April Favorites 2017

April is a special month because it holds my birthday! I also had my spring break in April this year, so overall it was a fun month. I'm sharing some of my latest favorites from the past month below- I hope you'll share some of your favorites in the comments as well! It's fun to celebrate the small joys in life together, especially at this time of...

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Substitute Aftermath Mysteries

10 real questions (to which I will never have an answer) I have asked myself after coming back from having a sub: "How did those bingo chips get under the bass metallophone?" - especially since they weren't playing bingo... "Where did they get those extra strips of green and purple duct tape that magically appeared on the music stand rack?"...

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Top Games for Young Kids the Whole Family Will Enjoy

Family game night is a great way to spend quality time together having fun as a family, but finding games that the youngest family members can enjoy, without boring the rest of the family, can be a challenge! I've found some gems over the last couple of years that will keep everyone happy though, so if you have young children at home like me (ages...

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Best Strategies for Teaching Rhythm

Rhythm is one of those fundamental concepts that gets infused into so many of our lessons, especially in elementary general music. Is there ever such a thing as "too many rhythm teaching ideas"? I doubt it, but it can definitely be hard to keep track of all of those great ideas so we can most effectively implement them in a properly sequenced way in...

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Lego Storage Idea

This past Christmas, my 5-year-old daughters graduated from duplos to legos, and they have absolutely loved their new lego sets! With all of these new legos, though, comes the inevitable storage issue. After a few months of having them laying around my living room, here's my storage solution! *this post contains affiliate links* First of all yes,...

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My Top Tips for Teaching Ukulele in General Music

This year I taught ukulele for the first time, and it has been a blast! Until this school year, I had never even played the ukulele myself, so it was a whole new adventure. Today I'm sharing some of my top tips for any other music teachers who are just getting started teaching ukulele in a general music setting. 1. Know your purpose I'm a huge...

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How I Finally Quit My Coffeeshop Habit

I have been a coffee fan for a long time, and I know that many other moms and teachers are too. Who else here has to have a cup of coffee in the morning? I like it in all forms too, from a good cup of plain black drip coffee to a sweet, syrupy caramel macchiato. And although I have always made my own coffee at home, nothing I ever made was quite as...

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Small Goals: April 2017

I have found it to be such a wonderful practice to set small goals at the beginning of each month. It really helps me to feel motivated as I go into each new month, and helps me to focus on the most important parts of each aspect of my life. Thanks to Jennifer from The Yellow Brick Road for the prompt each month- be sure to check out her post if you...

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Can We Please Stop the Countdowns?

So I am currently in the last week before spring break, which means I am hearing "____ more days until break!" a LOT right now. When we get back from break, it will be "____ more weeks until summer!", and no matter what time of year it is, there's always the classic, "it's almost Friday"! There is always something to look forward to, right?!? What...

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Weekly Tasks to Stay Organized

One of my first answers to the question, "How do you do it all?" is ROUTINES. I find it so much easier to get things done when it is incorporated into my routine. I shared a while back the tasks that I do monthly to help me stay organized, and today I'm sharing the main things I do on a weekly basis to help keep me sane throughout the week. 1....

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March Favorites 2017

We made it through March! I say this every year, but March is one of those months that I love and hate at the same time- so many wonderful things happening but there are SO MANY THINGS! Haha. I'm going to be sharing my favorites this month with some of my photos from Instagram- I hope you find some new things to love and I'd love to hear your favorites...

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