This week our school gave up 5 days to the dreaded PARCC test. I knew ahead of time that my kids would be tired and cranky and I wanted to do something to brighten their day after suffering through two hours of testing. Also, we only have 26 minute class periods, so I knew not a whole lot of learning was going to take place.
Instead of continuing with my curriculum, I put together this music slide show. Each day we would choose a different Spanish-speaking artist by rolling a die. I would give the students 3 quick facts about the singer and then we would learn the chorus of a song.
Finally, we danced to that song using a YouTube video – either something from Just Dance or a Zumba class. My 6th graders LOVED it! My 7th graders had mixed reviews. They loved the music, but a lot of them were “too cool” to dance. Typical 7th graders ;-). But most days everyone was excited to come in and see which song we were doing and their energy and mood changed immediately, which was my ultimate goal!
