Music is an essential part of education for pre-school, elementary students, and students with special needs and ESL. It enables students to contribute and be involved in an activity at their skill level and aids in providing a sense of community. Here are a couple of simple ideas for using music to aid in communication, fun, and involvement.
First, use a welcome song especially a name song to be used in the beginning of class. This serves two purposes one to aid in learning names and two to make each student feel special.
Songs can also be used to signal everything from lining up to gathering up supply’s at the end of the day. They can signal it is time to change subjects or to go to the rug for a story. The ideas are limitless. Music is a powerful motivator and a fun way to signal daily tasks. You’ll be surprised how quickly the students learn to respond to music. (Hint you don’t have to sing them per-recordings can be used to as long as they are used consistently).
