Communication Cards

To have students share their learning with parents and to advocate for all the great things that are happening in music class, I have my first grade students take home small cards every few classes.  The cards ask the parents to share a task with their child (have their child sing the song for two people, have parents do the motions while the student sings, etc.)  The cards also share the lyrics of the songs, in case students need help remembering them at home.  As an added measure, I have uploaded performances of me singing/speaking the assignment onto my district teacher webpage.  Parents can log on and click to hear it and help their students in this way too.

Feedback on this is great.  Parents love to see what their kids are learning and the kids love sharing.  They love to have their parents complete silly motions or movements to a song.  It's a great way to build music making outside of the classroom.  It works well with first grade because so much of their repertoire is public domain folk repertoire and because they are still incredibly excited to perform for their parents!