Have your students caught the Star Wars fever yet? Some of mine are SO excited about the new movie. I am less excited because scary movies are not my favorite genre (I haven’t made it through the entire Disney’s The Little Mermaid yet) but I want to do anything that will get my students excited about practicing!
I have a general theme every month, and did Star Wars in the Summer of 2014, so I dusted off some old resources and ideas, and have added some new…
The place I visit first when planning a new theme is the teachers pay teachers website. They have some amazing sellers who, for a few dollars, will make your teaching life so much easier. www.teacherspayteachers.com
The first product I’m using is Staff Wars, and unfortunately is retired, but the seller is the amazing Melody Payne, so you may want to check out her stuff for another time…they are cute worksheets that i’m printing in color, putting in a plastic page protector, and having students fill out using a dry erase marker during the lesson.
The second product is this Space Pals Bundle of Worksheets by Jena Hudson from Sew Much Music
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Space-Pals-Music-Worksheet-Bundle-1176544
I print these in booklet style, front and back, so i get 4 worksheets per page. I like to cut them in half because it saves so much paper.
If they fit in the white basket I am 90% more likely to remember to give them to students!
I have purchased some Star Wars stickers and Temporary Tattoos to give away as well, and the best part is the Light Saber Game I’m working on. I’m using some stickers of Star Wars Characters and sticking them on some old flashcards then hopefully taping them up with fishing line to the ceiling…there will be 2 players or 2 teams. The first to point to the correct answer with these really cool light saber toys will win a point for their team.
We will also be playing all the star wars themed music I own, and I’m writing out a few melodies for the baby beginners and violinists in my studio. You can easily purchase many books that have Star Wars Movie Music: and this one is the most popular in my studio:
http://www.amazon.com/PlayTime-Popular-Level-Playtime-Piano/dp/1616770015 Fabers Playtime Popular series Level 1. Middle C and great for learning triplets!
And let’s not forget the great apps! Staff Wars is an amazing app to download for iphone and ipad
AND a great .99 to spend on your studio! https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/staffwars/id810405576?mt=8
Another amazing app that has Star Wars music, and a whole section dedicated to John Williams (composer extraordinaire) is Joytunes’ DustBusters2
My favorite part is including learning about the Composer of all the wonderful music, John Williams. I have some color sheets and posters from Cori Bloom’s TPT store Rhythm and Bloom
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/American-Composers-Poster-Set-1210421
and informational sheets with Williams bios from old Clavier Companion Magazines I used on my bulletin board a few years ago.
Finally we will be playing this Jeopardy Style Game at our January Group Lesson: The Staff Strikes Back. Teachers Pay Teachers seller Sara Bibee makes great PowerPoint games, and my kids went nuts over her frozen themed one, so I know this will be good:
if you like my post, say thanks my “liking” me on Facebook at ViolinJudy’s Violin and Piano Studio so you can find my great ideas again! https://www.facebook.com/violinjudystudio/
If you’re struggling to fill up your studio or need some fresh ideas to bring Joy back into lessons, consider my consulting for the frugal teacher: find the Joyful Noise Consulting tab on my website and shoot me an email! Thanks for checking out my blog today!
