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Aileen Miracle
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August 04, 2018
What's on my playlist for Fifth Grade?
Folk dancing · Multicultural music · No comments
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 fifth grade! Here are three recordings from my fifth grade playlist: #1: I Love a Rainy Night by Eddie Rabbitt A few years ago, I found a dance for this song in a resource from Sanna Longden, which you can now view for free here . My fifth graders LOVE this line dance...and when you find a dance that fifth graders love, then, well, you have to do it every year! #2: Oh a Shoe a Shoe As I wrote about in…
August 03, 2018
What's on my playlist for Fourth Grade?
Folk dancing · Listening lessons · Rhythmic work · No comments
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 02, 2018
What's on my playlist for Third Grade?
Folk dancing · melodic work · Multicultural music · No comments
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 third grade! Here are three recordings from my third grade playlist: #1: Sasha! This is one of my absolute favorite folk dances! It is a really fun mixer that students LOVE. It looks like it's not available as a single track on iTunes, but can be purchased with this resource , which is a really wonderful book of folk dances. #2: Wau Rauh by Sekaha Angklung Murni from the album "Bali: Balinese …
August 01, 2018
What's on my playlist for Second Grade?
Folk dancing · Listening lessons · Rhythmic work · No comments
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…
July 31, 2018
What's on my playlist for First Grade?
Children's literature · Folk dancing · Listening lessons · No comments
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 first grade! Here are three recordings from my first grade playlist: #1: Potpourri by Eric Chapelle (from Music for Creative Dance, Volume 1) I absolutely love this recording and use it a LOT in my room, not just with first grade! It's like freeze dance, but with several different types of music. Students find a self space, then move like they think each section of the music sounds, then they fr…
July 30, 2018
What's on my playlist for Kindergarten?
Folk dancing · Listening lessons · No comments
Recently, on Instagram, I posted a story about the playlists I was creating for each grade level. I had lots of people interested in what I had on each playlist, so this week, I'll be blogging every day with three recordings I have on each grade level playlist! Today, I'll start with Kindergarten. So what do I mean about a playlist? For years, I have used an iPod to play music during my music lessons. Inevitably, though, there was a song here or there that I forgot to put on my iPod, or that I couldn't put on my iPod (since it's eight years old), so I had to use my school compu…
July 17, 2018
10 Great Examples of Music Classroom Decor
Bulletin boards · Classroom decor · No comments
Thinking about how you'd like to decorate your music room this upcoming school year? In this post, I'm showcasing 10 great examples of music classroom decor, to inspire you with your classroom! Here goes! I love Tracy King's letters...and the decorations on the piano! Click here to read more about Tracy's farmhouse-themed classroom. Amy Abbott at Music a la Abbott was so creative with this bulletin board! I love how the genie is rising out of the bulletin board, and how she uses an oddly-shaped space to create a board! This next picture is from my classroom ...I love storing my ha…
June 10, 2018
Ideas for Musical Programs
Children's literature · Programs · No comments
Are you thinking ahead to next year, and wanting to plan your musical programs? In today's post, I'm compiling blog posts--some written by me, and some by others--that detail programs based off of children's literature and themes, so that you can adapt and use if you'd like! Wangari's Trees of Peace : In this blog post, I detail using this book for a fifth grade program. Wonderful if you're looking to integrate multicultural music with your upper elementary students! On the Day You Were Born : In this blog post, I write about using this beautiful book as a basis for a fift…
May 14, 2018
Ukulele Centers in the Music Room
Learning centers · Ukulele · No comments
I've been super excited to dive into ukulele this year, as I wrote about in this post . In today's post, I'm writing about something new I've tried recently: centers for ukulele! If you're wondering about centers in general, and how they should be set up, check out this post , as well as this helpful post by David Row at Make Moments Matter. I typically set up four centers in my room, around the perimeter, and we rotate every five or so minutes, so that students can go to all of the centers. I like to have my centers all be focused on one concept, or one instrument, so all fou…
May 01, 2018
Quizizz in the Music Room
Assessment · Band · Technology · Upper elementary · No comments
Recently, I took a class about different web apps to use in the classroom. During that class, I discovered Quizizz, and was immediately excited about the possibilities! In this post, I'll write about how to use Quizizz, how to create a Quizizz, and how to find quizzes I've made on the platform! So what is Quizizz? Quizizz is a website that allows students to take quizzes. It is similar to Kahoot (which I wrote about in this blog post ) but you are allowed to give the quiz as homework, instead of having all students take it live. Additionally, the quiz doesn't have to be timed, and st…
March 29, 2018
What I've learned about teaching ukulele
Ukulele · Upper elementary · 1 comment
This year, I've embarked on a new journey: teaching ukulele! I've really enjoyed it, so in today's post, I'm sharing what I've learned my first year of ukulele. You don't have to spend a ton of money on ukuleles Initially, I thought about purchasing ukuleles for every single student in my classroom. Once I realized the amount I had to work with, though, I decided I could buy for half of the class and have students work in pairs. This has worked pretty well for my students--more on that in a bit--and it helped me start ukulele without a ton of money! I bought the Kala Wate…
March 25, 2018
Hogs in the Cornfield
Songs · Upper elementary · No comments
Today, I'm sharing one of favorite songs for upper elementary: "Hogs in the cornfield." I learned this song while in Kodály Level II at Capital University, with Bruce Swank. Here's the notation; it can also be found in An American Methodology. The song is great for several concepts. It's great for tika-ti, especially since it has some unique patterns in it. Melodically, it works really well for high do! As far as games go, I originally learned this game for it: S tudents stand in two lines, facing partners; you can name one line “1” and one line “2.” After they sing the song…








