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"…

February 05, 2018

Six ways to end music class

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Pondering the best way to end music class? In this blog post , I wrote about great ways to start music class. In today's post, I'll write with my favorite ways to end music class before another class walks through the door! #1: Closing greetings A simple but fun way to say goodbye to your students is to sing goodbye to them! If your first graders are working on sol-mi, you could sing "Goodbye first grade," on sol-mi-sol-mi and they could sing back "Goodbye Mr./Mrs. ________." Then you could sing "Have a good day," and they could echo that. You could even sin…

January 18, 2018

Folk Songs for Fourth Grade

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Today, I'm linking up with Amy Abbott to write about some of my favorite folk songs for fourth grade! Whether you are "on track" with your curriculum or a little behind, I've got great singing games that fourth graders absolutely love! #1: Big Fat Biscuit Here's the notation, which I first learned from An American Methodology : For the game, t hree students are chosen, and they stand in a line. On the first “chewbelew,” the first student does a standing long jump. On the second “chewbelew,” the second student jumps, and on the third “chewbelew,” the third student jumps. The s…

December 31, 2017

Reflecting halfway through the school year

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Happy 2018! I hope you've all enjoyed the holidays. I had a great time relaxing with my family! This year, my break is rather short, and I'm going back to school January 2. With the short break, I've had to do some reflection during break to make sure I was in the right mindset to go back! Here are a few ways I've reflected on my school year thus far: Where have they been? Now is a great time to look at my year plans and previous lesson plans to see where my students have been. Are they "on track" or did we get a bit behind? Which concepts have they learned so far? How …

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&…