Music high and low tech! (March)

So a portion of my goal to incorporate more technology into the classroom included working with my i-pod touch to compile all of my classroom music and utilize it with my students. I finally accomplished getting my music on the i-pod in December, and have been using it occasionally (some of the songs I prefer to do acapella so I can stop and start - adding narration about the words we're singing, or asking for student participation - or extra time for actions). Though I had compiled all the music, I tended to not use the i-pod because it took so long for me to find what I needed. In March, I was able to take time to create playlists for our units. Now I have the specific songs I want for each unit at my fingertips, and it truly has made music and circle time move much more smoothly. Along with old favorites, I have also added new songs to my reportoire through a few i-tunes purchases.
Another key goal with my students is to have props for the music. Some old favorites have felt board pieces or magnets, but with my large number of English learners, I hope to continue adding more props to help solidify the vocabulary and language they are learning through song. As I added new songs to my i-pod, I was able to make a couple song books with illustrations to use when we are singing, as well as some picture props to use on my easel with clip art and computer illustrations. These have helped our students learn the songs more quickly and master new vocabulary as well.
One of our key literacy goals for our 3 and year olds is learning their name - recognizing it, writing it, and identifying the letters in their name. At mid-year, we start having them "sign in" when they come to class. Their name printed in a dot-to-dot format is on their nametag, and they trace it with a dry erase marker each day. We do name games and songs during circle time, and I wanted to offer another opportunity to practice matching the letters of their names. I created a "name" game on Excel with the letters of their name - a template and empty squares underneath and the letters of their name to cut apart - to identify and match the letters for all 65 students. It was a great game to play at school, and then they were able to take it home to continue practicing.