Choir Songs for Christmas

Choir Songs for Christmas

This past week, my choir performed their holiday concert, and it got me thinking about my favorite songs for this time of year, as well as songs I'd like to perform next year. Today, I'm teaming up with my friend Amy Abbott at Music a la Abbott to blog about our favorite Christmas choir songs as well as ones we'd like to do for next year!A couple notes:My choir consists of third, fourth, and fifth...

Holiday gift guide for music teachers

Holiday gift guide for music teachers

Are you looking for gift ideas for a loved one who is a music teacher? Or are you a music teacher trying to find gift ideas to give your family? I'm teaming up with my friend Amy Abbott, to blog about great gift ideas for any music teacher!Please note that some of the links in this post are affiliate links.Echo DotI was super excited when my husband bought me the Echo for my birthday in late November....

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

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

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...

Tips for assessing with Plickers

Tips for assessing with Plickers

A few years ago, I discovered an amazing free app called Plickers, which allows you to quickly and easily assess your students with ONLY ONE device! Today, I thought I'd discuss tips for using the app. I just got done with an assessment for third grade recently, and realized there were some steps that make using the app much easier!Before using Plickers, you'll need to do the following:Decide what...

Props in the music classroom

Props in the music classroom

As a music teacher, we have the opportunity to buy some really fun things for our classroom! Perhaps you've seen tennis balls or ribbons in another music teacher's room, and you've wondered how they incorporate those props into their music classroom. Here are my five favorite props for the music classroom:#1: Stretchy bandI first saw a stretchy band as a way to incorporate movement into an early childhood...

Flexible Seating in your Music Classroom {Part Two}

Flexible Seating in your Music Classroom {Part Two}

A couple months ago, I wrote about all of the flexible seating I purchased for my music classroom. Today, I'm blogging about how I've introduced the flexible seating in my classroom.I have lots of fun seats in my room now, so of course, the students want to try them out! I decided when I first started that I would only use them for small groups and centers--otherwise, it would be a bit of a mess for...

Favorite Kindergarten Music Activities

Favorite Kindergarten Music Activities

As I wrote about in this blog post, teaching Kindergarten is so different than any other grade! They are at times so sweet, at other times so needy...and their attention span is about as short as they are! That being said, I truly enjoy teaching Kindergarten music. Today, I thought I'd blog about my favorite activities to do with Kindergarteners...the activities that I look forward to teaching, and...

Data-Tracking in the Music Room

Data-Tracking in the Music Room

"Data" seems to such a buzz word lately in the education world. How well are students achieving? How much they have grown from year to year? And how does this apply to the music room?I first really delved into data when I first wrote my SLO, or student learning objective, a few years ago. I had never tracked data in such a specific way, and I admit, it was a bit scary! Since then, I've grown to really...