My Teaching Quirk-Fa la la la la

Much to my students chagrin, I have a definite teaching quirk.  It happens without warning and can last for a few seconds to well over a minute.

I sing while I teach.  Or maybe it's I teach while I sing?  Either way, music is a big part of my life and has an integral place in my classroom.

This wouldn't be such a problem, perhaps, except for the fact that I can't sing.  I can carry a tune but my singing voice isn't very good. Sad but true.

My students don't know what to do about my teaching quirk either. When I break out in song some look at me and roll their eyes, some join in, but after they get over the shock, most of my kids just smile and let me be. Because guess what? They accept me for who I am and I'm so thankful for that.

I start out each day with my class by singing a kinesthetic days of the week song that I made up. Each day has actions as well as a song or jingle to match.  I'm pretty sure you can figure out what Monday's song is.

There was a period of time in my early teens that I listened to The Mama's and Papa's Greatest Hits over and over and over again on my cassette player. #70schild

On Thursday we create the letter T with one half of our bodies and the letter H with the other.  Paired together, it looks like we are doing this (cue Thursday's amazing song).

This week in class, we are finishing up our Mustache themed Father's Day presents.  Each Dad gets a card, a personalized coffee cup sleeve and a book all about why he is is "FANTACHETIC" (read: fan-tache-tic)

If you'd like to see some pictures, click on the link and check out my student samples.  Soooo cute! During our craft, I've brought out this song once or twice because it's so sweet and about a Father/Son relationship.

Like I said, I seem to know a song for every subject.  And if one doesn't exist I just make it up.

When I grew up, school was serious stuff.  I don't remember my teachers smiling much or doing any silly things. I'm sure there must have been lots of laughs, but I can only remember lots of seat work.

In my humble opinion, school should be fun.  There is no reason that teachers can't laugh, sing and/or dance and do an amazing job of educating at the same time.  Curriculum isn't boring, but the way we teach it sure can be. Any topic or strand can be turned into a game, song or fun activity.  There's a reason why The Ron Clark Academy is so popular and successful. #justsaying

Thank you to Miss Monica from I Heart Grade 3 for another great link-up!