Songs in the Classroom!

Last year I started using a lot more music in my classroom for teaching rather than just background noise or brain breaks.  I loved the songs I found on YouTube from HarryKindergarten and was able to find a site to download just the mp3 part so I could put it on my iPod.

This year I've changed it up a bit.  I decided that playing the whole video that goes with the song daily (instead of just on special occasions) from my projector holds the kids interest better and gives them a bigger visual since the songs are paired with great videos that show numbers, shapes, and whatever else they're singing about.

Here comes the semi disaster part of my post.  Despite warnings from other teachers I'd been showing these videos directly from YouTube.  No big deal, right?  ...Well, even with the greatest filters in the world YouTube advertisements that show suggestions for next videos can't be filtered.  Needless to say I got some WEIRD suggestions that were not the most appropriate for kindergarteners...

Since then I found a site to download the videos to my desktop (KeepVid) to eliminate that problem and it's actually proved easier in the long run!  (YAY!  I love easier).  I made playlists for all my videos in Windows Media Player so that I can just click "Play All" on my "Kindergarten Morning Songs" and all my songs play!  And then when I'm ready for my shape songs, BAM, there they are!  I know, I know we all use playlists in our regular music/video life, but for some reason this was something so exciting for me in my teaching life!  Haha, crazy, I know. 

Anyways, here are some of my favorite videos/playlists for my kiddos:

Counting:
I Can Count to 100
Whatcha Gonna Do (skip counting 2's, 5's, 10's)
Count Down from 20
Let's Get Fit! (Count to 100)

Shapes:
3D Shapes I Know
2D Shapes I Know



How do you use music and songs in your classroom?  I'd love some suggestions on new videos to use!

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