Hello, hello, how are you today? Hello. Hello, how are you today? Hello, hello, how are you today we are here in music class. Today we're going to be talking about Hello songs, what they are, why they matter and how they can help you in your classroom.
You're listening to that music podcast with Bryson Tarbet, the curriculum designer and educational consultant behind that music teacher at the elementary music summit each week, Bryson and his guests will dive into the reality of being an elementary music teacher, and how music can truly be transformative in the lives of the students you serve. Show Notes and resources mentioned in this episode can be found at that music teacher.com.
Welcome back, everyone. And thank you so much for joining us for another episode of that music podcast. We are having a lot of fun here in season five. These video podcasts I'll be honest, they they're I'm warming up to the idea it was definitely a little bit different. Having to like make sure that I like look not terrible when I'm recording a podcast, but I'm absolutely loving what we've been able to get through so far. So today we're going to be talking about Hello songs. And if you're not familiar with Hello songs, they're kind of exactly what they sound. They're a song that you sing to say hello. So I tend to use these a little I use these in every single one of my preschool classes. And I tend to use them more often in my younger classes. I'm going to talk a little bit more about kindergarten what how I use them in kindergarten, because this is a little different. But in my preschool, and when I used to have a self contained class of students with disabilities that were in the younger age, I used HelloSign every single time. So there are a bajillion Hello songs out there in the world, if you just Google Hello songs, not that I'm a music therapist. But if you start if you Google, hello songs, music therapy, you'll find a lot of stuff that you can apply into the education setting. There's so much great stuff out there. I'll be honest, a lot of the Hello songs that I use, I don't remember where they came from. So the one that you heard on the introduction, I did come up with that one. But there are a couple others that I do not remember where they came from. So if you happen to be listening, and you're like, Oh, this is from so and so please let me know. So I can give them credit. And put them in the show notes. If you're listening, check out the show notes. Because I might know someone more than I do than I do when I'm recording this. So first of all, let's talk about why hello songs. The reality with the kind of the whole point of Hello song is one it's that consistent start over routine. children thrive on routines, especially when we're talking about younger students and early childhood, especially when a lot of the preschool programs that we tend to teach in tend to be like a peer mentor,
kind of early intervention such situation, they strive on that routine. So not only is it just like a great way to get started, it is a really good way for to signal in the brain like hey, we're shifting gears, it is now music class, my music class expectations are what we need to do now. They're also just great way to build community. Get a kid smiling because I know a lot of times when I'm pushing into a preschool classroom, we have students that really struggle with those transitions. Like for instance, today, I had a student that pretty much every time I walk in the room for the first five minutes, she's like completely having a meltdown in tears because she just doesn't like that change. But once she gets into it, she's fine. So having that Hello song is really great getting her into it bringing it in or we know what's going to be first little tangent I also use a goodbye song and these typical lessons because again, it feels a little a little bit of a bookend, but I want to share a few of my favorite Hello songs. And again, if you know where these came from, please let me know I've been using them for so long. I do not remember where they came from. But I will do I'll say that the only one that I created was the one that you heard kind of as the little very big little teaser at the beginning of the episode. The Hello song that I use the most of the time again, I don't know who this is from I don't know who created it, but it wasn't me. So if you happen to know please let me know. But it goes like this. Hello friends. How are you? I am happy to see you. Greet your neighbor. And then you wait at your neighbor and Boogie On Down you start dancing. Good. Jump that one's obvious and turn around. It's great. I love that one because you could also like greet every student by name. See, then you can pick the next verse can be Hello Jackson. Hello, Sally. Hello Lucy and Hello Bob or whatever. I it's a great way to do that. We get some names and you could change it up like sometimes I'll be like if I'm trying to just kind of tell a little bit more time I might say greet your neighbor and in the second verse we're giving thumbs up instead of waving him anywhere or whatever. Another way to kind of just show a different way that we can help say hello, that's a great one. Another one I use. Again, I'm not sure who created this
Oh please let me know if you know it only because I guess it is time for music. It is time for music. We will dance don't don't like dance. We will sing the dance dance. We'll make music on this Monday or whatever day it is. I love that one. It's great. It's good for days of the week. It gets them moving, you can change it. We will clap clap, clap, clap, clap. We will jump, jump, jump, whatever you want to do. It's a good way to to mix it up. Another one that I absolutely love is literally just because how are you? How are you? How are you doing today? And you can ask him you like how are you Susie? And Susie might say I'm sleepy. Sally sleep B or so Suzie. Si whatever the name? Sally's sleep bees Sally's sleep bee. Sally sleep bee? How are you today? And then you go the next into how are you today? Jackson's cranky Jackson, you know, so on and so forth. I love that one. That one I think I might have made I could be wrong. But that one I'm pretty sure I at least took something else and made it into something new. So hello songs, they don't need to be complicated. They are really there to start the process and let that brain kind of have that trigger of hey, we're moving into music class. This is what we're doing now, but also kind of welcomed the students in and a good Hello song has an opportunity for prompting in my opinion.
So one of my favorite things to do is once we know a hello song is kind of get the kids to sing for me. So for instance, if I'm doing Hello friends, how are you? I am happy to see an eye stop. And the kids by human nature will want to say you it's a great way to let them kind of involved in this. This is really good for non speaking of individuals as well. But also it's just a lot of fun. The Hello songs, the amount of smiles and laughter and giggles, especially when you as like a fully grown adult are like dancing and wiggling and being crazy like that is what makes my heart so full. I love pre K music. I think Hello songs are a great way to make pre K music so much more accessible. I see all the time in these Facebook groups about people wanting recommendations for pre K music. In fact, I just answered a question right before I came on here. And that's really, I think a hello song is one of the easiest things you can implement to start you on that process. So I want to talk a little bit about how I do it in kindergarten. In kindergarten, I don't necessarily use a hello song, that it really isn't a reason I did that I just I don't. So feel free to continue using Hillel songs in kindergarten. I know people that use Hello songs all the way through. What I personally do in kindergarten is I use engine engine number nine as essentially the first song for like the first quarter of our first chant, I guess, for like the first quarter of the year. And the reason I do that is because I have them follow me into the room and we're like sneaking through the room as a train to help them get into that circle at the beginning. But like you can totally do hello song you can. There's so many different reasons to do it. I honestly I just we, we don't do it. I really don't have a better reason that other than when I was doing my coder levels, we didn't do hello songs. And I liked the way that my lessons flow without Hello song. But I'll be honest, during COVID When we were doing all the craziness, I did a hello song, because I think it was really important for us to get connected. So that's one of those things you can like also just like read the row, I love Hello songs. Again, if you know any of if you know where I got any of these Hello songs that have just been like in my brain for so long that I forget, please let me know I will update the show notes. So feel free to check out the show notes if you're looking for a source on those and I will update those as soon as I can. With that being said, I hope you've enjoyed this week's episode. It's short and sweet, but I hope you've got a lot of information out of it. As always, if you could do us a HUGE favor and leave us a review, we would love a five star review. But even if it's not five stars, we'll take your review. We would love to know what we can do better on the podcast what you want more of what you want less of. But also leaving a podcast review really helps us realize that we're not just like screaming into the ether. I'm here like in my basement, sitting next to my cat recording an episode. And sometimes it's really easy to forget that there are people that are listening on the other side. So if you would leave us a review, we would greatly appreciate it that helps the channel grow. That helps the podcast grow and it just makes me hurtful. So with that being said, I hope you have a wonderful week and I will see you next week here on that music podcast.
