August 03, 2018

What's on my playlist for Fourth Grade?

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This week, I'm blogging about my playlists for each grade level, in my music room. For more information about how and why I'm using playlists,  check out this post . Today, let's talk about fourth grade! Here are three recordings from my fourth grade playlist: #1: Wade in de Water by Dominique Fauchard I found the book "Unspoken" a few years ago, and fell in love with it. It is a wordless picture book about the Underground Railroad; you can view it on Amazon here: After lots of digging, I finally found this recording that works perfectly with the book. I play the music, and us…

August 01, 2018

What's on my playlist for Second Grade?

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This week, I'm blogging about my playlists for each grade level, in my music room. For more information about how and why I'm using playlists,  check out this post . Today, let's talk about second grade! Here are three recordings from my second grade playlist: #1: Chimes of Dunkirk This is one of my favorite folk dances for lower elementary, from a great resource of the same name , by the New England Dancing Masters. I've used it to practice quarter rest (since the students have to clap three times, then rest, then stomp three times, then rest), and it's also a great way to intr…

March 04, 2018

2, 4, 6, 8: A fun chant for your first and second graders!

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Today I'm writing with one of my favorite chants for the music room, "2, 4, 6, 8." You may have heard of the chant: "2, 4, 6, 8/ Who do we appreciate?" This one is a bit different! It goes like this: Now you may be thinking...okay, great...but what's the game? This is one of the few that I have in my music room that I don't have a game for. Now, I could do some research to find one (and feel free to comment below if you do a game with it) or I could make a game up...but I like to have a few songs and chants that just don't have a game. ("Miss White"…

December 04, 2017

Fun activities for December in the music room

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With December upon us, today I'm teaming up with Amy Abbott to blog about my favorite December activities for the music room! The kids are SO excited this month! Here are my favorite activities to keep them engaged and celebrate winter holidays while still practicing musical concepts and skills: #1: Singalong Whether you simply sing through your favorite carols in your room or have a school-wide singalong, it is SO fun to sing holiday songs with your students! If you're looking for more information on directing a singalong, check out this blog post . #2: Picture books I love using children&…

December 08, 2016

Five easy (and free!) sub plans for the music classroom

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We've all heard the adage, "It's easier to come to school sick than to write sub plans." Many of you, like me, have spent hours upon hours working just on one day of sub plans, so it IS often easier to come to school sick than worry about it. A few years ago, though, I finally got my sub tub in order (read more about my sub tub here ), and figuring out sub plans began taking 10 minutes instead of 2 hours! Since then, I've become passionate about figuring out ideas that would have students making music, have subs feel comfortable teaching, and allow me to not spend tons of …

October 02, 2016

Ten Tricks and Treats for Halloween in the Music Room

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Today, I'm blogging about ten tricks or treats for the music room...ten ways to integrate Halloween into your music lessons while engaging your students and improving their musicianship! #1: Skin and Bones This is truly one of my favorite folk songs for Halloween! Here is the notation: This is a call/response song, with the first part being the call, and the "ooo" part being the response. Here are the additional verses: She lived down by the old graveyard, ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo! One night she thought she'd take a walk, ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo! She walked down by the old graveyard, ooo-ooo-ooo-o…

April 17, 2016

Five Favorite Pins of April

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Hi everyone! It is time for my five favorite pins of April! If you are a teacher blogger, feel free to join the party! Directions are at the end of the post. Here are my five favorite pins this month. To see the pin, click each picture. #1: Kids' Books That Teach Important Life Lessons This looks like a great list of picture books. Next year, my school's theme is "Bee Yourself," so I'm thinking I could take some of these books and create programs around them! (For more ideas about programs based off of children's literature, see these blog posts .) #2: Tissue box rhythms I…

June 24, 2015

Pool noodle rhythms

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Today I'm once again linking up with Tracy King/ The Bulletin Board Lady at mrskingrocks.blogspot.com to write about a summer project: pool noodle rhythms! My summer project is actually inspired by the one and only Tracy King! I found this awesome blog post about  pool noodle rhythms  on her blog and decided I had to try it out.  There are so many reasons I think her idea is fabulous, but to list a few: It's a GREAT activity for those tactile learners! It's a wonderful way to show length of rhythms. It's a great way to practice meter/ time signature. It's a brilliant way to do gr…

June 14, 2015

Musical Road Trip: Rhythm

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Hi everyone! I'm excited to be the first stop on a blog hop with other music teachers, called "Musical Road Trip"! The idea of a blog hop is that each stop will be about a different musical topic. The first stop will be with me, in Ohio, about rhythm! If you are a blogger and/or TpT seller, make sure to read the directions at the end of the post to link up a blog post and/or a rhythmic product for sale! Rhythm is such an expansive topic. I've blogged many times about different aspects of rhythm, but today I thought I'd blog about different ways to approach reviewing and pra…