Submitted by Artie Almeida, Orlando, Florida

Idea posted March 14, 2003

Here's what I am doing for plans during this last wild week. I used to try to do calm stuff, but decided a few years ago to just jump into that up-up-up mood that all the kids were in. These lessons are really fun for me and tap all that energy that the kids have.

K, 1st, 2nd:
1. Jingle Bell Dance (just a little AB form dance, everybody has a bell)
2. Book time is The Twelve Dogs of Christmas (cute CD) - fun!
3. Little Drummer Boy. Kids in circle, every other child has drum, pass drum on each verse to next player.
4. Play drums along with Deck The Halls. Bass tone on verse words, high tone on fa-la-las. (Yes, I know this is cheesy, but they like it)
5. Ride candy cane "horses" (those big yard candy canes from the dollar store) to the Nutcracker March. A section = March then gallop, freeze on the B and C sections with candy canes held above head. One half of class rides, other half has rhythm sticks and bells. Sticks for march music, jingle bells for galloping music. Then trade groups.
6. Flashlight dancing with those little filament, fiber optic lights from USToy. Each child gets two. Put on Mannheim Steamroller, turn off the lights (black roll-down paper on windows), and let them mirror your movements. Looks way cool. Teacher comes in and wants to dance also.
3rd, 4th, 5th:
1. Sing a few tunes from the CD, A Cow Christmas. Hilarious beyond belief. Probably long out of print. Ebay? The selections that work well with kids are The Hallemoojah Chorus, Angus We Have Heard On High, Deck The Stalls With Oats And Barley, and We Wish You A Dairy Christmas
2. Joyous Chanukah (World Of Music) with the tambourine parts. Three verses. Sing, Play, Sing, and Play.
3. Play along to Nutcracker March with drumsticks on Plexiglas pieces, and also tapping them on tambourines (rim). Stick clicks in air also. I just worked out a little routine with the A, B, and C sections of the piece using these three timbres.
4. Parachute routine to Russian Dance. Very simple. Matches melody direction for a lot of the piece.
5. Paint with flashlights to Nutcracker March. (Three colors of cellophane on lights. Red, blue, green.)

I hang a bunch of lights in the room and do most of the lessons with all of the overhead lights out, just the holiday lights twinkling. It really is a special week and the kids tell me they enjoy the activities.