Supplemental Sunday: Breaking Out the File Folder Activities

One of the best things about being an established music therapist (and a packrat) is that I have lots of materials available for music therapy sessions. As I am currently trying to change how I run some sessions, and in order to make sure that I can run these sessions, even when staffing is not optimal, I am turning to some of my older projects.

I have lots of older projects.

Cute, broken storage box

When I had to move my area due to a massive renovation, I took many of my resources home with me. There wasn't any space in the temporary quarters and the new room is not conducive to storage. As a result, I have several large totes full of stuff that I used to have at my fingertips. I remembered that there was a box of ability-level and abstract thought level organized file folders in one of my boxes.


(Isn't that a super appropriate box for an MT?)

Look at all of those materials!!

The box itself no longer works - one of my interns ripped the latch when she was trying to open the box. It's not easy to transport when it flops open, so it's been in a tote for some time now. I have bought a new box (not as cute for an MT - it is only striped), and I'll be transferring all of the folders into the box to take to work with me this week.


Inside the box, you can see file folders. I made a series of matching, symbol to symbol, symbol to word, and puzzle folders for my students about 5 years ago. They are organized by color, label, and number. I have Novice folders, Beginner folders, Intermediate folders, and Expert folders. 

All of these folders are music-themed. They work on non-music therapy concepts (mainly academic and cognitive skill development goals) within a musical presentation. They use either original artwork or resources from one of my favorite music books.

If you want a closer look, let me know. I have made up kits so you can make your own file folder activities - check out the website to contact us or leave a comment below.

Can you find baseball bases? Composition folders?

But...

That's not all I found. In the same tote, I found some of my other visuals that I've made over the years.


BONUS!!

I found my apple rhythms, my composition folders, the alphabet stars, my boots (made for walking, of course!), lapbooks, and musical baseball bases. In addition, there were instrument pictures, games, mad-libs, and many other things tucked away in that tote. Whoo-Hoo!

Can you find lapbooks? Apple rhythms?

Going over things that have been tucked away often increases my creative process. I am now thinking about using my lapbooks - I will have to make a couple more of them for use with my students who are using the storage boxes - but I have an easy to assemble kit for the lapbooks ready to offer to others, so I'll just print out all of the things in the kit and then assemble three or four more - color-coded, of course.

My session plans for this week may or may not use some of these rediscovered treasures. I will spend time this afternoon transferring things from my broken box to my more bland but closable box and reviewing what is complete and what needs more work. I will make my list of things to make so that I have multiple copies for students to use during my large group sessions. It will take up storage space, but it will be nice to have enough copies so nobody has to sit and wait for a turn. That's an important concept as well.

If you are interested in more information about file folder kits or completed folders, contact us here in the comments. 

Happy Sunday, all!