A Great Place where Teachers can meet and discuss all kinds of issues!
By doing just a little research and planning, you can use a variety of songs for any subject. For example, if you happen to be doing a unit on Canada in Social Studies, why not include a few Canadian Folk Songs in your unit. Such as: Land of the Silver Birch, This Land is your Land, and so on. Just think of the possibilities! With just these 2 songs alone, you can start an excellent discussion on Canadian geography, Fauna, and even Early Settlers.
Language Arts has got to be the easiest subject to find songs to incorporate into your lessons. Take any song while learning about poems and rhyming and analyze it! Or how about a unit on empathy and feelings? Many country songs are great for this!
In Phys. Ed., feel free to play music while the kids are doing an activity. Their level of participation will surely increase with the addition of music to the program. Think of any cardio-gym aerobics workout - the instructor always includes music, slower,calmer songs for the warm-ups and cool downs, and fast, upbeat music for the intense routines.
I am a happily married mother to 3 wonderful boys (10, 3 and 1 years old) who keep us busy on the best of days! We recently moved back to my hometown from Whitehorse, Yukon where I had been teaching Core French to students in gr. 1 to 7. I had been the wrestling and badminton coach at the schools that I taught at. I was also an event planner and coordinator for several key events at those schools and served on several different committees.
I just want to conclude by saying that teaching takes a special person who has a lot of patience, kindness, empathy, understanding and willingness to learn. Teaching is as fun as you make it!