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I’m a music fanatic, and I love having a song playing as the students enter the classroom. The right song helps students to come into class feeling good about life and ready to learn.
An opening song is also a great signal device to start class. I usually have an entry task on the overhead, and my students know that it needs to be completed by the time the song ends.
Here’s my current list of the positive songs I use:
(The first thing you need to know is that my absolute favorite song of all time is “Over the Rainbow,” so I play that song quite a bit. I have over sixty covers of the song, from country to alternative to dance remix versions, and everything in between.)
[Update: Click on songs to listen to samples or to buy from Amazon.com]
All American Rejects, “Move Along ”
Bachman Turner Overdrive, “Takin’ Care of Business”
The Beach Boys, “Good Vibrations”
The Beatles
- “Good Day Sunshine”
- “Here Comes the Sun”
Natasha Bedingfield, “Unwritten”
Chris Cagle, “What a Beautiful Day”
Chicago, “25 or 6 to 4”
Petula Clark, “Downtown”
Coldplay
- “Clocks“
- “Speed of Sound“
- “Square One“
Sheryl Crow, “Soak Up the Sun”
Hilary Duff, “Shine”
Electric Light Orchestra
- “Hold on Tight“
- “I’m Alive”
Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Gloria Estefan, “Get on Your Feet”
Five for Fighting
- “100 Years“
- “The Riddle“
Fleetwood Mac, “Don’t Stop”
John Fogerty, “Sugar Sugar”
The Go-Gos, “We Got the Beat”
Goo Goo Dolls, “Better Days”
Green Day, “Time of Your Life”
Vince Guaraldi Trio, “Linus and Lucy”
High School Musical
Enrique Iglesias, “Hero”
Jars of Clay
- “Sunny Days“
- “Show You Love”
Jimmy Eat World, “The Middle”
Joe Jackson, “Steppin’ Out”
Katrina and the Waves, “Walking on Sunshine”
Mat Kearney, “Nothing Left to Lose”
Kool and the Gang, “Celebration”
Kenny Loggins, “I’m All Right”
Martina McBride, “This One’s for the Girls”
Bobby McFerrin, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”
Tim McGraw, “Live Like You Were Dyin’”
Jo Dee Messina, “Dare to Dream”
Hannah Montana
Randy Newman, “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”
Nichole Nordeman, “Legacy”
Tom Petty
- “A Higher Place”
- “Learning to Fly“
Dan Powter, “Bad Day”
The Pretenders, “I’ll Stand by You”
Rascall Flatts, “Life is a Highway”
Relient K, “Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been”
Sister Sledge, “We Are Family”
Sly and the Family Stone, “Everyday People”
Smash Mouth, “All Star”
Starship, “We Built This City”
The Stray Cats, “Rock This Town”
Survivor, “Eye of the Tiger”
Switchfoot
Train, “When I Look to the Sky”
The Turtles, “Happy Together”
U2
- “Beautiful Day”
- “City of Blinding Light”
Van Halen
Jaci Velasquez, “We Can Make a Difference”
The Wailin’ Jennys, “One Voice”
John Williams
- Olympic Fanfare and Theme
- Main Title from Superman
- Main title from Star Wars
- Imperial March from Star Wars
- March from Raiders of the Lost Ark
Steve Winwood, “While You See a Chance”
Lee Ann Womack, “I Hope You Dance”
Weird Al Yankovic
- “The Saga Begins”
- “Ebay“
Other Soundtrack Music
- Theme from The Magnificent Seven
- Theme from Rocky
- Theme from Bonanza
- Theme from Peter Gunn
- Theme from The Pink Panther
Now that you’ve seen my list, tell me your opinion or add your own favorites by leaving a comment below.
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14 responses so far ↓
1 KJ // Jan 30, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Great list!
I love all the songs you mentioned. Here are some more that my nephews love.
wonderful world
you’ve got a friend
stand by me
my wish-rascal fatts
blessed-martina mcbride
lean on me
from a distance-bette midler
hands-jewel
2 alex // Feb 4, 2008 at 3:07 pm
“Put it there” - Paul McCartney
.. a great song for your list
3 L // Feb 5, 2008 at 12:41 am
Here are some more songs with positive messages:
Where Is The Love -Black Eyed Peas
Work It Out -Jurassic Five
Golden -Jill Scott
Everything Is Everything -Lauryn Hill
Appletree -Erykah Badu
Video -India.Arie
You Gotta Be - Des’ree
Waterfalls -TLC
Sowing The Seeds Of Love -Tears For Fears
People Are People -Depeche Mode
Independence Day -Elliott Smith
4 meg // Feb 12, 2008 at 8:12 pm
18 wheeler —pink
5 Nick // Feb 23, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Keep those song ideas coming! Thanks for the great suggestions.
6 Elaine // May 6, 2008 at 9:13 am
How about… (hope I’m not repeating)
Man in the Mirror - Michael Jackson
Good Morning Starshine - Oliver
Don’t you Worry Bout a Thing - Stevie Wonder
Birdhouse in Your Soul - durn..who are those two guys?
Secret o’ Life - James Taylor
Girls Just Want to have Fun - Cindy Lauper
I’t a Beautiful Morning - ?
Help - Beatles
Baby You Can Drive my Car - Beatles
7 Elaine // May 6, 2008 at 9:17 am
It’s a Beautiful Morning - is from The Rascals
8 Joe Kizonyu // Jun 7, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Thanks for the help, I’ve been compiling a list of my own.
Got a couple more suggestions. These ones are rock:
Rule the World - Take That
Alive - POD
Not Broken - Hurst
Be Yourself - Audioslave
Imprint - Doubledrive
Believe - Yellowcard
Fully Alive - Flyleaf
Good Times - Finger 11
I Love Myself Today - Bif Naked
Stand in the Spotlight - Armor For Sleep
Brand New Day - Rhymes With Orange
For R&B I’ve found India Arie is a great source. Try:
I Choose
Better People
There’s Hope
Some soft rock suggestions are:
Forgiveness - Collective Soul
Let Go - Adema
Don’t Stop Dancing - Creed
Don’t Panic - Coldplay
And Finally some Easy Listening:
Smile - Madeleine Peyroux
This Is Heaven To Me - Madeleine Peyroux
The Best Is Yet To Come - Michael Buble
Happy Listening
9 Jennifer Barnett // Jun 27, 2008 at 2:40 pm
I can’t think of any more songs, but I thought I’d share what your list has inspired me to do.
I am turning these songs into “bellringer/Daily Oral Language” exercise on power point. I love the idea of playing some positive music as my 11th grade students come into class. Yet I must be efficient with 48 minute class periods. So, each slide has a title, artist, a little known fact, a few graphics, and a couple of sentences about what the song is about. Only those sentences are a grammatical nightmare! The first few minutes of class they listen, laugh, and learn a bit of grammar while I tend to management issues. I just wish I had enough slides for every day. For now, I’ll use this activity twice a week until I can build my database. I will share the ppt on my class wiki closer to school starting. If anyone wants to team up and share these before the fall, email me at jbarnett@tcboe.org. I’m up for some collaboration on this!
Thanks for the inspiration!
10 Johnny // Jul 7, 2008 at 7:57 am
Here’s a good list I use in my class:
Walkin’ on Sunshine – Katrina and the Waves
1) I can’t fight this feeling – REO Speedwagon
2) People Are People -Depeche Mode
3) Freewill – Rush
4) The World I Know - Collective Soul
5) Let it Be – Beatles
6) Video - India Arie
7) You’ve Got a Friend – James Taylor
9) Don’t Laugh at Me – Mark Wills
10) Waiting on the World to Change – John Mayer
11) Larger Bowl – Rush
12) These Are the Days – 10000 Maniacs
13) The Change - Garth Brooks
14) Peace Train – Cat Stevens
15) Time of Your Life – Green Day
16) Don’t Worry Be Happy – Bobby McFerrin
17) You Can Still Be Free – Savage Garden
18) Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – Ashford & Simpson
19) Blackbird – Beatles
20) Put On a Happy Face – Bye Bye Birdie
21) Morning Has Broken – Cat Stevens
22) Beautiful – Christina Aguilera
23) Winds of Change – Cinderella
24) Spend My Time – Clint Black
25) One Tin Soldier - Coven
26) Teach Your Children – CSNY
27) True Colours – Cyndi Lauper
28) What You Are – Dave Matthews Band
29) Survivor – Destiny’s Child
30) Spirit in the Sky - Doctor and the Medics
31) What I Am – Edie Brickell
32) Hold on Tight to Your Dreams – ELO
33) Answer in the Sky – Elton John
34) How Can I Keep from Singing – Enya
35) One Thing – Finger Eleven
36) 100 years – Five for Fighting
37) Learn to Fly – Foo Fighters
38) Times Like These – Foo Fighters
39) I Will Survive – Gloria Gaynor
40) Closer to Fine – Indigo Girls
41) Lonely People – Jars of Clay
42) Imagine – John Lennon
43) Believe – Lenny Kravitz
44) Man in the Mirror – Michael Jackson
45) Broken Wings – Mr. Mister
46) Everybody Hurts – R.E.M.
47) Live Like You Were Dying – Tim McGraw
48) This One’s For the Girls – Martina McBride
49) We’re Not Gonna Take It – Twisted Sister
50) Move Along – All American Rejects
51) Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield
52) Soak Up the Sun – Sheryl Crow
53) We’re All in This Together – High School Musical
54) I’m All Right – Kenny Loggins
55) Dare to Dream – Jo Dee Messina
56) You’ve Got a Friend in Me – Randy Newman
57) Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been – Relient K
58) We Are Family – Sister Sledge
59) Everyday People – Sly and the Family Stone
60) Where Is The Love -Black Eyed Peas
61) Golden -Jill Scott
62) Everything Is Everything -Lauryn Hill
63) Appletree -Erykah Badu
64) You Gotta Be - Des’ree
65) Waterfalls –TLC
66) Sowing The Seeds Of Love -Tears For Fears
67) Independence Day -Elliott Smith
68) “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)” by Simon & Garfunkel
69) “I Can See Clearly Now” - Johnny Nash
70) “Simple Man” - Lynyrd Skynyrd
71) “Put A Little Love In Your Heart”
72) “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive” - Ella Fitzgerald
73) “All You Need Is Love” - The Beatles
74) “What A Wonderful World” - Louis Armstrong
75) “Three Little Birds” - Bob Marley
76) “When you’re smiling” - Frank Sinatra and/or Dean Martin
77) Believe – Josh Groban
78) You Are Loved – Josh Groban
79) I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For – U2
80) Peace on Earth – U2
11 Nick // Jul 31, 2008 at 1:49 pm
I’d like to thank all of you for adding to this list. In order to make it easier to sample the songs and purchase them (which also supports this site), I have linked my original list to Amazon.com. Those without links are not yet available through Amazon. Thanks again!
12 36 Ways to Welcome Your Students on the First Day of School // Aug 6, 2008 at 8:27 am
[...] a positive song playing as they [...]
13 Barb S. // Aug 10, 2008 at 9:19 am
Thanks so much! I needed to find some songs to inspire & accentuate the positive for our staff, as we have merged into a new, huge new school district! I’ll also compile a cd to keep my 6th graders motivated all year long!
You ROCK!
14 April // Oct 2, 2008 at 11:49 am
On Top of The World-Mandy Moore
Upside Down-Jack Johnson
I can see Clearly now- Johnny Nash
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