December Music--A Christmas Carol

It was also my turn to teach music for our co-op in December. (We do 2 month rotations and teach art one month then music the other). Music is a bit harder for me to teach, but I found a cute idea somewhere out there. I began by pretending to be Marley's ghost telling the kids that 3 spirits would visit them and teach them about Christmas music. The activity took 3 weeks and each week I was a different spirit.
Week 1--The Ghost of Christmas Music Past. I taught about the song "Silent Night". It was originally written for guitar because the organ of the church was broken. I found some guitar music for the kids to listen to and they didn't recognize the song. Then I told the story about World War II and how a "truce" was called Christmas Eve and that song was one of the songs sang. Then Braedi played the song on the piano and we all sang along.
Week 2--The Ghost of Christmas Music Present. I introduced the song "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer". I told the story of how it was written as an advertising gimmick for a department store and was based on the author's childhood experiences of being teased. Then we read the original story and sang the song.
Week 3--The Ghost of Christmas Music Future. I told the kids that they are the future and so we talked about their favorite Christmas songs. I started by sharing one of my favorites--"Drummer Boy"--then each kids told theirs and we sang it.
I love Christmas music and it was fun for me to learn more about some of the songs.
This is Marley's homemade chain.