April 2016Organized Chaos: April 2016

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Fermata Friday: April 29, 2016

Welcome to this week's installment of my weekly linky party, Fermata Fridays! This is a chance for music education bloggers to share blog posts with readers and bloggers alike, so we can all mingle and learn from each other. Readers, you are going to love all of the awesome blog posts that are out there- I hope you discover some new blogs to follow...

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

lessons for the end of the year (part 2)

Now that my spring break is over, it's back to reality.... and the reality is, once spring break is over, everyone is super antsy and more than a little bit crazy! Last year I shared some of my favorite lesson ideas for the end of the school year in this post, and today I thought I'd share a few more that I'll be using this year to get us all through...

Monday, April 25, 2016

the ring I put on the day of my divorce

The day I got divorced, I took my wedding and engagement rings off of my left hand and put another ring on my right hand. Not to celebrate my "freedom" or to commemorate the event or anything like that- I did not celebrate being divorced even a little bit- but to reaffirm my commitment to my family. I have worn the ring every day since and have been...

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Fermata Friday: April 22, 2016

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Japanese music in elementary music

Today I'm on the 9th and final (for now) installment of my series on lesson idea for music from around the world. If you've missed any, be sure to check out the rest of the posts by clicking on the links in the list at the end of this post. So far I've talked about Brazil, Mozambique, China, Native American, Phillippines, Ireland, Maori (New Zealand),...

Monday, April 18, 2016

eating well when you're eating alone

I used to assume that cooking for a family was harder than cooking for one or two people. I now know I was wrong. The reason is people generally don't want to eat just one thing when we have a meal- we want to have at least 2 or 3 different things, or at the very least a dish that has a combination of ingredients, and it's hard to find small enough...

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Fermata Friday: April 15, 2016

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

first year flashback

Today I'm linking up with Shelley at Pitch Publications to reminisce about my first year of teaching. It has been really fun to read the posts from all of the other teachers who have written about their first years as well- be sure to click on the picture to check out all of the other linked up posts! What subject/age and where were you...

Monday, April 11, 2016

4 things I wish I had heard as a new mom

This week's posts are all about flashbacks (check back tomorrow to read my flashback to my first year of teaching)! I titled today's post what I wish I had heard rather than what I wish someone had told me because I have a sneaking suspicion that somebody actually did tell me most of these things as some point either before or during my daughters'...

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Fermata Friday: April 8, 2016

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Bolivian music in elementary music class

Today I'm back to my series on music from cultures around the world, and this week I'm talking about Bolivia! Although I use music from a variety of cultures and traditions regularly in all grade levels throughout the school year, I spend about a month focusing on the music from a particular culture in each grade. Over the last few weeks, I've...

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Small Goals: April 2016

I'm linking up with The Yellow Brick Road to share my small goals for the month of April. Click on the picture below to see what others are planning for the month- it's a great way to connect with your favorite bloggers and get to know them, and also get inspired to set your own goals for the month ahead! First let's look back on last month's...