Have you seen pictures on Pinterest or Facebook with colorful rhythm dice and thought, “How cool! But, how would I use them? Would I need to make them? How should I do that?” I had all of those questions and then one day the dice dropped into my lap and I had to figure out how to...
For me, the biggest things are the little things. I love learning simple tips and tricks from other teachers that help to smooth out the wrinkles in their classrooms and make the teaching process just a little easier. Teaching a group of 20-30 students at a time can be totally daunting a...
I love the challenge of creating a bulletin board that excites and delights students… but I know that not everyone feels the same. For some folks, coming up with bulletin board ideas and then actually pulling out all the materials to create those displays can be a huge hassle. You scour ...
At my school we have our musical performances in the gym. Not on a stage that’s connected to the gym, just in the open gym. Our student population is large, we don’t have a stage big enough for all the kids, and we just don’t have the option of having this performance at our...
One of the most difficult things about learning centers is the organization, rotation, and logistics. Center rotations can fall apart when students don’t know where to go or what to do at each station. If a student needs to move from one station to another I do my best to make it a...
I love children’s literature and any time I go to the mall, a big box store, or really anywhere that sells anything I always gravitate towards the children’s book section. One specific thing that I usually look for are books for movement exploration. If you really look and sift through you c...
Learning centers can be fun and educational – a place where students get to explore and work with friends to complete objectives. There is a ton of potential for everything to go right and for students to learn at their own pace and expand their knowledge of a topic while feeling independent...
I think that every teacher has heard of “using centers” in the classroom and has probably been asked by an administrator, “How do you incorporate small group learning?” The concept of learning centers is pretty straightforward: students work in small groups (usually 2-5 k...
Teachers live in a constant state of change. Sometimes it feels like every staff development day comes with a new initiative and teaching method to adopt. And how do you learn about and prepare for this new system? Teachers might be given a 2 hour training by someone from “central office...
Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing the central role of black people in U.S. history. Since the mid 1970s, people in the United States have used the month of February to take a critical look at the way that African Americans ...
I am constantly on the lookout for cool new gadgets, manipulatives, and resources to use in my classroom. No matter where I go I somehow always find myself browsing through children’s books and toys looking for a way to adapt them for the music room. I love to jot down ideas about interest...
“Groovy Joe is totally fun. He’s a song-singing, tail-wagging party of one!” Who is Groovy Joe, you might ask? Groovy Joe is a dancing, singing, guitar playing dog and is the literary creation of Eric Litwin, the best-selling author of the original four Pete the Cat books,...