Organized Chaos

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Fermata Friday: January 15, 2016

Happy New Year and welcome to this week's installment of my weekly linky party, Fermata Fridays! This is a chance for music education bloggers to share blog posts with readers and bloggers alike, so we can all mingle and learn from each other. Readers, you are going to love all of the awesome blog posts that are out there- I hope you discover some new blogs to follow and get some new inspiration for your teaching! Bloggers, make sure you read the directions carefully before linking up to make sure we keep the party fun for everyone. Thanks! :)

Here are the rules for the linky party:

1. Add the linky image to your blog post, blog sidebar, linky party roundup, or other similar location on your blog and link it back to the party. Copy and paste the code for this button, or use the image above and link to the label "Fermata Fridays".

2. Add up to two blog post links to the linky. The posts can be old or new (but no posts that have already been linked up to Fermata Fridays in the past), on any topic related to music teaching, but must not be primarily featuring a product. It's fine to have a link to a relevant product within a post, but that should not be the primary focus of the post. I reserve the right to delete a link that is too product-focused. If you're not sure, just ask! :)

3. Leave a thoughtful comment on at least two other links, including the one right before yours. Add #fermatafridays to your comment so bloggers know where you found them!

4. Pin at least one post to one of your Pinterest boards.

5. Make sure you are following me on Pinterest. I will be pinning every link to the Fermata Fridays board each week.

6. Make sure you are following me on Facebook and check back next Friday- I will be featuring one of the links from the previous week's linky on my Facebook page each Friday!

The linky will be open every Friday until 4:00am EST Saturday morning.

An InLinkz Link-up

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Teacher Tuesday: teaching high and low pitch

I'm focusing on high and low pitches with kindergarten this week, so today I thought I would share some of my favorite ways to explore and understand high and low sounds with young students. If you missed it, make sure you check out my earlier post on using the book "Mortimer" in music class- that is one of my favorite ways to reinforce and assess my students' understanding of high and low, and we will be leading into that book very soon with my kindergarten classes!

1. There's Someone Standing on a Big High Hill

This song is great for all kinds of concept practice- instrument playing, solfege, rhythm, pitch matching... First we all sing the song together, then I do something (sing, play an instrument, clap a rhythm, dance etc) for 4 beats and students copy. Of course eventually I have students lead while everyone copies as well. But this the melodic contour of the song is also perfect for teaching high and low:

Last week I had students review instrument playing technique by having them echo different patterns on instruments. This week we will be thinking about the high and low notes in the song by moving up and down with the melody- first showing the melodic contour with our fingers (drawing it in the air), and then with our whole bodies (crouching down for low and stretching up tall for high). The students always notice on their own that the melody makes the shape of a "big high hill"!

2. Mr. Brown and Mr. Black

I found this story on Beth's Notes last year, although I can't seem to find the direct link anymore (if you are not familiar with this site, run over there now! It is a treasure trove!). It is a fun way to practice high and low and also ties in nicely with the "Someone Standing" song because it is about another hill.

Beth's Music Notes: High & Low. Lots of ideas for teaching high and low. Love this story about Mr. Brown and Mr. Black- use with movement and acting out the story, then with singing voices, then with xylophones!:

The first time I tell the story, I split the class in half and have one side act out Mr. Brown and the other side act out Mr. Black with motions. They pretend to walk up and down the hill by getting shorter and taller while walking in place. The second time I have them sing notes going up and down while drawing the shape with their finger in the air. The third time we do the story, I have them gliss on the xylophones and glockenspiels. This is the first time I introduce barred instruments in kindergarten, and they love it! It is a great way to get them to transfer their understanding of high and low to pitched instruments, and it leads nicely into the Mortimer book as well.

What are your favorite lesson ideas for teaching high and low? I'd love to hear them in the comments!

Monday, January 11, 2016

Mommy Monday: top gifts for 4 year olds

With a full-blown Christmas season and birthday for my two daughters just behind me, I am now officially an expert in the best gifts to give 4-year-old's. So here are my suggestions for great gifts to buy for 4-year-old's (or any preschool-age child, really). I'm going to list some over-arching categories to give you some more general ideas, and then I have included links to some of the specific items that my girls got (and loved) this year below if you want some more specific suggestions. If you have more ideas, please share them in the comments below!

1. Crafty things

Most children this age are into arts and crafts- don't think this is just for girls. Coloring books, bead sets, collage kits, even kits for making their own puzzles and play houses have been huge hits in this house. The great thing about crafty gifts is you can go with a pre-made kit designed for a specific project, or you can just head to the dollar store and pick up some pens, paper, stickers, and anything else you like and give the kids free reign- there are benefits to both and I guarantee the kids will be equally thrilled with either option.

2. Building things

It doesn't get much more quintessential than building blocks. Wood blocks, lego's, and magnetic blocks have all been popular with my preschoolers, and they even combine different blocks to come up with some legitimately awesome creations!

3. Costumes and pretend play accessories

Pretend play is a big part of learning and fun at this age. My girls were thrilled to get some tutu's from their ballerina aunt, and some jewelry, purses, and nail polish from other friends and family. Pretending to be different kinds of people is fun, but pretending to be like the adults in their lives is by far the most popular choice! A set of school teacher items was another popular gift.

4. Dolls

Dolls can be tricky- there are some really great ones out there (check out my favorites below) but there are some not-so-great ones too. The biggest consideration with dolls, and any other pretend play toys, is what kind of people they encourage children to pretend to be, and what kinds of people, places, things, and ideas those toys will likely expose them to. Done right, though, dolls are fantastic. My girls love their new dolls and insist on putting them to bed before they go to sleep, and getting them ready before they themselves start getting ready for school in the morning (so I guess that's actually a pro and a con...).

5. Umbrellas

I know this probably seems out-of-place in this list, but I'm not gonna lie, I got my girls umbrellas this Christmas and it is one of their favorite gifts! If you think about it, having their own umbrella that they can use on their own is kindof a big deal! This is the perfect age to get them their own umbrella- just be sure to get one that is age and size appropriate :)

6. Clothes and books

I would be remiss if I didn't mention these- this year the girls especially loved their knee high socks and their leapreader books, but you can never go wrong with books or clothes (as long as you know their size)!

Want more specific recommendations? Here are some of the items my girls received and loved this year! Click on the picture to read more about each item.

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Plan With Me Sundays: January 2016

I thought the new year would be a great time to share an update on my planner, and this time Meghan and Robyn are back with their linky to share all things planner-related! Go check out the rest of the linked up posts below and add your own if you have a post to share- anything related to planners is welcome!

About a week ago I posted a flip-through of my weekly and monthly planner pages so far this school year. It was fun to look back on how much my planner pages have evolved in the last 5 months!

Tip: if you like seeing planner videos, make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel. You can choose to get notified of new videos through email or on your YouTube sidebar :)

At the end of the video I shared the beginnings of the weekly page for the first full week of January. Here's the completed page (I was trying to incorporate a New Year's element with the black and gold, as well as incorporate my girls' 4th birthday on Wednesday with the cupcakes and hearts (they had a cupcake-themed birthday party the weekend before)):

I hope you are inspired to get organized for 2016! If you want to know more about the planner I use to organize home and school in one place, check out this video tour of my planner, or my blog post on my planner setup (with links to everything I use to print, bind, and setup the planner). You can also see all of the lesson planning formats available for my "Entire Life Planners" in this post.

Ready for even more organization inspiration? Check out the links below! Happy New Year, and Happy Planning :)

An InLinkz Link-up

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