I am not sure how many of you guys have to do Marzano stuff in your teaching, but our district is HUGE on it. One of the areas where I really have never felt I had a good lesson was Domain 4 (Generating and Testing a Hypothesis). Until now! I
It’s October! Time for fun Halloween songs. Check out this new activity I’ve added this year! My kids LOVE it. Movements for Thriller Dance: Intro: Start facing down (powered down robot-style). When the synthesizer starts, you should start to “wake up” (slowly raise head and turn and stretch neck, roll
I love Halloween! I think it is my favorite to celebrate in the classroom, because there is such great material out there. Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens is one of those classic programmatic pieces that fits perfectly with Halloween time. I love to use it to focus on legato and
Your first question is probably “What exactly IS a Composer Fair?” I think it is something that I made up. Think of it like an art fair, but instead of looking at art your students created, you are looking at music compositions that they wrote. It all started when I
Bring life in your elementary music class with Carnival of the Animals activities that will brighten up your lesson plans. This children’s musical classic will have your students giggling, dancing and maybe even he-hawing along with the music. Click here for a Carnival of the Animals Listening Map Set. Read
Composer of William Tell Overture The William Tell Overture was composed by Gioachino Rossini. This piece premiered in 1829, and was the last opera written by Rossini. I always like to share a couple fun facts about a song’s composer with my students. Here are a couple fun facts about
February is Black History Month. I love the awesome contributions to music that so many African Americans have made. I wish I could fit them all in my lessons, but it is hard because we have to cover content, so everything has to be with a purpose (or two or
How many of you readers out there have ever heard of Recorder Karate? Pretty much everyone, I would assume, but just in case you’ve never heard of this awesome recorder method, the basic gist is that there are belts representing different levels of difficulty, much like in actual karate. Students
I love the holidays! But I rarely get to put seasonal music in my lessons because when you only see the students once a week, the holidays go by quickly. So I tend to only put in holiday stuff if I think it has a useful purpose. This year I
One thing that I have noticed about Orff is that it really likes to pair language with rhythm. It is a great way to link what they know (speech) with what they are learning (rhythms). I like to do this word rhythm activity with my younger grades – the ones
I am an elementary music teacher, blogger and mom on a mission to make teaching and lesson planning easier for you. When I’m not working, you can find me at home enjoying life with my husband, daughter and two cats.
