Managing Centers in Elementary Music

I love using centers in my elementary music classroom but it took me a while to figure out how to run them efficiently and effectively in my short, 30-minute class periods. Now they run like clockwork! Here's how I manage the logistics of centers to keep them running smoothly.

1. Group size

I've found groups of around 4 students to be the ideal size for making it realistic for everyone to feel like they had a turn but also having the critical mass to make it feel like a fun group activity. I determine the number of centers I'm going to have based on how many total students I have in the class so they will be split up into groups of around that number. 

2. Setup

I keep materials for all of my favorite center activities easily accessible and put together so I can quickly pull out the ones I want. Before class I try to think through the best locations to put each station around the room so that the ones where students will want to be able to hear themselves the most are next to quieter ones. I don't set out the center materials in their planned locations beforehand though- I've found it works best to have everything ready at the front of the room, and at the beginning of class, quickly explain/ review each center activity with students from the front of the room, and then place the materials out in their assigned locations around the room as I go, so students can see everything and hear the explanations more easily.

Once I explain and show what they are doing at each center, I number off the students (based on the number of centers I have) and then tell each number group where to go for their first center. I tell them they should start right away when they get to their station, warning them that each rotation will be quick, and tell them that when the lights turn off they need to stop and clean up immediately without going to another station.

3. Running the centers time

I rarely, especially in the younger grades, create a station that requires my ongoing presence. I try to make them all self-managed so I can circulate, monitor, and keep my focus on managing any group dynamic issues rather than running the activities themselves. For any centers that require students to take turns, I try to keep an eye on who has had a turn and, if I reasonably can, make sure everyone gets a turn before I tell them to stop. 

When I decide it's almost time to switch, I give students a 1 minute warning so they know they need to wrap up what they're doing, then I turn off the lights when it's time to finish. I always make sure every station is put back the way it was before I tell them, with the lights still off, where they will be going next, reminding them not to move until the lights turn on. Then I make sure they know they have to walk (or else they will have to go back and try again), and turn the lights on so they can all move at once to their next center. I always try to leave a few extra minutes at the end of class to have students bring the materials back to the front of the room and line up the same way we normally do.

4. Logging

Since each class only does centers a few times each school year, it has been really helpful for me to keep track of which center activities they do each time. Each time they do centers I keep most of the activities the same to cut down on the explanation time but I always make sure to include one or two new ones to keep it interesting.

5. Center activities

I have tried a lot of different center activities and I do like to change them up, but I do have some standard centers that I do in almost every grade, pretty much every time (each class usually does centers around 3 times a year, so not very often):

Grades 1-6

-Instrument dice (roll 2 dice, one with instrument names and one with 4 beat rhythm patterns, then play the rhythm they roll on the instrument they roll)

-Chromebooks (chrome music lab, note letter name games, groove pizza, mario paint, incredibox, etc)

-Instrument exploration (I pick one instrument they don't get to have "free play" time with often- keyboards, ukuleles, glockenspiels, collection of unusual small percussion)

-Kaboom rhythms (draw a popsicle stick out of a jar and clap the rhythm on it correctly for a point, but if you get a "kaboom" stick you lose all your points)

Grades 1-3

-Reading (I have a bookshelf with music-related books and old music express magazines)

-Rapping (one person picks out different mini erasers and lines them up, the rest of the group "raps" the sequence by saying the name of each mini eraser shape on the beat)

Grades 4-6

-Truth or dare (choose to take one card from either the truth deck or the dare deck- truths are music facts/ questions, dares are music tasks- here are the printable cards I use)

Those are the ones I use most regularly but there are tons of others I use that my students and I love- you can find lots more center activity ideas (and more detailed explanations for the ones mentioned here) in these previous blog posts:

I hope this helps make it a little easier to run centers in your elementary music classroom! If you have any questions about anything please leave a comment. I'd love to hear your favorite center activities and tips for managing as well! 

Music In Our Schools Month® 2024: "I See Me in Music Education" Song Bracket

This year the theme for Music In Our Schools Month® (MIOSM®) is "I See Me in Music Education". I have been doing a "musical March madness"-style song bracket, where students listen to different songs each day and vote on their favorites, for several years now, and for the last several years I've tried to tie the songs into the annual theme NAfME chooses. Since the 2024 focus is on "me" I decided to choose songs around the theme of self identity / being yourself.

As I have done the last few years, I'm going to be setting up google slides files with the songs for each day embedded in the slides so that classes can vote in their homerooms. If you want to see how I organize the logistics so classes can vote every day regardless of whether they have music that day or not, check out my 2021 MIOSM post (and definitely let me know if you have any questions, I'm happy to help). Doing it in slides was such an easy way to have all the songs organized and make it easy for the homeroom teachers to report their class' vote rather than having to email me every day! I don't have the rights to share the song files, but you can make a copy of my slide templates and add the audio files yourself by clicking on the image below- here is a tutorial on setting it up in slides using the templates:

In my song lists each year I try to include songs from different genres and time periods, representing artists of different backgrounds and including different languages, and this year is no different. You'll find a blank slide template in the slides file linked above: I use that to show the lyrics in their original language and in the English translation for songs that are not in English. 

In the past I've always just shared all of the songs in a long list but after getting many requests over the years to see exactly what order I put the songs into the bracket, I'm sharing the songs in their scheduled order this year. 

3/1 This Is Me from The Greatest Showman vs I Believe from A Wrinkle in Time
3/4 I Am Me by Willow Smith vs I Don’t Know My Name by Grace VanderWaal
3/5 That’s OK by D.O vs Be Yourself by GoodLuck and Boris Smith
3/6 Man In the Mirror by Michael Jackson vs My Way by Frank Sinatra
3/7 By Myself by Alvin Garrett vs Who I Am by Alan Walker, Putri Ariani, & Peter Elias
3/8 Tomorrow (A Better You, Better Me) by Quincy Jones vs Greatest Love of All by Whitney Houston
3/11 Brave by Sara Bareilles vs Broken & Beautiful by Kelly Clarkson
3/12 Будь Собой by Ната Волкова vs Se Tu Misma by Da Ink
3/13 Who I Am by Wyn Starks vs Bet On Me by Walk Off the Earth
3/14 Within You Without You by the Beatles vs True Colors by Cyndi Lauper
3/15 Video by India Arie vs Whatever by Oasis
3/18 Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars vs The Way I Am by Charlie Puth

One thing to note: for this year's school calendar there are so many weekends, and (at least in my school district) a day off on the 29th as well, that it's hard to fit the normal bracket into the month of March. I honestly haven't decided which way I want to do it yet myself because although I don't like finishing after the month is over, I know students have told me they don't like having to pick between 3 songs in one day, and there would be more 3-song days with the shorter option. Here are the 2 different ways you could structure the bracket this year (the numbers show the dates in March):

I'm excited to see how the students respond to this year's playlist, and I'm curious to see which song wins out in the end! What are your plans for Music In Our Schools Month® this year? What are other songs that fit this theme? I'd love to hear more suggestions in the comments below. If you're looking for more ideas to use for MIOSM®, here are all my posts on the topic.

Instrument Examples to Counter Stereotypes

One thing I have really focused on in recent years in my lessons on instruments of the orchestra is pushing back against common stereotypes with the examples I choose to share with my students. Any time I am teaching about an instrument, especially if it is an instrument that people tend to associate with a certain type of person, I try to find an example of an accomplished player that doesn't fit that stereotype to use as my visual / example. Today I'm sharing some of my favorite instrumentalists that I like to share in my lessons to help break down those common stereotypes!

Last year I wrote in detail about how I teach instruments of the orchestra (and beyond) in my K-6 general music classes, and I mentioned the importance of sharing instrumentalists outside the typical stereotypes. If you want to learn more about how these examples fit into my lessons and curriculum, I recommend reading this post from last year! Obviously I do change out my examples as I find new ones to share, but here are some of my favorites that I've used- I try to think about the music they are playing, and the age, gender, race, and the portrayed personality of the performers and include as much variety as possible:

Violin: 

(I should note my students already know Black Violin- if yours don't they are another good one to share with students)

Viola:

Flute:

Clarinet:

Saxophone:

Trombone:

Timpani: 

Snare Drum: 

What are some of the favorite instrumental examples you've shared with students that help break down common stereotypes? I think it's so important for students to feel like they can choose any instrument that they want to play based on the instrument itself rather than feeling like certain instruments are "for boys" or "for quiet kids". Share other examples you've found in the comments so we can all add to our lists!

Rhythm Theme Elementary Choral Program

I don't do themes for my concerts very often- I find it too restrictive most of the time for me to get the perfect songs for my elementary choirs- but I just finished planning my upcoming spring concert with the theme of "rhythm" and I am so excited about it I had to share! If you are looking for a chorus program for your elementary choirs, or just some good selections to add to your concert, these are great options!

For context, I have one elementary chorus that meets during the school day as a pullout class with 5th and 6th graders. I have around 65 students in the group in the group this yea, and I always try to choose songs over the course of the year that include parallel harmony, a capella singing, solo opportunities, and a mix of traditional choral and pop songs in multiple languages. They sang an a capella song and songs in 3 different languages with some parallel harmony and only a few solo opportunities for our winter concert so I'm focusing on including more parallel harmony and solos in the spring.

Here are the songs I chose:

Feel Good Feeling by Blessing Offor

Rhythm of Life arr. John Leavitt (2-part)

Rhythms of One World by Gary Fry (2-part)

Gang of Rhythm by Walk Off the Earth

And a few others I considered that I also love:

Oye la Musica by Jay Althouse (2-part)

Rhythm Nation by Janet Jackson

I am planning to use backing tracks for all of the songs except for Gang of Rhythm- I have colleagues in my building who play instruments so I'm hoping to have them play with us for that one!

If you want to read more about how and why I use pop songs in elementary chorus, here are two posts on that (with a running list of all the songs I have done):

I have only done a couple of other concerts with themes like this- here are those 2 song lists if you're looking for more great pieces to do with this age group:

And you can catch up on all my posts related to all things elementary choir here, including rehearsal procedures, warmups, teaching strategies for introducing parallel harmony, lesson planning, and more. I hope this is helpful for anyone looking for selections for their next concert!

Top 10 Posts from 2023

I am so grateful for the opportunity to connect with other music teachers around the globe through my little corner of the internet, and it is such a good feeling when readers connect with something I've written. Each time a new calendar year rolls around, it's gratifying and fascinating to me to see which of the posts I wrote the past year have been read the most. So we're looking back on 2023 today to see which posts made the top 10 list- have you seen them all?

10. How I'm using a storage bench as extra closet/ dresser space in my bedroom 

9. Lesson warmup activities to practice steady beat

8. Four different song lists for Music In Our Schools Month® Song Brackets

7. Dance playlist 2023 (perfect for field day, slideshows, dance games, and more)

6. Elementary choral concert program around the theme of "Stars" 

5. かえるの合唱 (Kaeru no Uta): Japanese frog song lesson plan

4. Three common behavior consequences music teachers need to stop using

3. The #1 thing we all need this year (it's agency)

2. Lesson plans using the Puerto Rican frog song "El Coqui"

1. Music In Our Schools Month® 2023: "Music Is All of Us" Song Bracket

Thank you all for reading, interacting with, and supporting this page. Having the opportunity to interact with other music teachers, and the platform to share my thoughts and ideas, has been such an amazing creative outlet and source of encouragement for me! I can't wait to see what 2024 brings us. Happy New Year!