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 it h...
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 households. Many ...
This is a truly fantastic video that will really get your kids talking. Nathan Barnatt is an American actor, comedian, dancer, and filmmaker who is known for his amazing dance skills. In this video, the official music video for the mash-up hit “Pop Culture,” Nathan plays a nerdy guy ...
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 some of the great ide...
Parent communication is a constant struggle. As a music teacher I’m not in daily contact with parents and opening that line of communication can be tricky. Even classroom teachers, who connect with parents on a near daily basis, often have troubles communicating with some parents. Now ta...
I’m always on the lookout for ways to teach steady beat to my primary grades. You can never have too many ways to reinforce this concept as students learn in so many different ways! I borrowed this idea from my former district lead teacher and who knows if she borrowed it from someone else...
If you ever find yourself thinking, “Man, I wish I had a high-quality video to reinforce this kids’ song,” then this is the YouTube channel for you! Today I thought I would give a shout out to Super Simple Songs, a YouTube video channel that I found a few years ago. They have c...
Five Little Pumpkins is a classic elementary music song/poem and so much fun! If you haven’t heard or used this poem you can find resources here. I use this with my K-1 kids and add a few extra things to reinforce some concepts. Here’s my process: 1) The kids learn the poem wit...
In my district all teachers are required to post objective questions and “I CAN” statements for every lesson. Each I CAN statement is intended to help your students understand the point of the lesson focus learning so that kids know what they’re supposed to be able to do at the completion of...
It’s concert season again and time to start advertising! I swear that no matter how many times I remind my students when and where the concert is, that they still forget all the details. I send out notes, I post on our website, I make huge bulletin boards… basically I do ever...
When it comes to creating inspiriting and visually stunning commercials, no one can beat Sony’s Bravia advertisements. These videos feature vivid color, interesting and surprising content, and fantastic settings from around the globe. In this post I’ll be sharing some ideas to incor...
I love using a hallway bulletin board to teach content to kiddos! It’s Halloween time and I wanted to put something out in the hallway that was seasonally appropriate, fun, and still had included musical content. So I came up with the “Terrifying Tempos.” I printed the words...