In a filing cabinet filled with multiple decades of teaching materials, there is likely to be a plethora of treasures from the past. On one such foray into my files, I felt as if I had scored a couple fantastic flea market finds. The first was a 4th grade Weekly Reader from December 1963! It originally came from my mom's early teaching days and ended up in my file when she retired. Check out this cool piece of historic school nostalgia! Weekly Readers do not look (or read) like this anymore!
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| Current Event of December 1963 |
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| Inside pages of the Weekly Reader |
The second find, also exciting and forgotten, was the song, "Nuttin' for Christmas". It had been several years since I used this piece and I immediately remembered how perfectly it lends itself to teaching students to practice "finding evidence".
Background of the Song...
I was in 4th grade at Jackson Elementary School in the 1970's, when my music teacher, Mrs. Kumpula, introduced my class to the song "Nuttin' For Christmas" written by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett. The child narrator of this humorous piece gives very specific details of how naughty he/she has been, doing everything from putting a frog in sister's bed, doing a dance on Mommy's plants, to filling the sugar bowl with ants. The child was found out because someone "snitched" and therefore will receive no presents for Christmas. As a ten year old, I was immediately hooked on the clever jingle of the lyrics and the bouncing of the catchy beat.
Here is a traditional version with the lyrics displayed in the video as they are sung.
Here is a traditional version with the lyrics displayed in the video as they are sung.
Here is a rocked-out fast-paced modern version by Relient K. If you are familiar with the song, I think you will appreciate this rendition as well. Pay close attention to the very end of this version.
Beginning the Activity...
We learn the song, discuss the lyrics, and sing it. A lot. I always have to apologize to my neighboring colleagues whose students start singing along on their side of the cement wall. During math. Kids absolutely love this song! I am lucky to have an ancient piano in my classroom to play it on. It's quite the relic, probably one of the last surviving acoustic pianos left in the school district as well as one of the most out of tune. Nostalgic indeed.
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| Evidence that they love to sing! |
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| It's a rare but fun opportunity to use our old Pianoceros!
It's so much fun introducing this favorite to my students and it has become one of their favorites too. We look closely at how the lyrics provide crystal clear evidence why this child should not receive presents and document this evidence on a graphic organizer together. Then it's the students' turn. This becomes their own writing exercise with the goal of writing specific evidence to provide "proof".
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| We started with a graphic organizer. |
Each student is challenged to decide if he/she deserves presents this year based on evidence of their behavior at home/school. They generate a list of reasons why (or not) they feel they have been well behaved. Then they dig deep to give specific detailed evidence to prove it. (An alternative activity for those that do not celebrate the holiday is to have students look for evidence of ways they have shown kindness to others this month.)
The Assessment...
Students write their evidence in the form of a friendly letter and send it to their parents. Parents often find this to be rather humorous as they don't always agree with their child's assessment of their own behavior!
And as for those old files? Who knows, maybe this letter will become someone's exciting discovery in an old file years from now. A treasure to be discovered in the future.
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| Lots of evidence of kind, helpful, and fantastic behavior! |
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and may your students find positive evidence of excellent behavior!
If you have a piece of music you use in the classroom, please share your ideas!
If you have a piece of music you use in the classroom, please share your ideas!
