The Black Sheep: Life as a Music Ed Rogue
There is a big wide world of music education out there. Orff, Kodaly, Gordon, ETM, Dalcroze, National Standards, Sunshine State Standards (Florida’s music standards), Marzano, CHAMPS, (suddenly I feel like I’m singing a verse from Billy Joel’s “You Can’t Stop the Fire”). Anyhow, you can see there is SO MUCH to choose from. I used to […]
Sing a Rainbow: Sensory Song for Students With Autism
Check out the link below to see my latest YouTube video blog. It’s a song I call the Rainbow Song (my mom used to sing it to me as a lullaby). Here is how I use it with my students with autism. Rainbow Song Enjoy this post? Check out these other posts! Drumming Up Some […]
What are LSAs? – Teaching the VOCABULARY of Music
In last week’s post, I talked about a test I use with my primary kids once a year called PMMA (Primary Measures of Music Audiation). Today I am following up to explain Learning Sequence Activities (LSAs for short), because for me, the two things are inextricably linked together. This is one of the things that […]
What Is a Music Aptitude Test and Why Is It Important?
What IS the PMMA? When I was finishing up my PMMA testing (Primary Measures of Music Audiation) for the year, I had several music teachers ask me what the PMMA test is. The short answer is: It’s a test to determine the music aptitude of students grades K-3. What is music aptitude? It is the […]
Hiya! Recorder Karate Resource Board
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 work their way through increasingly […]
I’ll Take You There: Creating QR Codes
I have just recently discovered the amazing-ness of QR codes. They are so easy to make and the possibilities are endless. One of the quick and easy ways that I use QR codes is to distribute information at Open House. Having a QR code made it quick and easy to make parents aware of my […]
Create a Rhythm Board on Your Smartboard
How many of your guys out there have a SmartBoard? Our school got them when we were rebuilt about a year and a half ago, and although I admit I am still learning all the ways to use them in my classroom, I have overall been really happy with the things I can do on […]
All Star Behavior Chart
I don’t know about you, but late July is when I start to troll the Pinterest boards for ideas to make my classroom super cute. And having classroom decor that is on point is great, but sometimes it turns into a big hassle! One thing that WILL help your year go much smoother is a […]