Blog - Page 14 of 17 - Make Moments Matter

Singing voice with Enchanted - One of my favorite videos to show K & 1st

January 2, 2014

Film Friday — Singing Voice through Enchanted!

Lesson Ideas

“That’s How You Know” from Enchanted is one of my favorite videos to show to my little people because it is a great example of the difference between singing and speaking voice and shows the joy and power of music. I use this video during the first quarter/semester to help […]

December 30, 2013

Brush It Off – Making & Learning from Mistakes

Classroom Ideas

Making music is so much about trial and error: making mistakes that inform how you try again the next time. Shoot, any good learning is going to involve doing it the wrong way, figuring out what to change, trying again, and hopefully getting it better and better each time. […]

December 26, 2013

After Christmas Sales — What to Buy!

Decoration

So, you all probably know that I like decorating my classroom. In fact, I have a ton of blog posts on this site dedicated to decorating. You might also know that I have a passion for making it cute while keeping it cheap. It’d be easy to blow hundreds of […]

Five awesome things I found on Pinterest this month!

December 20, 2013

Five Favorite Pins of December – 2013

Classroom Ideas

I will admit, I spend a lot of time on Pinterest browsing ideas, getting inspiration, and seeing how other teachers decorate and plan for teaching. Pinterest can be a really great tool to help you plan for your own classroom and inspire you to try new things. Why not share […]

December 17, 2013

First Grade Carolers and Even Rondo Form

Lesson Ideas

Just wanted to quickly share about a fun little tradition that I have with my first graders. Every year I teach them “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” and talk about carols, caroling, and teach them the fun story of this song. We first learn the song and I […]

Frosty the Snowman: Blog post about critical thinking, using story books, music listening activities, and more!

December 12, 2013

Critical Thinking in Frosty the Snowman

Classroom Ideas

One of my favorite songs to teach at the holiday time is Frosty the Snowman. I teach this to second grade (I’m learning at my highly ELL school that I can only teach about half of what many of the rest of you teach because it takes many of […]

A free, editable lesson plan to use in your elementary music classroom!

December 8, 2013

FREE! – My Elementary Music Lesson Plan Template

Classroom Ideas

Lesson planning can be hard. If I’m going to make a lesson plan for myself for a stand alone class then I don’t really need ALL that much information because I know my lesson, I know how to scaffold it out, I know what resources I need, and I know […]

December Round the World Concert Publicity

December 4, 2013

December Round the World! Bulletin Board Idea

Decoration

I wanted to share the bulletin board I created to advertise for my upcoming concert “December Round the World” which features my fourth and fifth graders. I didn’t want to spend too much time on this bulletin board and wanted it to be fairly clean and simple. At the same time, […]

December 2, 2013

Go Big or Go Home – A Bear-y Merry Holiday

Decoration

When creating a bulletin board to advertise for an upcoming concert, pull out all the stops! This bulletin board advertising the show could have been boring but sometimes it pays to go BIG! I knew I needed something to go in the hallway to advertise for the show, but I was […]

November 27, 2013

AB patterns and movement in Elgar’s Faeries and Giants

Lesson Ideas

In my district we have a specific “Guided Listening” component which is usually a pretty awesome part of our curriculum. This allows us to teach kids to not just hear music, but to listen in specific and thoughtful ways. They are taught to listen for patterns, form, signpost cues, and […]

November 25, 2013

Five Favorite Pins of November – 2013

Classroom Ideas

A homemade cart for barred percussion instruments.

November 23, 2013

DIY Orff Carts – Get those bass instruments moving!

Classroom Ideas

So, I’ve got three amazing bass barred percussion instruments in my room. Two bass xylophones and a bass metallophone. I love them for the timbre they bring and kids love playing them because they’re “the hugest ones!” All in all, these instruments are fantastic… but they’re not fantastic to move […]