Take a peek inside the womb to see how your belly and your baby develop from week to week with this interactive visual pregnancy timeline from WebMD.
Keeping track of music practice with a chart is what helps my kids stay consistent! Try using this printable music practice log to help your kids develop good practice habits.
Here are eight silly preschool songs that your preschooler is sure to enjoy. Plus, music is a great way to develop language, motor, and memory skills.
How to make a musical shaker, and toddler games with musical shakers for speech and language development
Read this music career article to learn how to make money in music and make a great living as a professional musician.
It is not necessary to spend a fortune to have fun with your kids. Making musical instruments out of everyday household objects is an inexpensive way to help children to develop their artistic and musical skills at the same time. A trombone can be easily made with two cardboard tubes.
Nurture your child's love for singing! Discover 8 free & easy activities to help them sing tunefully at home or in school. Watch a 2.5-year-old master Solfege with Minuet in G sheet music!
Music fosters physical, intellectual, social, and emotional growth. These music games for kids have big benefits and minimal setup.
In working towards fostering positive interactions and creating a productive learning environment for our students, there are fundamentally two different categories of strategies we use as teachers: those interacting with the class as a whole and those working with individual students. This is what we like to call "behavior management", right? With such limited class time and so many students to work with, the strategies we use to interact with each class as a whole are very important to fostering a positive classroom climate in the music room. Here are the things I do that I think make the biggest difference in my classes. Before I get into my list, I want to make one important point: fostering a positive classroom environment is not synonymous with me, the teacher, getting what I want. A lot of talk around behavior management centers around getting kids to do what we want, but that's not the ultimate goal here- the goal is for students to be successful, in every sense of the word, in our classrooms. That won't always mean students doing what they're told, but it means everyone is interacting with each other in positive ways and building each other up constructively. 1. Consistent Feedback, Working Towards Goals Yes, getting away from the extrinsic "carrots and sticks" and focusing on fostering intrinsic motivation is the ultimate goal. But 1) we all need things to look forward to when we need extra motivation to work hard, 2) we as teachers need concrete systems to remind ourselves to provide consistent feedback and positive reinforcement, and 3) it's important to build teamwork in music. So I think having a "behavior management" system for the class as a whole, that gives classes positive reinforcement for hard work and reminders when the class gets off track without pitting classes against each other in a competition or race, is helpful and important. Click on the picture above to read about the system I use in my classes. 2. Seating Arrangement I spend a lot of time and mental energy deciding on my seating chart for each class at the beginning of the year, and when group dynamics are off, it's one of the first things I look at. How close students are to other specific personalities, who is in each person's line of sight, how well they can see the teacher and class visuals, whether they're surrounded by other people or have more physical space around them, and so many other factors can play a huge role in how students feel and how they interact with each other in the classroom! 3. Systems of Teamwork and Leadership Students need to feel a sense of ownership in the running of the classroom to feel that they belong, and they need to practice working with others and taking leadership in the class as a whole. Color teams, which I use for classroom jobs, supplies, seating, and more, provide an easy, concrete, and fun way to address all of those needs. 4. Ongoing Work Towards Equity None of the above matters unless the identities and needs of all students are equitably represented in how we run our classrooms. 5. Responding to Difficult Group Dynamics Some groups just have a much harder time clicking, whether they have an overall negative dynamic, are very needy and attention seeking (relationship seeking), or are scattered and high energy. I have found some specific strategies in those situations that can help when dealing with more difficult group dynamics. Those are my top 5 strategies for fostering a positive classroom climate in the music room! Establishing a positive environment and managing group dynamics is so important, especially in the beginning of the year, for making sure students can be successful. And in a year like this one as we deal with the ongoing effects of the pandemic and distance learning, this has never been more important or as challenging! I hope these ideas are helpful as you work with your students this year.
As a parent do you want your kid to learn music & art to develop creative ability? Check out our 10 free printable music notes coloring pages for your kids.
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
How To Create A Complete Country Solo From One Simple Lick It’s all very well knowing a bunch of flashy licks, but the best players are the ones who can deploy those licks and ideas in a musical way, developing them and adapting them to chord changes. So that’s the kind of thing I’m attempting […]
Sing, dance and play musical instruments to get the wiggles out! Favorite songs from my early childhood music classes! Toddler tested and approved!
Free sheet music of traditional nursery rhymes and children's songs and free fun and easy music theory printable worksheets for kids.
Here are 10 super fun movement songs for kids to get them up and moving! These are great brain breaks as well.
Mapping out a general music curriculum can be a daunting task, but once you have a solid plan in place it makes the day-to-day lesson planning so much easier and the lessons become so much more purposeful as well! Whether you're starting from scratch and being asked to create a curriculum on your own, working with textbooks or other resources, or reflecting on what you already have in place, consider this your idea bank for everything you need to create and/or develop your elementary general music curriculum! Lesson Content/ Sequencing If you're looking for lesson ideas on specific concepts, or trying to figure out how to sequence skills and concepts from grade to grade, these are your best friends! I'm continuing to update these with more topics as I write new posts so bookmark these and check back when you need some fresh ideas: Curriculum Mapping If you are adjusting or creating your curriculum or long-range plans, my #1 recommendation is to sign up for my email series, "Lesson Planning Made Awesome". It's completely free, nothing extra to sign up for, and takes you through the process of mapping out your curriculum and long-range plans all the way from standards and scope and sequence down to your daily lesson plans with all of the templates you need to write out and organize everything: If you want to explore a specific topic further, here are several blog posts I've written on various aspects of curriculum writing/ long-range planning: Ready to Use Resources If you are looking for ready-made resources to save you loads of time (and headaches), I have lots of options available- if you are in a district that doesn't allow TPT purchases but you can purchase through JWPepper, many of these are also available there. Long-range planning templates with a sample sequence for K-6: Completed yearly outlines with editable K-6 monthly sequences and complete skills checklists by grade: Planning sheets with all of the standards listed by grade (there are versions for TEKS, Ontario curriculum, and PK-8 general and ensemble standards for the National Core Arts Standards): Assessments organized by skill/ concept and sorted by grade level: Complete curriculum set, including full lesson plans to address the concepts/ skills outline for each month in each grade, with all the visuals, assessments, and materials needed to teach them: I hope you find all of these resources helpful in your planning process, whether you're just getting started or updating what you have! If you have questions or topics you'd like to hear more about, please reach out any time and I'd love to talk with you further.
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
Who doesn’t love music and what all it represents? And as you all already know it is said that having a musical education can help your brain to develop stronger in other educational areas as…
Music Practice Posters Guitar Chord Charts and Fretboard, Practice Poster Ukulele Chord Charts with Fretboard Practice Poster 2 Finger Mandolin Chord Charts and Fretboard, Practice Poster Guitar and Bass Notes on Fretboard Practice Poster Bass Guitar Chord Charts and Fretboard, Practice Poster
Hi! I’m Miss Carole of Macaroni Soup, Active Music for Active Learners in cold and snowy Chicago! Let’s get the action g...
Learn how to master your songs using my simple 7 step mastering formula. Make your masters sound loud, fat, and full, just like your favorite commercial tracks…
Dark Mode: Music Player Web App designed by Emmanuel Ikechukwu. Connect with them on Dribbble; the global community for designers and creative professionals.
Teaching music with fun, tried & tested lessons, DIY classroom projects & ideas your students will love with Tracy King, the Bulletin Board Lady.
Learn what music intervals are and how to play them on the guitar. We'll include notation examples and guitar charts to apply this concept.
Music is great for language development, bonding and creating new neural pathways for babies. So, being a music teacher, I got super excited to research some fun, developmentally appropriate, interactive songs & rhymes to teach to my baby. And now that I've compiled my favorites, of course I had to share with all of you!! This will be a first in a series of blog posts about songs to sing with your baby and/or toddler.
The Suzuki Method of Talent Education is based on Shinichi Suzuki's view that every child is born with ability, and that people are the product of their environment. According to Shinichi Suzuki, a world-renowned violinist and teacher, the greatest joy an adult can know comes from developing a child's potential so he/s
This piece is in middle C position for young beginners to learn. It has a lyrical nature to it, helping students who are on this level to develop a softer touch when playing.
See what happens when a 22-month-old girl challenges her brother for a drum battle.
I can't wait until next year when I will see Pre-K and Kindergarten (woohoo!), but my first grade babies this year are working so hard! I am...
Today I’m sharing our favorite toddler music and some tips on how to have your own music time or music and movement class for toddlers. Toddler Music Back in Ohio, the highlight of Lincoln’s week was a music class for kids and toddlers hosted by a neighborhood friend of mine. We started going when he...
Introducing this innovative “Rhythm Math Foldable Game”, designed to enhance mastery of basic note durations in music theory. Ideal for elementary general music classrooms, your music students will love folding this origami rhythm game as they memorize essential note values. The objective: Memorize note durations of quarter, half, dotted half, and whole notes. This product includes: -Printable rhythm origami outline -Folding instruction page -Game play instructions By integrating math concepts into rhythm practice, this music game promotes cross-curricular learning. Students develop not only their musical skills but also their mathematical abilities as they explore rhythm through a mathematical lens. This game can be a yearly addition to your music curriculum! *DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE A REVIEW FOR TPT CREDIT! Follow my store for more projects and ideas: Music Is Life!
I started back to school this past week with my kids on Tuesday. I had such a great first week and I am so excited to be back making musi...
