It’s Saturday, April 7, 2018, and time for Music at ClickSchooling!
Recommended Website:
Utah State Board of Education: So Why Music?
(www.schools.utah.gov/curr/finearts/elementarysongs)
Age Range: 4-12 (Grades PreK-6, with parental supervision)
This website by the Utah Office of Education encourages learning Fine Arts to “enable students to express their feelings, communicate thoughts, explore their creativity, solve problems, communicate ideas, develop a sense of community, and appreciate themselves as participants in history, tradition, and culture.”
To that end they offer a free music catalog of downloadable song files (mp3), sheet music with lyrics, and dance instructions that accompany some of the songs.
When you get to the site you’ll see the Elementary Songbook Music Catalog with a menu of traditional children’s music and folk song titles that include:
- “A Tisket, A Tasket”
- “Bingo”
- “Buffalo Gals”
- “Down By the Bay”
- “Going to the Zoo”
- “If You’re Happy”
- “Old MacDonald”
- “Take Me Out To the Ball Game”
- “You Are My Sunshine”
- “Yankee Doodle”
And many more titles that you’re sure to recognize.
Plus, you’ll find a menu of Movement/Dance Options that include free, printable instructions for folk dances you can do as you listen to the songs. You’ll discover:
- A simple line dance in a middle eastern style
- A couple dance after the style of French Canadian step dancing
- A simple circle dance in the style of “big circle mountain” dancing
- A contemporary American country line dance for sets of 3
- A Latin American line dance popular at Carnival
- A circle dance adaptation of traditional Native American style
- A square dance in traditional formation
- A simple variation of the traditional Virginia reel in long sets
This is a terrific resource to help your kids learn songs of historical and cultural significance. You can learn the dance steps too, and it might be a great project for a homeschool support group or scout troop.