Music Classroom Wishlist

I have the opportunity to basically start a music program. During my mid year meeting with my principal I was asked to create a wish list for next school year. Although this task is exciting, I also find it to be a little overwhelming. There are so many options and choices. I am starting with a mostly blank slate, so it has been fun to dream and think about all of the possibilities. It is also a little scary because I am afraid I am going to pick the "wrong" things to purchase or focus on. 

At the beginning of this year, I had my school purchase The First Steps Curriculum and I have been very happy with that for grades Preschool through Second. Third grade is not as defined right now and Fourth through Eighth learn an instrument (bucket drums, recorder and piano).

What is on your wishlist?

My Music Program Wishlist

1. Ukuleles or Mahalo Rainbow
2. Drum Sticks with Bag
3. Orff Instruments
1. Bells
2. Alto Xylophones
3. Soprano Xylophones

Kindergarten Concert 2017: Harold and the Purple Crayon

Each year I have many ideas about new things I would like to try and programs/apps I would like to start using.  Sometimes I have to think about wanting to try a new thing for a few years before I finally do.  This year I finally started using SeeSaw.  I have had the app on my phone/iPad for at least three years, but never took the next step.  Right now it is by far my favorite app for sharing student work, but that is another post for another day.  The other idea I am finally doing after thinking about it for years is having a performance based on a book.  I have to say, I am very excited!

I have wanted to try this for a few years now, but I was hesitant to try something new (last year was my first year in a new district and I was never sure how to make the concert format at my old school work with a book) and I didn't really understand the process.  I am still not sure if I fully understand the process, but I think I have something that will work (hopefully).  In my current position; I teach K-3rd Grade Music. My first and second graders have a combined concert in December, my kindergartners have a concert by themselves in March and my third graders have a concert by themselves in April.  One thing I like about one grade level concerts is it allows us to perform more material because the time is not split between two grade levels.  

I have chosen the book 'Harold and the Purple Crayon.'  I read through books I have in my classroom and I could think of songs that would fit with the story line off the top of my head.  After some more searching, I was able to find more songs that I think fit and will work for the concert.  I found a website that has hundreds of read aloud books and they have Harold and the Purple Crayon. My plan as of right now is to use this website to read the story during the concert.

Harold and the Purple Crayon

Scarf Routine to Moonlight Sonata (still deciding on this one)

Put On Your Walking Shoes-After Page 7 (World of Music)

Apple Tree-After Page 11

Stinky Pirates-After Page 19 (Quaver)

Lunch Box-After Page 24 (Quaver)
Dinosaur Just Ate My Lunch-After Page 24 (Quaver)

Great Big House-After Page 29

Balloon Poem

Twinkle, Twinkle-After Page 58

Chippewa Lullaby-Before last page (Quaver)

I would love to hear about your experiences with basing a concert on a book.

Day 345: Music Is Incredible (Material Monday)

Daily Blog Challenge Day 345/365

Material Monday-Bulletin Boards

I am responsible for one bulletin board in the main entry way of my school.  The last two years I have had a "This Month In Music" board and I would include pictures of what each grade was doing for that month, our song of the month and our composer of the month.  This year I decided I need to mix it up a little (plus the art teacher, whose board is right next to mine, had a fantastic looking one and I decided mine looked extra lame compared to hers.)

Our reading theme this year is superheros so I am trying to find a way to tie in that theme into my classroom. I know I saw this idea online, but I cannot remember where and numerous Google searches have failed to find the link.  To start the year I am going to use the Incredibles as my theme.  It is going to say Music Is Incredible and have pictures of the Incredibles.  I am also thinking about adding QR codes and information about what is going on in class and how to connect with our classroom through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

What are your favorite bulletin board ideas?

Thank you for sharing.

Day 338: First Project (Material Monday)

Daily Blog Challenge Day 338/365

Material Monday

I am in the midst of writing lesson plans for the start of the school year.  I like to start the year with a project that I know the students will love.  I also try to include an improvisation or composition component.

Kindergarten:  Name game, singing games, small percussion and dancing.

First Grade:  Singing games, dancing and small percussion

Second Grade: Rhythm Sticks-We start with rhythm echoes, I lead and than the students take turns being the leader. We also talk about AB form and learn a few basic rhythms to play along with to different songs.  I use popular, up beat music during this project.

Third Grade:  African Drums-We start with rhythm echoes, I lead and than the students take turns being the leader.We do 3-5 part rhythms and Drum Jams where the students listen to each other and play what they think fits.  The students also write a 4 bar 4/4 piece.

Fourth Grade:  Cup Game-We start with rhythm echoes, I lead and than the students take turns being the leader.  Thane learn the Cup Rhythm and play along with a variety of songs at different tempos.  The students also write their own 4 bar 4/4 cup rhythm.

What projects do you start the year with?

Thank you for reading.

Day 331: Innovation Day (Music Appreciation)

Daily Blog Challenge Day 331/365

Material Monday

This year I am teaching a music appreciation class.  I have two sections of seventh grade and two sections of eighth grade.  I see each section every other day for one quarter.  I only have eight weeks of class, but one activity that I want to do for 2-3 class periods is Innovation Day.  My tentative plan is that this will be how we end the quarter.

My plan is to give my students 2-3 class periods to explore anything related to music.  The guidelines are that it has to be school appropriate and they have to be able to show what they worked on.  I have done Innovation Day with my fourth graders for the last two years and it has been a great experience.  I am nervous to try it with middle school students, but I am also excited to see what projects they will come up with.

Do you do innovation day?  How do you set it up in your classroom?

Thank you for reading.

Day 324: Word Wall (Material Monday)

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Material Monday

This year I am trying something new with my word wall. The last two years I have used two pocket charts to display my word wall and organized it by grade level.

This year I am going to organize my word wall by letter under a alphabet line. I found this alphabet line at the Dollar Store and thought it would add some nice color to my room.

Each grade is going to have a color and I am going to write their words on construction paper. I am going to use our die cut machine to cut the paper into circles so it matches the design of the alphabet line.

Thank you for reading. 

What Is Your Super Power

Daily Blog Challenge Day 317/365

Material Monday

This year our reading theme is super heros and I am trying to include this theme where I can in my classroom. Last year I made silhouettes of five students, one for each grade level. As we accomplished things in class we put post it notes with the concepts we had done. It is one way I am tying to show my students all that we accomplish in music.

This year I am using Super Hero logos: Superman, Spider-Man,  Wonder Women, The Hulk and Batman instead of silhouettes.  Each grade will be a super hero and we will add the post it notes as we accomplish things.

Thank you for reading.

Day 282: Material Monday: Music Appreciation Curriculum

Daily Blog Challenge Day 282/365

Material Monday

I will be teaching a music appreciation class during the upcoming school year.  This year was the first year for this class and it was taught by the other music teacher in my district.  It is part of the four class rotation for 7th and 8th graders, so I will have one section of each class for one quarter (there are two sections of each grade).  I will be using many of the projects the previous teacher used, but I will need to add new projects for 8th grade because they had the class as 7th graders.

7th grade is 1:1 with Chrome Books, so I plan to use these often during projects.  8th grade is 1:1 with iPads, so I plan to use these during many projects too.

I only have roughly eight weeks with each class and we meet every other day, so we will not have a ton of time.  An extra challenge is that the second half of class is when students are pulled for RTI time, so I must plan a second activity that enriches the students who stay without causing the other students to fall behind or to miss activities.  Right now, my ideas are very broad.  I have a basic idea of what I want to cover, but do not have individual lessons planned out.

I am also brainstorming ways to make the class gamified.  While both sections will be 1:1, I am going to have them create online portfolios using Google Sites for their projects.

7th Grade Ideas
-Instrument Families
-Musical Family Tree
-Musician Study
-Garage Band Project
-Incredibox
-Bucket Band
-Music History Project

8th Grade Ideas 
-Instrument/Musician Study
-Garage Band Project
-Garage Band Group Project
-Incredibox
-Bucket Band
-Music History Project

Do you have any other suggestions for projects or ideas to make the class better?  I would love to hear from you.  Thank you for reading.

Day 275: Question Door (Updated Idea) (Material Monday)

Daily Blog Challenge Day 275/365

Material Monday

Towards the end of last school year I came across the idea of a question wall: a place inside the classroom where students could ask and respond to questions.  Due to lack of wall space, I turned the inside of my door into the "Question Door" and I included post it notes so students could write their questions/answers.

This year, after a discussion on Twitter, I decided to cover my door with paper and allow my students to write on the entire door.  I am excited to read their questions and to see where they take the opportunity. Last year I learned a lot from their questions.

Do you have a space in your room where students can share their ideas? I would love to hear how you have it setup.

Thank you for reading.

Day 170: Primary Orff Activities (Material Monday)

Daily Blog Challenge Day 170/365

Material Monday

We spend a lot of time during second semester playing Orff Instruments. This year I have focused on the ability to play a bourdon and glissando in Kindergarten and First Grades. In second grade, we start playing melodies.

We started Orff Instruments by playing games where 1-2 students would get to play an instrument at a time. After a few games I felt my students could handle playing as a whole class. I started group activities by allowing them to have free play time while watching for cut offs by me.  We then started activities where one student picks a song we have sang this year and choose to add a bourdon or glissando while we sang the song.  Hearing their creativity was a lot of fun and the students enjoyed having more ownership.

What activites do you do in primary music that incoorperate Orff Instruments? Thank you for reading.

Day 163: Chorus Critique (Material Monday)

Daily Blog Challenge Day 163/365

Material Monday

My second observation is scheduled for this coming week and it will be during 5th/6th Chorus.  We have a concert in March and we are currently working on 3 songs: Roar (Girls), Africa (whole chorus) and Hakuna Matata (Boys).  If I am working with one group, I usually give the other group a few minutes to talk quietly.  Rehearsals are during their study hall, so I know they are giving up "free time" to come sing, so I try to find a balance.

I decided to try something new this week.  I created a Critique Form for the students to fill out while they are listening to the other group practice.  My hope is that they will notice things through listening and be able to realize that they can fix some of the same concepts in their own singing.  It is a great opportunity for them to listen and reflect on what they hear.  Here is a link to the Critique Form.

Do you use any forms like this in your class?

Day 156: Folk Dance Resources (Material Monday)

Daily Blog Challenge Day 156/365

Material Monday

During January and February we do a Dance Unit.  I start with popular dances and than switch to Folk Dances in February.  This year I am aligning the dances with the Olympics.  I found dances from countries that are participating in the Olympics this year.

Website Resources
School District List of Dances
Multi Kids
Google Search

YouTube Resources
American Folk Dance: Basic Appalachian Circle Dance
Music:  A Bear with a Fiddle in the Middle of the Woods and Black-Eyed Daisy


Which Folk Dances do you teach?  Thank you for reading.

Day 149: Musicians In The News (Material Monday)

Daily Blog Challenge Day 140/365

Material Monday

One of my fellow music education majors from college posted on Facebook that she was going to use the Super Bowl as an opportunity to study Opera with her students.  I usually do an Opera/Musical Theater towards the end of the year, but I figured this was a great time to expose my students to this music now.

Last week I introduced Renee Flemming and gave a brief background.  We talked about the differences between plays, musicals and operas (this is review from when we watched Polar Express before Christmas) and listened to a few examples of her music.  We also talked about the classical style of singing and why they sing that way.

I decided to add to my "bulletin board" outside my classroom and include information about Musicians in the News.  So often we talk about a bunch of dead people and the news is full of Musicians in the News for wrong reasons.  I hope this board will bring more awareness to Musicians doing positive things.  Plus it is a great start for many discussions.

Thank you for reading

Day 142: Rhythm Reading in Primary Music (Material Monday)

Daily Blog Challenge Day 142/365

Material Monday

I have always struggled with teaching primary music.  I feel much more comfortable teaching older students.  My kindergarten students keep amazing me with their abilities and I feel like I am slowly learning where to set my expectations.

Our Daily Routine consists of singing our Song of the Month, rhythm reading practice and solfege practice.  At the primary levels we do the rhythm and solfege mostly by rote.  I am learning that my students can handle reading rhythm much sooner than I originally thought. At the beginning of this year I used bean bags with my second graders to practice composing and clapping Ta and Ta rest rhythms.

Last week I had my kindergarten students try reading Ta and Ta rest rhythms and I was astounded at how well they did.  We do a lot of moving, clapping and singing, but I need to include more writing rhythms and reading rhythms in the primary grades.  I like the Bean Bag activity and it is a great start, but I need to start adding more rhythm reading/writing activities to my repertoire.

I found this Rhythm Activity on Twitter and it looks great.  I am going to use it with all of my students.  It will be great practice for my primary students and great reinforcement for my older students.  I like that it associates specific notes with their values.

How do you organize rhythm reading in your program?  Which primary rhythm activities are your favorite? Thank you for reading.

Day 135: Winter Concert Music

Daily Blog Challenge Day 135/365

My Middle School performs once concert each quarter.  Our next concert is in March.  I have not passed these selections by my students yet, but I am hoping they enjoy the music.  Some of the songs have been on our "want to do list" for a while.

I admit, this concert is a little pop heavy.

Roar by Katy Perry (Girl's Song)
Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning by Andre Thomas
Africa by Toto
Hakunnah Matata (Boy's Song)

Our concerts are usually for grades 5th-8th.  This concert is only a 5/6 concert because our 7/8 have a District Music Concert.  Therefore, we can do 4 songs for this concert, while we have more time.

My boys complained that all of my songs are "girls" songs, so they got to pick a song for them to do.  There are only 7 boys in choir for second semester, but they have decided they want to sing all by themselves.  I applaud their courage.

What songs are you doing for your next concert?

Thank you for reading.

Day 128: Project One Word (Material Monday)

Daily Blog Challenge Day 128/365

Material Monday

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I have been thinking about ways to include "One Word" into my music class.  I decided I was going to have my 3rd and 4th graders choose their one word as it applies to their goals in music class (I think this might be easier to help them focus their energies in class.)

At the moment I have a chunk of empty wall behind my Orff instruments.  After brainstorming ideas with Shannon Clark (@shannonclark7), I decided I am going to make a giant One Word poster to hang on the wall.  I am going to cut "One Word" out of paper (the giant rolls found in every school in America).  During class I am going to have my students choose their "One Word" and write it on a post it note, which will be color coded for each class.  We will then stick their words on the poster.

My hope is by seeing them everyday, it will be a reminder of our new focus during music this semester.  I am also going to use Tagxedo to create a class word art that shows all of their words together.

I would love to hear how you are using "One Word" in your classroom.  Thank you for reading.

Day 121: Planning Ahead (Material Monday)

Daily Blog Challenge Day 121/365

Material Monday

I am coaching high school softball this year and I am trying to prepare myself for the extra time commitment. Therefore, I am starting to organize my plan for Music in Our Schools Month in March.

Last Year's Projects...
1.  Poems about music.
2.  Share Day.
3.  Innovation Day in 4th Grade.
4.  Music Means to Me Tree.

Ideas for This Year...
1.  Music Means to Me Tree.
2.  Share Day.
3.  Innovation Day in 4th Grade.
4.  Skype Performances.
5.  Informances for Parents.
6.  Restart a 3rd/4th Grade Choir.
7.  Take the 3rd/4th Grade Choir to local Nursing Homes.

Day 114: The Olympics (Material Monday)

Daily Blog Challenge Day 114/365

Material Monday

While flipping through channels over break, I was reminded that The Olympics are fast approaching.  It made me wonder if there was a way to include The Olympics in General Music.  I sent out a tweet asking fellow music teachers (#musedchat) if they have done similar activities in their classrooms.

A member of my PLN, Eric Young (@PFPiedPiper) responded that he does an activity (learned at a workshop) where students learn a portion of the Olympic Theme on recorder.  In addition to the recorder aspect of this lesson; students act out different Olympic Events while their classmates guess the event.

Ideas...
1.  Learn the theme on Recorder (4th grade) and Orff (3rd grade-if possible) and include the charades portion of the lesson mentioned above.
2.  2nd Grade focuses on Folk Dances during their Dance Unit in January.  Find Folk Dances and Music from countries that participate in the Olympics. Include geography information.  All grades will be learning at least 1 of these Folk Dances. (United States-Basic Appalachian Circle Dance,  Isreal (Easter Europe)-Hora, Toga (West Africa)-Scarf Dance, Mexico-La Cucaracha, 
3.  Write our own class theme (3rd and 4th graders can do this activity as a side quest.)
4. Design their own flag and explain the symbols used (3rd and 4th graders can do this activity as a side quest.)
5.  Keep a medal tracker
6.  Use Google Apps to track locations and number of medals (5th Grade Media Class)

Day 107: Cross Curricular (Material Monday)

Daily Blog Challenge Day 107/365

Material Monday

One of the things I really like about having had the opportunity (although I did not view it as this during all my interviews each year) to teach at different schools during the beginning of my teaching career.  I was able to pick up different ideas from each school and put them together to create my own program identity.

One of the ideas I have picked up came from one of my first schools.  The big concert each year was the Spring Sing and the students would create the covers for the programs in art class.  The big program each year at my current school is the Christmas Program.  I asked the art teacher I work with if she would be willing to do a project in art where the students create the program covers.  She was willing to add it as a project and the kids did a wonderful job!  It was interesting to see how students interpreted the project and went about creating their design.

It is a great way to combine art and music and to let the students be creative in a more public way.  All fourth graders did the project and the art teacher and I picked six "winners" to be the art work on the covers.

Thank you for reading.

Day 102: Polar Express

Daily Bog Challenge Day 102/365

Material Monday

I understand movies have a bad rap in the educational world and I do not show many during music class.  This year I decided to show Polar Express.  We started watching it the week before our program; we would go through our songs and then watch part of the movie.

I realize I may be "stretching" it, but I believe there are curricular concepts to be learned from this movie.

1.  We talk about plays, musicals and operas and their individual definitions.
2.  This movie serves as an introduction to our study on musical genres.
3.  We occasionally draw pictures of what music sounds like to us and this movie is a great reminder of these ideas.
4.  We identify instruments by sound.
5.  We talk about the use of instruments and their impact on the mood/style of the music.

Thank you for reading.