Hi all! I'm linking up with Head Over Heels for Teaching's Spark Student Motivation linky. This idea actually comes from the Penn State intern I had in my class all year this past year!
We have a lot of basic grammar skills that my kiddos still struggle with, and while I usually like to address grammar through my writing conferences, we decided to take one mini-lesson a week and devote it to these types of skills. The result was "Tunes Tuesday." On Tuesdays we pick a grammar skill and find a song that has examples of that skill throughout the lyrics. We take song suggestions from the kids. We print out the lyrics and have the kids find and highlight the examples while we project the music video of the song. The kids LOVE Tunes Tuesday and look forward to it every single week. Kids love music and they love highlighting things!
I've found it a simple, but effective way to turn a boring activity (like practicing grammar skills) into something the kids look forward to. And it takes very little time too. Most of the videos are only a few minutes long, and the instructional part of the mini-lesson is usually pretty brief.
The ONE piece of advice I would give is to preview the videos and read through the lyric carefully. They make a lot of popular songs have "Kids' Bop" type clean versions too though!
Click the picture below for a link to a free, simple set of lyrics for "Eye of the Tiger." A kid actually requested that song, and they all thought the video was hilarious. We used this song to have the kids practice picking out pronouns!
How motivating! I would love to read more about it and get ideas for other songs for other parts of speech!
ReplyDeleteDiane
Fifth in the Middle
I'll have to post some more then! Thanks!
DeleteThis is such a great idea. What a fun way to help kids learn a not-so-fun topic. Using song lyrics makes grammar seem more real. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHunter's Tales from Teaching
LOVE IT NICK! Perfect to teach grammar! I agree with Diane, I want more! I think you should make a unit for Tune Tuesdays! So clever! Thanks for sharing and linking up!
ReplyDeleteJoanne
Head Over Heels For Teaching
I think I'll put together a set of them as a freebie soon!
DeleteNick,
ReplyDeleteThis is pretty cool. I'd want be introducing them to some older music too. You could actually have them compare older songs and lyrics to new one and check out how vocabulary changed (or hasn't) over time.
This is a really cool idea.
thanks for sharing
matt
Digital: Divide & Conquer
What a neat idea! So funny that you'd use Eye of the Tiger as your example... one of my fifth graders just mentioned this in her memory book as her favorite song! Was it recently in a kids' movie or something?!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
~Erin
Mrs. Beattie's Classroom
What an awesome idea! Kids love music and so do I. :-)
ReplyDeleteCarla
Surviving Sixth Grade
Great idea! Kids love music..heck, so do I! Thanks for sharing! :)
ReplyDelete~Brandee
Creating Lifelong Learners
What a great idea! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete~Courtney
Polka Dot Lesson Plans
Thanks for sharing! I love using music to teach and already incorporate it when I can. I am totally into the idea of "Tune Tuesday" and what a great idea to use songs to teach dry topics like grammar. Kudos! I am so happy to have discovered your blog.
ReplyDeleteKristy
The Phonics Phenomenon
This idea is wonderful! We focus rather intently on grammar at the beginning of the year as we have such a high population of EL kiddos. This will be sure to capture their attention. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteLori
Life in Room 24
LOVE THIS LOVE THIS LOVE THIS! Absolutely pinning it and can't wait to see more songs! :) Thank you so much for posting it. I am so excited to try this next year!
ReplyDeleteAmanda
Reaching for the TOP!
It is so true that kiddos love highlighting! I am your newest follower :)
ReplyDeleteLauren
The Sweetest Thing
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