September favorites 2016

Time for another monthly favorites post! This month has flown by for sure, and I have had plenty of moments of feeling completely overwhelmed, but it has been good to start settling back into the groove of things.

My first favorite of the month is the new sticker books that came out recently at Michaels:

I can't even, you guys. They came out with new books for fall, Thanksgiving, Halloween, winter, and Christmas. Several of them are reboots of my favorites from last year, but there were a bunch of new ones as well- the picture above is of what I got after MUCH restraint. If you want to see how I'm already using them in my planner, head on over to my Instagram account. If you're interested in seeing more planner stuff (and lots of other random-ness), then be sure to follow! I post most of my planner spreads over there.

My next favorite this month is my new monthly lesson planning routine. Many of you know that I started sending out an overview of the skills and concepts I am covering in each K-6 grade for the upcoming month as a freebie in my monthly newsletter this year (click here if you want to sign up). I've been mapping my yearly plans for each grade for years (read more about that process here), but I've never really typed anything up formally in advance in a way that is understandable to others before. Besides the newsletter overview, I've also been typing up more detailed plans for all of the lesson activities I'll be doing, with accompanying visuals, worksheets, and resources, in my store as well.

I know I sound like a commercial right now but what I'm trying to say is this process of typing everything up and creating all of the visuals and printables in advance has been amazing for my teaching! My weekly lesson planning is a breeze now, because everything I need is organized in one place. I'm so glad I've started doing this, and I am happy to have this resource that I can continue to add to and modify each year as well. I highly recommend blocking out some time each month to do this- it's a lot of work but it pays off in the day-to-day big time! Check out my curriculum bundle here to see how I've been putting everything together:

Another favorite: my TOMS! I know I'm a little late to the party but I got my first pair last spring when they came out with the rainbow glittery music ones. They are seriously my perfect shoe in every way imaginable. So when they had a big sale recently I got myself another (more grown-up looking) pair, and they are my go-to shoes for teaching and pretty much everything else! They are so comfy and I love the fun patterns :)

Time for some of my favorite music education blog posts! There were a lot of great ones this month! Check out the posts by clicking on the pictures below:

I hope you all have had a wonderful September and are looking forward to a wonderful October! It's fall y'all! :) What things have you been enjoying this past month? I'd love to hear about them in the comments below :)

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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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Preparing for the Winter Holidays

OK, I know some of you are going to hate me, but today I'm talking about getting organized for the holiday season. Yes, it is September. Yes, I also cringe when I go to the stores and see Halloween and Christmas stuff already out. But friends, we all know the holiday season gets crazy FAST. By getting some of that initial prep work out of the way early, we'll all save ourselves some headaches later. Trust me!

Here are some of the things I like to work on early to start preparing for the holiday season:

1. Draw names for Secret Santa gift exchanges

The adults in my family switched over to "secret santa"-style gift exchanging a few years ago and I've grown to love it. None of us is, you know, very wealthy, so being able to pool our resources into getting one nice gift has been nice. The challenge has always been that we live far apart, so it was hard to draw names to figure out who was assigned to who. Also, someone would draw their own name, and people wanted to have someone other than their spouse, so we would end up drawing 5 times and pretty much knowing who had who by the time we were done.

Last year I found this website and it made the whole process so much easier for us (I swear I have no affiliation with this company nor am I being compensated for mentioning them- I know I sound a bit like a commercial right now): www.DrawNames.com. My family just drew names this past week and I was reminded again of how awesome it was. You can tell it who each person should not draw, ask your assigned person questions anonymously, add wishlists, and anything else you could think of that you wish a digital name drawing program could do.

2. Set up my holiday calendar

As a music teacher, mom, friend, and church musician I get a lot of last-minute invitations to parties and requests to provide music for events as the holiday season gets closer, and I find I am too stressed / busy to figure out what I can and cannot realistically do. So usually I end up saying no to almost everything, to be honest. I try to go through now and map out all of the concerts, travel dates, family gatherings, and other major events in my calendar now so that when other parties and small events come up, I can more easily look and see if I am actually available or not. If you need a calendar, I have a free one you can download here so you can print off just the months you need.

3. Start making gift idea lists

I mean gift ideas for myself and for people I am buying for! Honestly I tend to have a much easier time coming up with gift ideas for other people than I do for myself. By starting these lists now, I can add things to them when I come across something or think of a great gift idea, and I can wait and watch for sales so I get the best deal on them as well. This is especially helpful for filling my girls' stockings- I try to pick up a few random items here and there (stickers, little dollar toys, fun socks etc) so that I don't have to go scrambling around right before Christmas. I use the gift planning pages from my holiday planner for this and it has been so helpful!

4. Select all of my holiday concert repertoire

This one obviously only applies to the music teachers here, but it is a huge part of my holiday prep. I always make sure I have all of my programs and concert repertoire selected by the end of September so that I have time to work out the logistics, rehearse my groups, and have everything prepared without having to rush right before the performances! With so many different programs happening around the same time it is impossible for me to keep track of everything otherwise. I use the rehearsal notes and concert planning pages from this performance planner set for this and boy, does it make my life easier!

5. Make my holiday bucket list / advent calendar

Each year I make a list of small but fun holiday-related things for my daughters and I to do each day of December leading up to Christmas. In the past I've waited until November to do this and I found I was a little overwhelmed, so this year I'm getting started with my list now! You can find my list for 2-3 year olds here, and my list for 3-4 year olds here. Trust me, I keep my list SUPER simple so there's little work for me, but it is a lot of fun! If you're curious about the DIY advent calendar I use to hold the list of activities for each day, you can read about that in my blog post here.

OK, I think that about covers it! I know some people want to savor the end of summer and beginning of fall as long as possible and would hate to think about the winter holidays at this time of year- that's fine! Whenever you are ready to start preparing for the holidays, I hope you find this list helpful as you start to get organized.

What are your favorite tips for preparing for the holidays? Which things do you try to get done first to get ready? Leave a comment! :)

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My Favorite Steady Beat and Rhythm Lesson Activity

Today I am introducing you to one of my most dearly beloved lesson activities for practicing steady beat, differentiating between beat and rhythm, discovering new rhythms, and practicing rhythms. I use it with every grade K-6, all year long- in fact I used it in 13 different lessons last week (yes, I did count). This is the perfect activity to incorporate into your lessons at the beginning of the year in particular, as you review rhythmic and other concepts from previous years and work on introducing new, basic concepts as well.

I give you: The Beat Walk.

Now, if this is something you already do in your classes, you may think this is one of those "duh" ideas. For a long time I did as well- I honestly can't even tell you where the idea came from- it's just something I do. But I have come to realize that this is not something that all music teachers have embedded into their DNA, so for those of you who haven't heard of this, you MUST try it!

The basic idea is simple. Any time students are learning a song for the purpose of experiencing a rhythmic element or concept, have them go through the following steps:

1. Sing the song while walking around the room on the steady beat (my rules: walking feet only, no touching any person or thing).

2. Stand in place (wherever they were when they finished walking) and sing while clapping the rhythm ("with the words"). If there are notes that last 2 beats or more, have them pretend they have bubblegum on their hands and stretch out the bubblegum over the length of the note.

3. Sing the song while walking around the room on the steady beat and clapping with the rhythm (start walking first, then on your cue, add in the singing/clapping).

4. Walk around the room on the steady beat while clapping the rhythm.

Once you have done this a few times, you won't even have to give many directions- it will just become a part of the routine that they go through these steps when they learn a new song.

The benefits of this simple activity are quite profound. Obviously for kinesthetic learners (which, honestly, who isn't at least partly a kinesthetic learner in elementary school?) it is probably the most effective way for students to experience rhythm. Moving with the steady beat ensures that students are maintaining the pulse as they perform the rhythms. And using their feet for the beat and their hands for the rhythm every time really helps students distinguish between the two concepts in my experience (I'm sure you all agree that we have a huge vocabulary problem in this area these days, with people talking about "awesome beats" and "sampling beats" when they are referring to rhythm patterns). 

When students are learning new rhythms for the first time, it makes it much easier for them to understand it conceptually when they experience it kinesthetically before they see or name it. And it is much easier for them to remember how many beats (or fraction of a beat) a note occupies when they can remember how many steps they took for that note (or how many times they clapped within one step). I find students, when I am reviewing rhythms and ask them how many beats are in a dotted half note, often start lightly tapping their feet on the beat and clapping the rhythm to remember what it "felt" like!

The "bubblegum note" trick is my favorite. Students think it is hilarious to imagine gum stuck to their hands, especially when we all make a grossed out face while doing it! And they instantly understand the length of the longer notes. 

Want more lesson ideas? After getting many requests to make my concept sequencing and lesson plans available, I've finally put together two ways to share those with you! Sign up for my free monthly newsletter here to get an overview of the skills and concepts I'll be covering for each grade K-6 for the upcoming month. Or, if you want detailed descriptions of all of the main lesson activities I'll be using, PLUS the accompanying resources you need to teach them, you can get all of it in this bundle (I have also made each grade and each month available separately- links in the bundle's description).

Do you have a favorite lesson activity for introducing new rhythms? Leave a comment!

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