Family Fall Bucket List

It's officially fall! It still feels like summer most days where I live, but I am definitely in the fall mood. I've been putting together a family bucket list every December and for summer vacation for the last few years, but because it's right in the midst of beginning of the school year business and winter concert prep and holiday craziness, I haven't ever made a bucket list for fall. So today I'm changing that with my first fall bucket list of small things I want to do with my daughters to celebrate fall!

If you've seen my winter or summer bucket lists, you know that these are not your typical #lifegoals kind of bucket lists- think low-key, easy, fun little ways to be more present in the everyday and savor each season. Here's what I've got on my list for this fall:

• Visit a pumpkin patch
• Carve a pumpkin
• Visit an apple orchard
• Drink apple cider
• Make some homemade chai tea
• Make some pumpkin cookies
• Go to a fall festival (that perhaps includes a pumpkin patch and/or apple orchard... hehe)
• Watch the sunset together (now that it's earlier)
• Make a pile of leaves
• Jump in that pile of leaves

What's on your family fall bucket list? Have you ever thought ahead about some small things you want to do together as a family to savor the season and enjoy those little moments together? I'd love to hear about your plans in the comments below!

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Bring Fall to the Music Room

Ah, fall. We've had some extra-cold weather this week that's making it feel more like winter around here, but the fall leaves are a nice reminder that there's still a little Autumn left to enjoy (whether the temperature wants to cooperate or not!). I don't tend to plan my lesson material thematically- I plan out my entire school year for every grade by concept (see how I do that here)- but I have found some easy ways to incorporate the season into my classes without having to completely change my curriculum so that we can keep things interesting and bring some of the "outside world" into what we're doing.

1. Leaves

I love using songs about autumn leaves (here's how I teach my favorite one) this time of year, but it's also fun to use leaves as movement props and manipulatives! I found some beautiful silk leaves at the Dollar Tree last year that I have students use as movement props to show melodic contour, and little foam shapes and mini erasers that are perfect to use as composition manipulatives or for dictation practice (use them at note heads on a staff).

2. Pumpkin

Of course pumpkins are another great theme for fall! I have some pumpkin erasers that I use for composition manipulatives and dictation practice, and I have a few pumpkin-themed singing games that I love using with Kindergarten to practice steady beat (and with older grades if we have a "catch-up day" or something)- Aimee from O For Tuna Orff has lots of them in this post.

3. Holidays

I tend not to reference specific holidays too much because it can often feel exclusionary for students who don't celebrate, and it can get tricky keeping track of any students who aren't allowed to celebrate any holidays at all. But I do like to include some holiday-themed lessons depending on the classes I have, and fall is the perfect time to focus on Diwali (this lesson from Manju Durairaj is excellent, and this song is an easy way to introduce the holiday), Chuseok (Korean "thanksgiving"- this would be a great time to introduce ganggangsullae or any Korean traditional music like Arirang), or other fall holidays students may not normally experience.

4. Forest Animals

Is there a reason I associate forest animals with fall? I'm not sure.... but my students seem to as well so I'm going with it. In any case, forest creatures are an easy theme to incorporate into any lesson with (you guessed it) composition manipulatives and dictation practice using mini erasers and figurines in animal shapes, or songs about different animals like Grizzly Bear or Hop Old Squirrel.

5. Acorns

Acorns are perfect to bring in to use as manipulatives (and you can get them for free, right off the ground!). If you have little popsicle sticks to use for stick notation, acorns are a good size to use as note heads with those, or you can just use them on a staff like any other manipulative (and they're safe for anyone with tree nut allergies). There are also some really great acorn songs, like I'm an Acorn and the Japanese Donguri Korokoro.

Those are just a few ideas to bring fall into the music room- what are your favorite ways to celebrate the season? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments below. Enjoy what's left before we hunker down for winter...

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Favorite Fall Songs

I've always loved using songs about fall in my music lessons, so I've been thrilled to discover some new ones my students and I have absolutely loved this year to add to my collection! Today I'm sharing my top three favorites that I've found this year.

I've been using these songs so far with my self-contained class, which has a wide span of ages and abilities, and they have been perfect, but they would be fun to use with almost any grade, especially on those weird schedule days before a holiday or something when you just want to do something fun. With younger grades they can be used as originally intended, but with older grades these would also be great to have students create a full performance with instrumentation because they are short and have simple chord structures!

For each song, I've linked where you can get the sheet music and audio recordings, and included a video that shows the lyrics as well. 

1. "Falling Leaf" by Stephanie Leavell

If you don't know Stephanie Leavell (aka "Music for Kiddos"), you need to. Especially if you teach early childhood or self-contained music. I don't know why I didn't find this song until this year but it is the perfect energy level and perfect to use as a movement activity! I had students hold scarves one time, and also did it with students holding leaves, and it was a hit every time.

2. "Blowing in the Wind" by Stephanie Leavell

Another winner from Stephanie! This one could work in winter too, actually, but I love it for fall because of the minor tonality. This one is explicitly for scarves and is a great way to introduce students to different ways to move with scarves.

3. "Autumn is Here" by Rob DelGaudio

Rob DelGaudio is another fantastic elementary music resource and I'm not sure why it took me so long to discover this song! It is an additive song with suggestions for instruments you can use for each line that's added, as well as motions to go along with all the words.

I live in an area that is famously beautiful in autumn so when it comes to celebrating fall, we go pretty hard around here! If you're looking for more fall-themed songs and lessons to try, here some other tried and true favorites I've shared in previous years:

If you've used any of these songs I'd love to hear how you used them, and which grades you've used them with! And if you have more great songs for fall, please leave them in the comments.

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September Favorites 2017

So guys, don't tell it I said this, but I think September might be crazy. Like actually insane.

Anyone else feel like they've just survived a tornado?

Despite the craziness that is September, there were many little wonderful things I enjoyed this month, so this is a great chance for me to stop and reflect (and realize maybe September wasn't ALL bad)! I'd love to hear what you enjoyed this month- share your favorites in the comments section! And don't miss the SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT at the end of the post ;)

1. Curriculum display for Open House

This was kindof thrown together at the last minute, but I was really happy with the feedback I got on my display for Open House. For the last 2 years, I've been printing out our district scope and sequence, which lists all of the skills and concepts we cover in each grade, and displaying those. The problem was that for most parents, it was too much jargon, and didn't give them a picture of what their child would actually be doing on a day-to-day basis in music class.

This year I took my monthly outlines and translated them into more common vocabulary, listing the top 3-4 things we would be covering each month, for each grade. It wasn't all that pretty, but a lot of parents told me it was very helpful and exactly what they wanted to know!

2. Minion circles

My students are starting to get into a routine with our circles, and the minion doll has been the perfect "talking piece" for my classroom. Read more about circles here: they have been a simple but powerful behavior management tool.

3. Fall

I have never really enjoyed hot weather, so fall is always a welcome season. Unfortunately fall weather has been slow to arrive this year, but I have enjoyed the glimpses we've had, and I am totally in love with all the #fallthings we've been able to enjoy already: homemade chai (here's my recipe), apple picking, and more to come! If you missed it, here's my simple and fun fall bucket list for my family - I can't wait to enjoy the rest of the items on our list :)

4. October planner spread

Related to the last point, but I am honestly just in love with how my October calendar came out! It's just so peaceful and warm :) I used label stickers from Target, washi tape from Michaels, and stickers from one of the new Happy Planner sticker memory planning sticker books. It just screams "fall" to me and I smile every time I look at it!

5. Blog posts

Every Friday I share a favorite blog post on my Facebook page, and I found some really great ones this month! Click on the pictures below to check out each one- I promise you won't regret it!

I want to hear from you!

One of my favorite parts of blogging/ sharing online is hearing from you, my readers. I learn new things, I feel inspired, and most of all, I am reminded of how not alone I really am in all of life's struggles big and small. I LOVE all of the comments, messages, and emails I get! I really do!

So today I'm asking you to share your questions with me. It can be anything you want: something you want to know about me, my background, or my life, a question about how I do something at school, at home, for my blog, etc.... anything you want to ask, I want to hear it! I'm going to be putting together my answers in an upcoming blog post, so leave your questions in the comments below!

I think that does it for my September favorites. What have you been up to this month? What questions do you have for me? I'd love to hear from you in the comments! Make sure you stay in touch by signing up for the Organized Chaos Newsletter right here!

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Teacher Tuesday: favorite fall music lessons

I'm linking up with some other wonderful music teacher bloggers today to share one of my favorite fall-themed music lesson. Make sure you check out all of the posts linked up at the end of this post- tons of great ideas have been shared already and I have actually used several in my classes already!

One of my favorite songs for fall is "Autumn Leaves Are Falling":

If somebody knows the source for this song, please let me know. This is another one of those songs that I picked up somewhere long ago and have no idea where it came from! I've done some research to no avail, but I would love to give credit if I can find the source!

I love this song because it is in a minor key, and it perfectly captures the mood of fall leaves. I use this song with Kindergarten to practice steady beat. Usually I start by having students pat the beat on their legs while I sing, then after we discuss the words, they keep the beat while swaying their hands back and forth, gradually going from high to low (mimicking a falling leaf), then do the same with a scarf. After that I add instruments. This year I used hand bells and boomwhackers on D and A and had them play on the beat, but I have also used it in the past with barred instruments, as well as adding some simple rhythmic ostinati on unpitched percussion. The students love the song year after year, and I love having a song in a minor key to add to their repertoire.

Do you have a favorite music lesson with a fall theme? Share your ideas by adding your blog post to the linky below!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Music Classroom Re-Organization Post Pandemic

In the wake of over a year of pandemic teaching, everything is a mess. Before we can start getting ready for next year, we have to clean up from the last one! Over the last few weeks I've been working on cleaning up the chaos left by pandemic teaching, from my own well-being to my computer files and everything in between. The most obvious mess I have to deal with, though, is the actual *stuff*. After teaching in so many different modalities in so many different locations, my classroom supplies are all over the place! Today I'm sharing some specific steps I'm taking to get things back where they need to be so I can have an organized space to start next year and have all the supplies organized so I can use them when I need them!

1. Everything in Its Place

Over the past 18 months I have taught on a cart, in a small office space at school, from my home "office" (aka a corner of my bedroom where I set up a desk to zoom), from my home "studio" (aka a corner of my basement where I set up recording space for asynchronous lessons), and in my music classroom. I have instruments, curriculum resource books, scarves, puppets, and other teaching supplies all over my house and all over the school building! So the first step is getting things back where they belong- which for now (a month away from the start of school) mostly means getting all the school supplies back in my classroom closet in as organized a fashion as I can. This way when I go to set up my classroom for the fall I will at least know where everything is, and if I've lost anything (yes, I have) I know what I need to order.

2. Reassess Supply Needs

Teaching without shared supplies, without students being able to move, and without a classroom definitely forced me to make do with less! Rather than rushing back to using #allthethings, I want to be intentional about evaluating whether the extra supplies are actually things that are helpful or just creating clutter. Anything I can streamline is a good thing when it comes to teaching, especially teaching young children! For example, I used only digital "manipulatives" for composition this year rather than the physical manipulatives I normally use. I definitely know I want to get back to using physical manipulatives rather than going all digital, because I know that especially for younger students it's a much more effective way to learn, but I don't think I need them all! For my upper elementary students I plan to keep the rhythm manipulatives I've used in the past, but I may not continue to use mini erasers to place on the staff like I have in the past, but use the online tools I found this year instead.

3. Rethink Classroom Organization

Having taught in so many different spaces under so many different conditions has also given me a chance to reevaluate my classroom space as well. For us it's likely we will still have some social distancing in place in the fall so I will be taking that into consideration. I've also had a lot more experience with technology and will continue to use some things, like using my board as a second monitor, even without distance learners on zoom. If you are thinking through your own classroom space (whatever that may look like in the fall), here are all the different spaces I've taught in, both during and before the pandemic, and how I set them up. I'll be thinking through my setup in each of these as I think about my plans for the fall!

This is the final post in my series on "cleaning up the covid chaos"- after a month of processing and reorganizing from this past school year I feel like I'm finally in a place where I can start to think ahead to next school year! If you want to see the rest of the posts in the series on how I've been trying to intentionally take the time to process and work through everything that happened over the last 18 months before even allowing myself to start thinking ahead, with the specific steps I've been taking in each area including my emotional, physical, and social well-being, technology, and curriculum/ lesson plans, you can find all of those here:

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Lesson Planning for a Year of Uncertainty

Lesson planning and curriculum development for general music is difficult enough in normal times, but this year presents challenges far beyond anything we have seen in our lifetimes! We don't know if we'll be teaching on a cart, in a "socially distant" music room, online, or all of the above. We don't know if we'll be allowed to sing with students, if we'll be able to use instruments, whether we'll be able to have ensembles or performances. It's a lot to think about!

In the midst of all of this, it's important to get laser-focused on the true essence of our curriculum, and set up our long-range plans to adapt to a year of change, reduced class time, and new ways of teaching and learning. Here's what I'm doing to prepare my lesson plans for the fall.

1. Solidify Scope and Sequence

I am so grateful to have a clear list of skills and concepts for each grade level outlined in my curriculum and sequenced across grade levels! If you don't already, it's so important to have a solid lists of skills and concepts you plan to address in each grade level to be able to create any semblance of usable plans for the fall. The key is to make sure you're thinking about the "what" and not the "how"- the skills and concepts, not the forms of "musicking" and materials. Here are some resources to help you improve what you may already have from district curriculum, state standards, textbooks etc, or create your own if you need it:

 

2. Prioritize Key Concepts

We already have had to narrow down our curriculum to the most essential with the limited class time we have in a normal school year, but this year is going to be even more limited, no matter what our teaching ends of looking like! I went through my list of skills and concepts for each grade and marked which ones were the highest priority: which ones do I build on from year to year, which ones take the most practice to learn, and which ones are most critical to overall musicianship? 

3. Map Out the Year

I have always been a huge advocate for mapping out which concepts I'll be teaching in each grade broken down by month, and this is another component of my curriculum that I am so grateful to have in place! Rather than starting over from scratch with a completely new monthly outline, I prioritized the concepts within each month based on my overall priorities for the year so that I only have a couple of concepts I truly need to focus on each month. If you don't already have concepts outlined for the year by month, this is a critical next step to being able to stay on track throughout this year of uncertainty! Here are some posts on how to set up year-long outlines:

4. Start "Lesson Banks" for Multiple Scenarios

There's no way around the fact that we're going to be reinventing ourselves throughout this school year- it seems very unlikely that we'll be teaching the same way for the entire school year, so we need to be prepared to change and adapt. Having the year mapped out by concepts makes that a lot easier, because regardless of how we have to teach we can continue to stay on track with the sequence of skills we've mapped out for the year, keeping the same "what" while we adjust the "how". 

To give myself a bit of a head start on the "how", I am setting up places to list ideas for how to address each concept for the month for in-person modified teaching and for distance teaching, organized by month within each grade level. To make it easy to store and find everything, I've set up my yearly outlines in google drive and linked each month to folders for in-person and distance teaching ideas with 2 icons next to each month (you can get mine filled in HERE):

I already have my regular lesson plans organized this way, with lists of lesson activities under each concept. Those can be modified for social distancing etc (see the "tiered approach" link above for details on how I set those up). I am focusing on starting lists of ideas for distance learning for each of those concepts as well, and planning to add to those as I go through the year (and as the need arises). It will be important to have both so I can switch back and forth more quickly without losing too much learning time!

Jump Start Your Plans!

I know everyone is in the same boat I am, trying to come up with some sense of a plan with very little information and so many unknowns. If you haven't already, I highly recommend signing up for my free email course on curriculum design and lesson planning! It's not specific to this upcoming school year but will give you a strong foundation for creating or updating existing scope and sequence, yearly outlines, and monthly lesson banks, including the templates I used to set up my normal curriculum resources. I'm also happy to talk through specific considerations for the unique situation we're in this fall and your own individual teaching scenarios as you go through the material! Sign up for free here:

I am also making the specific outlines I have created for this upcoming school year, with the filled-in monthly outlines, concept lists by grade, and the template you see above to link each month to in-person and distance teaching ideas, in one download. You can use those templates on your computer to link to specific files or upload them to google drive like I have, and the monthly concepts are fully editable so you can fit them to whatever scope and sequence you have:

If you want to access my full curriculum, with all of the lesson plans and materials I would use in a normal year organized by month in this sequence, you can get those here. Although many of the lesson activities will have to be modified depending on the situation, it will give you a solid starting point to adapt from and clarify how I address each of the concepts each month where the rubber meets the road. If you already own and use my curriculum, the additional resource above will be very helpful for adapting to whatever comes our way in the new year- you can quickly link the current materials for in-person teaching like I have, and add your own lesson ideas to adapt to whatever teaching situation you find yourself in as well. You'll find lots of ideas for teaching many of those fundamental concepts and skills in the posts I shared for school closures this spring- check my closure page for all of those lesson ideas (and check back for ongoing updates):

I hope this helps you wrap your head around the upcoming school year and relieves some anxiety by helping you feel more prepared for the fall! I am learning and adapting right along with you all, and plan to continue to update the resource above and write more here on the blog as I learn more together with you. Stay up to date on my latest thoughts, posts, and resources through my free email newsletter- click here to sign up if you aren't on my list already!

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new ideas for kindergarten lessons

Although I have my tried-and-true lessons that I've gathered over the years, I love finding new material and ideas to mix things up. Some don't work out the way I had hoped, but most end up being a lot of fun and bring a fresh spark to my lessons! Today I wanted to share some of the new material and lessons I tried with kindergarten this year that I loved.

I never have enough songs and material for kindergarten and early childhood. It's just the nature of the beast I guess- with such active bodies and short attention spans, you need a lot of material just for one 30 minute lesson! So when I found this book back in the fall I was so excited:

This "Preschool Songbook" by Rebecca Donaldson is full of little gems that are great for kindergarten and younger. There are several songs about winter, fall, fruit, and more. My favorite is the "Pomegranate Song". There's even a short little ditty about losing a tooth! There are ideas included for expanding the songs within a lesson as well, by adding verses, changing lyrics, and so on. Here is a full list of the songs and speech pieces included in the book:

I loved having new material to throw into my lessons to fit the seasons. The fall songs were a big hit with my kids, as was the snow song.

If you're interested, you can check out the book here.

Another new idea I loved this year was this song that I came across on Pinterest:

I modified it slightly by singing instead of speaking the "up, down" part (and singing the whole song in a higher key for little voices!), but I ended up using this song as the opener for every.single.lesson. this school year with kindergarten. It was a perfect way to start the lesson singing right away, get them seated, let them move a little, and reinforce left and right all at the same time! Loved it. I will definitely be using it again next year!

My other favorite new idea for kindergarten this year was the "Pass the Pumpkin" song I used at Halloween. I got the idea from Aimee at "O for Tuna Orff", and my kids absolutely loved the game to accompany the song!

I love that it's in a minor key and has a nice clear steady beat. I just did the simple passing game with the song, but Aimee has tons of ideas to go with the song, including instruments and notation. Check out her blog post here.

Did you try any new ideas with your kindergarten or early childhood classes? I'd love to hear about them! Leave a comment below, or link up your own blog post if you're a blogger.

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Home Organization Tips to Get Ready for Back to School

I know it's still a long ways off for many of us, but today I want to share some of my favorite tips to get organized and plan ahead now during summer break to get ready for back to school season, whether you're a parent or a teacher (or both). Once the beginning of the school year hits, I find it so much harder to sit down and figure out which way is up. These are things that help make that crazy fall season a little bit easier by taking some things off my plate!

1. Set up a meal planning system

Over the summer I tend to stop meal planning as carefully- after all, if I really need to, I can always run to the store in the middle of the day on a Tuesday and pick up a few things. But during the school year? Meal planning is my lifeline. As back to school season approaches I start meal planning again to get back into the rhythm again and update my menus and systems if I need to so I don't have to think about grocery shopping and cooking when school starts back.

If you're new to meal planning or want to upgrade your systems a little, get started right here and be sure to read all the other articles linked in this post:

2. Stock the freezer

I really started doing this last summer and it was SO AWESOME when school started last fall and I had a freezer full of pre-made meals! When summer starts to wind down, I start making big batches of meats and stews in the crockpot and freezing large portions of them in freezer bags. Then when I'm just too tired to cook, all I have to do is pull a bag out, reheat, and dinner is ready!

If you are looking for some easy crockpot recipes to make ahead, check out my crockpot dinners Pinterest board :)

3. Set up a command center / family calendar

I always need written reminders to get things done, but especially in the fall when I'm trying to get back into my school routine, I need constant reminders to keep track of everything! Besides my personal planner, my calendar that I have posted in my command center is so helpful. I can look at it as I'm cooking or getting ready in the morning, add a quick note when I need to, and keep track of the most important information I need to start each day.

Here's a post (from a LONG time ago) on my command center. I highly recommend some kind of dry erase family calendar at a minimum to keep track of everyone's schedules!

4. Set up your planner

If you've been around this blog for any length of time you know I am a HUGE fan of paper planners! Summer is a good time to make sure you have everything set up in your calendar/ planner for the upcoming school year. I sit down and go through all of the important holidays and important dates for school, doctor's appointments, and any other long-term dates I need to write down in my planner, and I put in reminders for bills I need to pay or errands I need to take care of for the first few months of school and write everything in. That way when school hits I don't have to worry about forgetting them!

If you're wondering what things to start writing in your planner now, here are a few posts to get you started:

5. Purge / organize / clean the house

My house always ends up a mess by the time the end of the school year rolls around! I try to get everything back in its place before the school year begins (so I have space to make a mess again). I also try to do a little more cleaning than I have time for during the school year, and look for anything I can purge to help de-clutter. If you want a checklist of things to do to get cleaned up, organized, and ready for the new year, here's a free one you can download!

I hope you found some helpful tips to get you ready for the start of school! Hopefully these strategies will help make your Back to School season a little less hectic.

Have your own organizing tips to share? What do you do over the summer to get your home life ready for back to school? Share your tips in the comments below!

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