Dance, Dance, Dance

Set the tone of your school year (or anytime!) with an upbeat movement song like this one. It's short and easy so even your youngest students can sing along and dance, dance, dance! We suggest ad libitum dance movements (free style) or a "follow the leader" structure if that works better in your situation.

Dancing with your "whole body" can be lots of things, so either let students discover what that could be on their own, or give them direction. As the song suggests, this should evoke a "smiley day, oh" by the time you're done.

As an extension of the tune, consider discussing or even playing along with the rhythm instruments. Help students identify the sounds and what rhythms they are playing. Clap, tap, or stomp them out as they play to point them out. If you have your own rhythm instruments, consider adding them. (We used tambourine, shaker, guiro, and triangle.)

Another neat thing to do with this song is listen and learn all the fun spoken parts. Then your kids can speak along with them using their own silly voices - high, low, etc. We found this to be their natural inclination anyway, so why not go with it?