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Aileen Miracle

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October 29, 2015

Technology Tips for Choir

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As I started my choir this year, I incorporated technology in a way that hadn't before with choir, to save time and be more efficient. Today, I thought I'd share those strategies in case it helps save time with your choir! Sign-up with Google Forms Before I started recruiting for choir this year, I had a conversation with my friend Matt, who also directs a choir at his school. He mentioned that he was using Google forms to sign up students for choir, and I was so excited to try it with my students! In the past, I've always had students fill out half a sheet of paper with their infor…

October 27, 2015

Sub Plans for the Music Classroom

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We've all been there...we get sick in the middle of the night, or our kids get sick in the middle of the night, and we are scrambling to put together sub plans. It's not fun to put together sub plans when your loved ones or you are sick, especially when we often have to plan for a substitute to not have any music background! A few years ago, after finding some sub tubs on Pinterest, I decided to make a sub tub for myself, so that I could be prepared in ANY situation with solid sub plans that could work with any sub! Here is what worked for me: I bought my sub tub from Target (you can p…

October 22, 2015

Assessment Strategies

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Assessment in the music classroom can be tricky. Many music teachers only see their students once a week--and sometimes even less--so fitting in quality curriculum, engaging songs and dances, games, books, and more needs to be balanced with assessing students' musical growth. Today I'm writing about seven things to consider when assessing in the music classroom. Why am I assessing? Your first response might be, "Because I have to!" Many of us do have to report grades, but what if you didn't have to? Why would you do it? Your answer might be because it provides you with dat…

October 14, 2015

Listening lessons for Halloween

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With Halloween coming up very soon, today I'm writing about some of my favorite listening lessons to use for this fun time of year! There are lots of "spooky" pieces of music that are perfect for Halloween! Here are a few of my favorites. "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Grieg: This is one of my all-time favorite pieces! The story itself, of Peer running away from the trolls and the Mountain King, is very engaging, but then the music really draws students in. So many musical concepts can be taught through the piece: tempo and dynamics, as it starts slow and quiet an…

October 12, 2015

Five Favorite Pins of October

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Hi everyone! Today I'm blogging with my five favorite pins for the month of October! #1: Making phrase lengths physical This video is SO awesome! It shows a beautiful movement activity to "Fur Elise," in which students are paired up and use a tennis ball to show phrasing. I love how focused the students are, and how beautifully they show the phrases! #2: Domino Music Notes This is a really cute idea for having students think about the number of beats in each pattern. They play dominos with rhythm patterns, matching up dominos with other dominos that have the same number of beats. Lov…

October 11, 2015

Three Things {A website, a book, and a powerpoint}

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Today, I’m continuing my "Three Things" linky party, in which I blog about three things that worked for my and my students this week. Thanks to  Whimsy Workshop Teaching ,  Kimberly Geswein fonts , and  Jax and Jake  for the cute clip art and fonts! #1: Instruments of the Orchestra website My third and fourth graders are learning about instruments of the orchestra right now. I'm having my third graders focus on the strings family, since they are doing a dulcimer unit, and my fourth graders focus on the woodwind family, since they are playing recorders. After showing this strings slidesh…

October 04, 2015

Three things {Arpie, Students vs. Zombies, and a book}

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Today, I’m continuing my "Three Things" linky party, in which I blog about three things that worked for my and my students this week. Thanks to  Whimsy Workshop Teaching ,  Kimberly Geswein fonts , and  Jax and Jake  for the cute clip art and fonts! #1: Arpie This week, some of my classes received their "reward day," in which for half of the music class, they get to vote on what they'd like to do. They received this reward for earning a certain number of points for behavior. Before they vote, though, I give them a separate reward: time on iPads! I put them into their groups, a…

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