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"

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! 

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Boomwhackers in the Music Room

I love using Boomwhackers in my elementary music classes! Not only are they fun and accessible for even the youngest students to play, but they are a really helpful tool for exploring some key musical concepts that make them useful well into the upper grades. Today I want to share some of my favorite ways to use Boomwhackers in the elementary general music classroom. 

1. Melodic composition

Boomwhackers are a great tool for melodic composition in elementary music because students can use the color-coding of the notes to add pitch to rhythms. My favorite way to do this is with "solfege stickers"- adding stickers to the note heads in the colors that go with the Boomwhackers. The nice thing about that is there is no writing required, and if I want them to use a limited set of pitches (like the pentatonic scale, etc) then I just give them those colors. You can read more about how I make and use them in this post- it's super easy and so much fun!

Another way to use the colors to have students compose is with the Chrome Music Lab Song Maker. It's set up so you click on different squares to add pitches, and the colors match the Boomwhackers perfectly! This is a great way to get them practicing and experimenting with melodic composition, because there's no rhythm or traditional notation involved at all but they can hear the notes as they click them.

2. Practicing scale types

Boomwhackers are also a great way to reinforce different scales. I use them in my classes to teach pentatonic scales and minor scales- I find the visual is really helpful for many of my students to practice and understand which pitches go in what order when they use the Boomwhackers as a visual / manipulative to put together the scale. I'll give a small group of students a set with 1 of each diatonic pitch, and have them pick out the ones they need and put them in the correct order on the floor, and/or play a scale in order.

3. Practicing chords

I use Boomwhackers to introduce the concept of chords and help my students practice building triads to help them understand how to start with the root of the chord, then skip every other pitch to find the other two notes they need. They're also helpful for looking at chord functionality and "translating" between roman numerals and letter names of chords (in C major) because they can use the solfege and letter name labels to help them remember which is which.

4. Centers

Boomwhackers are perfect for centers because they are easy to play without supervision and they're not too loud. Sometimes I'll have students "notate" a melody using matching colored bingo chips (see picture) that they lay out on the floor, or notate in Chrome Music Lab and then play the song on the instruments. I've also printed out melodies from Chrome Music Lab for students to practice playing.

5. Play along videos

One of my go-to lessons on days when I know I can't continue with my normal sequenced curriculum for whatever reason is play-along videos. They're a great way to keep students engaged and mix things up while keeping it low-key, and it's still a valuable musical experience! I use the diatonic play-alongs by Musication on YouTube, but there are plenty more options for play-along videos around, especially if you have chromatics in your room!

I hope you find some new ideas to use in your music classes here, and if I missed any of your favorites, please share them in the comments below! If you love Boomwhackers as much as I do but hate trying to keep them organized, be sure to check out my previous post where I shared my storage solutions. If you're looking for tips and lesson ideas for teaching other instruments, like ukulele, recorder, keyboards, xylophones, and more, head to this post:

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Centers in the Elementary Music Classroom

Just a few short years ago, centers were a totally foreign concept to me. Now I absolutely love them and use them with almost every grade I teach! With limited class time, so much material to cover, and back-to-back classes of all different grade levels, it can be hard to make centers work in the elementary music classroom. Today I want to share some of my top suggestions for making them work for you!

1. Come in with a game plan

It's so important to work out the logistics before you start! Where will you set up each station, what materials will you need, how many students will be at each station, when and how will they switch, and how will you make sure they know what to do with so many things happening at once? Here is my post on how to manage all of those logistics (and answer all of those questions in the simplest way possible):

2. Know your purpose

I say this for a lot of things... but for good reason! Don't just do centers because it sounds cool. What is your purpose for doing centers? When it comes to teaching, I don't do anything unless I believe it will help students learn music better. For centers, I see two main purposes:

     1) to give students a chance to explore/ practice musical skills, concepts, and materials through a variety of learning styles and approaches
     2) to give students an opportunity to experience specific music learning activities that can best be done in small groups (whether because of space/ resources or the nature of the activity)

To make centers truly successful, it's important to think through the reasoning in choosing when and how to use centers, and which center activities to choose. Here are my favorite center activities for elementary music:

3. Use sparingly

If you have thought through the purpose of doing centers then this one will probably take care of itself, but I think centers are best used sparingly in the elementary music classroom. One way I use centers most often that allows me to use them sparingly, with purpose, while also filling an important role in my classroom climate and behavior management, is to use them as a whole class incentive. You can read about how I do that in this post:

Have you used centers in elementary music before? What are your top tips for making them work? What are some of your favorite center activities? Let's hear them in the comment section!

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Elementary Music Center Activities (part 2)

It has been well over a year since I last shared some favorite center activities, so it's time for an update! I've found some new favorites since my last post, but be sure to check out my other center ideas linked at the end of this one for more ideas- all of them are still ones I use and love as well!

1. Chromebook Activities

I love pulling out the chromebooks for centers- I have 3 in my classroom and have found so many great free sites that are perfect for elementary students to explore! I save Incredibox for the older students, but Chrome Music Lab is one I use with all grades- sometimes I will give them a specific activity within the lab, like songmaker, to work with, and other times I will let them explore whichever ones they want.

2. Truth or Dare

I wrote an entire post about this, which you can read right here, but this is probably my top favorite of my new center ideas. This is another one I save for upper elementary (gotta keep things fresh!), and they absolutely love it. Basically there are 2 decks of cards: one for "truths" (trivia questions about music) and one for "dares" (actions to complete, like performing a rhythm or singing a song). It is so easy to set up and explain, the students get so much great exploration and review time, and it is pure fun at the same time!

3. Vocal Exploration

This is one I use just with lower elementary: I put out pipe cleaners (I find them at Dollar Tree or on clearance at Walmart) in all different colors and sizes, and have students create a line that the others then sing as they trace it with their finger. So simple but they love it!

4. Instrument Dice

This is another new favorite for all grades (and the older students don't mind doing it over and over either!). I use 2 dry erase dice: one with classroom percussion instrument names on each side, and the other with a simple 4-beat rhythm on each side. They roll the dice, then play the rhythm they rolled on the instrument they rolled. Sometimes I mix it up with a third die for older grades that has dynamics or tempo words on it!

5. Coloring

I have been amazed at how much my students enjoy coloring. I found this coloring book that I have copied pages from, and I've also used the coloring pages from World Music with DARIA (she has lots of free ones!). I like using the ones that encourage reflection, like listing their favorite songs or artists, for the older ones, and the instrument pictures for the younger ones so they can learn what the instruments look like.

Looking for more center ideas? This post has more of my favorite centers:

I love using centers to mix things up every now and then and give students a chance to explore and practice in a low-pressure setting. Have other favorite center activities you've had success with in the elementary music room? Please share them below in the comments!

Read more "Elementary Music Center Activities (part 2)"

Truth or Dare Music Jenga

I've been mulling over some new center ideas since this summer, and I'm excited to share one of those with you today: Truth or Dare Music Jenga! The game has been a hit with my students in every grade, and it has been a great way to throw in some review and practice for important skills, concepts, and vocabulary that we've been working on in class.

*this post contains affiliate links*

First I'll explain how the game works and then I'll talk about how I put it together (it honestly wasn't as complicated or time-consuming as it may seem). To play, students take turns taking a block out of the jenga tower. Before they can place the block on top of the tower to complete their turn, they have to complete a task. If they pull out a red block, they draw a card from the red "dare" pile, and if they pull out a blue block, they draw one from the blue "truth" pile. If they can't complete their task, the next player gets to "steal" their block by completing the task and adding the block to the top of the tower. If they complete it, they set the block on top of the tower. The person who makes the block tower fall over loses, and/or the person with the most cards when the tower falls over or the cards are all gone wins.

This idea all started when I came across these mini jenga blocks this summer. I had heard that the Dollar Tree had some, but hadn't had any luck at my local stores, so I was excited when I found these online (even though they were a little more expensive)! I toyed around with some different ideas for ways to use them in music class, and ended up with this "truth or dare" idea.

The first step in putting the game together was to color the blocks. I know some teachers have dyed the blocks, and you can also buy blocks that are already colored, but I took the easy way out and just colored the outside edges with sharpies (it took me about 15 minutes while I sat through another meeting on analyzing student test score data from standardized math tests).

The next step was to make the cards. The "dare" cards have different performance tasks, like clapping rhythms, dancing, singing, or conducting. The "truth" cards have trivia questions, like identifying different music symbols, naming instruments within an instrument family, or defining music vocabulary. I made a bunch of cards to cover skills and concepts for different grade levels- if you want a copy of the cards I made (with blank versions where you can add your own text) you can get them here, or you can certainly make your own with whatever concepts you want to cover.

After that, all I had to do was print, cut, and assemble. I mounted each card with a little piece of double-sided tape on some construction paper, both to color-code them and so you can't see the printed text from the other side of the card, then laminated them so they'll last longer.

I'm actually really excited about the possibilities with these "truth or dare" cards- my head has been spinning with other applications for them! I can pull them out for a simple card game, where teams choose a card and then complete the task, or I could use it as an added step for other games besides Jenga- I could use it with tic-tac-toe, where the students have to complete a card before filling in a spot on the board, or with some sort of board game, where certain spots on the board require players to draw a red or blue card before advancing.....

What other ideas do you have for using "truth or dare" cards to review and practice music skills in a fun way? I'm sure there are lots more- leave your ideas in the comments! If you want to see some of my other favorite center activities, here's a post I wrote with some of my favorite ideas.

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Organizing Your Teacher Closet on a Budget (part 1: small items)

How many teachers have impeccably clean, organized, streamlined classrooms, but have mountains of disorganized junk just behind their closet doors? It's hard to keep a classroom closet organized. As elementary teachers we have so many little things that we need to have on hand but don't use year-round, and we often need to get them out of sight quickly and end up just throwing things in the closet without having time to figure out where it goes. I've recently come up with a few new tricks for organizing my materials in my classroom closet that have helped me maintain the organization through the last-minute pulling stuff out and putting stuff away, and I'm really excited about how well they're working (and how easy they were to implement)! Today I want to share what I'm using to help organize all of those small items- manipulatives, game pieces, etc- that need to be organized and easily accessible in my closet.

I have a few large shelving units in my closet. I'm grateful to have the storage but big shelves are definitely not generally conducive to storing the types of things I need to keep in my closet, which are mostly small items that will quickly get buried and mixed up on a large shelf. They key with organizing small items in larger spaces, whether that's a drawer, counter space, table, or shelf, is to get smaller containers. The problem is that we as teachers need LOTS of containers if we're actually going to organize all the little things we have, and that can get expensive. Here are some of the cheap items I found that are working perfectly for my closet!

The best things to use, if you can find them cheaply, are drawer organizers. I found mine on super-clearance at Marshall's- any discount store with home items, or dollar stores, or good places to keep an eye out for these (mine were $2 for each set so I spent a total of $6). The nice thing is you get lots of small bins in one, usually in different sizes, and often you can arrange them in whatever configuration best fits your space. I am using these for my composition manipulatives (like lego blocks and mini erasers), solfege stickers, and game pieces for some of the games I use for centers. 

Another great solution that I just recently came up with is the mini accordion folder that I got at the Dollar Tree (I've seen them at other stores like Walmart as well for the same price). I saw this rainbow one last year and bought it, knowing I would eventually find some use for it (although I didn't expect to wait a whole year to come up with a great way to use it...). I've now organized all of the small card decks that I use for centers and class activities, especially to review note names and instruments (most of which I made myself). I also have decks of cards that I got at the Target dollar spot that show musical instruments and flags from around the world- I use these for simple sorting activities in centers and small groups. I had previously had them stacked up in piles on the shelf, and I always ended up knocking over the piles and getting the decks all mixed up with each other. Now I can quickly slip them into their own slots and pull out just the ones I need without getting them mixed up! 

I bought these dip trays at the Dollar Tree to use for sorting activities (like the ones using the decks or cards I mentioned before, where students sort the instrument cards into families of instruments, or sort the country flags into continents etc). When I use them for sorting, I write the category names on the different compartments with wet erase marker and then wipe the off afterwards so I can reuse them. I recently, however, figured out another great use for them when they are sitting in my closet: sorting individual sets of manipulatives! When I am going to be using composition manipulatives in class, I usually need to have several sets of the same items so individual students or small groups can each have the same set of materials to use. When I'm getting ready for a class using them, I pre-sort the items in the dip tray so that I don't have to dig through the pile of lego blocks searching for one more pink one while I'm teaching. It's also great because I can just bring out the tray for that class and put them back in the closet, still sorted, until the next class when I'm using them again. Once we're done with that set of lessons, I can dump them back into the small drawer organizer with all of the legos so I can quickly find them again next time.

I've been very happy with how well my system is working so far this year, and I hope you've found some inspiration to help you cheaply and easily organize your own classroom materials. If you're curious about the items that I mentioned, check out the other blog posts that I've linked in the descriptions above- I love having these materials to use and they are also cheap and easy to get! :) Have your own organization tricks to share for keeping your classroom closet organized? Let's hear them in the comments!

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Elementary Music Center Activities

I started incorporating centers into my elementary general music classes about 3 years ago and have loved using them. My favorite way to use them is as an incentive for classes to earn for their behavior- you can read more about how I use centers to give students something to look forward to, while also continuing their learning and incorporating a broad range of learning styles and interests, in this post. Today I wanted to share some of my favorite center activities to hopefully give you some fresh ideas to incorporate into your own classroom!

1. iPad apps

Of course the iPad is always a fun and easy way to incorporate skill practice and composition in a way that students enjoy. My favorites include Rhythm Cat, Music Tutor, Monster Chorus, and The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. You can read more about tons of different awesome iPad apps for elementary music on the website Midnight Music.

2. Music books

I keep a small milk crate full of reading material related to music. It includes everything from a music encyclopedia to Music Express magazines and storybooks related to music. This center is a favorite of my quieter students, but everyone seems to enjoy the change of pace! I keep some pillows nearby for students to use while they read as well, and it creates a nice, cozy space for students to relax.

3. Boomwhacker mystery songs

This one is simple: I give the students a melody to play with color-coded notes and they practice playing it together on the boomwhackers. There are a few different ways I give them the music depending on their age. For the youngest ones I just use circles or dashes with the matching colors. I have made my own with colored markers and have also used these from the Elementary Music Methods blog (I just have them look at it on the computer or project it on the screen for them). For older students I print out a song that is notated in standard notation and color the noteheads with markers. I've also used pre-made ones online on the computer for this.

4. Kaboom sticks

I use this game for rhythms, note names, and music vocabulary, and the kids LOVE it. Basically they draw a stick, answer the question, and if they get it right they keep the stick. You can read more about this game in my blog post here (which also has some other fun letter name center ideas).

5. Card and board games

There are so many options here, and they are all fantastic fun for students! I've made my own cards for matching games (like find the staff note that matches the letter, or the picture that matches the instrument name), and found tons of great card and board game printables on TeachersPayTeachers as well. I'm also working on a few new centers using regular board games that I am modifying for music, like Twister and Jenga. You can read more about how to use traditional board games as music games in my blog post on things to make for the music room.

6. Seasonal rapping rhythms

The basic idea here is to have students use manipulatives, like little erasers or foam cutouts, to create rhythm patterns. Find a collection of items that fit a particular season or holiday that have different numbers of syllables in their names (like the hearts and cupcakes in the picture above). Students line them up in whatever order they choose, then "rap" the words by saying each name on a steady beat. You can also have students then clap the rhythms of the names instead of saying them out loud! Read more about using manipulatives for composition (and where to find them) in this blog post.

7. Dancing

This one is simple- put on a playlist of fun songs and give students the space to dance! Click on the picture above to see some of my favorite dance songs that are school-appropriate but not boring :)

8. Draw with music symbols

I have found this to be a great one for students to be able to practice writing music notation. I wrote out several different music symbols, including different clefs, articulation and dynamic symbols, and music notes, on different cards, then I give the students a blank sheet of paper. They are allowed to copy any of the music symbols on their paper to create their own picture. Many of them make a face (by using the fermata symbol for the eyes and a crescendo for the nose, etc), or just doodle different symbols randomly on the page, but they all really enjoy this activity!

There are, of course, many other center ideas that I like but these are some of my favorites. I hope you found some new ideas in this list! What are some of your favorite center activities? I'd love to hear about them in the comments below (and I'm sure other readers would benefit from your ideas too)! You can find more ideas for centers to practice rhythms here, and centers to practice note letter names here. Stay tuned for more new center ideas too- I'm working on some new ones that I'm excited to share once we've had a chance to test them out!

Thinking about using centers in your music classes for the first time? You might want to check out my post on organizing the logistics of centers for more ideas on how to manage the process and set things up to make things as smooth as possible for you and your students.

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things to make this summer for your classroom next year

Although it's important to take some time to relax and chill over the summer and spend time with family, summer is also a great time for teachers to check off some of those projects that you never have time for during the school year but would make your life so much better and improve your students' learning experiences too! A few weeks ago I shared some summer tips for making next school year easier, and one of the things I mentioned was putting together materials to use in your classroom. Today I wanted to share some of the things I either put together in past summers or will be putting together this summer to use in my classroom. Each of these projects takes a bit of time but has made a big difference in my teaching (or will next year, I'm sure!).

Rhythm / Pitch Manipulatives

There are so many great ways to make composition more engaging and help students understand pitch and rhythm concepts using simple manipulatives. It's amazing how much more young students are able to understand when they can physically manipulate something instead of trying to write it on a piece of paper! Here are some great ones I used for the first time this past year. I am making more this summer because they worked so well!

Rhythm Monsters- these are basically magnets with googley eyes on them, but they are so much more than that in the music room! I used the colors to show different solfege pitches and the number of eyes to show the number of sounds in a beat. I even had special monsters for quarter rests and half notes! Click on the picture below to see a more detailed explanation of what I did, how I used them, and get directions and supplies for how to make some for yourself.

Solfege Stickers- these are even simpler than the rhythm monsters but worked great with my upper elementary students. I just colored some Avery labels different colors to match the colors of the boomwhackers in my classroom and had students use them to turn a rhythmic composition into a melodic one! Check out the post for more details:

Games to Use in Centers

I use centers as a reward for my students, so I try to make the center activities as fun as possible. One of my students' favorites is Kaboom, which is played by pulling sticks out of a jar. I know, sounds exciting, right? I can't believe how much my students love this game. The best part is you can use it to practice almost any concept imaginable! Details about how to play the game and how I use it are in this post:

Another type of game I put together last summer that my students enjoyed was the card games I got from Musical Interactions. I got this Rhythm Go Fish game, along with a few others, and the students have gotten a kick out of them. All I had to do was print on card stock, cut, and laminate. This year I picked up Rhythm Dominoes from her store to put together too- I think it will be a great change of pace and another great way to practice concepts while still having fun! These are another simple print/cut/laminate project.

There are lots of other board / card games you can put together pretty easily by adapting a pre-made game to make a musical game to use in class. Shelley Tomich from Pitch Publications has several games where you simply adapt a pre-made game, like this take on "Don't Spill the Beans". Sally Utley has some music games using the letter tiles like the ones from Bananagrams. Or you could make a musical Twister game like the one Jennifer shared on her blog, In My Music Class (this one is also on my list to make this summer!):

Other Center Materials

Of course there are plenty of other centers that aren't games per se but still require some making. For me the queen of centers is Tracy King. She has so many creative ideas for centers, it's insane! One I am thinking about making this summer is her Dip Tray Workstation- so simple, but such a great way to practice basic concepts!

Visuals for Behavior Management

For whole class management systems, you usually need some type of visual to help both you and the students see how they are doing and motivate everyone to do better. I love the board I made two summers ago (and have adapted a few times since). I've rounded up a lot of my behavior management ideas in this post, which you may want to read if you're looking for a new behavior management strategy (or just want to tweak your existing one). You can read about how I made my board (it's pretty easy and cheap, trust me!) and how I use in these two posts:

Other Classroom Tools

One of the biggest projects I've ever taken on for my classroom was my DIY SmartBoard. If you don't have an interactive whiteboard system but would like to have one (and you really should, it can help students so much and make your life easier too!), this is a great option. Not counting the projector, the system costs under $50. Get all the directions for how I set mine up here:

My last project idea is just for you, teachers! I love my little teacher toolbox that I put together. It saves me so much time when I'm looking for those pesky little things that always get lost when they're just stuck in a desk drawer, and I can even send students to fetch things themselves because everything is labeled and in its own drawer. This is a super easy project and will save you tons of drawer space. I seriously downsized my teacher desk last summer and this was one of the reasons I was able to do it comfortably. See how I made it here:

Whew, that's a lot of summer projects! I hope you found some inspiration to get your crafting on this summer and get ready to have an even more fabulous year next year :) Which project is your favorite? What other things are you making for your class this summer? Leave a comment!

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