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…
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…
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…
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…
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 fif…
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…
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…
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