Black History Month in Elementary Music

With Black History Month around the corner, today I want to share some thoughts on how to recognize Black History Month in the music classroom appropriately, respectfully, and effectively. While the month of February should certainly not be the only time we share Black music and people with our students, it's an important opportunity to shine the spotlight...

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SEL-Focused Music Lessons

We all know how critical it is to care for our students' social emotional well-being right now. The question, of course, is how! In my last post I shared some overall strategies that I have found successful for fostering social-emotional wellbeing, and today I'm sharing some specific lesson plans, that can be used in person or online, that more overtly...

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Fostering Social-Emotional Health in Elementary Music (pandemic edition)

We all know how critical it is to care for our students' social emotional well-being right now. The question, of course, is how! This is already a tall order for elementary music teachers with our short class times and hundreds of students to contend with, but the difficulty is magnified this year with, depending on our situation, even less class time,...

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Class Routines in Pandemic Times

If there's one thing children (and, let's be honest, grownups too) need more than anything during uncertain times, it's routine. Consistency. Predictability. But it's also one of the hardest things to accomplish when our world keeps getting flipped on its head and everything is different! Here are some routines I have established this school year through...

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