Reflecting halfway through the school year

Reflecting halfway through the school year

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...

Fun activities for December in the music room

Fun activities for December in the music room

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: SingalongWhether you simply sing through your favorite carols in your room or have a school-wide singalong,...

Songs and Activities for Thanksgiving

Songs and Activities for Thanksgiving

Since it is Thanksgiving week, I thought I'd write a quick blog post today with a round up of some fun ideas for your music room this week!Here is a post I wrote with a few different ideas for the music room, including using turkeys to write rhythm, a picture book for thankfulness, and more! (Click the picture to go to the post.)Amy Abbott just wrote this post with lots of great ideas for Thanksgiving,...

Lesson planning for the upper elementary music room

Lesson planning for the upper elementary music room

Upper elementary can be a tough level to teach. They are sometimes "too cool" for school, and self-conscious of their singing voices. Academically they are advanced, yet musically they may need the basics. In this blog post, I'll detail my tips for lesson planning for the upper elementary music room. Keep reading for how to receive a free upper elementary music lesson with songs, materials, and more!A...

Halloween Picture Books for the Music Room

Halloween Picture Books for the Music Room

Since Halloween is just around the corner, I'm blogging today with four of my favorite picture books for the music room during Halloween!Two of the four books I'm blogging about aren't specifically Halloween books, but because of their theme, can work really well during this time of the year! Here goes!Go Away, Big Green MonsterA few years ago, I saw this book being read at my daughter's daycare and...

Beat passing games

Beat passing games

I've been posting lately about great games and hand jives for upper elementary, and in today's post, I'm writing about beat passing games, which are also a favorite of upper elementary students!So what are beat passing games? They are games in which the beat is passed from one person to the next. Typically, at the end, the last person to be hit is "out."  They are GREAT for reinforcing steady...

Liza Jane: A great song for upper elementary

Liza Jane: A great song for upper elementary

Today, I'm sharing another one of my favorite songs for fourth and fifth grade...an old standard called "Liza Jane."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 150 American Folk Songs.Additional verses:I’ve got a house in Baltimore, Lil’ Liza Jane.Street car runs right by my door, Lil’ Liza Jane.(Chorus)I’ve got...

Sandy's Mill: A fun song for upper elementary

Sandy's Mill: A fun song for upper elementary

Today, I'm sharing one of my favorite songs for fourth and fifth grade...a fun song called "Sandy's Mill."I learned this song while in Kodaly Level III at Capital University, with Joan Litman.  Here's the notation:The song is great for several concepts. Typically, I would only pull out the hardest rhythmic concept from a song to teach it, which in this case would be ti-tam, or eighth/ dotted...