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Tuesday, July 30, 2024

Elementary Music Classroom Student Jobs

Giving students jobs is a great way to give them a sense of ownership and responsibility in the classroom, but the traditional way elementary homeroom teachers use them won't work for music, art, PE, and other subject specialists because with hundreds of students to teach and dozens of classes there's no way we can keep track if we assign each student...

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Poi in Elementary Music

I've been teaching a unit on Maori music in my 2nd grade general music class for years, and poi was something I started briefly mentioning a few years ago but didn't spend a lot of time on. This past year I put a lot more focus on it because my students were moving quickly through the curriculum, and I don't think I will ever go back! Here are some...

Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Summer Reading for Music Teachers 2024

I know some teachers prefer to turn their teacher brains entirely off during summer break- and that's totally fine- but if you enjoy having the time and mental energy to reflect on teaching and are looking for books that will get you re-energized and invigorated for the new year, and give you some big ideas to chew on, I highly recommend these!this...

Tuesday, July 9, 2024

3 Ways to Teach Duple vs Triple Meter

In the last few years I've developed some series of lessons I love to use with my 2nd and 3rd graders to teach duple vs triple meter. These lesson activities help students identify, perform in, and respond to music in each meter and compare the two meters together. Not only are they super fun but they have been very effective for my students, who now...

Tuesday, July 2, 2024

Illustrated Learning Targets for Kindergarten & Early Childhood

I know I'm not the only elementary school teacher who is now required to post written learning targets for every lesson, including for early childhood and Kindergarten students who can hardly read. This year I came up with a strategy to make my learning target visual something that my youngest students would actually benefit from, using pictures to...