My district is one that is implementing Student Learning Objectives...which are basically large-scale goals for each student in class based on their ability levels. Teachers have to set target scores/learning outcomes for lower level learners to higher level learners. That means there has to be some sort of pre-assessment in order to determine the level of the students. I really have struggled in attempting to create pre-assessments for orchestra. It has been hard to wrap my head around giving a test to see what I know students don't know yet...since I haven't taught the skill, yet. Anyway, I am focusing my learning objective on rhythm. I want to be sure my students are fluent note-readers and rhythm readers. For my pre-test, I will use the 'I Got Rhythm' form that I created. This can be used many different ways and can be a useful tool in a variety of rhythm exercises. For my pre-assessment, I will perform the rhythm from one box on each line...and I will have students circle the rhythm that they think I played. This will help me see if students are already recognizing these rhythms. The rhythms get progressively more difficult as you move down the page, so I will be able to set some learning targets for individual students. Eventually of course, students will demonstrate the ability to perform these rhythms on their own - by the end of year 1. I can also use this form as a rhythm exercise...students can perform the rhythms across and down each line. They can cut them up to make flashcards. You can use the different rhythms for warm-ups and scales.

[ padding=”0 20px 0 20px”] As guitarists we interact with the musical pulse by playing notes. Some are long and some are short. The diagram below […]

Finally! The Taxonomy of my Music is complete! While I’m working on my Digital Art assignments I enjoy watching my favorite TV shows. I bring this up to help you get a sense for how long it t…

So, I absolutely LOVE the anchor charts I’ve been seeing on blogs and on Pinterest. Apparently, anchor charts are supposed to be minimalistic so as not to confuse the children with extra inf…

What are your top 5 best hits? Here's a fun way for any music lover to analyze their favorite songs.

This (fully editable) worksheet is designed to practise vocabulary and reading comprehension on daily activities.First students have to complete the blanks (with the words provided) and put the pictures into the correct order according to the text. Then there are 2 reading comprehension tasks and 1 written task. Greyscale and key are included. - ESL worksheets

Music theory worksheets are valuable tools for individuals who are learning or studying music. These worksheets provide structured exercises that focus specifically on note values. With a range of activities and exercises tailored to different skill levels, music theory worksheets help students grasp the concept of note values and their significance in creating rhythm and melodic patterns. Whether you're a beginner or an advanced musician, these worksheets are designed to enhance your understanding of note values and improve your musical performance.

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.

Fun and engaging hand clapping game to teach your kiddos!

I've been posting some ideas and things I do during the last couple of weeks of school. This is a final exam that I created for my beginning orchestra to go along with the SLO (Student Learning Objective) I have been working on all year. At the beginning of the school year, I gave students a pre-assessment on rhythm to determine their level of ability, then I divided the class into high level learners, middle-level, and lower-level learners. By the end of the school year, I wanted every student in my class to reach proficiency (writing, labeling, and performing) on whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, dotted quarters, and corresponding rests. This final exam helped me to determine their final level of proficiency. In one of my beginning classes, every student passed the test and I was feeling good, but then in my other beginning class, I had 4 or 5 students fail the test and I felt like I failed. I still need to work on differentiation to reach the kids who really struggle. Students worked on this exam while I held a playing test on the rhythms at the bottom of the page. For the playing test, I listened to each student individually and I let them choose 2 out of the 3 rhythms to perform. They were sight-reading these rhythms, but the last students to perform did have an advantage after hearing the rhythms performed previously. This is the 2nd page of the exam. I wanted to be sure that all beginning students knew these basics about fingering and they did very well.

Singing rounds for the classroom ought to be easy and energetic. Haida, an Israeli song with only two lines, fits the bill! FREE DOWNLOAD

This worksheet contains 18 conversation cards and two vocabulary exercises (matching exercise and favourites) plus clip art. The cards can be cut out if desired and be used as conversation questions. Can be used with both young learners and adults (elementary to advanced). - ESL worksheets

High Shoals Elementary School Music Blog, Oconee County GA, Orff Music Instruction

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Got a talkative class? Check out these 5 ways to quiet the chatter!

Did you know that music therapy can be beneficial to both your mental and physical health? Learn all about it in this article!

If your third or fourth grader is starting to think about taking up a musical instrument, help him get the basics of reading notes with this handy sheet!

Most of us teach multiple grade levels. I teach 4 year olds through 94 year olds. I skip 12 year olds through somewhere in the 60's, though. I think that probably needs explaining, right? I teach Junior Kindergarten through fourth grade and also facilitate music and drum circles at an assisted living center every 2-3 months. The youngest were probably my most difficult age to plan for starting out as a brand new teacher and I continue searching for great material to add to my "collection". We all know how it is - in a singular 30 minute lesson with the younger kiddos we might go through 10-15 activities! Interestingly, my oldest sometimes seem the same! I seek materials from various sources; blogs, bools, fellow teachers, and websites. Several years ago I found a childrens music performer named Nancy Stewart. Each month she posts a Song of the Month! You can search by category, year/month, and alphabetically, and even better - all her songs are downloadable, some have visuals to download, and most have the sheet music to download - all for FREE! YES! There are songs for Eid, Christmas, St. Patirck's Day, Diwali, Valentines, seasonal songs and everything in between. Most of the music is original and I have found some really wonderful material! One of my favorites is the Rhythm Stick Song. Nancy so kindly gave me permission to share the song with you here - the mp3 is available on her site - click the link above. Hope you enjoy it - my kiddos do! We also make up additional verses - "With my sticks I run...", walk, hop, etc. My favorite rhythm sticks are the Basic Beat Combination Sticks pictured below. I love these - perfectly sized at 8" long, no splintering, and one is smooth and the other ridged. They are about $3.00 a pair, and an awesome investment! You can get them here from West Music. Have fun with these! Happy New Year!

Rock, Paper, Scissors, SING is a fun, PowerPoint music game for reinforcing so-mi melodic patterns! This is a great activity for music students to practice sight-singing on the 5-line staff because it's a fun twist on a game that most kids already love to play! This is a team game that also allows for informal assessments, but it can also be played in centers with 2 or more players. This edition is only in the Key of C, but my other games use examples from C, G, and F. More Rock Paper Scissor Games: BUNDLES Rhythm BUNDLE with Stick & Standard Solfa BUNDLE! Rhythm Games STANDARD Notation Quarter Note, Quarter Rest, Eighth Notes Half Note Beamed 16th Notes Syncopa Rhythm Games STICK Notation Quarter Note, Quarter Rest, Eighth Notes Half Note Beamed 16th Notes Syncopa Solfége Games Sol-Mi **FREEBIE** Sol-Mi-La Sol-Mi-La-Do Do-Re-Mi Pentatonic Try my 4 Corners games, another school favorite! 4 Corners BUNDLE! Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to leave feedback to earn TpT credits. :) Follow me for updates and freebies! #musiccrewfreebies

An update to everything happening in the world of Musicplay, MusicplayOnline, and Themes & Variations directly from Denise Gagne!

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 music with them. We spent our first few days going over music room rules and procedures (click here to see rules post), emergency drills, and jumped right into making music. Can I just say that I LOVE pinterest! I found so many great ideas for back to school games through Pinterest as well as from Susan during Level 3. I thought I would share some of the really fun ones that the students enjoyed our first few days back: "Up The Ladder" is a great game for learning the names of your new students. "Down, Down Baby" is from the Amidons. SO FUN! Apparently this is a favorite, because it's being sung on the bus! Hickety Pickety Bumblebee is a fun one to use with K/1. In first grade you could review four voices with "can you sing (whisper, call, speak) your name to me". With kindergarten, it might be a bit intimidating to ask them to sing their name to you on day 1 of music, but let's be honest we are still learning all their names several weeks into the school year. Pull this out with them a little bit later (maybe after you have presented the four voices) and do this then. Mamalama: I learned this in Level 3, and we take it a bit faster than in this video, but it is SO FUN! I even had a student get the last part after just a few listenings. CRAZY! What are some of your favorite first day songs and activities? Still looking for ways to set up and decorate your room? This music room decor catalog will give you lots of idea, plus a back to school tip on each page!

Aside from an appreciation for music, I have no other knowledge of it or possess any talent myself. My son's music teacher’s “tee tee ta...

Learn all the tips and tricks for playing the rhythm chairs game in the elementary music classroom.

I’ve been told that this is the teacher’s mantra when it comes to resources. Thanks to Pinterest, it is even easier to find other people’s fantastic ideas and adapt them for your…

I've been reading the book, Mindsets in the Classroom by Mary Cay Ricci, and just finished chapter 3. It was a real eye-opener. Through all of my years of teaching, I thought I was differentiating by planning and implementing reteaching and enrichment lessons and activities as my class worked through a unit. But in this chapter, I learned how important it is to start the differentiation before the unit even begins! This process begins with the preassessment. So much valuable information can be gathered before you begin teaching a unit. The purpose of the preassessment is to find how much students understand the content before you plan and teach the unit. Do they have a complete understanding of the content? Then they will need enrichment and/or accelerated activities. Do they have a partial understanding of the content? Then you need to make note of the gaps in their learning so you can plan accordingly. Checklists are a great way to keep track of the objectives and student mastery. From this checklist, you will also see students that need to be grouped for instruction. Keep in mind that this grouping will change as students master the objectives. Another insight I gained from this chapter is the different types of assessments used in a classroom. I put together this graphic to sum up the three types of assessment you should be using in your classroom. Click on the image to download the pdf version. You can also download this free packet with three quick and easy formative assessments you can use

Gamification is the process of making learning into a game. It is made up of a number elements: Giving online badges to students. Setting goals and competitions. Giving instant feedback. Creating …

Warning: this idea is 100% completely stolen from my good friend Tanya LeJeune!! Be sure to view her blog by clicking here!!! I saw Tanya present this at the Colorado State conference a number of years ago but it wasn't until this year that I finally made a formal "remote" for the game (before making these manipulatives I would simply write the words on a board). You'll notice in the picture below that there are two remotes: the one on the left I use with 1st and 2nd grades & the one on the right is used with 3rd-5th grades. This is a late practice activity and students will be most successful when they are familiar with the song(s) that this is played with. Basic principal of the game: Have the practice song written on the board in stick notation with the solfege written below the rhythm and the text to the song below the solfa (similarly to the way Jill Trinka notates her songs in her books). I have the remote hanging on my magnetic board. The students read the song by performing it on each of the "channels" (the buttons- ie. they sing it on the words all the way through the song, then they sing it on the rhythm all the way through the song, then the solfa all the way through the song and then (for grades 3-5) the absolute pitch names). After that, if the game is new to the students, I explain how we are going to "channel surf"- this a concept that we are all familiar with. ;-) This means that as the song is sung I am going to have them switch from singing the song one way to another (i.e. they may sing phrase one on the words of the song and then the second phrase on solfa and so on.) I tell them which "station" they will start on and give them a starting pitch. Then, using another magnet (mine is a Fantasia Mickey Mouse that a former student gave me), I place the magnet next to the starting station and as the song is sung move the magnet to other channels as the phrases change. Here are a couple variations to make it more difficult: instead of using stick solfa, have the song written on the staff with the text below. have the song written on the staff but without the text. have them sing all of the song from memory. This one is fun to do with a song/game that the kids ask to play over and over again that they know VERY well. There is one thing that I have haven't touch on and that's the "mute" button: works just like a real mute button and is wonderful for inner hearing. I usually use it as an independent button (not in combination with other buttons), but you can do it in combination with the other buttons as a way to really challenge students. Thanks again Tanya for sharing this game!!!

Once in a while I do a blog post more aimed at a music teacher audience, and this is one of those posts. This is the hello song that I sing to start every music for kindergarten and first grade. …

We all know and love Kahoot, right? If you do not know about Kahoot then we have a few blog posts with tips and ideas to get you up to sp...

I have frequently been asked and I have seen similar questions posted on Kodaly and Music Ed Facebook groups. "I am interested in learning ...

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.

Song Index