85 Positive Songs for Teachers to Use in the Classroom
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
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
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
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
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
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 The Empire Strikes Back
- 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.
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
“Put it there” – Paul McCartney
.. a great song for your list
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
18 wheeler —pink
Keep those song ideas coming! Thanks for the great suggestions.
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
It’s a Beautiful Morning – is from The Rascals
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
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!
Here’s a good list I use in my class:
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
8) Walkin’ on Sunshine – Katrina and the Waves
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
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!
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!
On Top of The World-Mandy Moore
Upside Down-Jack Johnson
I can see Clearly now- Johnny Nash
I like the song, “Yes you can,” by Donnie McClurkin. Good positive message.
I have two videos that you can you use in the classroom and they are saving me by Nickleback which talks about a burden of a person to pass on the gift of seeing when people are going to die and then save a person and pass on the gift to them. The other is if everyone cared by Nickleback and how one person can make a difference in the lives of others. This is also a video
Here are some otehrs that are really good and from the present times with good messages if you listen closly 🙂 =
1. all around me- flyleaf
2. i can-nas
3. meant to live- switchfoot
4. never be the same-red
5. child of eden-joy williams
6. Silence- joy williams
7. never alone-barlowgirls
8. i need you to love me-barlowgirls
9. million voices- barlowgirls
10. dont worry now- britt nicole
11. set the world on fire- britt nicole
12.ready- britt nicole
13. livin dream-grits
14. one day-zoegirls
15. even if-zoegirls
16. feel alright-zoegirls
17. never going back to ok-the afters
18. as i rise again- dj alex or dream trance
19.make em lean- lil prophet
20.made to love-tobymac
21.bring me to life-evanescence
22. lose my soul-tobymac
23. one world-tobymac
24.my immortal-evanescence
25.umbrella- the rubyz
26. stand and scream- krystal meyers
27.good behavior-plumb
and much more!!!!! enjoy it i hope :))
What a great list! I didn’t see this one though –
Proud – Heather Small, M People
My classes current favorite is ‘The World’s Greatest’ by R. Kelley. I know that he is a little strange, but the song has such a positive message to it!
Everyone leaves this one out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVF4r3fLBrU&feature=fvw
O-o-h Child, by the Five Stairsteps
Beautiful UR – Deborah Cox
This is my now – Jordan Sparks
One Step at a Time – Jordan Sparks
You’re not alone – Shaye
I’m always looking for new positive songs to perform.
I love this list. I can certainly learn some of these and adapt them to my acoustic guitar style.
I didn’t see
I Won’t Back Down, by Tom Petty.
Thanks!
Put a Little Love in Your Heart by Jackie De Shannon
Can’t Buy Me Love, the Beatles
With a Little Help from My Friends, the Beatles
Lean on Me, Bill Withers
Anything early Motown is good:
Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye, Supremes
Life is Wonderful,Mr. Curiosity, Bella Luna, The Remedy(i won’t worry), Live High, I’m yours, Only Human- all of these songs by Jason Mraz
Hi
I love all these suggestions. I teach kindergarten and we do lots of cute kid songs. I was looking for songs like these to signify different activities, transitions etc. Are there any elementary teachers on here who use these songs like that? I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for which ones would be good to signify-
lunch, Math,Science, Social St, Reading, Writing, recess, rest time, restroom etc- just trying different things this year. Thanks
I like R Kelly’s “I am the
Greatest” and Carrie Underwood’s “Play On”
You can use Stevie Wonder’s “I just called to say I love you”, to teach your elementary kids about the seasons. I used it and it worked really well!
I teach third grade and I teach them the songs We are Going to be Friends ( for our Friendship unit)By The White Stripes and by Jack Johnson. My kids also love the song Looking out my Back Door by Creedence Cleareater Revival (for our Imagination unit).
I love this list! Personally, a couple of my favorites are Change Your Mind by Sister Hazel and Don’t Look Back by Boston. Thank you for this list!
Thanks for the list and the comments!
Our list is nearing 500 Positive Songs!
From My Positive Music Radio
-Nate
I absolutely love this thread. As the demographics change at my school site, I feel the need to motivate my students. Some songs I would add are:
“Keep Holding On” (Avril Lavigne or Glee Cast);
“Who Says” (Selena Gomez);
“Sing” (My Chemical Romance);
“Loser Like Me” (Glee Cast);
“This Is Me” (Demi Lovato);
“Make it Shine” (Victorious Cast);
“Perfect Day” (Hoku);
“Kids in America” (Kim Wilde);
& Any Song from Music Inspired by Stuart Little 2.
This is an incredible list. I am looking for positive songs for an end of fourth grade dvd. Wow. thanks.
I’d like some positive hip-hop for primary — intermediate. Great lists!
One Day by Matisyahu
Say and Waiting on the World to Change by John Mayer
The Show Goes On – Lupe Fiasco
Send me on my way -Rusted Root
Here are some other songs:
“Beautiful” Christina Aguilera
“Born This Way” Lady Gaga
“Perfect” Pink
“Put Your Records On” Corrine Bailey Rae
A few more for your list:
Get What You Give – New Radicals
Can You Feel It Tonight? – One Night Only
Rock the Casbah – The Clash
Don’t You Forget About Me – Simple Minds
Jump – Van Halen
Firework – Katy Perry
Just the Way You Are – Bruno Mars
Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough – Michael Jackosn
Sorry if some of these are duplicates and thanks for all the suggestions
– Unwritten – natasha Bedingfield
– Soak up the Sun – Sheryl Crow
– The Riddle – five for fighting
– 100 years – five for fighting
– Live Like you were dying – time mcgraw
– Bad Day – Daniel Powder
– All Star – Smash Mouth
– What if it all goes right – nashville star melissa lawson
– when i look to the sky – train
– i’ll stand by you – carrie underwood
– stand – rascal flatts
– stand back up – sugarland
-standing outside the first – garth brooks
– unanswered prayers – garth brooks
– we shall be free – garth brooks
– the dance – garth brooks
– my wish – rascal flatts
– where is the love – black eyed peas
– man i nthe mirror – michael jackson
– change the world – eric clapton?
– the best is yet to come – nancy wilson
– Let it be – the beatles
– ain’t no mountain high enough – marvin gaye
– fighter – christina aguilera
– stay beautiful – taylor swift
– closer to fine – indigo girls
– you raise me up – josh groban
– you give me hope – between the trees
– better things – dar williams
– weightless – all time low (one vulgarity)
– don’t you know you’re beautiful – kelli pickler
thats it for now but i’m sure my brain will keep turning
Well, all these are the great, great, great list of songs which I can use in the classroom! Thanks to all who have listed the songs 🙂
This is awesome!!!
I would also love some in other languages especially Spanish that are positive and school appropriate. I want to make a play list for our next school carnival and although I know what I like I am not always sure I understand the lyrics well enough since Spanish is my third language.
I am thinking:
Maria, Ricky Martin
La Copa de la Vida, Ricky Martin
La Puerta Negra, Los Tigres del Norte
What might be appropriate from Elvis Crespo or Selena or ? ?
Thanks to any suggestions!
Add these to your list (my class loved!):
You Can Count on Me by Bruno Mars
Keep Your Head Up by Andy Grammer
Who you are- Jessie J
My additions are;
Days Like These – Asia
An Extraordinary Life – Asia
When The Heart Rules The Mind – GTR
Holy Lamb – Yes
Ride The Wild Wind – Queen
Fight The Good Fight – Triumph
It’s Gonna Get Better – Genesis
Be Good To Yourself – Journey
I see that Van Halen’s Dreams and Right Now have already been mentioned.
Awesome list! I was looking for songs to use during transition times from group work. This is an impressive list. Now … I just have to figure out how to cut bits out of them and make them easily and quickly accessible (in all my spare time). :o)
awesome, thanks – i run rehabilitation groups with offenders and this list provides a huge amount of songs to choose from … with no swear words, lyrics are familiar and songs that are not loaded with cheese (or too obviously pro social).
I’m back! Here are 5 more suggestions;
Hold On Tight – ELO
The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy) – Simon & Garfunkel
Gone At Last – Paul Simon
New Song 99 – Howard Jones (modern version 1999)
Doing What I Can – Lindsey Buckingham
I will keep looking and post again.
Love, love, love this compiled list. Teaching 7th grade LA this year and the kids keep asking me for rap. Any clean, positive suggestions???
Also I suggest Smile – uncle Kracker
Don’t Stop Believing – Journey
I love this list. However, is it censored? I teach 5th grade and want to make sure songs do not have inappropriate lyrics or bad words.
I suggest listening carefully to the words of;
(1) Change For The Better
(2) What It Takes To Win
Both are from disc 1 of the 2008 Journey double-album called Revolution. Arnel Pineda is singing.
There are positive Hip-Hop songs on the collections called Hip-Hope and Holy Hip Hop. They are Christian based. I don’t have any song titles to quote.