Our simple platform allows you to create a custom Passover Haggadah, with access to unique content contributed by our community. Find artwork, family
Here's a list of fun activities you can do with preschool and kindergarten using rhythm sticks!
The beginning of November was spent using the book, The little old lady who was not afraid of anything. It was a great transition from Hallo...
Learn some classic finger plays and the "songs" to go with them in this short package of finger plays printables.
Engage your students in great lessons using these videos for teaching figurative language! Check out the Top 5 here and save time searching!
Old MacDonald Had a Vowel Farm! Free emergent reader and poem to help beginning readers learn the short vowel sounds. It follows the pattern of the familiar Old MacDonald song so your students will catch on quickly! This resource includes: * Black and white student readers * Full page color version for your classroom library * One page summary for student poetry books - can also be enlarged for shared reading or projected on a SMARTboard *********************************************************************************************************************************************** I'd love for you to visit me at Heart of the Class or on Instagram where I share my latest classroom adventures! ***********************************************************************************************************************************************
Inside: A guide to Spanish songs by themes and learning levels. Music in Spanish is an entire world, packed with amazing rhythms, poetry, and dance. Latin music is a complex phenomenon that reflects the complex history of Latin America, a mixed region whose social environment has forged some of the most beautiful sounds in the world. - Latin Music History You can find songs in Spanish for every mood and age. I've been creating song lists for a while and have many more to go, but this page is a great beginner's guide. Whether or not you speak Spanish itself,
If there is one thing that is constant among generations of teenagers, it is the love of music. And if there’s one thing that English teachers know, it’s that music is the perfect gateway to getting students into poetry. Today, I’d like to share an awesome poetry/music pairing to
After implementing Free Voluntary Reading (FVR) in my class this year, I’ve been looking for ways to add comprehensible readings for my novice level students. I originally started by adding o…
Have you ever had a class with so many difficult, disruptive students that you felt that you could barely even teach? What can you do to get past it? In this post, I am going to address this problem with my best advice, and some advice from others as well.
Here is a little visual especially for my new little Sunbeams for 'If You're Happy and You Know It'. This would also be great to have in the Nursery box. Click HERE to download the file.
The Kaplan Depth & Complexity chart is a way to promote complex and in-depth analysis of academic and non-academic content.
Hello Everyone! Thanks for stopping by our blog to see what's happening in our first grade classroom! This week we are working very hard on "retelling"stories we have read. Learning how to retell a story helps our little learners as readers and thinkers. It helps to organize thought, and recognize the thoughts we have during reading. It helps us recognize when our thinking changes throughout our reading. Characteristics of good retelling are: using character names, telling about the setting, including the happenings or plot (beginning, middle, and end), discussing the problem the character is having, and describing how the problem was solved. Today I introduced our "retelling rope." Each symbol represents the parts of a story. I have used retelling ropes before, but revamped this with some better visuals. The kids really get it when they can actually manipulate the parts. This year I wrote a simple poem to go along with our retelling activities. We practiced retelling several stories together using the large retelling rope, and then the kids got to make their own mini one to manipulate during their own reading time. After putting these together, some kids chose to work with others to retell a common story (The Lorax has become a favorite for some reason :) !) We also practiced recording our retelling thoughts. We will continue to work hard on this important skill! When I read a story! For your printable of these pages plus larger visuals to make your own retelling rope click here! :) here's the link to the printable with student rope pics! :) Or click here! :) I love helping kids improve their retelling skills!! Don't forget to retell your own stories with your kids!!! Stop by again soon!! Joyfully! Nancy
In celebration of my new blog design, I promised a little FREEBIE! Here is a story map that can be used with any book. Just cli...
Back in April, during National Poetry Month, I was getting ready to start a poetry unit with my 3rd grade students, and we inadvertently created the most wonderful poetry anchor chart ever! We like to call it our “Poet-Tree”! Here’s what happened… I started out asking my 3rd graders, “What is Poetry?” to get some... Read more
Let me set the scene. It’s late Saturday night. You’ve had a busy and packed day full of soccer games, bridal showers, whiney kids, family get-to-gether, making dinner, put (forced) kids to bed. Then you think, “Oh man! I have to plan my singing time lesson for tomorrow!!!” What can I do that really quick and easy???? We’ve all been there. We get it. So, here you go: Pick one. We got your back J (((***KEEP IN MIND, THESE ALSO WORK FOR REVIEWING YOUR PROGRAM SONGS!!!!!))) 1- Target Practice Write the number 1-9 on the chalkboard (or however many songs you’d like to review) like this: 123 456 789 Draw a circle around each number. Like a Target. Now you’re ready! All you need is something for the kids to throw/hit/shoot at the board. The number they hit, is the corresponding song to sing! Ideas to throw/hit/shoot with: Nerf gun, ball, crumbled up piece of paper, bean bag, etc. Whatever you have on hand! This is a Saturday late night idea people!!! 2 – Who’s Missing? All you need for this one is a blanket or sheet! Put the blanket or sheet over a classroom table or over the chalkboard. Ask for a “hider” and a “guesser”. The “guesser” goes out into the hall. The “hider” hides under the classroom table or behind the chalkboard. The “guesser” comes back in the room, music plays, children sing song. The “guesser” tries to figure out Who’s Missing before the end of the song. If they guess before the end of the song, keep singing until the end!!!! 3 – Hot and Cold It’s not a new idea, but we’re talking easy Saturday night ideas here. Hide an object, like a paper note (I use a figurine of Captain Moroni). But this object could be aaaanything. Have a pen? Perfect. A CTR ring borrowed from a child? That works too J Have one child go out of the room, hide the object, have the child come back in as the children sing start singing. Have the children sing loud when the seeker is close to the object. Have them sing quieter as the seeker is farther away. This is a classic and NEVER gets old! 4 – Secret Word Pick a couple words out of the song(s) you’d like to review. Write them on a note card size paper. Send one child out of the room (guesser), show everyone the word from the song. Tell them to NOT sing this word as they sing. Have the guesser come back in and put the word piece of paper on their forehead. Children sing song, skipping that secret word. At the end of the song, have guesser guess the Secret Word. 5 – Voice Changer Have a song you need to sing over and over to practice? Write these different ways to sing on the chalkboard. Choose a child being reverent and let them choose. Change singing voice to that style for the song. -Computer Robot (staccato) -Baby Voice (sweet and lispy) -Underwater (plug nose, or move pointer finger up and down in lips) -Grandma Voice (pinch a small piece of your neck and move away and then back toward your neck really fast) -Opera (self explanatory - use hand actions too! -Feather Voice (whisper) -Bee Voice (Hum) -Chipmunk Voice (sing high, tighten neck and show teeth) -Ninja Movie Voice (move mouth in between words and pauses) -Giant Voice (sing deep and low) -Cowboy Voice (like a country singer) For our ULTIMATE LIST of DIFFERENT WAYS to sing, Click HERE . (There's over 50 ways listed!!!) 6 – Name that Tune All you need for this one is a pair of dice! Nice! (hey, that rhymed!) Let your pianist know what songs you’d like to practice ahead of time. During singing time, let a child come to the front of the Primary room and roll the dice. Whatever number they land on is how many notes the pianist plays. Let them guess the song. Make sure to tell them to raise their hand when they recognize it. Otherwise, you’ll hear them out shouting it out! Then sing the song. Another fun classic that is always a winner singing time! 7 – Teacher Dress Up Items needed: Crazy, fun dress up items (yes, go look in your husband and kids closets, and the Halloween bin!) Think scarves, hats, glasses, gloves, apron Tell the kids you’re going to have a singing competition between classes. Whichever class sings the best for each song, their teacher has to come pick up a dress up item. If there is a tie between classes, have each teacher come up. Sometimes it’s hard to choose, so I have judgement help from the Primary Presidency. 8 – Visual Pick Bring the visuals/poster boards of the songs you’d like to sing. Display the around the room, or in front on the table/podium. Choose a reverent child to come pick which song they’d like to sing. Sing that song. 9 – Memory Match All you need is paper, pen, and tape (or sticky tack) Make a scratch list of the songs you’d like to review. Write each Song title on 2 pieces of paper. Put those on the chalkboard. Let children try to match a match (one pick at a time). When they get a match, sing that song! Let the match finder help lead the song! 10 – Ready, Set, ACTION Write these different ways to ACT on the board (or popsicle sticks, paper, etc ) as you sing the review songs. -Stand on One foot -Close one Eye -Close both eyes (no peeking!) -Face Backwards -Pat Head, Rub Belly -March -Stand on Chair -Ears Forward (bend ears forward with hands, as to hear yourself better) -Clap Or add your own idea! We still have more ideas, is that ok????? Good. Here's some more!!! :) 11 - Silent Singer. Ask one child to go into the hall. Next, choose a child from the Primary that wants to be the "Silent Singer". Have the child in the hall come back in as the children sing a song. The child who is the "Silent Singer" lip sings and the child that was in the hall tries to guess which child is the "Silnet Singer" before the song is over! 12- Switch Seats - Call one child to come up to the front of the Primary room and have them turn around. Point at 2 hildren sitting down to switch seats. Start singing a song and have the child in front turn around and try to guess who switched seats by the end of the song! It's harder than you think! Do you have any other great EASY SATURDAY NIGHT APPROVED Singing time ideas? We’d love to hear! -iheartprimarymusic
The Concept of Manaakitanga A PERSONAL REFLECTION THROUGH THE EYES OF A TEACHER Manaakitanga is an important concept in the world of education and although it’s a Maori term the concept can be appl…
I’ve been presenting storytimes for over 15 years and I have tried many systems for keeping track of my plans, rhymes, songs, books, and ideas. Binders, Word docs, notecards, file folders…all of them have worked well for awhile but nothing has been perfect. While earlier in my career what I needed most were good ways to find activities to add to my limited repertoire, now that I have more experience, what I need is a way to think of fresh combinations of the activites I love and that I know work well for me. Don’t get me wrong: I still love discovering new ideas, but I also have needed better access to all the great old ideas I’ve stored up along the way. I was on the verge of starting a storytime Tumblr (why? because it is quick to set up and I wanted to explore tagging the posts) when...
How to teach the primary song Nephi's Courage in singing time, Nephi's Courage singing time lesson plan ideas using stick puppets
Today I'm giving a glance into my first day of school lesson plans, from TK - 5th grade. In the first day of music class, students are arguably the most attentive they will be all year. This puts a unique pressure on the first day's lesson plan to set the tone for the rest of our time together.
How to make a musical shaker, and toddler games with musical shakers for speech and language development
Comprehension Connection is a literacy website dedicated to providing teaching tips and resources for instruction for K-5 teachers focusing on comprehension.
My daughter attends a story time hour at a local American library twice a month. For her, this is one of the only opportunities she has to hear other children speak English on a regular basis. The stories are read by a lovely American lady and they usually do a craft or a game after the stories. LJ, 4, loves it. A few days ago, I came across a tweet by Joy Pénard about holding a story time in two languages. I thought it was an interesting idea and Joy was kind enough to answer my questions. So, read on if you want to find out more. Who are you? And how did you come about to running this story time? My name is Joy Pénard and I am an American speech therapist. My family and I moved to the Alsace region about a year ago and as bilingualism/multilingualism is very important to me, I immediately considered the idea of offering a bilingual story time as I had loved the idea on MultilingualLiving.com. I suggested the idea to the local library, and the response was positive. What languages are involved? At the moment, it is an English/French endeavor, but as this area is also very close to Germany (and Switzerland) I hope that one day German may become a part of the bilingual story time as well. In addition, advocating for other languages is a possibility – there are many languages in the surrounding community. How old are the children? And what is their linguistic background? We aim the books for children aged 4-7 years. Here in the community, most are French speakers, often with another language at home: German, Turkish, Spanish, English, Arabic, and other languages – it's quite an international area. How often and for how long do you read? We currently meet about once a month, though it could be more or less often as a schedule permits. The story time lasts about 30-45 minutes. Do you do it alone? It is a partnership – there are two people – I hold and read the book in English, and my partner holds and reads the book in French. There are several formats; the easiest is: I read a page in English, then my partner reads the French version. That way, any child not speaking one or the other language has the book/images to follow and then hears both languages. How do you select the books to read? Honestly, we try to use books the library already has, that are available in both languages – and preferably the same versions. This past story time, we had “Misery Moo”/”Madame Meuh” by Jeanne Willis, and next time we plan to do “Where the Wild Things Are”/”Max et les Maximonstres” by Maurice Sendak. There is a list of bilingual (English/French) books on the multilingualliving.com website where there is also a video that demonstrates a bit how a session goes. How do you find the quality of the bilingual books? The quality of translations seems to vary, so it is wonderful to talk to as many people as possible about well-loved books – which are more likely to be great in both/several languages. Have you ever thought of just making your own translations? I am not a translator, so I find it very time-consuming to attempt a translation, even for a short children's book. I prefer to leave that to the professionals, but I suppose if I found a book I really adored and felt capable of writing a good translation myself, I might attempt it. Have you encountered any cultural differences between you and the other reader? How have you overcome them? Actually, my partner is also American, though, like me, fluent in French. We both appreciate lively presentation of the books, changing voices for the different characters, not being afraid to be a little silly, which the kids love. We try out a few different ideas and compromise if there is a difference of opinion – it is for fun, after all! Do you do anything else apart from reading stories? (talk, play, sing, etc)Yes! We read 2 or 3 stories, and we do a bit of talking, and plan several songs, in both languages – finger play/action songs between the stories. How interactive are the sessions? Right now, the kids do not seem anxious to interact (ie answer questions about the story) but they do attempt to imitate the actions to the songs – in both languages (I give explanations of the lyrics in English if necessary), and they show an interest, so I'll take that! What do you find the most challenging about reading those books? I love it! I guess if something is challenging, it might be convincing often mono-lingual parents that this does not in any way hinder a child's language development, and furthermore encourages bilingualism, a wonderful asset! Is there anything you do that doesn’t work and wish to change? I am quite happy with the flow of the session at the moment. What works best? This is still a new project for me, so I'm not sure yet, though I will say that I definitely would include the songs – the kids seem to really enjoy them. I think reading books that are really favorites is a good idea, too. Sometimes I think our tendency as adults is to think the kids won't want to hear the same story they know again, but actually, I think they are more likely to join in and enjoy a book when they know the story. It becomes about sharing the enjoyment with those around them. You plan on introducing another language and making it a trilingual story time or another set of bilingual? I think for the age-range we have targeted, trying to include three languages for each page of a book would be too long, so a different bilingual combination might be better: French/German, for instance, in addition to our current French/English. Any other comments? I would just like to add that the most surprising aspect for me was the obvious pride my own two girls showed, because they understand both English and French. I think this kind of event brings a real value to being bilingual and would encourage this activity as an avenue for meeting other bilingual families to support the ongoing path of bilingualism.
Using popular songs is a great way to teach a large number of Common Core skills including the text feature "Compare and Contrast."
Music class is an active, engaging, and joyful experience! This is especially true when our musical activities are grounded in creative and intentional teaching strategies. One of the most important teaching strategies has to do with teaching the difference between steady beat and the rhythm of
So I got the copy of the sentence song from my school computer. Remember this is not my original song but I changed maybe two words to make...
