Welcome back to another great school year!

Welcome back to another wonderful year making music with your students. If you are feeling anything like myself, the thought of walking into your school building makes you...well...a little nauseous. Once I get in the groove of teaching, all will be well, but crossing over the starting line is the hardest part. My summer has flown by, of all summers this one has been packed with incredible memories and busy plans. In June, I got married in Raleigh, went on a honeymoon to Banff in Canada and ever since then I’ve tried so hard to get back to this new normal. For the rest of my summer, I started my kindermusik certification and also taught a special topic session at Appalachian’s Orff Levels. It has been a summer to remember and I can't believe it's coming to an end.

It’s always refreshing to attend the first Orff workshop and ease back into teaching. This workshop is August 19 with Bethann Hepburn at Durham Academy's Lower School. Bethann is one of the authors of Purposeful Pathways and I saw her last November at the AOSA national conference. I'm so excited because we are in for such a treat. I was blown away by her ability to differentiate activities to meet the needs of all students. After her session, I went back to teach her lessons and the kids loved them. I can't wait to get more ideas from her. For more info and registration, go to cccaosa.com. We would love to see you there. Everyone at CCCAOSA, myself included, wants to help you start this year off right, therefore I’ve compiled my first week of school lessons to share with you today.

Register for the workshop

For the first week of lessons, I try my best to find a fun theme to start off the year. Honestly, I do this for myself, because it you’re not careful you will bore yourself by saying all of the expectations over and over again. When making my first week’s lessons, I consider a couple of other things too. They MUST sing, I don’t want to fight with my older kids about whether they are going to sing or not, by getting them to sing day one I don’t have to fight that battle. On the flip side, I want them to leave feeling like they have enjoyed themselves. We only get one first impression, if that doesn’t go well it’s an uphill battle for the rest of the year.

This year, my name has changed and I thought that could be my theme. I’m counting on the kids to help me adjust, so making it a big deal to them might help them and me. I found this book, Catalina Magdalena Hoopenstiner Wallendiner Hogan Logan Bogan Was Her Name by Tedd Arnold. It’s a camp song all about this little girl with a crazy name and guess what….she get’s married and her name changes at the end of it. It’s a great little song, because it’s simple and repetitive. Every grade will read this story, go over expectations and then play a name game until the end of class.

I also created a little Orff Arrangement to go along with the song. This will be great for my older kids to get mallets back in their hands and maybe even play recorder too! For the younger grades, I will get them on the Orff instruments by improvising a B section using their names. This song and story stands well on it’s on, but if you want to give the Orff arrangement a shot go for it!

Use what you can! If you have any questions, you can comment below, tweet us @cccaosa or comment on our facebook page. We will be happy to help in anyway you need, just ask!

Happy Music Making! 

~Jessica