Musical Monday: Just... so... CATCHY!

I love the idea of using a day of the week for a specific topic on your blog. Music is kind of my thing, so I present to you: Musical Mondays!

There are some songs that I've come across this summer that I can't wait to use in the classroom!

They're just so CATCHY! How can you not crack a smile and hum the tune?

The Penguin Dance is a fun song on Jack Hartmann's Transition Train

Remember that training I paid for myself and went by myself? Well, I wasn't really alone. The keynote speaker that day was Jack Hartmann and he had us doing the Penguin Dance from his latest album in no time, much like these teachers!

It's hilarious when you get to the end! I showed it to my 5 year-old cousin (she's my guinea pig for a lot of things lately) and she loved it! We sang and dance in the grocery store that night!



It seems that behind every teacher is a partner that not only puts up with all of our teacher-talk but gets into it a little, too! I was up far too late one night eating up old They Might Be Giants podcast episodes when my boyfriend leaves his computer in the other room to find out what on earth I'm doing. We watched a few and fell in love with this song. We regularly sing it on Mondays... and Tuesdays... except not Thursdays, 'cause that's a holiday!

If you like this one be sure to check out E Eats Everything, Seven, and Letter Shapes!

I used videos like these as (gasp) a reward some days. On others it was worked into my lesson plans as a quick little brain break! I don't have the YouTube problem on my campus, but I did have one when the internet was down!

One solution is to type "save" after the "www." and it will take you to saveyoutube.com where you can download it in a couple of minutes. Or you could go there and copy/paste the YouTube url as shown:

I chose to download it as a .mp4 file because it's pretty versatile between PC and Mac (I have a Mac and have to be aware of these things). The .FLV format is fine, too. Don't pay attention to the ads that come up about other downloaders, unless you want them, of course. I don't think they work on Mac computers so I don't click on 'em.

What songs do you find yourself humming all day?