Looking for a great way to keep students engaged and focused during music class? Today, I'm writing my first blog post in a series about classroom management in the music room. This post will be about one of my favorite strategies: star students in the music room! So why choose a star student? I've used this strategy my entire career, and every year, I've seen students get so excited about the possibility of being chosen. Students also like to cheer each other on! It can be a great way to point out specific behavior too, like "I'm choosing Tyler because he participated so m…
After days of working in my room, I'm really excited to reveal my music room for this year! Here is a view of my room as you walk into it. Here's a panoramic view of my room: I decided on a forest theme this year, and I'm really loving the calm color scheme. Like last year, I really tried to be intentional to not cover every single wall with something, so that kids could learn in an engaging setting but not be overwhelmed. Here's the view of the tree by my door...it's a wall decal from Amazon, and can be purchased here . Here is the sign at my entrance, which I ordered from Et…
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…
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…
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 …
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…
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