Tiny Time Saver Archives - Make Moments Matter

A fun way to teach musical form while reinforcing classroom expectations!

April 6, 2016

Link Up! Cumulative Form and Classroom Management

Classroom Ideas

I had to take a minute or two and share this fun little classroom management strategy that I stumbled upon. It all started as I began to look for another way to teach cumulative form. In case you’re not familiar, a cumulative song is just a song with a simple verse structure that gets […]

Here are three quick and easy tips to save time and space when organizing your classroom!

February 28, 2016

Classroom Organization – Save Space and Sanity

Classroom Ideas

Music teachers who have ever experienced K-5 education (and those of us who have experienced K-8 education) can tell you that a quick switch and easy transition at the end of class is vital to your sanity. This year I start every day with two middle school classes followed by […]

January 25, 2016

Bring Your Dry Erase Markers Back to life

Classroom Ideas

I love and hate dry erase markers. They make it so easy for kids to write something down and quickly fix and retry. Whenever we’re composing or writing out rhythms the dry erase markers make the process so much simpler than if I had to hand out pencils, sharpen pencils, […]

Ties make choosing a partner and following directions for folk dancing super simple!

February 5, 2015

Ties for Folk Dancing

Lesson Ideas

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 to use […]

Tubano Tidbits - Ideas for a drum circle

January 24, 2015

Tubano Tidbits: Ideas from a Drum Circle

Lesson Ideas

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 […]

December 6, 2014

Bulletin Board Borders – ORGANIZED!!

Decoration

I was working on a bulletin board recently and was frustrated with how all my bulletin board borders and extras were stored. I was looking for one more piece of the colorful star borders but I just couldn’t find it. It looked like the borders had exploded. Those little colorful […]

November 1, 2014

If You’re Happy and You Know It!

Lesson Ideas

“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 […]

Here are some tips and tricks to help students remember their right from their left.

October 13, 2014

Right and Left – Helping Kids Remember

Classroom Ideas

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 […]

Firikyiwa - A must-have instrument for the music classroom.

September 30, 2014

Tiny Time Saver – Firikyiwa African Bell Instrument

Classroom Ideas

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 […]

How to turn off all those extra channels so that when you pull up your Apple TV in class your students won't see them!

September 10, 2014

Apple TV Tiny Trick

Classroom Ideas

How-to shut off Apple TV icons and previews. One of my favorite technology toys to use in the classroom is my Apple TV. I love it because I can mirror the images on you iPad and show an entire class the picture I took, the APP I’m using, or anything […]

Teaching students how to take off and put bars on your percussion instruments.

August 23, 2014

Bars On, Bars Off – Learning How to Set the Instruments Correctly

Classroom Ideas

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 […]

Tips and tricks to make your bulletin boards the talk of the teachers's lounge!

August 16, 2014

Bulletin Board Best Practices – #1

Decoration

It’s the beginning of a new year and time to start thinking about what’s to come and forging ahead. For me, the beginning of the year bulletin board is always a fun and stressful task. Some of us want to put up a bulletin board that we can use all year […]