Elementary Music Classroom Tour 2026-2027

My elementary general music classroom has had pretty much the same setup (other than covid) for at least a decade now, but this year I had to make some dramatic changes because the screen that I teach from is now on the opposite side of the room! It has honestly been fun to be able to rethink my setup so I'm excited to share a bit more detail about my classroom space than I have been the last few years.

First here is a quick spin around the room to get the lay of the land:

If you want to hear my talk through all of the elements of my classroom in video form, here is a video tour of the entire space with more explanations of each area- I've also written out some of the highlights with photos below if you'd rather read than watch as well.

Here's the view of the room when you first walk in the door:

To the left of the door as you walk in, I've added a small plastic shelving unit next to the ukuleles. I was primarily needing a place on this wall to keep the tissue box and hand sanitizer, but I'm excited to now have some shelves where students can drop their hoodies, water bottles, and other belongings instead of having to put them on the floor! I got 2 of these shelves from Walmart and combined them so I could have 4 shelves instead of 3, and then used the other 2 next to my teacher desk (which you can see in the photo above). The shelving unit also comes with wheels, actually, but I wanted them to be stationary so I just left the wheels off.

This was sortof a "why didn't I do this sooner?!?" moments but I also moved the 2 tracking sheets for keeping track of when the classroom jobs rotate through the color team groups they sit in and when classes get to the top of the black, white, or all piano keys in the classroom management point system, onto the same magnet board where I have the jobs and the piano keys themselves. You can see what my board used to look like, and read about how I made the board itself, in this post. I now have my Kindergarten illustrated learning objectives next to the magnet board as well.

Next to the ukuleles I have the table students use as a writing surface when we're doing a writing activity, with 2 different calming corners on either side. The table also holds caddies of supplies like dry erase markers, colored pencils, and crayons organized by color team. I used to have just one calming corner but I wanted to split the books up into two crates to make them easier to get in and out, and I realized I could set up two spaces for those times when two different students need to separate and take a minute to get themselves together. I also have some posters with different coping strategies and breathing guides, and for the side with the books for older readers I also have a bin with some notecards and pencils so students can write down what's going on when I can't have a private conversation right away, and both sides also have noise canceling headphones that students can use while they're there or grab them to use during class if they need them. You can read about how I incorporated noise canceling headphones for the first time last year as a tool for students who need them in this post.

Next to that is my main classroom seating for 1st-6th grade (Kindergarten mostly sits on the floor). I have the giant grade level expectations posters on the wall behind the chairs, and the chairs are organized in 6 rows of 4 chairs each, marked with colored duct tape on the floor to group them into "color teams" which I use for everything from organizing writing supplies to assigning classroom jobs. 

At the front of the room I have my electric piano and next to that, a table with a rainbow table skirt around it so I can hide the two bass xylophones I have stored underneath. Above that table are the world map and elements of music anchor charts, and next to that are the hand signal posters for water/ bathroom/ tissue on the left side of the screen. On the other side of the screen are the picture frames for each grade where I write the learning objectives for that day's lesson, and the dry erase board underneath that I use for writing the student-generated success criteria as I go through the lesson. Next to that are the "respect" posters and "MUSIC" letter board that I use to keep track of class points, with my music stand that serves as my command center in front of those. 

Next to that is my giant blue chalkboard wall :) I have my solfege posters on the pillar to the left of the wall, and my instruments of the orchestra posters above it. I have a black rolling cart with clipboards, pencils, and erasers, plus bins to keep any manipulatives or other small group supplies I need for that day's lessons, organized by color team, and the bass drum for band class tucked behind the rolling whiteboard. The clear bins on the floor hold my emergency sub plans, and my teacher toolbox is on top of the piano. Next to the piano I have a rolling rainbow drawer set with one drawer for each grade to keep my master copies and any student work or forms they turn in, Next to that is my small teacher work area, and then the boomwhackers are hung on the wall next to that. 

The open shelving wall has hardly changed at all! The only thing I really changed was the labels on the shelves where I write the names of the instruments so that students can get things more independently- you can see a closeup of those in the video tour above but they are just address label stickers. Kindergarten sits on the circle spots you see on the floor on this side of the room, and I use the same spots whenever we are doing a circle activity with the older grades as well- because they have the same 6 colors I can easily have students find a spot that matches their color team to give them some choice without as much arguing over who will stand where.

So that's it! It has been a long time since I wrote a post this long but I hope I've included all the information you may be curious to hear about. If there's anything I didn't cover or that you want to know more about, though, please leave a comment below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. If you want to use the same rainbow patterns posters that I have in my classroom, you can get printable files for those here. 

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Making the Most of What You Have

With public school budgets, and music program budgets in particular, continuing to get tighter and tighter, it is so important to be able to make the most of the instruments, equipment, and supplies that we have in our elementary music classrooms. Whether you've got an instrument or item that you inherited from a previous teacher that you don't know how to use in your lessons, or you're looking for fresh ways to use what you have, here are all my lesson ideas to stretch your instruments and supplies to use with a broader range of grade levels, organization and management tips to help make it easier to use those things you were too afraid to give your students, and creative ways to use what you have in ways you may not have thought of before.

I've written quite a few posts over the last year or so with all of my best management and organization tips and tons of lesson ideas and teaching strategies for using various items that are commonly found in many elementary music classrooms, and if and when I write new posts for this series I will add them here, so bookmark this page and let me know in the comments which instruments or supplies you need more ideas for how to use better in your teaching!

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What To Do With Those Scarves

If you are starting a new job in a new classroom and suddenly find yourself with a bunch of scarves you don't know what to do with, or you have had them for a while and feel like you're not getting as much use out of them as you should, this post is for you! In this post you'll find tips for managing their use with students, plus plenty of ways to use them in specific lessons as well!

1. Storage

I used to like the idea of wall-mounted storage for scarves, either by hanging them from a velcro strip or storing them in those containers with holes on the sides that are made for keeping plastic bags (like this). I still like those ideas but I have found for my purposes, I like being able to carry the set of scarves around rather than having them tied to one place and having to have students go get them from a specific place in the room. I have, over the years, accumulated quite a few scarves though, and I've realized it's important for whatever storage system I use to have enough space for students to be able to throw them in and fit without too much extra stuffing, so I have ended up splitting my scarves into cool colors and warm colors and keeping them in 2 separate bins:

The side benefit of this system, I've realized, is that it's easy to pick out specific color schemes, which is handy for some of my favorite scarf activities where I want cool colors to evoke water, rain, the ocean, ice, or snow, or warm colors to look like fall leaves, etc, and if we're using all the colors it's a little faster to have students put them away by calling their scarf color two at a time (one cool and one warm) to put away in two bins simultaneously. 

2. Management

Scarves don't present too many management headaches, but when I'm handing them out students often want to a) drape them over their heads, or b) ball them up and toss them (both of which are not particularly problematic, just distracting), and when they're waiting to put them away they want to spread them out perfectly on the floor and fold them into neat squares (which is very thoughtful of them but time-consuming when you're trying to transition quickly to the next activity). To help manage those behaviors I do 2 things: 1) give them something specific to do with the scarves when they are getting them out and putting them away, and 2) give them time to explore and choose what to do with the scarves at some point. 

With any instrument, prop, supply, etc, giving students time to explore the new item before demanding that they use it only in the way you instruct them is a really effective strategy. So the first time we're using scarves each school year, or if it has been a long time, I often will turn on some music and tell students they have until the end of the song to play with the scarf without leaving their spot (after spreading them out around the room). This gives them time to try throwing it, balling it up, putting it on their head, etc and not only "gets it out of their system", but gives students time to figure out how to manipulate it before they try to do anything specific with it.

Exploration time is obviously too time-consuming to do every time, though, so once they've had that chance the first time, in subsequent lessons I will tell students a specific way to hold the scarf/ stand/ sit as soon as they get the scarf. Often it is to get into whatever position we start the activity in, but sometimes it's totally unrelated- the main point is just to give them specific direction for what to do without having to tell them to sit there and stare at the new colorful toy I just put in front of them without touching it! 

For putting them away, I do the same thing. Sometimes I tell them to put it on their heads until I call their color, or drape it over their laps, etc. Other times, if we have the time for it, I will go around the room one student (or a small group of students) at a time and have them do a short song/ rhyme that ends with them putting the scarf away (like this flower song).

3. Lesson Activity Ideas

Scarf songs

My favorite way to use scarves is as a movement prop with a song. It can be a great way to help students demonstrate specific musical elements of the song, or connect with the lyrics with movements that go with the words, or a way to get students to sing with something that makes them a little less self-conscious and sparks their imagination. You'll find my top favorite songs for early childhood/ self-contained music classes in this post:

I also have to mention my other favorite singing game with scarves that I use with my middle grades: Draw a Bucket of Water. You can do it without scarves too, but it works best if you have scarves for students to pull back and forth while they sing. Here's a video showing the movement game if you aren't familiar- it's a great song to use to learn about same and contrasting sections.

Movement with instrumental pieces

Just like with scarf songs, scarves can be such a great tool for getting students to demonstrate specific musical elements of an instrumental piece of music. It can actually be a really useful assessment tool for that reason! I use it especially to have students demonstrate pitch, by having them move the scarf up for high notes and down for low notes, and to demonstrate form, by having them either use different predetermined moves for each section, or use a scarf for one section and put it down to do other movements for the other.

-The Bird from Peter and the Wolf is a great one to have students show pitch by making their scarf go up and down with the notes like the bird flying in the air.

-Aquarium from Carnival of the Animals is another one I have students show the notes going up and down with their scarves, pretending to be the fish swimming around in the water.

-Sylvia Pizzicato by Leo Debiles is my favorite song to use with scarves to have students show form. I have them tip toe for the A section and then pick up their scarves and twirl around with the melody for the B section.

Substitutes for other movement props

-If you've ever come across an awesome parachute activity (here are my favorites) and wished you could do it but didn't have the parachute and/or the space for a parachute, a lot of the moves can be done with scarves. Just have students hold the edge of their scarf with 2 hands and move their scarves the same way they would move the parachute! 

-I love teaching my students about poi in my unit in Maori music and I've now made my own out of rope for students to use (there's tutorial in that same post), but for many years I just used scarves to have students practice poi moves, and it works just fine! 

-Of course scarves can also be a great substitute for ribbon wands as well if you come across a great lesson activity that calls for those.

Other creative uses

-If you've ever had classes, especially in upper elementary/ middle school, that get icky about holding hands for movement or circle games etc, have them hold scarves in between each person and you can accomplish the same thing without dealing with the awkwardness of hand holding!

-I use some of my white or blue scarves to represent the "river" when I do my lesson on "Going On a Bear Hunt" with Kindergarten every year to practice steady beat! You can read about that entire lesson (highly recommend) in this post.

I hope this helps you find some new ways to use those scarves that have been sitting in your closet! If you're looking for more ideas for other movement props from parachutes to cups and so much more, check out this post:

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DIY Magnetic Classroom Management Board

I've been using a magnet board I made myself to be my visual for my classroom management tracker for over a decade now, and I like it so much better than the sticker charts I used to use, or the clip charts with clothespins I see other teachers using for similar purposes! I put mine together with scraps of materials and have used it every class period, every day, modifying it slightly over the years as my systems have shifted. If you're interested in trying something similar, here's how I set mine up- it's very flexible so you could absolutely adapt it to your classroom and make it your own!

The board currently serves two main functions: tracking "points" earned towards different incentives that each class is working towards in my whole class management system by moving up the black keys, then the white keys, then all the keys chromatically on the piano (read all about the system, how they earn points, what incentives I use, and my philosophy behind it in this post), and displaying the rotating class jobs to which each color team is assigned (read all about how I use classroom jobs in this post, and about my color team seating arrangement in this post).

The board itself is an oil drip pan that I bought at Walmart years ago. Mine is 25x47 inches, and apparently they don't make the ones that are that size anymore, unfortunately, because they seem to be out of stock everywhere! But this is it, in case it comes back in stock. This one is the closest I can find at 25x36 inches- it's a bit shorter but I think would do the same job.

The rest of the board is mostly contact paper and tape! I had some leftover white contact paper from another project that I used to cut out two large rectangles to be the 2 piano keyboards (I decided to make 2 separate pianos, one for K-3 and one for 4-6, so the piano keys wouldn't be so crowded if I tried to put all the classes on one piano). Then I used a ruler and permanent marker to draw lines to separate all the white keys, keeping them the same width as the black painter's tape I had on hand (I use it to "frame" all of my posters on my classroom walls). Then I used strips of the black tape to make the black keys. 

The colored boxes are just strips of the colored duct tape I use to tape the lines on the floor to mark where each color row sits, then I outlined each square with the same black painter's tape I used for the piano keys. Then for the open space next to those squares, I just stuck on a bunch of music note stickers I had from my scrapbooking days and some leftover bulletin board letters to spell out "Music Rocks!". I've had different ideas over the years for using that space but never have changed it, but it could be a good place to display the main "class rules", keep track of rewards earned, or even display photos of classes that have done something great as another incentive.

I made the magnets by either printing or handwriting onto regular printer paper and sticking the paper to these adhesive magnet sheets: I designed the minion images to show the job each color team is assigned that marking period, and cut out small strips of plain white to handwrite the class names to move up the piano keys.

I pieced all of this together by hand from scraps I already had, but if you aren't feeling super crafty I've made printable versions of the piano keyboards and classroom jobs (minus the minions so they'll fit any classroom theme) that you can get in this set here. 

I hope this helps give you some inspiration to create your own magnet board for your classroom! Like I said there are so many ways this can be customized for whatever system you're using- using the oil drip pan is just a really cost-effective way to get a good sized magnet board on the cheap, and it's so much sturdier (and, I think, looks cooler) than sticker or clip charts! Let me know in the comments if you have any questions, or if you have other ideas for how you've used a similar visual in your classroom!

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What To Do With Those Instruments

If you are starting a new job and found a bunch of random percussion instruments in your new classroom you don't know what to do with, or if you have had these percussion instruments for a while and you don't feel like you're getting enough use out of them (or maybe don't even know how to play them correctly), this post is for you! In this post you'll find my favorite ways to use 6 of the most common auxiliary percussion instruments in elementary general music lessons, along with how I teach students to play each one and how I store them in my classroom.

1. Names and playing techniques

First it's important to know what each of these instruments are called and how they are played so you can teach your students properly! This video explains what I call each one and how I teach students to play them:

2. Storage

I think it's important for students to be able to see and access instruments independently, and although for instruments that I have class sets (or at least half class sets) of I like to store them in labeled bins to make them easy to find, I like keeping the ones I only have 1 or 2 of out separately so they don't get lost in some "miscellaneous" bin where we all forget they exist, and students are aware of what's available when they are in a situation where they are choosing an instrument/ timbre for a lesson activity. If you look closely at the right side shelves in the picture below you can see the bins on the shelves, as well as the instruments that are sitting out on the shelf where they are easily accessible.

3. Lesson Ideas

First here are a few specific ways I use each of the specific instruments I'm using as examples in this post, but I also have lots of ways I use all of these, and other miscellaneous percussion instruments in my K-6 lessons which I'll share below, so if you don't have these specific instruments keep reading!

• cabasa: more specifically, this instrument with the metal beads is called the Afuche Cabasa, but especially with my younger students I just call it a cabasa, which is a more general term. I use the cabasa with my younger students as one of the timbres I have students add to a lot of storybooks like froggy gets dressed and bear snores on (click the links to see my full lesson plans) when it calls for a crunchy or rattling sound, or a medium volume sound. It's also popular for similar purposes with my older students when they need a sound effect for their videogame or movie music composition projects because it gives them a timbre similar to a shaker but is louder and a little more precise.
• flexatone: The flexatone may not be the most urgent instrument to buy when I'm building my classroom inventory but it is one of the most fun! I specifically use it when I do the song "pass the pumpkin" with Kindergarten- students play it when we sing "oooo". I also use it for the underwear when we do froggy gets dressed in 1st grade because it is a "silly sound", and it is a great one to have available for my older students to use in composition when they want something spooky sounding or a "swoosh" like you would get with a slide whistle.
• vibraslap: My students love playing the vibraslap because you can see it vibrate. It's also often an accessible instrument for students with limb differences or who lack grip strength because you can play it with one hand and there are lots of ways to hold it! I specifically use the vibraslap every year when I do mortimer in 1st grade by having a student play it every time Mortimer nods his head, which the students think is hilarious!
• ratchet: This is another instrument that's pretty accessible and provides a timbre that's different from most other instruments I have in the classroom. It's also another instrument I use specifically with my mortimer lesson in 1st grade for playing every time someone opens the door. It's also helpful to have as an instrument that can play "sustained notes" because you can just keep turning the handle round and round, so it's a good way to have students practice reading and playing half notes and whole notes when I introduce them in the middle grades.
• stir drum: The stir drum is handy to have when I'm teaching pitched vs non-pitched percussion in 2nd grade because it helps students think more carefully about what a pitched instrument sounds like, since it is technically pitched but you don't normally play each pitch separately. 
• ocean drum: I got a few ocean drums a few years ago so it's one of the most recent additions to my classroom, but my students are in love with them (and so am I). I use it as another instrument to practice playing half notes and whole notes in my middle grades, and specifically to add whole note (or dotted half notes in triple meter) ostinato accompaniment when students are adding instrumental accompaniment with a calmer, peaceful song like Sakura in 4th grade and Duerme Mi Tesoro in 2nd grade.

Even more than the specific instruments I'm sharing here, I think it's helpful to have a general variety of timbres and playing techniques in your instrument collection so that students can learn a broader range of proper percussion playing technique and get the chance to experience using a wider variety of timbres in performance and composition. I don't think it matters as much whether you have these specific instruments in your classroom, but if you can, it's great to build up a little bit of variety over the years with whatever instruments you are able to bring into your classroom. Here are some of my favorite lesson activities that use whatever variety of instruments I have:

• Instrument Merry-Go-Round
  This is an activity I use in the younger grades especially to help students practice the names, playing techniques, and categorizations of a wide variety of instruments in a short amount of time, but I also do it with older students to review, or just as a fun way to keep students engaged on a challenging day, and they love it too! Have students sit in a circle and put an instrument in front of each student. They can all be different or you can hand out a repeating pattern of a handful of instruments (like hand drum- triangle- rhythm sticks- jingle bells, hand drum- triangle- you get the idea) depending on what you're doing. Tell students to follow your hands. Motion for them to pick up the instrument in front of them, then when you open your fist, they play, and when you close your fist, they stop. Motion for them to put the instrument down, stand up, and move around the circle to the next instrument, and continue. You can change it up by calling out the name of an instrument that should play, or calling out a category (pitched/ non-pitched, woods/ skins, etc). You can also have students follow your conducting to practice playing with different dynamics, or echo your rhythm patterns... the options are pretty much endless.
• Sound Effects
  I love exploring timbre with my younger grades by having students add sound effects to storybooks! We read the story, then I have students suggest instruments that would best match different words, pictures, or phrases in the story. I've done this with many different books- you can see some of my favorites, with all the specific lesson plans I use with them, in this post. 
• Soundscapes
  This is a great way to practice communicating a feeling or image through music in a concrete way. I split students up into small groups and either have them choose or assign them a place, emotion, etc and tell them to use instruments, voices, found sound, and body percussion to communicate that place/ emotion. At the end the class tries to guess what their music is supposed to sound like. I use this activity mostly with my middle grades to introduce the idea of using timbre and other expressive elements to communicate images and ideas.
• Foley
  I do composition units on movie music in 6th grade and video game music in 5th grade, and in both projects I ask students to add sound effects. Having lots of different interesting instrumental timbres available to them definitely helps inspire their creativity in these tasks!

I hope this post gives you some concrete ideas for how to use all the miscellaneous percussion instruments you may have in your classroom, or if you don't already, maybe inspire you to look into ways to get a few to add to your collection- most of these are fairly inexpensive and I've gotten most of mine through Amazon wishlists and donorschoose projects, so they're an easy way to add some more variety to your inventory! Of course there are so many other percussion instruments I didn't cover here that you may have in your classroom- if there are other instruments you'd like more ideas for using, please let me know in the comments!

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Things to Make This Summer for Your Music Room Part 2

I love a good craft project in the summertime! And while I definitely make time to unplug from all school-related thoughts over summer break, I also have a list of things I've wanted to make during the school year but didn't have the time or energy to put together that I like to tackle over summer break. I made a list of some of my favorite items I've made for my classroom over a decade ago so I decided it's time for an update! Here are some of my favorite summer craft projects I've made to use in my elementary music classroom.

music truth or dare card/ jenga game

This is such an easy thing to make- just print out the cards, cut and glue them onto some construction paper, and laminate them, and you've got yourself a review game that will get students practicing all kinds of music skills and concepts in a way that truly will have them begging to play again and again, and you can use it with the whole class or as a center! You can leave it at just the cards or take it one step further and add a jenga set to the mix for even more fun. Here are the printables, and here is the full blog post on how the game works:

rhythm composition cards

I truly use these all the time with every grade 1st-6th and they are so helpful! It's a simple concept but works so well for helping students visually see the note values: take some foam sheets, cut them into strips, and then cut them into lengths that correspond to the number of beats in the note/ rest and write the symbol on the card. Here is my blog post with all the details:

poi

One of my most recent DIY's was the poi I made from just some rope. I've used them for 2 years now and they have held up great and still look like new, and the bright colors are so cool when my 2nd graders use them for their performance in our annual International Music Festival! It took me a while to figure out how to do the first one, but once I got the hang of it the rest of them went pretty quickly- this is the perfect summer project because you can mindlessly make them while you watch a movie :) Here is the full blog post with a tutorial video on how to make them, and how I use them in my lessons, especially in my unit on Maori music from New Zealand.

discbound teacher planner

Putting together your own teacher planner is the definition of the perfect summer project. I know a lot of teachers are intimidated by the idea of printing your own pages and putting it together yourself but seriously, there is no way to get a more perfect-for-you planner that you'll actually use, and save the most money because you'll only buy the supplies once. Here are the music teacher planner printables and here is my post on how I put mine together:

kindergarten learning target visuals

When my district started requiring us to post learning targets for every class with every grade, I laughed at the idea of writing long sentences on the board to go over with my Kindergartners who couldn't even read yet. These visuals have made it possible for me to actually post learning objectives in a way that actually benefits student learning, but they have also really helped a lot of students grasp concepts more quickly by seeing them represented in graphic form! I highly recommend these, they really do make a difference. Here are the printable cards, and here is the blog post with the full explanation of how I use them: 

musical memory matching games

These are another easy project that just takes a little time to sit down and complete: print out the cards, cut and glue them to construction paper, laminate, and you're done. The game is played the same way a traditional memory matching game is played: players take turns flipping over 2 cards, one at a time, to try to flip over a matching pair of cards. If the 2 cards match they keep the cards, if not everyone tries to memorize their position and the player flips them back over. The player who collects the most pairs wins the game. But in this case students are not looking for cards that look exactly like each other, but pairs of cards that match, like a picture of a note G on the staff matching with a card with the letter G! I made mine myself but you can find plenty of options for musical memory matching game printables on teacherspayteachers for all kinds of vocabulary and concepts here.

I hope this helps give you some inspiration, or maybe even remind you of a project you had thought about and forgotten you wanted to do! And don't forget to check out my first post on summer craft projects for even more ideas!

Read more "Things to Make This Summer for Your Music Room Part 2"

Music Teacher Planner Setup 2026-2027

I get questions all the time about the supplies I use to set up my teacher planner, so today I'm giving you a full update on everything I'm using for the upcoming school year. The nice thing is most things I use for many years so I get my money's worth, and every year I tweak a few little things here and there so I still get to enjoy the fun of putting together a fresh new planner every summer!

*this post contains affiliate links*

1. Cover and discs

You can get hard covers like the one I have from a few different places but the one I have right now is from The Happy Planner. Honestly when my planner cover starts to get beat up after several years and it needs to be replaced, I look for one from any brand that I can find on clearance and get that one! This one is pretty similar to the one I'm using. I love these Happy Planner Rainbow Expander Metal Discs. The colors are just so fun and because they are metal they are so sturdy! I've been using them for several years now with very little sign of wear.

2. Paper

You don't have to have a fancy hard cover or rainbow colored discs to set up a teacher planner like this, but you will definitely need a hole punch to be able to put your papers into a discbound planner! Someone gave me the hole punch I'm using now from The Happy Planner but I used this one, which is much cheaper, for years with no issues.

This may surprise you but I think the biggest difference between a printable planner that feels cheap and one that feels professional is the paper. If you get 24lb paper to print at home you will notice a huge difference, and it's really not that much more expensive! Here's the paper I'm using right now.

You can also definitely have your planner pages printed- I used to have mine printed at Staples and they always came out great- but it is nice to be able to print at home and have the flexibility to just print out a page or two here and there whenever I need it without having to leave the house, and it ends up being cheaper. I use HP's instant ink service so it sends me new ink cartridges whenever I need them-  here's a link to get 1 month free if you want to try it too.

3. Folders and pockets

I find it really helpful to have a double-sided folder and a zippered pocket in the front of my planner. I got a new folder this summer from this accessory pack but you can use any letter size folder! I haven't found any other zippered pockets as good as this Arc Clear Zippered Pocket and it's so nice to keep my favorite Frixion Erasable Pens, some stamps, and address labels in there. I keep a Staples Clear Pocket in the back too for my choir sheet music.

4. Tabs and bookmarks

If there's one thing I've used longer than anything else (and probably will still be using 10 years from now) it's this pack of  Rainbow Paper Tabs. They are essentially sticky notes in the shape of tabs so I just write the section name on it and stick it where I want each section to begin (you can see them along the side in the photo above). They hold up shockingly well as well!

And I made my own bookmark to hold some sticky notes to use in my planner years ago that I am still using today- it's basically just a laminated piece of scrapbook paper cut to size with holes punched to add to my planner, but here is my Bookmark/ Sticky Note Dashboard DIY tutorial if you want all the details.

I also started using a plastic bookmark from The Happy Planner a few years ago that someone gave me and it is finally wearing down so this year I got a new one in the same accessory pack I got the folder from. I keep the DIY one in the current month, and the plastic one in the current week. 

Of course the most important part of my planner is the pages inside it- this is the specific one I use, but if your class schedule is different from mine here are all the different weekly planning formats you can choose from.

I hope this helps if you are thinking about setting up your own planner like mine- I absolutely love it and have been using it with pretty much the same setup for over a decade now! Please let me know if you have any questions, I'm happy to help. Happy planning!

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Things to Put on Your Elementary Music Amazon Wishlist 2026

Have you ever thought about putting together an Amazon wishlist for your classroom but then just couldn't come up with what to ask for? It's silly because obviously there's tons of things we're lacking and can't get school funding for, but I find often in the moment it's hard to come up with stuff to ask for, especially as a music teacher, because usually the prices and selection for instruments and other elementary music specific things on Amazon are not as good as other vendors. I shared some favorites to add to your Amazon wishlist a few years ago, but since then I've found more things that I've added to my list! Here's a list of things to consider adding to your elementary music classroom Amazon wishlist.

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noise-canceling headphones

If you get one thing from this list, make it these! They are affordable and super effective- they have been a game-changer for my classroom this year! Instead of getting dysregulated when they are thrown off by the noise level, so many of my students have been able to continue participating fully in the lesson simply by wearing one of these headphones. Read more about how I use them (including my favorite storage method) in this post.

plastic clipboards

I used the woodchip clipboards I found in my classroom when I arrived for years and finally switched to these a few years ago and my students and I are universally so much happier with these! Students would inevitably doodle all over the old woodchip ones, but they really can't mark these plastic ones up, especially with pencil. And the colors match perfectly with the rest of my decor and my color team organizational system, so they look so much nicer.

batteries

Yes, my school office does have batteries, but having a big set in my classroom is so much easier, especially when I have battery operated keyboards that might run out of batteries in the middle of the lesson! 

felt squares

If you use dry erase staff boards to have students notate things, you know how annoying the erasers can be. Plus, like the old clipboards I mentioned before, kids doodle on the wooden side all the time! I saw a few teacher creators online talking about using these felt squares as erasers for dry erase boards and they have been great! Plus, once again, I love that they come in all different colors so I can match them with my color teams.

dry erase markers

This is another one of those practical things that can run out quickly and it's nice to have a set on hand so I can easily replace them when they dry out. This specific size of dry erase marker has been perfect for students to use on individual dry erase boards. Here's an example of the most common way I use dry erase staff boards if you haven't used them much before.

bean bags

These beanbags from Bear Paw Creek are definitely the most well-made ones I've found, they come in my rainbow team colors, and they are super affordable so they're another great item to get from your Amazon wishlist! I got 2 of these sets to have a set of 24 which covers most of my classes, and they have held up well for years now and still look brand new. Here's my post on how I use beanbags if you need more ideas.

cups

I've shared about my favorite cup games to use with upper elementary before, and I am often asked about what type of cup I use- these are the ones. I actually got mine at IKEA years ago and you can still get similar ones there, but they don't make them in the bright rainbow colors like they used to and frankly, I don't like their new colors at all. These are basically the same thing and still very affordable. Besides using them for cup games, I use these all over my classroom to organize supplies like crayons, pencils, and other small items so stock up!

I hope this gives you some helpful ideas to set up a wishlist of your own! If you haven't seen it already, go check out my first Amazon wishlist post for more ideas. And if you have other things you've gotten and loved, let me know in the comments!

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What To Do With Those Beanbags

If you are starting a new job in a new classroom and suddenly find yourself with a bin full of beanbags you don't know what to do with, or you have had them for a while and feel like you're not getting as much use out of them as you should, this post is for you! In this post you'll find tips for managing their use with students, plus plenty of ways to use them in lessons from Kindergarten through 6th grade!

1. Management tips

One of the most common issues that can turn a fun movement prop into a headache is the immediate tossing and playing around that happens when you're passing them out. Now you can't give directions for the activity because they're only paying attention to the beanbag in their hands, after you just told them to leave it on the floor! Here are a few ways I avoid that problem depending on the age of the students, situation, and honestly my mood at the time:

1) I give all of my instructions, including having students practice any movements we need to work on before we start the actual activity, before handing out the beanbags. This strategy is one I use pretty much every time- once the beanbags are in front of them their brains just aren't going to be as focused as they are when they're motivated to want to get one! I explain what we are doing and have them practice any specific moves in the air with an imaginary beanbags, then quickly hand them out and jump right into it before anything gets out of hand.

2) Tell students to treat the beanbags like instruments: if you play (touch) before I say, you'll make the instrument (beanbag) go away! I use this especially with my younger grades by having them put their hands in their laps while sitting on the floor and setting the beanbags down on the floor in front of them so they don't touch them at all until we're ready to begin.

3) Give them some time to explore. For middle grades sometimes I find the best strategy is to give them what they want: time to explore what the beanbag feels like and have some fun with it before I ask them to only use it in the specific way I want. Any time I do this I tell them they can "test them out" until I turn off the lights, then give them a minute before I turn off the lights and have them set the beanbags down. 

2. Lesson Ideas

Early Childhood/ Adaptive music: I discovered a new favorite use for my beanbags this year: using them as quieter, safer, sturdier alternatives to egg shakers! I had some students who were new to our building and were very impulsive with any objects they were given at the beginning of the year, so even a pretty sturdy plastic egg shaker was likely to get broken, but they really did respond well to the egg shaker songs I had so I wanted to be able to continue them without breaking any more instruments. My beanbags were a perfect substitute that gave them a chance to practice following directions and responding to the music by shaking with the steady beat etc, as well as add in other fun ways to use them like tossing them or tapping them on our knees, without worrying about anything breaking.

1st/ 2nd grade: With lower elementary grades, bean bags are a great way to mix up steady beat movement activities. Even though steady beat is mainly a focus in my Kindergarten curriculum, it's one of those things students still need a lot of regular practice with, especially in 1st and 2nd grade! But they don't want to just repeat the songs they did in Kindergarten. I use them most often by turning on a track with a clear beat and asking students to take turns suggesting a way to use the beanbags on the beat- usually tapping a specific body part like knees, tummy, head, or shoulder, but sometimes other moves like passing it back and forth between their hands etc.

3rd/4th grade: With my middle grades I use beanbags to practice showing duple and triple meter. By this age they can usually control it pretty well while tossing the beanbags so they can still catch them and keep them in their own space, so I will have students do a "left hand- right hand- toss" movement sequence with a triple meter song, or pass them back and forth between their two hands for a duple meter song to feel the difference between the two meters. The tossing adds a level of challenge that is just right for this age!

5th grade: I have 2 beanbag passing games that are always a huge hit with my 5th graders: Bhombela and Take Five. Bhombela is a song from southern Africa including Mozambique so I use it in my unit with 5th grade on Mozambique, and the jazz song Take Five is a great way to introduce uncommon time signatures. Check the linked videos for demonstrations of how to use the beanbags with each of these songs.

6th grade: I use one other beanbag passing game in 6th grade that is also a big hit and is perfect for introducing dotted quarter/ single eighth rhythms: Al Citron. This is another activity that is the perfect level of challenge for this age group to keep students engaged and motivated to repeat it over and over again, which is just what I want when I need students to get used to a new rhythm! 

If you've found it difficult to teach passing games, here is my post explaining the strategies I started using a few years ago that made all the difference in the world for getting students to be successful with passing games!

I hope this gives you some fresh ideas to help you use your beanbags (or maybe inspire you to get some for your classroom)! They are an excellent kid-friendly, cost-effective tool for teaching steady beat, form, meter, and rhythm. And if you have more beanbag activities you love to use in music lessons, please let me know in the comments!

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