It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Summer

As soon as warm weather sets in, I know I can count on lots of outdoor music therapy sessions with my classes at The Hope Institute.  In fact, I came in from one just now!  That is one of my favorite things about spring; the sunshine and warm breeze motivate my students to sing a little louder and smile a little wider.  In the 20 days that remain of this school year, I'm looking forward to many more music therapy sessions with kids gathered on picnic tables, as they were today.

And boy, do we have a lot to talk and sing about in these last 20 days.  With summer break on the horizon, my students will undergo all kinds of changes in schedule and life transitions.  Many of the senior classes will say goodbye to those students who are graduating on May 28, and other classes will shift and change as new students arrive and current students move to a different classroom or school altogether.  Change is tough around here, which is why we try to make it a little easier with social stories, songs, and lots of preparation.

One song I wrote specifically to help ease into summer was actually the brainchild of a classroom teacher here at Hope.  She suggested that I include a song about graduation, schedule changes, summer school and camp in my May music therapy packet, and mentioned that the line "it's beginning to look a lot like summer" came to mind.  I took her idea and ran, and this is how the song turned out:



It’s beginning to look a lot like summer,
Everywhere we go.
We have to wear sunscreen,
Outside where the trees are green,
Because the sun shines down on us below.
It’s beginning to look a lot like summer,
Our break is coming soon.
And after we come back
We’ll have summer school and camp
When we meet again in June.

Graduation’s coming up,
For some of us and our friends,
Who have finished school, and this is when
Their time at Hope ends.
We’ll clap for them at graduation, everyone attends.

CHORUS

Our schedules might change,
When we come back to school,
And our class might be different, too.
It’s a time to adjust and get used to new things,
For both me and you.
There’s so much fun for us to have when summer comes,
It’s true.

CHORUS

There's a little bit of everything here...some of those words were hard to squeeze in!  But of course, when I sing it with my students, I'll slow it WAY down so that each line is nice and clear.  This song also presents a great songwriting opportunity; I know some of my students will have lots of fun adding verses about other summer plans and activities.

How are YOU helping your students prepare for summer?  It's an exciting time for everyone - teachers included! - but it can also be very overwhelming.  More conversation (both sung and spoken) leads to less anxiety when the clock hits 2:30 pm on June 2.