At the end of the year if you somehow got ahead or can’t move on to a new concept without cutting it short, what do you focus on? There are so many things that slip our minds so here’s a short list of some things you can do when you’ve run out of your ‘normal’ curriculum.
Creative Moments
You know this isn’t my thing, but there are lots of creative movement activities you can do that don’t require a lot of set up. Check out this post for some ideas.
Dance and Move
Bust out the folk dances, let them create their own folk dance, or try a new dance you haven’t done yet. Work through some of those common social dances like the Chicken Dance and the Cupid Shuffle.
Review Games
Bust out the practice games and review concepts. Make sure they are really in there before summer break. Things like Four Corners, King of the Mountain, Post Office, Race Games, Sneaky Snake or Poison Pattern are great for this sort of practice. Or bust out your center games and let students go through. If you give more time at centers than you normally would, you can drag it out a couple of days.
Music History
Bust out the listening lessons you wish you had time for. Need a good list? Check out 32 Weeks of Listening. There are 192 people to talk about!
Sound Stories
Pick a book with a lot of characters or sounds and let the students create sounds or movements to go along with the story. Find out more about sound stories here.
Read a Book
Have a substantial music library? Grab a book and read it. Or let the students have time to explore your library. Need some books? Check out some ideas on where to get some inexpensively in this post.
Bring them Back
Poll your students. What were their favorite lessons this year? Was it a particular game you didn’t spend a lot of time on? Was there a dance or creative movement activity that really excited them but you didn’t do for more than a few minutes? Bring back the “best of X grade” activities and let them enjoy those opportunities more!
Play Alongs
Bust out some of the play alongs that you didn’t try or may be a little advanced for them and let them work through them.
I hope this gives you some ideas on what to turn to if you’ve run out of ideas!
