It’s back to school and back to the monthly format for Shake, Shimmy, & Dance
The Plan
Book
Music Class Today! by David Weinstone
If you lead a music and movement program, you need to get your hands on this book! It talks about all that goes on during a music class: shaker eggs, rhythm sticks, scarves, singing, dancing, etc. I chose to read it at this particular session because I always get a different crowd during the school year than I do during the summer. This crowd tends to be younger and this book has a wonderful reassuring refrain about deciding when YOU (the child) wants to join in. The kids who were familiar with the format of my program just acted out the book with me.
Props
Shaker Eggs!
The Playlist
Hello & How Are You? — Old Town School of Folk Music
Sunny Day — Elizabeth Mitchell
Get Your Move On — Mr. Jon & Friends
Rocketship Run — Laurie Berkner
Silly Dance Contest — Jim Gill
I Can Shake My Shaker Egg — The Learning Groove
We’re Going to the Market — Kathy Reid-Naiman
Shake Your Sillies Out — The Wiggles
Shake Hands With Friends — Ella Jenkins
How It Went
This was a great “opening” session. I had so many friends from the summer come back and I made so many new friends too! Our most successful song for today was definitely “Rocketship Run”. I had a lot of toddlers and older babies in this class and it works both as a great lift song and a great jumping song for preschoolers. I did wind up skipping “Silly Dance Contest” because we were running short on time and that song works much better with older kids.
(For an example of the Powerpoint and handouts that I made for each Shake, Shimmy please visit the original post.)
storytime katie 
I do 2 different Story times for 18mo & 2’s and 3, 4 & 5’s. I was wondering about your long playlist. Do you do just one book and a lot of action songs? What is the order and how long does the program usually last? Also, what ages do you have? Thanks for your posts.
For Shake, Shimmy, it’s a twenty minute playlist. I read one book and storytime lasts about thirty minutes because I introduce every song. This program is for all ages and I see a variety of ages depending on the day.