Hanukkah is a little under a month away and I have a fun little composing worksheet you can use in your lessons today!

"My Dreidel" was inspired by - you guessed it - one of my students. :)

Before I opened the academy, I was a traveling in-home piano teacher. Every year around this time I would say to my new students in hushed-excited tones "I have an exciting surprise, Today, we're going to pick your Christmas song! Then I'll bring it next week for you to start learning!"

And everybody cheered!

Until Jenna. (student's name has been changed for privacy)

Jenna put her head down and barely whispered, "I think Hanukkah is cooler."

My heart sank. I had no idea she didn't celebrate Christmas. I had taught Jewish children before, but they all celebrated Hanukkah AND Christmas, so I never thought twice about offering a Christmas piece. In hindsight, I should've checked with mom first, but you know what they say about hindsight.

I quickly recovered from my embarrassment and said, "You do? That's awesome, let's find you a Hanukkah piece to play! What's your favorite Hanukkah song?" At that her face lit up and her excitement returned. I later discovered that she always felt left out at school because they didn't do much for Hanukkah in any of her classes, so my offering her a Hanukkah piece was a special moment.

Since then, I've built up my Hanukkah song library and created this composing activity.
This activity will be FREE for a limited time on my newly opened TopMusicMarketplace Store!

Looking for more Hanukkah activities for your lessons or music classroom? I created a Pinterest Board with many other games, songs and activities!

I don't know about your students, but mine love composing, so I try to incorporate a composing activity as much as possible in my private lessons.

Today I'm sharing a new composing activity just in time for Thanksgiving!

"I am Thankful" gives your pre-reading students the opportunity to think about what they're grateful for and express it in song.

Usually for composing activities I write the lyrics and choose the rhythms for my students then they plug in the notes/finger numbers then play the song.

This composing activity is special because students get to write what they're thankful for and figure out the rhythms to go with it!

Note: There are guide notes in some measures - which can easily be changed - and others are left blank so your students can create their own rhythm to match their lyrics.

This activity will be FREE for a limited time on my TpT Store and my newly opened TopMusicMarketplace Store!

Looking for more Thanksgiving activities for your lessons or music classroom? I created a Pinterest Board with many other games, songs and activities!