There’s something so satisfying about walking back into your music room after a few months away, unpacking boxes, rearranging you desk, rethinking your bulletin boards, and starting clean with plans for a new year. I love that we teachers get this chance every year to reset and restart. What a...
I know that a lot of people use December 31st as a time to reflect and set goals for the new year. They think back on all the things that happened and reminisce for just a minute before leaping forward. Teachers are blessed with a second chance at this every year. When our school year comes ...
I had so much fun with this lesson today that I just had to share. I’m continuing to work on sol-mi songs with my Kindergarten friends and had it in my lesson plans to go back and revisit “Rain, Rain, Go Away!” I always love teaching this song around this part of the school yea...
I’m just going to admit right now that this has been one of the most fun and engaging bulletin boards that I have ever come up with. I’m so excited about how this turned out and excited that I was able to highlight and celebrate student diversity! I created this bulletin board for a ...
I love the idea of tracking and celebrating student growth and progress in a public way. With a task as complex as playing a melodic wind instrument, there are a lot of variables to master. It takes real practice and work to learn to play the recorder in a fun, dynamic way, so I want to do every...
As many of you know, I LOVE teaching recorder! The kids get such energy from playing that funny little instrument. They smile and have a ton of fun learning to make sounds and play together. My kids pick up so much, so quickly when we have our recorder unit as we read on the staff, utilize dyn...
If you have a rabbit puppet, this lesson is for YOU! I’ve been buying more puppets and experimenting a lot with puppet use for instruction in the classroom lately. I definitely got inspired when I recently attended a local Orff chapter workshop with Lynn Kleiner of Music Rhapsody. She us...
Do you ever look into a music vendor catalog and see pipe dreams instead of possibilities? These days I feel like it is a constant battle to get funding for the instruments, resources, technology, and professional development that we all desperately need. Even if you teach in an affluent distr...
I think that we all have the one class that walks in the door a little squirrely every time. They fidget and chat and need something to help them focus before you’re going to get ANYTHING done in class. You can start with echo clapping, a poem, a game song, or other activity to try and get...
I’m always looking for tips and tricks to make classroom management a little easier. Last summer at my Orff Schulwerk levels training I learned a truly wonderful idea about using ties to simplify folk dance and movement instruction. Since then I’ve thought of a lot of different ways ...
I love learning and sharing tiny little tricks to make life in the classroom easier. One of my favorite things to do when I walk into a friend’s music room is start asking “Where did you get that?” “How are you hanging that?” “What brand of (whatever) is that?...
Teaching drums to my kids is one of my favorite things to do! They can’t get enough of the drums and see it as a special treat. I love it because I can sneak in SO much content and so many concepts and the kids just think that they’re banging away the whole time. Surp...