Creepy Classics: Have Some Halloween Fun

Also for the younger set: Raffi's "There's a Spider on the Floor", set to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It". As the spider creeps up from foot to head, the children can associate ascending and descending pitch with body movements. What a cool way to use a spider puppet, too!

Do a cross-curricular activity with art and your older kids. If you can get ahold of Music K-8 from earlier editions, find "Dweller of the Cave". In the McMillan series 1992, sixth grade edition, there is a song called "The Thing". Both of these songs try to describe creatures that are, well, undescribable! Play the songs for your intermediate classes, then have them draw a picture of what THEY think these creatures look like. Have a contest to see who comes up with the most creative picture.

For bulletin board ideas: Put up a note value pyramid, plus a picture of a sarcophagus. The theme is "Follow the Note Value Pyramid to the Mummy's Lair". Another idea: Copy pictures of ghosts from a print program. On each ghost, name a particularly creepy-sounding classic ("In the Hall of Mountain King", "Night on Bald Mountain", etc.). Title the bulletin board "Creepy Classics". As your students come in for several days before Halloween, play one of these classics. Give a brief bio of the composer and the background of the work. On Halloween, you could have a game to see which student remembers the most about the selections.

Need more song ideas? Visit ChildFun.COM for some great Halloween songs.

Put those Christmas program rehearsals on ice for a day or two, and have some fun with these ideas! Got ideas of your own? Contribute them to the discussion page or e-mail me, and your contributions will be included as an update in a future article.

Next week's article will cover ideas on planning for a substitute (even one who claims he/she knows nothing about music!)

Stop by the Music Educator's Downtime chat on Fridays!

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