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 […]
A few years ago I purchased one of those classroom pointers that every teacher seems to have (little pointing hand on a stick) when the book fair came through my school. The following year I bought another one because it had cooler colors and was just generally awesome. The problem […]
“If You’re Happy and You Know It” is a classic children’s folk song and is so wonderful for so many reasons. It gives you a chance to talk about improvising new lyrics and coming up with variations. It gives you a chance to define the word “lyics.” It allow […]
Every chance that I can, I use little phrases or hand signals to save time. I try and do everything I can do to streamline my instruction so that I don’t have to reexplain or go back and reteach. I only get 25 minutes twice a week with my kids […]
The Firikyiwa is a percussion instrument from African and is my newest favorite toy/tiny time saver in the music room. I saw my friend Sarah Lillie use this years ago with her classes and I’ve ALWAYS wanted one. This year on the requisition cycle I decided that I should spend […]
The “Master Sticker” is a little trick that I happened upon one day when working with my younger kids. I was pulling the classic “I’m watching and listening and I’m going to give stickers to the kids who I think are really following directions and singing so well!” We’ve all […]
I love using my barred percussion/Orff instruments and I love when students feel proficient playing accompaniments, tapping out melodic patterns, and especially improvising! What I love ALMOST as much is when students feel good about the procedures of how to hold mallets, how to stand at the instruments, how to […]
No teacher every shuts off their “teacher” brain. Not really. We’re always thinking about what could change or what great things we want to improve on. In the summer I like to think ahead to the new school year and also reflect back on the previous year. What did I […]
Does it ever feel like the last 3 minutes of class can be the craziest? You get students all settled down where they’re learning and following directions with no problems and the second you mention the words “line up” they turn into a herd of cats. Line up time doesn’t […]
This little teacher trick came from one of those crazy moments when you just do something crazy, go with it, and see where it leads. I had a kindergarten class show up at my door one day and they desperately needed something special to get them to pay attention and […]
I have a bunch of little catchphrases that I use every day. I think that all teachers do! “One, two, three. Eyes on me!” These quick little sentences help reorient our classes and get kids’ attention. The other day I was in a friend’s classroom and heard her say one […]
The summer before my first year of teaching I was swimming with ideas about what songs I wanted to teach, how to set up my classroom, what things I needed to buy or make, and so much more. Like any good education student who has read “The First Days of […]
