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Test 4 Mrs. Miracle's Music Room

May 28, 2014

End of the Year Organization

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Today was my last day of school, so I had TONS of organization to do! When I heard Tracy King at Mrs. King's Music Class was hosting a linky party about end of the year organization, I decided I had to link up! My room was a bit of a mess for most of today. I've been inspired by The Clutter-Free Classroom's Guide to Organizing and Managing your Classroom , so I've been throwing out more than I have in the past. After seeing a tip on Pinterest about organizing manipulatives, and then reading this tip again in the Clutter-Free Classroom, I decided I'd try it for next year.  So …

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May 27, 2014

Tips for composing in the music room

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Recently, I worked with fifth graders to have them compose their own piece based off a haiku they had written in class. It was such a great learning experience....for them AND for me! Here are some thoughts I had after completing the unit: Students need to work at their own pace . Just like anything else, some students will really get it. Some of my students--even though I hadn't told them to--added rhythm and other musical symbols to their compositions (see some examples below.) Many were totally ready to write their own haiku and create another composition. Some of my students pretty much…

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May 13, 2014

Twitter Tips for Teachers

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I've been on Pinterest and Facebook for quite a while, and have felt very comfortable with both. Twitter, on the other hand, has been a bit of an enigma to me. The functionality of Twitter is a bit different, and in my circle of friends, there just aren't that many people on Twitter. Over the last few months, I've schooled myself in the ways of Twitter. I'm going to blog my suggestions about why and how to use Twitter as a teacher. First of all, why tweet? We are all busy people just dealing with everyday life. If you have time, you may like to sit down and relax by looking at yo…

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May 07, 2014

Five Favorite Pins of May

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Hi everyone! It is time for my five favorite pins of May! Here are my five favorite pins this month. To see the pin, click each picture. #1: Plickers! I recently blogged about this amazing app, which I found out about on Pinterest. Click here to read the blog post!  It does take a while to do the first assessment, but after that it gets easier as kids know what to do and how it works! #2: Techie Tip Speaking of technology, here is a pin with a very helpful tip, especially if you have ever accidentally closed a tab on your computer! #3: Reward Jar This is a great way to reward students while giving th…

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May 01, 2014

Living Kodaly's Vision

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Hi everyone! Today, I'm blogging about how we as music educators can live Kodaly's vision. As Kodály-inspired teachers, we have learned much of Zoltan Kodály’s beliefs about music education. Indeed, many of us can quote Kodály’s ideas about folk music, singing, and the importance of early music education. But as we step into our music classrooms and take on the demands of musical programs, grades, and back-to-back classes, how can we endeavor to live Kodály’s vision? Following are many of Kodály’s often-recited quotes, with sample activities which target each quote. “If one were to atte…

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April 10, 2014

Throwback Thursday: Beginner's Guide to Elementary General Music

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Hi everyone! Since today is Thursday, I decided to try out my very first Throwback Thursday linky party! On Throwback Thursday, I will re-post one of my favorite blog entries from months or even years ago! Today I'm re-posting one of my favorites from April 2012, "A Beginner's Guide to Elementary General Music." If you are a teacher blogger, make sure to see the directions at the end on how to join...it's pretty easy...just re-post a previous blog and link up! Here goes... For the last four weeks, I have had a student teacher in my classroom. She is the third student teach…

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March 12, 2014

Five Favorite Pins of March

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So now that it's almost the middle of March, it's time once again for my monthly linky party! #1: Creative and respectful ways to quiet a class This blog article has lots of fun ways to get your students quiet! Sometimes, I feel like I get stuck in a rut with the same old techniques, so it was fun to read some new ideas (and I appreciated how many of the strategies were musical!) #2: Encouraging Critical and Creative Thinking I am always looking for ways to encourage critical thinking (which is why I created my Critical Thinking in the Music Classroom Bundled Set ) so I was excited when I …

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February 17, 2014

Solfa manipulatives

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Today I'm linking up with Lindsay Jervis' Monday manipulatives linky party, to blog about solfa manipulatives!  One of my favorite ways to have students use manipulatives is solfa manipulatives. I first came upon the idea of solfa manipulatives when I was studying in Hungary. My friend Bonnie presented about it to our level III class; she had learned about them in a previous level. I adapted the idea she presented a bit, and came up with laminated circles. Here is a picture of my students working with solfa manipulatives; usually I have them work individually, but this class was so bi…

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February 12, 2014

Five Favorite Pins of February

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Since it's almost Valentine's Day, I realized it's time for my linky party for February! If you are a blogger, feel free to join the linky party by following the directions at the end of this post. Here are my five favorite pins this month! You can click on each picture to be taken to the original pin. #1: Self-assessment folders This pin shows how you could use these folders to have students assess themselves with exit tickets. I recently posted about The Bulletin Board Lady's exit ticket set , and I think these folders could be a great way of both collecting exit tickets AND hav…

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January 25, 2014

Monday Music Manipulatives: Staff Writing with Erasers

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Today I'm excited to once again link up with Lindsay Jervis for her Monday Music Manipulatives linky party, to blog about staff writing with erasers. Today will be a simple and short post about staff writing with polar bear erasers! My first graders have been deep in sol-mi preparation. I've been getting them used to finding lines and spaces on the staff, and then figuring out which line or space (3rd line, 4th space, etc.) Once students were comfortable with that (which took a few lessons of working on the skill for a few minutes), I handed a staff paper to each student, as well as two…

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January 19, 2014

Five Favorite Pins of January

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Hope you have had a wonderful start to your year! Since we are well into January, I figured it was time for my Five Favorite Pins of January! If you are a blogger, feel free to join the linky party by following the directions at the end of this post. Here are my five favorite pins this month! You can click on each picture to be taken to the original pin. #1: 36 Clever Ways to Decorate Your Classroom There are SO many great ideas here about how to decorate your classroom, like contact paper to spice up your file cabinets, stenciling quotes or phrases on your walls, and so much more! I will especi…

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