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Five Fat Turkeys - Adding a B section and playing with the form of the song.
November 18, 2013

Five Fat Turkeys – ABA form

“Five Fat Turkeys Are We” is one of my favorite songs to teach to little folks during the holidays.  It’s a fun song with a great story and most importantly it gets kids to think critically. I love asking kids questions and telling the story of the song in a way […]
November 16, 2013

Paper Bag Alien Hats for Concert

Have you ever found yourself looking for that perfect costume to finalize your concert plans?  I needed a simple and FREE alien costume for my upcoming concert called “Space Invaders” (learn about the concert here).  What to do!?  I work at an elementary school in a low-income neighborhood and we […]
Best Boomwhacker playing ever! Videos to inspire your students!
November 15, 2013

Film Friday – Plastik Music  — Boomwhacker Craziness!

If you love boomwhackers, then you need to see these videos!  Plastik Music is a musical group that takes famous songs and arranges them for boomwhackers and a variety of other found/converted/created instruments.  Here’s a quick blurb from their website: “From Mozart to Motown, Plastic Musik puts a RADICAL twist […]
Children standing on a stage for a school performance
November 14, 2013

Preparing for A Concert or School Performance

I’m always looking for new tips and tricks to make concert preparation easier.  I feel like I perpetually get burned out and stressed out when planning for a school performance because there are so many details to work out.  Anything that I can do to alleviate some of the stress […]
This song about a funny dancing clown is a perfect way to encourage creative movement.
November 9, 2013

Punchinello – Improvising Movement

“Punchinello, you funny fellow!”  This is a song that I do each year with my first graders because it’s so much fun and has some awesome curricular connections.  In my district, one of our first quarter curriculum goals says that first grade students are supposed to learn a song to sing […]
A perfect video to teach dynamic differences like piano and forte.
November 8, 2013

Film Friday – Teaching Piano and Forte!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I LOVE using videos to reinforce concepts that I’m teaching in class.  Videos grab the attention of students and inspire them to look deeper and connect.  I especially love it when I can use music videos of contemporary artists to explain […]
The Big Red Sub Binder - stocked and ready to go!
November 6, 2013

2/4 Tuesday:  Substitute Planning!

I took a personal day for a doctor’s appointment last Friday and as I was preparing for the day I hit that slump of “What should I plan for this sub…  who knows if it’s going to be a music person or not…  Ugh!”  I find it really hard to […]
Pumpkin on the Vine - Perfect song for fall with ABA form!
November 5, 2013

The Pumpkin on the Vine – Identifying ABA Form

One of the things that is required in our district curriculum is teaching first graders to identify ABA form in song.  Last year I couldn’t find any songs in my Thanksgiving or Fall repertoire that I really loved that were easy for my kids to see ABA form.  So, I […]
November 1, 2013

Film Friday! – Around the World – Teaching Ostinato

  From the very first time I saw this video, I knew it would be perfect to show to students.  “Around the World” is a famous song by the band Daft Punk and this is the music video that was created to accompany the song.  The famous director/artist Michel Gondry […]
Use the instruments families to provide groups for your class. It's great for classroom management!
November 1, 2013

Instrument Families for Classroom Management

My first few years of teaching I really struggled with certain aspects of classroom management.  I was forever losing instruction time as I spent precious minutes trying to put kids into groups and organize teams for games or small group work.  And then one day I stumbled onto this idea and […]
If You're Happy And You Know It book to use in the music classroom!
October 28, 2013

If You’re Happy And You Know It! – Book Recommendation

This is a totally fun book!  I know that many students have the song “If You’re Happy and You Know It…” down pat before they even get to Kindergarten but not my students.  I have a high population of English Language Learners (often called ELLs) and most from low income […]
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