August Favorites 2018

What a glorious month it has been! I've been on vacation with my family, welcomed a nephew into the world, and just this week my students came back and I got to go back to one of my greatest loves: making music with my kiddos! Here's a look back at some of the highlights from this past month, including some of my favorite new ideas for this school...

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Elementary Music Classroom Tour 2018-2019

Time for a classroom tour! I've made a few upgrades that I'm excited about for this school year, but the basic setup of my room has stayed the same. First here's a quick video tour: Find out more about specific things I mentioned by clicking the links below: color coded seating classroom jobs MUSIC letters ukulele small percussion storage circles teacher...

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Class Openers for Elementary Music

The tone we set at the beginning of class can have a tremendous impact on the success of the rest of the period. And establishing routines for the beginning of class can help students transition more quickly and comfortably into music time. This year I'm establishing some new routines for the beginning of class to address a number of goals I have for...

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How Can I Get My 5th Graders to Sing?

It's amazing what a difference a couple of years can make! Lower elementary students will quite literally cheer with excitement when you suggest singing a song together, but somewhere along the line they hit a point when suddenly singing is one of the worst activities you could possibly suggest! There are a lot of factors that obviously play into this...

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The Music Teacher Administrators Love

I'm continuing my series with insights from administrators on how we as music teachers can improve our relationships with administration and with colleagues and raise the level of respect they have for us and our profession, and today I'm sharing administrators' thoughts on what they think makes a great music teacher. Nobody knows better than music...

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July Favorites 2018

July has officially ended and that means it's time to pause and look back at some of the highlights from the past month- what a wonderful month it has been! 1. Summer planning One thing I love about summer vacation is the chance to play around with my planner in a more relaxed way. Without tons of lesson plans and other information to cram...

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