It's back to school time! Yay! I am so happy to see all of you again! I am looking forward to a fun school year with you! Here's what's up so far! Grades 4 & 5 (Rooms 13, 17 & 19) are starting the year with the song "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye. We began by watching a cover of the song by the group Walk of the Earth, where each member plays one part on the guitar. From left to right: Player 1: Uses the guitar as a percussion instrument Player 2: Plays the ostinato (a repeating pattern) which is actually just IIV to I chords Player 3: Plays the guitar melody Player 4: Plays the off-beat chords (on beats 2 & 4) Player 5: Plays accent chords Then we watched another version of the song: Gotye saw that so many people were doing covers of his song that he made a compilation video of a whole bunch of YouTube videos from around the world! Next week we will be learning to play this song on the Orff Instruments: From: http://musescore.com/user/24296/scores/49627 Grades 1/2/3 are learning the Tritsch Tratsch Polka by Johann Strauss. We have coupled it with Deborah Ziolkoski's story and movement about the ringmaster and tightrope walker from Fun With Composers. We are learning about ABA form in music (same/different/same), and a little bit about the life of composer Johann Strauss. Here is a recording of it - ask your child to show you the story and movement! Did you know that the Tritsch Tratsch Polka is also used in the video game Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games? It can be found in the Synchronized Swimming section! Pretty cool, huh?

Primary kids always love a game and a challenge. This one is perfect and easy for Reviewing your Program songs!!! CLICK HERE for the original link we posted of this idea :) -iheartprimarymusic

This huge collection of song lyrics, printables, fingerpuppet ideas and movement activities will ensure educators always have new program ideas!

Check out this post to learn about the practice incentive program I use with Music Money and prizes.

I love using body percussion in my music classroom. It's an effective way to TEACH Beat too. So, here are my easy body percussion activities.

Homeschool elective classes made easy with these fun online art classes, music resources, and more!

Learn how to practice rhythms with this budget-friendly and fun rhythm game in your elementary music classroom.

10+ music and movement activities for toddlers and preschoolers that get them up and moving their bodies, strengthening their fine and large motor muscles.

The easiest incentive program in your music studio can often be the most successful! Try this simple and fun incentive program to motivate students.

Write for the NAfME Blog SEARCH & FILTER Search Category Subscribe to NAfME Notes Subscribe to NAfME Notes, our biweekly e-newsletter, to receive highlights from the blog and other NAfME news in your inbox. Subscribe Now Write for the NAfME Blog Interested in sharing your experience with the music education…

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 your Primary children are sounding great on their Primary Songs this year. Yay!!! Now the Primary Program is coming up and you think you’d like to add a little variety to the Program. A little Spice. Now, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with just sticking to the norm and having all the children stand for each song. As long as the children feel loved in Primary, feel HIS love and the Spirit you are doing it right! But some choristers may feel like they can add a few variations. So, Here is a list of ways you could add something different than just having them all stand up and sing: Ways to add Variety to your Primary Program 1-Let a child sing a solo, or a duet, or trio. I asked my kids one year who would be interested in doing this and a few raised their hands. I wrote their names down and let them spotlight on a couple songs. It turned out so special! 2-Sing a song in a different language such as Spanish or French. 3-Add hand bells. If you are unsure about using these – ask for your Bishop’s approval. 4-Teach the children the sign language to a song. I STILL remember some of the signs to ‘Search, Ponder, and Pray’ from when I was in Primary! 5-Sing a song acapella. This always seems to draw the Spirit to another level. You can so sweetly hear their little voices bearing testimony! 6-Let a whole class come up to sing or recite an Article of Faith. Now that our Sacrament Meetings are shorter, this is a good idea to let everyone participate and save time! 7-Sing a song from an edition of The Friend. 8-Add the Youth for a song. 9-Ask a child or mom/dad to accompany the music – such as a flute or violin, organ, etc. 10-For the closing song, have the congregation join for the last verse. Have some other ideas to add? Write a comment or send us a message. We’d love to hear from you! -iheartprimarymusic

Music is a powerful stimulus that almost all autistic children positively respond to. Most demonstrate better music skills than cognitive skills. Here are 10 ways music helps autistic children.

Let's Get the Bugs Out Primary Program Review Idea for singing time with printable song helps for LDS Primary Music Leaders. Squash the problems in your songs!

Incentive programs are a great way to keep momentum in your music studio, encourage good practicing habits, and assess where your students are in all facets of their musicianship. Looking for a fun, creative theme for your next studio incentive program? Here are five to consider.

My first year teaching (during my pre-Kodaly training days) I planned for each day and and no real long term vision for my classes or from year to year. During my Level 2 training, Lisa Simmelink really helped me understand concept and long range or yearly planning. One of our assignments was to map out concepts for the whole year for one grade level. Every music teacher wants to get their year started off on the right track, reviewing where they left off with each grade level and getting new students caught up to speed. From there we hope to stay on track progressing through the musical concepts we have planned for that grade level. In addition to that, we are thinking about our music programs and performances and how that all fits in to our yearly calendar and planning. Having a plan in place helps to guide my planning for the whole year. So let's get started with yearly plans. When I do long term planning, I like to start with yearly plans and break it down by month, just looking at concepts. What do I want my students to be practicing by that month? Will I be preparing any new concepts? Will I be presenting a concept? Make sure that you are always working both melodically and rhythmically in every lesson. Go month by month for each grade level deciding about how long you will spend preparing/practicing each concept. Remember to be flexible! Here is a sample of what my long range planning looks like. This is for kindergarten from August through December. I make different colors for different concepts (pink for Kindergarten concepts, yellow for rhythmic concepts, blue for melodic concepts, and the older grades also include scale and meter). I separate by month across the top and the light shades of each color represent concepts that are in the Practice stage (known concepts), while the darker shades represent the concepts that are being prepared and presented. Want to see more? These templates are samples from my planning sets on TPT which includes both yearly plans and song lists by concept for each grade level. Getting from Yearly Plans to Lesson Plans Once you have the concepts you want to teach for each month and each grade level, make song lists for each grade level. Make a list of all the concepts you included on your Monthly/Yearly plans for that grade level (I’ve started one for you for each grade level, but you may need to adjust it to fit your needs). Under each concept heading make a list of all the songs you plan to use while working on that concept. That way when I are look ahead to my third grade planning in September I can see I want to be practicing re and tiri-tiri and preparing ti-tiri, then I would go to my third grade song list and find a song list for ti-tiri to find songs under that concept to weave my lesson plan together. Here's a sample of what my first page of my 3rd grade song list looks: For the little kids I like to have a ton of songs/games/activities in each lesson (probably 7-10) in a 30 minute lesson. For the older kids, I choose less song materials per lesson, but go deeper with the songs. Plus by then, their songs are a bit longer. Want a closer look at my "Ready, Set, Plan" yearly planning set? Check out this video: Do you have different strategies for long term planning? I'd love to hear them in the comments below!

You’ve taught them the new song for the month…. now you need to REPEAT aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand REPEAT it!!! Children (and adults) learn best with repetition so we thought we’d compile a list of ways to repeat a song without the children hearing, “One more time” and “Play it again” or “From the top”. The best kind of Singing Time when repeating and reviewing a new Primary Song is the one where the kids don’t realize they’re singing the same song over and over again! This is also great for them the repeat the words again and again, learn and melody, and feel/understand the message of the song. So you wanna know the ways to do this for your Primary? We came come up with this list as a resource for you to draw from!!! Alright, here is the list, “from the top” : 1-Play Hot Potato. Pass an object around the Primary room as they sing the song to review. The child that ends up with the object gets to say something they love about Primary. Hot Potato Option 2 – Have the Piano play and children sing and pass the “hot potato”. Arrange for the pianist to stop suddenly during the song at different times. The child who has the potato when the music stops says the next word or line to the song (they can get help from the Primary, if needed). 2-Voice Changer. Let the children pick a different voice to sing the song. For example, have them change their voice to sound like: -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) These voices can be chosen from paper strips on the chalkboard, punch out board, rolling a dice (each number represents a way to sing), spinner wheel, or any of our holiday/seasonal pick-and-choose activity. For our Ultimate list of Different Ways to Sing (over 50 ideas) CLICK HERE. 3-Singing Meters. Most kids love a challenge. They like to see how well they’re doing, so Singing Meters are perfect for that. Singing Meters can control their speed, volume, and overall how well they all are singing. A helium balloon as a meter or Eddie Spaghetti, Billy Bubblegum are great for this. Also our Racecar Singing Meter. 4-Stop/Go, ooooo ahhh, boys sing/girls sing Signs. Hold up a sign that tells the children who or how to sing. Switch them during the song so they have to pay attention. 5-Different Lead Sticks. Bring a variety of leading wands/sticks and display them on the table. Choose a child to pick one and lead the song. Tell the children you will be watching to see who is singing their best, and you will pick another child to pick a wand and lead. 6-Hot N Cold. Choose 2 children. One is the hider and the other is the seeker. Have the seeker go into the hall. Have the seeker hide a small object in the Primary room. Call the seeker back into the room and have the children start singing the song. The closer the seeker is to the object the LOUDER the children should sing. The farther away from the object, the QUIETER. If they find the object before the song is over, KEEP SINGING! My Primary children never get sick of this activity! 7-Silent Singer. One child goes out in the hall. Another child is chosen to be the “Silent Singer” meaning that child “lip sings” the song. Have the child in the hall come back in and all children sing – except for the silent singer who is lip singing. See if the child that was in the hall can guess who the “Silent Singer” is. Finish singing the song even if they guess before it’s over! 8-Rubberband Primary Band. Have some recycled instruments displayed on the table. Pick a child for each instrument. Sing that song as those children with their instrument keep the beat. At the end of the song, have them pass their instrument onto another child. Sing the song until each child has had a turn. Some examples of instruments are, oatmeal tube as a drum, egg carton and stick as a Guiro, 2 paper plates as cymbals, comb (scratch fingers across), spoons back to back (hit knee and hand), tap 2 wood spoon together on the stick part, large and wide rubber band around an open box or Tupperware bowl, etc. You could also use bells, shakers, etc. and to finish the song, have a special helper be the finishing cymbal and clap two chalkboard erasers together!!! 9-Hat Review. Display different hats on the table. Sing the song and whichever class sung the best gets to pick a hat from the table and have their teacher wear it! You could also have different categories such as: The class who is sitting up the straightest and folding arms. The class that is smiling the most. The class that is the loudest. The class that is singing the most enthusiastically. Which class know the song the best without the visual? The class that is overall the best in all categories. 10-Missing Mystery. Send a child in the hall. Pick another child to be the “missing mystery” – meaning they hide behind the chalkboard (or piano) for the song. Call the child back out from the hall and have the children start sing the song. See if the child from the hall can guess who’s missing before the song’s end. If they guess who it is, too soon, keep singing until the end of the song! 11-Headbands. Choose some words that are sung in the song and write them on an index card size paper. Call up a child who is up for a challenge. Put a headband (like a basketball sweatband) around their forehead. Clip the index card with the written word to the band. The child should not be able to see the word. Have the Primary children start singing the song. When the word on the card is to be sung, have them skip over it (don’t sing that word). Have the child with the headband try to guess what word is on their forehead. If they don’t guess it the first time, sing the song again and this time have the children sing that word LOUD and obvious, make sure they sing all the way to the end of the song. 12-Musical Measles. All you need for this one is some small round dot stickers. Be careful the measles are contagious! Original post HERE. 13-Guess the Leader. Have one of the members of the Primary Presidency go out in the hall with a child (or by themselves, depending on the child). Choose another child from the Primary to be the “leader”. The “leader’s” job is the have the other Primary children follow their actions during the song. Have the child in the hall come back in and all start singing. The leader starts doing different actions such as clapping, rolling arms, pat head – all the children follow. Have the child who was in the hall try to guess who the “leader” is before the end of the song. 14-Class action. Each class is assigned a secret word (such as the, am, I, etc.) from the song. As a class, they decide on an action to do or sound to make when this secret word is sung in the song. Examples of actions are, jump up off their chair, clap, dab, meow like a cat, etc. Sing the song until all secret words are figured out for each class. Option 2 – Pick some different words that get repeated a few times in the song such as “I or to”. Tell the children NOT to sing that word but to replace it with an action or sound (examples are above). You can replace a different word every time, or have them build on each other each time to make it a fun challenge! 15-Mindful Singing. First, start by having the kids rub their temples on the head to get their “minds ready.” Next, have the children sing the song - to refresh their minds. Then, have the pianist play the song and tell the children to sing the song in their head (mind). Have the pianist stop suddenly and see if the children can say what the next word or line of the song. Have them raise their hand if they think they know it. Sing the song out loud again all together, then play mindful singing. Make sure to give your pianist a heads up on this singing activity before it starts! 16- Heads or Thumbs. Before you sing the song to review, have the children stand up and either put their hands on their head or give a thumbs up – whichever one they want to choose. Sing the song, after the song is sung, flip a coin. If the coin lands on heads, those with their thumbs up, sit down. If the coin lands on Tails, those touching their head, sit down. Start over with those still standing. ALL children sing. Flip the coin at the end of the song. Repeat and sing until there is one child standing! 17-Switching Seats. Have one child go out in the hall. Have another 2 children from the Primary switch seats. Have the child in the hall come back, primary start singing the song, and before the songs end, see if the child that was in the hall can guess who switched seats! Well, now there you go!!!! You have 17 ways to REPEAT a song in a fun way! We hope this helps you feel empowered to help the Primary children review any song. Keep in mind that not every one of these work for every song. Some songs are longer than others and may not work, or some songs are to be sung more reverent than others. Thanks for visiting our site and be sure to check out our other pick and choose review ideas and following our Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook pages!!! -iheartprimarymusic

Fun and easy composition game for third grade and beyond with die cuts from the dollar store! Simple to make and use!

Try these fun music and movement songs and activities for preschoolers at home or in the classroom. Fall, Spring and other activities themed to the season

Do you struggle with how to teach music to your early elementary student? Have you tried music books written for teachers, but been frustrated? Legends of the Staff is written to homeschool parents like you, with little to no background in music!

Join Art Sphere teacher, Sophie, and learn about the famous symphony 'Peter and the Wolf' by Sergei Prokofiev.

So, you want to start a children's choir. Awesome! Wondering where to start and what to do first? Here are a few ideas and suggestions for getting started and building a new choir program, based on my experience starting and directing a children's choir program at a small church in rural

23 Primary Program review ideas and themes to practice your presentation songs before your program! Fun singing time song practice ideas for LDS music leaders.

During October, Halloween music class doesn’t have to be “out of control”. Use these quick and easy Halloween music class activities.

Check out this blog post for 5 great ideas to host a Veterans Day program and celebration at your elementary school, includes musical concert and lots more!

Montessori-inspired music themed learning activities for kids.

In this STEM activity, kids make their own musical instrument- a straw pan flute! They can even create their own songs and record them on the free printable recording sheet!

Looking for simple ways to add some parachute music activities to your classroom? Then read on for hints, music suggestions, and a freebie!

Every month, there are 3 suggested songs to teach the Primary children. Discuss with your Primary President, and other chorister(s), which songs you’d like to focus on for each month. I try to pick one that THEY KNOW pretty well and one that they DON’T KNOW from the suggested songs. Teaching 3 new songs from scratch a month would be a lot for them to learn! So for the 3rd song, I will either sing it during a pick-and-choose Sunday, or as one of the opening songs that month. On the first Sunday of the month, I introduce the NEW SONG (the suggested song that they are unfamiliar with). To make Primary Singing Time interesting and fun and also bring the Spirit, I like to introduce the songs in different ways. I think introducing a song can be the most daunting of Sunday’s! I LOVE repeating songs, doing pick-and-choose activities, and incorporating holiday’s (if you follow our Instagram, it’s packed with those ideas!) But introducing a NEW song seems… I don’t know… boring? I don’t want to lose focus with their short attention spans by just telling them the words and then singing it over and over. So we’ve compiled some ideas as a resource on how to first introduce and help the children learn a BRAND NEW song. One they’ve NEVER heard before. ***With any and every new song, make sure you have the right attitude and prayer in your heart about the message the song will bring. Be enthusiastic, saying something like, “Today we are going to be learning a wonderful song”. You can also explain the words, message and story it conveys. Alright, you’ve waited long enough! Here are the ideas!!!!!! 1-Flipchart or Posters. I pretty much ALWAYS use a poster or flipchart for every song. I feel most children are visual learners and this helps Junior and Senior learn the words through pictures and words. Poster (my preference) Flipchart: (this flipchart is from Finch Family games found HERE) 2-Compound Learning. First, have them LISTEN to the song. This can be played on the piano, your phone through the Sacred Music app, CD, cassette, or Youtube video, etc. Second, let them HUM along to the melody. Third, have them SWAY their bodies (or sway scarves/wands) and hum to the music. Fourth, after showing and explaining the poster board/flipchart, SING the words to them (holding up the Poster or Flipchart). Fifth, have THEM SING along. Sixth, have them use shakers, paper plate drum, or clap/snap the rhythm as they sing along. 3-I sing, You Sing. After explaining the meaning of the song and showing the visual, play the music to the song all the way through. Sing the first line of the song with the piano, have the children repeat. Sing the second line of the song, have them repeat. Put the first and second line together and sing together. Continue on for the whole song. Make sure that before Primary you let your pianist know what you’re planning to do. You could also start with learning the chorus of the song. 4-Guess the Visual. Have the flipchart papers up on the board – all scrambled up and out of their correct order. Sing the first line of the song and have them guess which flipchart paper matches the first line. Continue this for each line of the song and put the flipchart in order. For Senior Primary, you could have word strips of each line of the song (out of order). Sing the first line and have them pick our which word strip is the correct one and have the children put the strips in order as you continue singing the rest of the song. For Senior Primary, you could have word strips of each line of the song (out of order). Sing the first line and have them pick our which word strip is the correct one and have the children put the strips in order as you continue singing the rest of the song. 5-Vanishing Flipchart Papers. For this one, call up as many children as papers you have in the flipchart. Each child holding one paper. Sing the song with children, one flipchart paper at a time. After the whole song has been sung, take away 1 paper and have that child stay standing. Sing the song and point to child as they sing that missing flipchart paper. Continue taking away papers and having them sing the song again until they’re all gone! Keep them up to the challenge using reverse psychology saying things like “Oh no! Can we do it now? (Yes!) Ok, here we go!” or “I don’t know, do you think you can remember this one????” 6-Bubblegum Blobs. For this idea, you’ll need a flipchart or poster hung up on the chalkboard. Sing the song with children (with idea number 2 or 3 on our list above). Tell the children you stepped on some sticky bubble gum on your way to church and thought the gum could help with singing time. Use one pink “gum blob” (pink paper or poster board cut into blob shape) to cover up a part of the song at a time. Sing after each blob is added. 7-Fill in the Blank. Write the words to the song on the chalkboard leaving out a word on each line. So intentionally NOT write some of the words to the song but draw a blank _______ so it can be added in. Sing the first line of the song. Have the children listen and see what the blank word is and fill it in. Continue on for each line of the song. This is a great one to get the children really listening! 8-Disappearing Words (eraser pass). Write the words to the song on the chalkboard. Have the children listen to the song as you point to the words. Next, sing the song with the piano. After, have the Primary sing along. Sing it one more time all together and tell the children to try to remember the words because they are going to start to disappear! As they sing the song, have them pass around the eraser. Whoever ends up with it at the end of the song, gets to erase 2-3 words!!! Sing again and pass the eraser! 9-Use Hand-Actions (or sign language). Sing the first line of the song. Ask the children to think of a hand action to be used for the meaning of the words. Sing the second line and again, ask them to think of a hand-action that would represent the words. Continue on for the whole song and combine all the hand-actions. This is another great idea for getting them to really listen to the words! (You could also sing the whole song together and only do sign language for KEY words). 10- Find It’s Home. Have the words to the song on the board - cut into separate word-strips and in the correct song order. Call up a child and give them a picture that matches up to one of the wordstrips. Have them match that picture to the word strip as you sing each line of the song. Have children sing along as they learn. 11-Picture to Lyric Match. (This one is the harder version of #10 "Find It's Home") Have pictures and song lyrics for each line of the song on the board (like a flipchart, but cut the words out separate from the picture so they’re not together). Sing the first line of the song and have the children try to match the picture to the words. Sing the song over and over until they’re all put in the correct place! 12-Listening Detective. Start by explaining we have a new song case. Listen up detectives!!! We need to find out: Who is it about? What do we learn? How many times does it read “He” or “Love”, etc.? You may want to read the scripture reference at the bottom of the song in the Songbook. 13-Visual Object Lesson. Show a quick visual lesson on what the song is about. Just a quick object lesson before you have them listen to the melody. In the Primary Music Instructions it say’s: For example, the song “Faith” (Children’s Songbook, 96–97) mentions a little seed. You could show the children a seed and talk about how we show faith when we plant a seed; this could lead to a discussion about ways we show faith in Jesus Christ, as described in the song. I also did this for “How Firm a Foundation” years ago. This helps them understand the meaning behind the song. Remember, it’s not just about learning the song and words, but learning and feeling the Spirit. AND now 2 last small tips: 14- Have the Pianist play the song as the interlude so that the children can hear the melody and be familiar with the tune. 15- Find the song in A Children’s Songbook Companion and read what’s suggested! This is a great resource for teaching the songs in the Primary Children’s Songbook. I refer to this book often. Find one HERE. It's seriously been a lifesaver on some Sunday's when I need an idea on how to introduce a specific song! and it also includes visuals on some songs! **Remember! This is the children's FIRST time hearing and learning this song! So don’t feel like a failure if they don’t pick it up right away! As you repeat and repeat this song, they will catch on! Also, remember the purpose is to help draw in the Spirit and let them feel the words and the meaning of the song. Good luck with your introducing your new song! Pray and listen the Spirit as you prepare! You can do this! -iheartprimarymusic

Having printable staff paper or blank sheet music at your disposal allows you to easily jot down new musical ideas, compose melodies, or practice your music writing skills..

Gah! I got the musical MEASLES!!!!!! This one is SOOOO fun, keeps the kids’ attention and keeps them singing well! Win, win, win. Tell the kids that singing can be contagious (songs can spread joy, peace, and feel the Spirit) just like the Measles!!!! Pass out red stickers to all teachers. Pick a song to sing. After the song, each teacher pick 2 kids from their class to get a stickers. Aaand the stickers get stuck on YOU (or the Pianist!) It’s so fun to see how many stickers “measles” you end up with at the end! Have fun with this one, but make sure to tell them, they only get a sticker if they’re singing their best!

My 15-Minute Music Lesson Freebies are some of the most popular here at Music in Our Homeschool. See links to all of them here.

Check out this post for creative and exciting ways to add scarves into your music activities. Also, find some specific scarf music examples.

23 Primary Program review ideas and themes to practice your presentation songs before your program! Fun singing time song practice ideas for LDS music leaders.