This year the theme for Music In Our Schools Month®(MIOSM®) is "United through Music". 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. To connect with this year's theme, I've decided to choose songs that are a fusion of 2 or more genres or musical styles.
This is the earliest that NAfME has ever shared their theme for MIOSM® so I am so happy to have had more time to figure out the songs I wanted to use and share them with everyone! I admit I was a little disappointed at first when I saw the theme, though, because I did an entire playlist of songs focusing on unity/ togetherness in 2023 for their theme that year, "Music Is All of Us"! If you didn't use my song bracket that year and you'd rather focus on lyrics with themes of unity, you can find that list of songs here. But then I had the idea to look for songs that bring multiple genres together, and I am so excited about all the new artists and songs I discovered in the process of putting this list together! I can't wait to share these with my students and see what they think.
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 (it will automatically ask you if you want to make a copy)- 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.
Here are the songs I'll be using in this year's bracket (in no particular order):
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- I'm sure there are plenty more great ones out there. If you're looking for more ideas to use for MIOSM, here are all my posts on the topic.
One of the first things I teach in Kindergarten is call and response singing. After working on singing voice and echo singing, it's so fun when students are able to sing their own part independently with call and response songs! There are lots of great ones out there, but today I'm sharing my current top favorite call and response songs, as well as my process for teaching call and response.
I introduce call and response after students have been introduced to echo songs and have consciously identified that in echo songs, someone sings something and then someone else sings the same thing after (here's my blog post on echo songs if you want to see the songs and teaching process I use for that). Once they're comfortable with echo songs, I introduce the first call and response song, "John the Rabbit" (more on the song below), by having them practice singing "oh yes" on la (in la-based minor) and then telling them to sing "oh yes" every time I point to them. First I just sit there silently and point out to them at random intervals to sing "oh yes". Once they can do that, I start singing (on la/ do/ mi) things like, "no matter what I sing when I point to you you sing..." then point to them for them to sing "oh yes". I go back and forth, recitative-style, until they are all consistently able to sing "oh yes" instead of copying me, then launch straight into the song.
After we've learned the song and sung it a few times we discuss that our parts were different, not the same, and I compare it to if I called someone on the phone and they answered by copying what I say: that would be rude! Instead of copying, people answer, or "respond", when you call them. That is what a call and response song is. I put my hands in a traditional phone signal with thumb and pinky and have them practice saying "call" with one phone hand up to their face, and "and response" with the other hand. I've found having different motions connected to echo and call and response really aids with memory, and even if they can't remember the vocabulary right away (especially multilanguage learners), they can show they remember the concept with the hand signs.
There are a few versions of this song but I prefer the minor key version like the recording linked above, mostly because it's what I was introduced to first, honestly, but also because I like to throw in minor tonality with my youngest grades whenever I can! After introducing the song like I described above, I pull out my rabbit puppet and tell them this time, only the student John the Rabbit looks at is going to sing the response, and I have students sing it individually. Besides having an incredibly simple response part, I like using this as my first call and response song because I can quickly assess their ability to hear and produce the tonal center and sing on pitch independently with this activity, plus the students love doing it with the rabbit!
This Ella Jenkins song is a great song to use as a 2nd call and response song because it also has a very simple response part, it ties into the farm theme that many Kindergarten classes do in the fall in other subjects, and it's another great way to involve individual students again. After introducing the song and singing it together a few times, I've done it a couple of different ways: by having individual students sing "I did" when my chicken puppet looks at them, and by pointing to specific students while I sing the call and having all the students respond with the name of the student (e.g. "Jaden did").
After learning the song and doing it a few times, I ask students to identify whether the song is echo or call and response by silently showing the motion for the one they think it is, which allows every student to answer rather than calling on 1 student to verbally identify it.
I introduce this song from Puerto Rico by playing the beginning of the recording linked above and telling students to hold up one finger if they hear one person singing alone, and all ten fingers if they hear a group singing together. After they listen to it once this way, I tell them to do it again, but this time pay attention to whether the solo and group parts are the same or different so they can decide if it's an echo or call and response song. Once we have labeled it as call and response, I teach students the move that is used with the song in the children's game, where you walk forward 3 steps and kick, then take 5 steps back (like in this video). I have the whole class get in a line facing me and I move with the solo part and they move with the group part. Once they can do that, I have everyone sing the words "matarile" and "matarile, rile, ron" with the response parts (if they haven't already spontaneously started singing it while practicing the moves). I have a whole blog post on this song, and different ways I've used the song, here.
Introducing echo and call and response singing is foundational for teaching part singing later on, so these are really important skills to teach in early childhood. I hope this gives you some fresh ideas to use in your classroom, and I'd love to hear about other call and response songs you love using with this age group in the comments (there are plenty more great ones)! If you want to see the full lesson plans with visuals, sheet music, and more for teaching call and response, you can find them in my Kindergarten music curriculum here.
November is Native American Heritage Month in the United States. As someone who did not grow up in North America and does not have any Native American heritage in my family, I have been on a constant learning journey for the last two decades since moving to the United States to learn more about North American Indigenous music, and appropriate ways for me, as an outsider, to share it with my students. One way to do so is by sharing current musicians with my students- here are a few contemporary Native American musicians to explore.
First it's important to note that there is a lot of variation in language preferences within the Indigenous people of the North American continent. I refer to the heritage month by the official name, and try to use a mix of the preferred language I have heard from various culture bearers in my descriptions. When you are referring to specific people or musicians, it's important to do the research to see how they refer to themselves before describing them to your students. For each of the musicians I've compiled here I've listed their name and their tribe if they identify with a specific one(s), and included an example of a song you may want to share with your students.
Elisapie (Inuk)
Quinn Christopherson (Athabascan/ Inupiaq)
Martha Redbone
Mumu Fresh (Choctaw, Creek, Cherokee)
Raye Zaragoza (O'odham)
Rhiannon Giddens
Supaman (Apsáalooke)
*song below contains heavy themes- prayer loop song could be an alternative
This list only begins to scratch the surface of amazing, multifaceted musicians actively making excellent music in a broad range of genres with North American Indigenous heritage! Please share other artists and/or songs you've found in the comments below.
Sharing songs and musicians is just one piece of giving students the opportunity to interact with and learn from Native American music, and it's important for us to do so in appropriate, respectful, and authentic ways, especially as non-native music teachers. I've compiled in this post some of my favorite resources for learning from culture bearers:
To find more strategies, resources, and ideas for incorporating other heritage months in elementary music, check out these posts:
One of the first concepts I teach in Kindergarten is echo singing. There are lots of great ones out there but over the years I have definitely found my favorites that kids love year after year and are easy to use in my lessons! Here are my top 4 favorite echo songs to use in Kindergarten, and also how I teach echo singing.
To introduce the concept of an echo song, I just tell students to copy after me and start singing. I point to myself when it's my turn, and point out to the students when it's their turn to copy. Most students catch on immediately, but I always stop and remind students to wait if they try to sing along with me on my turn instead of waiting!
After we have done a few echo songs I ask students to tell me what they did, and we discuss that they sang the same thing I did right after me. I introduce the word "echo song" and I always do a motion to go with it (which is helpful for language learners but also a good memory hook and a way to have students silently vote later on when I ask them to identify what type of song something was): I put my hands in front of my chest, palms facing in, and move my hands back and forth.
The concept of an echo song is pretty straight-forward by itself, but it's important for students to consciously recognize and identify it so they can distinguish it from other types of songs, like call and response, later on.
This is probably my favorite echo song of all time. The lyrics are funny, the jazzy parts are cool, and we always love belting out, "on the looooooooose" at the end!
I don't know what it is about this song that is so magical but every year my students sing with such great gusto with huge grins on their faces the first time they sing it. It's amazing. I use this song to review echo singing and also introduce and practice musical contrasts like quiet/ loud and fast/ slow by having them shake their egg shakers different ways.
I actually discovered this one fairly recently but my students love it! And it's the perfect way to have students practice echoing other things like rhythm patterns, vocal explorations, and anything else to introduce other musical concepts at the same time.
Even though there's technically no singing it's hard not to include this one on the list because it's such a classic. There are so many ways to create variations for new verses as well! This video has more examples, and so does this one. I love asking students to come up with their own versions too!
What are your favorite echo songs to use in Kindergarten? I'd love to hear your suggestions in the comments! You can find all of my lessons on echo singing and more in my Kindergarten curriculum set here.
I've always loved using songs about fall in my music lessons, so I've been thrilled to discover some new ones my students and I have absolutely loved this year to add to my collection! Today I'm sharing my top three favorites that I've found this year.
I've been using these songs so far with my self-contained class, which has a wide span of ages and abilities, and they have been perfect, but they would be fun to use with almost any grade, especially on those weird schedule days before a holiday or something when you just want to do something fun. With younger grades they can be used as originally intended, but with older grades these would also be great to have students create a full performance with instrumentation because they are short and have simple chord structures!
For each song, I've linked where you can get the sheet music and audio recordings, and included a video that shows the lyrics as well.
If you don't know Stephanie Leavell (aka "Music for Kiddos"), you need to. Especially if you teach early childhood or self-contained music. I don't know why I didn't find this song until this year but it is the perfect energy level and perfect to use as a movement activity! I had students hold scarves one time, and also did it with students holding leaves, and it was a hit every time.
Another winner from Stephanie! This one could work in winter too, actually, but I love it for fall because of the minor tonality. This one is explicitly for scarves and is a great way to introduce students to different ways to move with scarves.
Rob DelGaudio is another fantastic elementary music resource and I'm not sure why it took me so long to discover this song! It is an additive song with suggestions for instruments you can use for each line that's added, as well as motions to go along with all the words.
I live in an area that is famously beautiful in autumn so when it comes to celebrating fall, we go pretty hard around here! If you're looking for more fall-themed songs and lessons to try, here some other tried and true favorites I've shared in previous years:
If you've used any of these songs I'd love to hear how you used them, and which grades you've used them with! And if you have more great songs for fall, please leave them in the comments.
If you're looking for some song ideas to use with your elementary chorus, today I'm sharing some of my favorites! I've shared some of my favorite pop songs I've arranged for my elementary choirs in previous posts (look for that link below) so this post will focus on choral pieces.
I have taught elementary choir for many years in all different formats, age groups, schedules, and ability ranges, and I definitely have found some pieces that have been successful time and time again. Of course there are no magic songs that are perfect for every elementary choir, so you'll want to consider which ones of the list below are the best fit for the group you have from year to year, but these are all pieces I have done over the years and have worked well.
I've split my list up into songs I've done for winter concerts and songs I've done for spring concerts, but keep in mind there are many songs on this list that would work any time of year and often, I have done them in multiple different times of year myself- in those cases I just added them to one or the other, so be sure to look through the whole list regardless of what time of year your program will be.
Keep in mind in many cases I make minor adjustments to the pieces to fit my needs, whether that's adjusting the lyrics, modifying the harmony parts, adjusting the arrangements, or making a section a solo. I've written more details about some specific ways I often modify songs in this post, and you're welcome to comment or email me if you have questions about any of the specific songs on this list.
I have been hesitant to share this list because I am not particularly thrilled with the identities represented in the list of arrangers and composers. I would love to hear suggestions from people who have found songs they love for elementary choirs by composers and arrangers that identify with underrepresented identities, particularly culture bearers from the global majority. I have, frankly, had an easier time finding representation in the modern songs I program for my elementary choirs and have admittedly put more energy into that effort than I have into the choral arrangements. To see my (ongoing) list of modern songs I've arranged for my elementary choirs, check out this post.
I also don't tend to program concerts with a specific theme most of the time, because I don't want to limit myself, but sometimes I stumble into a theme and when that happens it's pretty cool to see it come together! I've shared the songs I've programmed for 3 different themes (stars, rhythm, and self-identity) in this post.
Looking for more advice on teaching elementary chorus? You can search all of my posts on the topic, with everything from teaching strategies to warmups to rehearsal procedures, here.
As someone who did not grow up in North America and does not have any Native American heritage in my family, I have been on a constant learning journey for the last two decades since moving to the United States to learn more about Indigenous music, and appropriate ways for me, as an outsider, to share it with my students. I still have so very much to learn, but today I wanted to bring you along on my learning journey by sharing a few helpful resources I have found for non-Native people to find music and cultural information that is appropriate for us to share in our classrooms.
1. Culture Bearers
I know firsthand that this can feel like a frustrating answer when you hear people say to reach out to your local tribe/ nation for information and resources, but it's true: there is no substitute for connecting with local people and organizations that can directly advise you on songs and information from your local indigenous communities and what is permissible for you to share as an outsider, point you to people and resources you can use, and maybe even come in to share with your students themselves! It took me several years to even find connections myself but it is imperative that we make the effort to do so.
2. Pow Wow Information
One of the first thing I introduce my students to is pow wows and the dancing and music that happen in the pow wow traditions local to our area. The website www.powwows.com has a lot of helpful information and resources that are made for non-Native teachers and students, including a place to find a pow wow near you.
3. Songs and Lessons in Anishinaabemowin
Ojibwe.net is a website designed to preserve and spread the Algonquian language Anishinaabemowin. Songs and lessons designed to help people learn the language are available, including audio recordings, and these songs are appropriate for non-indigenous teachers to use in their classrooms.
4. Michelle McCauley
I have learned so much from all of Michelle McCauley's work over the years. You can find video lectures on how to use Native American music in elementary general music classrooms, how to handle Thanksgiving, and songs and dances on her YouTube channel, an ebook with accompanying music on F-flat books, and more resources online.
Of course there are so many more resources that I have learned from and have used in my teaching, but those are some highlights that, if you are a non-Native teacher seeking to incorporate music and lessons in your music classroom appropriately, are good places to start. As I said before I am very much a beginning learner in this area inviting you to join me on this important journey- please share ideas, thoughts, and resources in the comments so we can all continue to grow!
This year for Latine / Hispanic Heritage Month I've been playing music by Latine / Hispanic musicians in the morning as students are entering school, and I ended up discovering a lot of new kid-friendly songs and artists in the process of my research to find songs to add to my playlist that are clean enough to play around the preschoolers but cool enough to avoid the 6th graders rolling their eyes when they come into school. All of these songs have fit the bill!
Whether you use this playlist as a whole or look through to find a new song or artist to feature in your lessons, I hope you find this playlist useful! I made sure the lyrics were appropriate for kids, but also tried to include broad representation of a variety of genres and artist's nationalities, a mix of traditional and modern, children's music and pop. Click below to access the playlist on Spotify or YouTube:
To learn more about how I recognize Latine / Hispanic Heritage Month in my classroom, and find links to culture bearers and resources I recommend, here is my blog post on how I recognize Latine / Hispanic Heritage Month in the music room.
I hope to continue adding more songs to this playlist as I discover more songs and artists and continue to expand my representation! Please share your recommendations in the comments so we can expand the list together.
I used a new lesson with my 3rd graders at the beginning of the year this year to help build and re-establish their relationships with each other, and it was a huge success! I highly recommend this for any time of year as a great way to introduce and practice whole notes, the "syncopa" rhythm pattern, and same and different phrases, but most importantly to build community in your classroom. This is a great lesson to tie in with social-emotional learning on spreading kindness and positivity, friendship, and giving compliments.
I dug up the song "I Got a Letter This Morning" from the recesses of my mind this summer when I was looking for a new song to use to introduce whole notes to my students at the beginning of the year. I used to use this song years ago but had not taught it in many years, and coming back to it I suddenly saw so much potential for ways to use this song in fun, community-building ways that would be perfect to kick off the year on the right foot!
If you aren't familiar, this video demonstrates the version that I learned and used in this lesson. Because it is a US American folk song there are many variations on the tune, but the basic idea is the same. If you watch the full video they show an example of how you can analyze and identify the rhythms with students in this song as well:
Here's the notation of the version I used:
I start off by having students sing the "oh yes" phrases as a response, while I sing the "I got a letter" phrases as the call, and sing it in call and response form (this is a great opportunity to review call and response!). Then we talked about how exciting it is when you get something in the mail. I typed the names of each student in the class on a sheet of paper, spread out with 6 names on each sheet, and cut the paper into 6 individual sheets before class and put them all in an envelope. Then I told them we are going to send happy mail to our friends! We talked through some examples of what would make someone smile to read, including thinking about things that person likes, or telling them something you like about them. We also discussed that even if you don't know the person that well (like the new students), it's easy to come up with something that will make them smile, whether that's a happy message like "I hope you have a great day", or even drawing them a fun picture.
I wasn't sure how well the 3rd graders would get it, but they definitely did. I randomly handed a paper to each student and had them secretly draw or write something on the side without the name, then fold it up and put it in the envelope when they finished. I kept them in the envelope for the next lesson, which also gave me time to take a quick look and make sure they were all good. The notes were all so sweet! The ones who got a close friend drew pictures of their friend's favorite things like basketballs or computers, some of them wrote incredibly detailed notes listing all the great things about the person, and some drew lots of smiley faces and kitty cats and stars.
The next lesson, I announced that it was time for everyone to get their mail, but they would have to sing for their card! We practiced singing the song as a call and response again, and then I told them to switch parts: the students sang "I got a letter", and I sang "oh yes". Then I explained the game: while they are all singing "oh yes", I pull a card out of the envelope, look at the name, and hand it to the person. The person that gets their letter is the only one who sings "oh yes". Then we continue singing until everyone has their letter. Everyone was thrilled with the card they got, and it gave me a chance to make sure everyone was actually singing the full 4-beat whole notes on "oh yes" as they each sang by themselves. The students took the notes home with them.
The other great thing about this game is it gets the students to sing the song over and over. By the time we finished the game they had sung it several times and had it in their ears, so it was easy to have them then think about the rhythm and discover that the notes at the end have 4 beats, and introduce the whole note! You could use the same process to introduce the "syncopa" pattern in the first part of the song as well if you want to use it to teach that rhythm, and you could also have students think about each phrase of the song and identify the same and different phrases.
This lesson was a huge hit and it was the perfect way to start the year. The homeroom teachers were so excited when I explained why they were all leaving class with a piece of paper, and the students were all excitedly showing each other their notes. I even had one student who was so concerned that I did not receive a note myself that she spent her entire recess the next day making me a beautiful note and proudly brought it to class the next lesson and announced that we all needed to sing the song one more time, then handed me the note.
If you're looking for more ways to get students practicing giving sincere and thoughtful compliments, I highly recommend using classroom jobs and including compliments as one of them- you can read more about how I do that in this post. And if you'd like to see my full year of lesson plans with 3rd grade, you can find those in this 3rd grade curriculum set. Have you ever used this song in your classroom? I'd love to hear how you used the song in the comments below.
In typical Elizabeth fashion, I was searching this past summer for a new song to use to teach one specific musical concept and ended up stumbling on a wonderful song from a country I didn't have represented in my curriculum yet that is accessible and engaging for elementary age students AND can be used to teach several different musical concepts besides the one I was looking for! Here are my lesson ideas for the song "Bebe Muke (Bebe Moké)" from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
First the song. It should be noted that if you search online for the song title you may find a "Wee Sing" version, listed as from Zaire (which the country has not been called since 1997). That version is very different from the African sources I have found so I do not recommend using that one- here are some recordings I recommend:
You'll notice the second recording is in a different meter than the other 2 and feels much more like a lullaby, while the others are more upbeat. Depending on what musical concepts you're wanting to teach I think you could present either version, although I prefer the upbeat one for the 3rd graders I am using the song with.
The lyrics are in Lingala. As with any song that has been passed down for a long time like this, there are several variations on the exact lyrics, but here is the most common version of the first verse that I found among Congolese sources I saw (sidenote: the animation in the first video above makes sense when you see the main thrust of the lyrics):
Original Lyrics (in Lingala)
Bebe moké nani abêti yo
Loba na ngai
Ngai na zongisa
Yomoko otutani na mur ya ndako
English Translation
Little baby, who hit you?
Tell me!
I'll tell you what happened:
You hit the wall of the house yourself.
Now let's talk about musical concepts that could be taught through this song: I am using it this year to review pentatonic solfege and same and different phrases, but (if you use the more upbeat version) this would also be a great song for triple meter.
Pentatonic Solfege
First and foremost I think this song is perfect for practicing pentatonic solfege, because the melody line at the end of every phrase is a descending pentatonic scale (la sol mi re do). I'm using the song this year as a way to review pentatonic solfege by having students aurally identify the solfege of that line after learning the song. After we've sung the song a few times, I have them all sing the pentatonic notes they've learned on solfege syllables with hand signs, and then I ask them to listen to each note in the melody and identify which solfege note it matches. Because the notes are in order it's easier for them to hear, so it's a great way to do a quick review and practice identifying notes aurally, but it would also be an easy way to have students practice notating or identifying the solfege from notation as well.
Same and Different Phrases
The other main reason I chose this song is because there are 2 identical melodic phrases followed by 1 that is clearly different from the first 2 because it has a different rhythm and it stays on the same repeated pitch in the beginning. It's easy for students to hear the phrases because they all end with the same descending scale. I always review same and different phrases in 3rd grade as we're preparing for recorders, because I want students to get in the habit of looking for repeated phrases when they are learning new recorder songs.
Triple Meter
I didn't set out to find a song to teach triple meter, but I'll definitely be touching on the meter with my students when we learn it because it has such a clear downbeat but with the syncopated rhythms, faster tempo, and upbeat feel, it has a different feeling from the typical lilting waltz-feeling triple meter songs I often use with my younger grades. I have students listen to the recording and try to identify the meter by tapping on the beat in groups of 2, 3, and 4 until they find the one that fits the music best. Once we've identified the meter, I reinforce it by having them pat their laps on the downbeat and clap on beats 2 and 3. This is also an easy way to encourage active listening when I'm first introducing the song, so it's easier for them to learn the non-English lyrics when we start practicing the singing.
I hope these ideas inspire more teachers to introduce this song to your students! For more lesson ideas like this to cover your entire year, you can get my curriculum here. Find more elementary music lesson ideas and teaching strategies for music around the world in these blog posts. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions!
Since my very first year of teaching, I have always had a set end of class routine for my elementary music lessons. But what I include in that routine has evolved over the years, and in the last few years my routine has changed again, so today I'm sharing my current routine for the end of class.
I am a firm believer in the benefits of class routines for elementary music. Because students don't spend a lot of time in our classes, it's even more important than most for us to establish routines to give students a sense of familiarity and predictability and make transitions and other common procedures go more quickly. Moving from one class to the next is probably the most challenging transition for elementary students and as music teachers we spend our entire day facilitating those! So I really think making the beginning and end of class work well for students is one of the most important parts of a productive elementary music class.
1. Learning reflection
Like many districts, mine started requiring all teachers to post learning intentions and success criteria for each lesson a few years ago. You can read all the details of how I do that so it's actually helpful for kids (really) in this post, but the first part of my end of class routine is to revisit the success criteria and learning objective that I've written on the whiteboard and ask students to reflect on whether they succeeded in learning what we set out to learn that day. This is not nearly as deep as it sounds- here's what this looked like in my 3rd grade class the other day:
me (moving over to stand by the success criteria we wrote on the board): "OK we said at the beginning of class that we were going to learn a new rhythm and be able to read and play it today. Did we find a new rhythm?"
students: "yeah!"
me: "What was the new rhythm we learned? What was it called?"
students raise their hands: "a whole note"
me: "How many beats does a whole note get?"
students: "4!"
me: "And how do we say it?"
students: "du-u-u-u!"
me: "Great and we also said we were going to read and play it to show we learned it. Did you read and play whole notes with egg shakers today?"
students: "yeah!"
me (while erasing the success criteria to prepare for the next class): "Awesome, we met our goal!"
I've always included a reflection on what we learned at the end of class, but I've now just reframed that conversation slightly to incorporate the success criteria we are building together throughout the lesson and bring it back to that before they leave. It not only helps reinforce their learning but helps them feel successful.
2. Line up
I use silent hand signals to cue students to stand up and turn to face the direction they need to go to line up. This post explains all of the hand signals I use in more detail (highly recommend), but all I do at the end of class is hold up one finger for them to stand, then point that finger in the direction they should turn so that the color team that currently has the job of line leader can lead the class over to the tape I have on the floor marking where to stand facing the door ready to leave. After the line leader team, each row follows in order similar to the way students would get off of choral risers on stage (makes it very easy when we're preparing for a concert!). You can read about the color teams I have for my assigned seating, and the jobs assign and rotate through each team, including line leader, in this post.
3. Compliments
Another one of the team jobs is to give a specific compliment to one person that's not on their team (see the post. As soon as students start getting in line, I remind the compliment team to give a compliment- they are the only ones who should be speaking or going anywhere besides standing on the line tape. While they are giving their compliments, I am taking down any extra letters the class earned in my whole class management system (read about that here) and writing a happy note to one student (get those here). As soon as the compliment students are done and back in line, I announce the happy note winner (along with a specific compliment for something they did that day), and move the class's magnet
up the piano for the number of keys they earned in the whole class management system referenced above.
4. Prepare for the hallway
The last step takes 2 seconds but it's very important: I say "minions assemble!" and the students get silent, face the door if they weren't already, put their hands down at their sides. That is my signal to remind students to prepare for the hallway- I have minions all over my classroom (see the 2024 tour here) and the tape on the floor where students line up has minions all over it for this reason!
And that's it! It's nothing complex but going through the same procedure every time helps students mentally prepare for the transition, and makes the end of class much calmer and more controlled. If you want to know more about my routines for the beginning of class, and other routines and procedures I put in place to make my classes run more smoothly, be sure to check this post.
Classroom management has always been a challenge, with very few comprehensive resources or training that is specifically for elementary music teachers. Part of the problem is there isn't one single strategy that will magically make everything run smoothly- there are so many facets to building and maintaining a positive, productive elementary music classroom that celebrates and meets the needs of all the hundreds of students that come through its doors each week. This post is intended to serve as a resource hub for all of those many facets that affect classroom management, so you can find strategies that will best meet the needs of your students.
Let's start with what everyone thinks of first when they think classroom or behavior management: a concrete system of tracking, motivating, and holding classes as a whole accountable for their behavior in class.
Concrete systems for responding to both positive and negative individual student behaviors are also important:
Having procedures and predictability is one of the most important strategies for fostering positive and productive classrooms, especially when students aren't there every day and have less time to feel settled!
Another key element of procedures and predictability is assigned seating, including assigning students to a "team" that serves as a way to give students classroom jobs, build in procedures for handing out and collecting supplies, and give students more ownership in the classroom:
Now that we've got some concrete systems in place, it's important to make sure we have the right framework / mindset for interacting with students in positive and productive ways, and encouraging students to do the same:
Now let's talk about specific strategies for specific situations that we commonly encounter as music teachers, whether for individual students or classes as a whole:
That is a lot of information but it also just barely begins to scratch the surface! You can browse all of my posts on management by clicking here. If you have any questions or topics you'd like to see addressed in a future post, please leave a comment to let me know!
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