Brace yourselves…

Every teacher knows that December is one long stretch of craziness before a long break.

Classroom teachers are trying to finish units before breaks, cram in parties, events, concerts, and whatever else under the sun they possibly can before that last day in December before break.

So what is a music teacher to do when the kids are restless, the time is short, and you have a TON to review?

This doesn’t mean let the kids run amok. This means to find fun ways to get what you need to DONE.

This is where the Elementary Music Teacher’s Guide To Surviving December comes in. Read on for some engaging ideas for the month of December.

Play a racing game: I make my kids a pack of cards for the concept they are practicing.

Each kid gets a full set and I divide them into a few teams. Each full set is numbered by set on the back so that if they get mixed up, they know what bag the card goes in

I will sing a solfege pattern (with the solfege names the first time they do it, without later on), and the first student to bring the card to me wins a point for their teams.

Pro-tip: I make the students get in a line to bring me things because there is always more than one student bringing something up.

If you do this, you won’t end up with cards in your face, and you will know for sure who was first.

1st phrase: MSLD’

First 2 phrases: MS

Great MRD at the end of the chorus “walkin’ in a winter wonderland.”

SLSM patterns

Major scale

Low Sol

Minor scale

Sol-based descending scale

Low Sol anacrusis AND a great example of 6/8

Low La

Fa, Isolated SMSM pattern

For more solfege fun, check out my post on teaching melodic composition with solfege.

Use this free folk dance creation lesson plan to let your kids use their known dance moves to an instrumental version of a holiday song.

Create an instrumental play along to a song – Check out this AMAZING idea for The Nutcracker March I learned from my friend Joan Long a few years ago.

All it uses are woodblocks/rhythm sticks, jingle bells, finger cymbals/triangle, and red and green scarves.

A: 16 + 16
4 Measures: rhythm sticks keep the beat
4 Measures: Jingle bells keep the beat (15 beats only)
Finger cymbals/Triangle – One loud quarter note on beat 4 of measure 8
A: 16 + 16
B: 8 + 8 + 8 + 8
2 measures – Red scarfs wave from high to low
2 measures – Green scarfs wave from high to low
2 measures – Red scarfs wave from high to low
2 measures – Green scarfs wave from high to low
A: 16 + 16
A: 16 + 16
B: 8 + 8 + 8 + 8
A”: 16 + 16 plus scarves – Scarves follow the melodic contour of the strings with big flourishes up in the air.
A”: 16 + 16 plus scarves – Scarves follow the melodic contour of the strings with big flourishes up in the air.
B: 8 + 8 + 8 + 8
A”: 16 + 16 plus scarves – Scarves follow the melodic contour of the strings with big flourishes up in the air.
A”: 16 + 16 plus scarves – Scarves follow the melodic contour of the strings with big flourishes up in the air.

Get Help From Others

Make it easy on yourself.  I’ve made a HUGE list from some of my TpT friends of blog posts, activities and ideas for the month of December.

• Ugly Christmas Sweater Interactive Rhythm Games Bundle
• Bring Winter to the Music Room Blog Post
• Snowball Fight!!! Treble Clef Note Reading Game 
• Snowball Surprise Rhythm Games 
• Winter Rhythm Write the Room 
• Interactive Rhythm Pattern Game: Shake a SnowGlobe {4/4 Edition} 
• Snowball Pitches Bundle  (with thieving squirrels!)
• Music + Math: Rhythm Addition Coloring Pages 
• Mittens & Snowballs – Duple Rhythm Patterns -Rhythm Game Koosh Ball Game (Multiple levels available!)
• Snowball Splats – Animated Vocal Warm-Ups

• Nutcracker Composing
• Nutcracker Ballet Scavenger Hunt 
• Nutcracker Story Review
• Nutcracker Character Card Games 
• Nutcracker Trivia Game
• Nutcracker Bingo
• (I Spy…) The Nutcracker – Hidden Musical Symbols
• Get Moving with Nutcracker: Movement Activities for Elementary Music 
• Nutcracker Music Activities – Mega Bundle – Storybook, Bulletin Boards & More!

• Christmas, Hanukkah, & Winter Composing 
• Twelve Days of Christmas Sing-A-Long Posters
• Christmas Rhythm Write the Room
• Christmas & Hanukkah Song Book {Editable}
• Christmas Music Activities: Composition Activities for Christmas Music Lessons 
• Ho! Ho! Ho! (A Rhythm Bump It Game) 
• The Twelve Days of Christmas Posters, Readers, Coloring, Performance Idea 
• Santa’s Secret Words 

• 5 Ways to add more movement to your classroom 
• Modern, “Big Kid” Movement Cards
• So-Mi-La Solfege PowerPoint Game (Solfa, sight-singing) 
• Music Bingo: Jingo Bingo Christmas
• Freeze Dance Bundle

• Music Truth or Dare Playing Cards
• Engaging Students in meaningful learning during concert season 

I know this is such a cliche thing to say lately, but it’s true as well. We can’t do anything. We can only do so much in a day, only do so much in an hour, in a lesson plan.

You can do it!