration for my teaching!  Especially, Mrs. Miracle Music Room, she actually teaches in the school district I grew up in.  I was astonished when I read this in her bio after reading quite a few posts of hers.  

This is my second year teaching and I LOVE what I do.  It is so rewarding searching for resources and fresh ideas to bring to the classroom.  Usually, those sources, with the best finds, are blogs, so...I just had to try to start my own.  It looks like so much fun :) 

I would like to start off with a peek into my week! 

It is the week before spring break, and I know we will all be chomping at the bit. My lessons will need to keep everybody (including myself!) moving.  My school is a modified year round schedule so we will be missing two weeks in March which means no St. Patty's Day at school.  I can't help but include some activities before we leave! Here are some of my favorite resources and activities.  

1. St. Patrick's Day Video

Here is a video that explains the story of St. Patrick's Day and some fun customs.  After watching we talked about what we learned.  This video expands on the religious roots of the holiday, if that is something that would not be appropriate at your school, just skip to about 2:30.  Each class had a fun debate about the leprechauns and if they are real or not ;) 

2. Steal the Gold 

This is a very fun game by Lindsey Jervis from the Kodaly Inspired Classroom. This game can be used to review rhythm concepts and work on identification.  Lindsey has included many different rhythm concept sets too.  Find it here

3. "Shamrock" from Boogie, Blues, and Ballads

Boogie, Blues, and Ballads is an amazing resource of orff arrangements.  I used the piece called "Shamrock" for K-2.  In Kinder, we just learned the adorable song and made up movements for the select words in the piece.  First added the non-pitched percussion and second grade added the barred instruments.  I love when you can take a piece and build upon it each year.  It is always nice to come back to something and expand on it. If you would like to look/purchase the book, Click here!