Back To School pt.1 - Classroom Playlist

I’m sure most of you have all been getting your classrooms ready for the brand new school year. I know I’ve been busy all week cleaning, organizing, and coming up with new ideas to help my class run more smoothly. That’s why I decided to focus more on back to school than my normal curriculum posts.

 I don’t know about any of you, but when you’re working with children, most of what you say just seems to go in one ear and float slowly right out the other. It’s pretty magical really. Here lately with all of my new kids, I feel like I just keep repeating the same things over and over. It can get a little frustrating sometimes both for you and them. That’s why I decided to put a little playlist together for each of our daily activities. When a certain song is played my class now knows exactly what to do and my voice gets a lovely little break.

I start the day out with lively happy songs. Separating from a parent can be a little difficult but is made much easier when you have a little something to dance to. All the kids come right in with a smile when they hear this playlist. It makes me laugh as they have a seat at the table and dance in their chairs. Really any upbeat song is good but here is my list.
    1. Pharrell Williams - Happy

     2.  Sara Bareilles - Brave
     3.  Bob Marley - Don't Worry Be Happy
     4.  Katy Perry - Roar
     5.  Kidz Bop Kids - Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)
     6.  Glee - Don't Stop Believing
     7.  Kidz Bop - Dynamite

Circle time is made so much more enjoyable when we start it off with a good morning song. It will take the class a little time to get all the words down. Honestly, I don’t even have the words down yet, but we’re getting there. I’ll include more about circle time in future posts.

Cleaning up is not one of my classes favorite things to do, but it is now that we play super cool clean up songs! I’ve included 2 songs for this because I really couldn’t pick which one I liked the best.

I have a love/hate feeling for this song. I love it because it couldn’t be more perfect for this activity, but I don’t think anyone should be that chipper to clean.
 

 

This is the song that I choose to play as our clean up song. My kids absolutely love it and get so excited when it comes on. They try to clean up as quickly as they can because they know when they’re done they get to dance to it. I actually have a little boy that cries when the song is over.

The hardest part of my day, as a teacher, is getting the class to regroup from centers. I found a great song that lets the class know that it’s time to come and have a seat.

As you may know, I’m a big fan of rhyming. That’s probably why I like this song so much. So far, my kids have done great at calming down and sitting criss-cross because of this song. It’s good to play right before you read a book to them.

 

This next song is definitely my all time favorite song pretty much in the world. It’s so catchy and I end up singing it all day. Lining the class up to go outside can sometimes be disastrous, depending on the age group. You can end up having a child running circles around you, climbing tables, rolling on the floor, drinking out of the toilet (trust me this can happen). Now, when this song comes on my class does exactly what they’re supposed to do. It’s teacher heaven!

The last song is the song I play right before we get ready to eat lunch. As you would assume it’s about none other than food. My class loves this song and giggles the whole time. I think it’s a rather annoying song, but it’s for the children.

I hope you enjoy this little playlist and it makes your life a little easier!