Native American Thanksgiving Intervention

It's almost Thanksgiving!  Here is a simple intervention for you to fit in before the big day!  This intervention can be taken a couple ways. It can celebrate the Native American heritage or it can be used as a Thanksgiving history lesson. I used this intervention this week as a way to explain what Thanksgiving is. I told students that the very first Thanksgiving included the Native Americans and the Pilgrims coming peacefully together to celebrate their union through a giant feast. I commemorated the Native Americans by creating this intervention. First, I play some Native American music in the background to create ambiance. Secondly, I read a poem that I created by grouping together several different poems I found. I can't tell you the authors because I used so many different so I apologize! While reading this poem, I have the students wait until they hear the word "drum". This word could be used as drumming, drumbeat, or drum. When they hear this word, they play their own drum with a simple rhythm three times and stop. This works on attention and listening skills. In the video I had my husband, Anthony, help me demonstrate what this intervention would look like.  Have a happy Thanksgiving next week!  And don't eat too much! ;)

Native Drumming Poem

Shake the Eggs, Senora!!

Hello all!  I feel like I haven't posted in a while.  I was on a roll there posting every couple days.  I guess I have been pretty busy lately job searching, studying my practice exam for the board exam, finishing up my internship, and getting ready to move.....again.  I have moved 7 times in my life and this will be my eighth.  I can say I am not completely excited but at least I will be closer to where I will be working.  By the way, I think I got a job!  I am so happy because I have been worried and stressing about finding a job after I graduate.  But I think the worry is over!  More updates on that soon when I finalize everything.

But today I am posting an intervention that I have used a lot the last month.  I call it "Shake, Shake, Shake the Eggs".  It is based on the song, "Shake, Senora" and I adapted it to fit what I needed.  I picked this song because it goes great with shaking eggs!  The main component of this song is movement.  It works on gross and fine motor movements and is just a lot of fun.  The great thing about this song is that it can be used for young or old.  Some older clients will probably recognize the song while younger ones will just think it is great fun!

So take a listen to the song right here!

Here are some of the lyrics from the song:

Shake, shake, Shake the eggs

Shake em way up high

Shake, shake, shake the eggs

Shake em way up high

 Shake, shake, shake the eggs

Shake em way down low

Shake, shake, shake the eggs

Shake em way down low

Chorus:

Shake em all around

Shake em to the sound

Okay I can hear you

2x's

(Following verses the same as above)

.....shake em to the right

.....shake em to the left

....shake em in the front

.....shake em in the back

....shake em side to side

.....shake em high to low

All Keyed Up!

This week I had the pleasure of bringing my new Casio key-lighted keyboard into sessions with me.  I have not done this much because I definitely need more skill when it comes to playing piano and keyboard!  This is definitely my greatest weakness musically!  But I decided to go ahead and bring it in to force myself to play in front of others.  It was a little bit nerve-racking and intimidating but I got through it!  I had a few unexpected and delightful surprises along the way!  When I purchased my keyboard from Target, I saw that it had light-up keys and I thought, "How awesome to provide my clients with a way to play with no musical experience!"  The problem was that when I chose available songs, they were way too hard to follow.  The left hand was lighting up to play chords and the right hand was playing melody.  I couldn't even follow it.  So I was very disappointed and came up with some other interventions that would work with the keyboard.  One intervention was inspired by Bonnie Hayhurst over at The Groovy Garfoose!  She posted a video about using only black keys (the pentatonic scale) and accompanying clients.  It worked very well! 

But at the beginning of the week, one of the clients hit a button and the keys started lighting up one by one as the client played the song!  So my client taught me how to correctly use the keyboard for what I was looking for!  That goes to show that extra exploration from clients during an intervention isn't always a and thing!  So after that happened, I let all of my clients play a song in each group.  One group in particular was a 10 student middle school classroom.  This little boy did not want to take his turn and took refuge in the bathroom when it was his time.  I went through all the clients, allowing them to pick their song to play.  When it came back around to be his turn again, he still did not want to participate due to anxiety.  So I did the first thing I could think of.  I brought the keyboard to him rather than having him come up to the keyboard at the front of the room.  At first he was very resistant to the idea until I told him I would play and he could watch.  I then invited him to press the next key that lighted up and he did!  He proceeded to finish the entire song!  It was so exciting to watch him light up!  After that intervention, he was excited, alert, and ready to keep going.  Unfortunately the end of the session had come up.  This happened a lot in several classrooms.  Students that would usually act out or be withdrawn would suddenly become very engaged in the keyboard playing.  I look forward to trying this again!