First year elementary music teachers face a lot of difficulties-- this is how to get ready for your first year!
Preparing for Your First Elementary Music Teaching Job. Organized Chaos. Top 5 suggestions to help you get ready over the summer for your first elementary music job.
What you put on your classroom walls should reflect what you teach. Read this article to get suggestions about what to post, how, and why!
Like most teachers I am such a fan of dollar stores. I can shop there to organize my classroom, create new workstations and add a little flair to my bulletin boards. I'd like to share with you just a few of my favorite finds! Flyswatters My kids are always a little in awe when they see my collection of flyswatters. (This pictures shows most of my collection.) I sometimes use them as pointers when projecting things on my white board, but most often these are used for Swat the Staff or Swat the Rhythm games. With Swat the Staff, I use masking tape to create a large staff on my board. Two students (from two different teams) stand at the board. I call a pitch name and the first person to correctly swat where that pitch should be gets a point for their team! Fun! You can check out some of my Swat the Rhythm games in my store. Plastic Fruit, Veggies and Food I try to do all of my singing assessments with my primary students in a game like setting. "Doggie, Doggie, Where's Your Bone" and other singing games help them relax and I can assess their ability to match pitch, sing in head voice or whatever we are assessing that day. The plastic fruits, veggies and food are great for this kind of thing. The teacher sings "Who has the lemon?" (sol mi la sol mi) The student with the lemon sings back "I have the lemon!" (sol mi la sol mi) Little Cars At one time I'm pretty sure I had a thousand of these little cars in every nook and cranny of my house! It wasn't quite that many, but it certainly seemed like they were constantly multiplying. Now, they are a music workstation! I added stickers to them and used the Music Town Parking Center file to create an interactive activity that my kiddos really enjoy. I've used this fabulously with 2nd and 3rd graders. At some dollar stores you can get 3 little cars for $1. Score! Clothespins I love using clothespins for assessment. Yep. Assessment. I painted some wooden clothespins, drew rhythms in various meters and had students pin them to a piece of paper that I had drawn a 2, 3 and 4 on. If the pattern had four beats, they pinned it to the side of the paper with the 4 and so on. Another GREAT activity for assessment is Clip It. I have several of these sets that you might be interested in: Animals, Camping, Careers, Christmas, Presidents, Thanksgiving and Instruments. Students match the syllables of each picture with one of the rhythms by clipping them. Balls I like to use balls to bounce to the beat and for workstations like Note Toss (click to learn more) and Snowball Scoop (click for more details). Alphabet Puzzles These inexpensive alphabet puzzles are great manipulatives for Kindergarten and First Grade. We sing the alphabet song while touching each letter. Then I'll pick a letter and we will all remove that piece. Next we sing through the alphabet song again but when we get to the missing letter we say "shh". Later this knowledge translates to a quarter rest. In first grade, the students can handle this activity on their own in small groups and I set it up as a workstation. Craft Sticks Craft sticks are handy for many reasons. Two of my favorite uses are creating groups and rhythmic dictation. To learn more about how to create classroom groups with craft sticks read THIS post. For rhythmic dictation, I show students how to create quarter notes and barred eighth notes with the sticks. I clap patterns and the students "notate" them with the craft sticks. When they have mastered that we figure out how to create a quarter rest with the craft sticks. I've found that students are really creative with this! Pipe Cleaners My pal, Kristin Lukow, introduced me to this idea and I LOVE it! The kids do too! We listen to some soothing music while fashioning pipe cleaners into different notes. For some notes or symbols students really have to use their problem solving skills to create them with only a pipe cleaner. This activity gives students a chance to identify notes and symbols in a new way. Flashlights I have just started to experiment with using flashlights as manipulatives for listening activities and movement. I've used them in performance before (see THIS rendition of "Fireflies") and I've been in workshops with the aaahhhmaaazing Artie Almeida who used them during listening activities. Artie calls if flashlight painting and it is an amazing way to keep 100% of your students engaged. Here's a video that might explain a little more. Play Dough There is just something about play dough that makes me smile. The kids love to have the opportunity to use it in music class. I use THESE play dough mats as a workstation. The mats name each symbol or note and contain and brief definition. Styrofoam Coolers Weird, right? These little coolers are PERFECT for creating the Snowball Scoop workstation I've described in a previous post. They are also great for decorating a winter/snow themed concert. At a buck each you can by dozens and create a wide variety of "snow" structures. Dip and Veggie Trays Once I started creating workstations with these dip and veggie trays it was pretty hard to stop! Check out: Dip and Chip Workstations Dip Tray Workstations: Instrument Families and Note Values (freebie here!) Dip Tray Workstations: Bottle Cap Pitches Pool Noodles If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that I am a big fan of using pool noodles in creative ways. Noodle ponies, steady beat swords and unique bulletin board displays are just some of the ways that I have used them. You might like to check out these pool noodle posts for more information: How to Make Pool Noodle Ponies Pool Noodle Ponies: What to Do with Your New Herd Steady Beat Swords Unusual and Incredibly Fabulous Bulletin Board Borders Like these ideas? Pin them for later!
Not sure where to start when it comes to the first day of school in elementary music? Find out what to teach, games, lessons, ideas, and more!
The Music Teacher Administrators Love. A Music Teacher's Guide to Fostering Mutual Respect part 2: Music Teacher Qualities. Organized Chaos. Principal and administrator perspectives on what they think makes a great music teacher.
Lesson planning doesn't have to be difficult-- with these tips, you can make lesson plannig easy, even as an elementary music teacher!
DIY Light Up Staff Board, treble clef display. Bright and fun way to learn treble clef lines and spaces names. Music teacher hack.
It has taken me a while to put together a classroom tour but I am thrilled to have a week of school under my belt and my classroom set up and humming along! The most exciting part of my classroom setup this year is being able to get back to many of the things I haven't been able to do during the pandemic, but I have also added a few new tweaks to my room from my pre-pandemic setup too, so I'm excited to share those as well. First to give you a lay of the land, here's a quick video around the entire space: Now let's talk about this year's updates! First of all the biggest change is going back to pre-pandemic seating arrangements. Oh how I have missed my circle! This year I used these carpet spots, which have a darker green color than the ones I used last year (my old ones were hard to distinguish between yellow and green), and so far they're holding up well. I've also got my chairs back in rows by color team instead of having each chair spread out: Last year because I had to set up the chairs spaced out 3 feet each, I wasn't able to use my normal job of line leader (I had a job for hand sanitizer instead). This year my line leaders are back! One of those, "Why didn't I think of this sooner?" tiny upgrades this year was on that same magnetic board where I have the color team jobs- the magnets for each class going up the piano keys are now horizontal and much easier to read: A procedural change I made this year was to designate my own hand signals for students to use in music class when they need to use the bathroom or a tissue- I made posters showing those hand signals next to the board. I also made new letters for my "MUSIC" letter system, which you can see in the same photo (those were long overdue for an upgrade!): The final update is one that I'm probably more excited about than I should be... I got new clipboards! I added these to my Amazon wishlist this summer and was thrilled to get them. The clips are much smaller, and they are plastic and of course in my 6 rainbow colors. So much to love about these compared to my old ones! I also decided this year to give students the choice between regular pencils, which I wrapped in a small piece of duct tape, or mechanical pencils. It has been a great start to the year to far and I do have a couple more updates to the classroom I'm hoping to get to throughout the year... we'll see! But for now I'm very happy with our space. Rather than rehashing all of the details on where I got things or why I have things set up the way I do, I'll direct you to my classroom tour post from 2018 where I have a lot more details on most of what you see here. And of course please leave a comment with any questions!
Movement lessons your fourth and fifth grade music students will want to do. These are simple & easy lessons for elementary music class.
Looking for engaging, musical games to play with your students? Here are a few of my favorite games and activities for elementary music classes, children's choirs, and elementary group classes.
Class Openers for Elementary Music. Organized Chaos. Fun ways to establish a routine for the beginning of each elementary general music class as a warm-up and allow student leadership as well.
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…
Tin Whistle, Teaching Tin Whistle, CC Music, Fine Arts, CC Cycle 3, Music Theory
Not sure where to start when it comes to the first day of school in elementary music? Find out what to teach, games, lessons, ideas, and more!
GUYS. I was shook when recently a music teacher friend of mine had told they had never heard of a stretchy band. SHOOK. This got me thinking….how many other music education must-haves are oth…
Color can be a helpful tool when teaching music literacy and developing music-reading skills, for students of all ages. Color provides a quick way of sorting and organizing visual elements, especially elements that are the same. Here are some of the benefits of using color, plus four simple ways to
If you play the piano, showing others how to as well is a way to earn some income and develop a new skill of your own: teaching. Whether you teach full-time or part-time, go to students' homes or have them come to yours, a piano teaching business is one that you can tailor to your schedule and fit in to your ...
Five fun and action-filled circle games to practice rhythm, pitch, and more with your elementary music students.
Do you have a favorite rhythm game or activity to use in your music lessons? Rhythm is something that always needs review, so you can never have too many
I've been using student-led warmups at the beginning of my elementary general music lessons for years now and I am a big fan! I've gotten a lot of questions about the warmups I do and how I do them, and over the last few weeks I've been sharing my favorite activities for lesson warmups in my K-6 general music classes (26 in all!) that focus on important musical skills and concepts. In this post I've compiled all of my posts on how I set up and manage the student-led warmups in general, all of the different activity ideas, and the visuals I use to run them. First of all, my warmup activities start as soon as students start coming into the room- it's more like a "do now" where I don't wait for the class to all be seated before I start. Once I get it going, I hand it off to the small group of students assigned to lead warmups (the job rotates throughout the year) and they take over, giving me time to finish setting up, pull aside a student who needs a checkin, etc while the others are engaged in the activity. Here's the full post on how I run my warmups: Besides the benefits from a management perspective, I've found the warmups very helpful for student learning because it gives me an easy way to quickly touch on those skills and concepts that need regular "drilling" for students to attain and maintain fluency, especially steady beat, rhythm, pitch, reading notation, and music vocabulary. In each of the posts below you'll find 4 or 5 different activities I use with different grades to practice these fundamental skills and concepts in quick and easy (and fun!) ways: All of these can truly be done without any special slides or equipment, but I got several request to share the slides I use- for those who want something ready-made at your fingertips to implement all of the different warmups mentioned above, here they are: If you haven't tried using warmup activities at the beginning of your elementary music classes, I highly recommend trying them out! It took me a long time to be convinced I should do it, but I have been hooked ever since I started. If you have more ideas for activities, or questions about anything, please leave a comment below.
Preparing for Your First Elementary Music Teaching Job. Organized Chaos. Top 5 suggestions to help you get ready over the summer for your first elementary music job.
Close your eyes and think about your ideal classroom. What does it look like? What feeling do you get when you walk in? My classroom walls are literally covered in decor...and I mean covered! Well, technically it’s pretty empty right now since I’m changing my theme. Check out what it *used* to look like.
Planner Setup Tip: Simplifying Weekly Lesson Planning. Organized Chaos. Setting up all of your elementary general music lesson plans for the school year in your teacher planner to make weekly lesson planning easier and faster.
Remember, music classroom organization doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. Just make sure it fits your needs and the needs of your...
Elementary music teacher blogs, Kodaly Blogs, music sub plans, substitute music plans, music education activities, music resources, music games
Whole Class Behavior Management Systems in Elementary Music. Organized Chaos. Ideas for whole class incentives that don't take away from music-making and encourage growth over competition.
Minimal Prep! This escape room allows students to use their knowledge of note values, note positions on either treble or bass staffs, and time signatures to solve the case of Who Stole the Baton? Three alternate endings are included so that you can change the ending between classes or chose which musician (instrument) you want to be the culprit. You only have to hide one pair of puzzles (in one location), everything else is print and play! Great for music class, choir, orchestra or band, this escape room is designed for students to work in groups of 3-4, but students could work alone or in larger groups. Can I use this from a cart? Yes! You do not need a dedicated music room for this escape “room.” The clues that need to be hidden, should be hidden near “A FACE.” An image of a conductor conducting is included so that you can print that and use it as your “face.” You could tape that to a regular-size manila envelop and put the clues inside. What is the prep? Prep involves printing and hiding one pair of clues (together). Optional Prep: cutting a single page of hint cards and putting the clues for hiding into separate envelops for each team. How do I use the alternate endings? Students are given a fictional orchestra seating chart at the beginning. Puzzles 3 and 4 give them the coordinates for one musician’s seat (e.g., H-10). There are three versions of Puzzle 4 that will change the letter and hence the orchestra section of the culprit. Each version has a different instrument shadow so you can easily keep track of which ending you just used. Puzzles 1-3 also have instrument shadows so students will not be suspicious. Will I have to buy any extra materials? No, you do not need any fancy locks or to use any Google forms. One envelope per team is recommended, but optional. What supplies are needed? Paper (8.5in x 11in) A printer (black-and-white copies are fine for most puzzles) Optional: scissors, envelops What background knowledge do my students need? Students should know the values of common notes (eighth note, quarter note, half note, dotted quarter note, whole note, quarter rest, half rest, full rest). The notes are never named in the student materials, so this works for British students as well. They should also know that 4/4 time means four beats per measure. Students should also be able to identify the note positions on either the treble clef or bass clef (both options are included). What reading level do my students need? There is only one page of text for students to read (the Maestro’s Note about what happened). The Flesh-Kincaid reading level is 3rd-5th grade depending on if I include the jargon words (e.g., musician, orchestra, instrument; these are longer than the rest of the text) in the analysis. You can assign students to groups to ensure a mix of reading ability. What will my students do? Working in small groups of 3-4, your students will cooperate to solve 4 puzzles to find out (1) where the conductor’s baton is hidden and (2) who has stolen it. A single child can complete this (e.g., homeschooler or individual music lessons), but it may take longer and require more hints. The puzzles are: Puzzle 1: Students will look at highlighted note positions in sheet music to read “A FACE” which will lead them to the location of Puzzles 3 and 4. This puzzle is available for both treble clef and bass clef. A half-page photo of a conductor is included that you can use for this. Puzzle 2: Students will use a key to decipher a message hidden in a sheet of percussion music. This message will reveal where the baton is hidden. Puzzles 3 and 4:The final puzzles need to be combined to read the coordinates on the orchestra seating chart to determine who stole the baton. Puzzle 3 includes sheet music in 4/4 time. Students will add bar lines to divide the music into measures (this gives them a number). Puzzle 4 includes a grid of 30 squares that each contains notes. Students will use their knowledge of note values to color in the squares with 4 beats (this will reveal a letter). How long does this take? 30-40 minutes. There is an alternative version the hidden message (cipher) puzzle that you can use to make the activity shorter. What is included in this digital download? This is a zip folder that includes the following pages as PDFs: �� Easy-to-follow printing and set-up instructions • A complete walkthrough with solutions to all puzzles • A diagram of an orchestra setting chart • A note from a conductor about the missing baton • A song for note position puzzle in treble clef • Alternative version of the note position song in bass clef • A song with a hidden message • Alternative version of the hidden message song with a shorter message • A cipher decoder/key • A bar line puzzle • A note value puzzle • A summary to read at the end that explains why orchestras are set-up like they are • Hint cards for students • A half-page sized photo of a conductor conducting if you need it for hiding clues • A poster for your door or cart • A “you found the baton!” poster • British English versions of the puzzles where “color” is changed to “colour” * Follow me for updates and be the first to know about new products and sales! * * Remember, you can receive credit towards future TpT purchases by leaving fair reviews! Go to My Purchases and click the Provide Feedback buttons. Your feedback is very helpful. * Other escape rooms in my store include: Save the Coral Reef: An Earth Day, Ocean Escape Room (NO PREP) Escape the Chocolate Factory: A Valentine's Day Escape Room Activity (NO PREP) Escape the Mayflower: Thanksgiving Escape Room Activity Holiday Escape Room BUNDLE Scrooge's Escape: A Christmas Escape Room Activity (NO PREP) * Follow me for updates and be the first to know about new products and sales! * * Remember, you can receive credit towards future TpT purchases by leaving fair reviews! Go to My Purchases and click the Provide Feedback buttons. Your feedback is very helpful. *
Use our free printable music activity as a boredom buster with kids stuck at home or as a fun part of music education in a classroom.
3rd grade classes have been learning how music and math are very closely related! I used pizza fractions to illustrate how the music notes got their names. I also used this as a way to introduce the 16th notes which they will be learning about next year in 4th grade. I made this felt pizza my first year of teaching (9 years ago) and it has held up pretty well! I handed out the pizza slices and had the students take turns coming up to help build the pizza. As they created each layer, we talked about that note, its value, and its equivalent fraction. Next, I taught this song called "Pizza Rondo" (written by J.R. Fretz) and we added Orff accompaniment. Then, we created contrasting sections using these poems that go along with each layer of the pizza. We combined all of these parts and put together a performance for their teachers! Our principal even got to come see one of them. :) I chose a few students to perform on instruments and the other students created the layers on the pizza as we performed the poems in Rondo form: Our finished product: Update: Here is a copy of the melody and Orff Arrangement. So many of you have been asking and I haven't been able to locate a copy of this song elsewhere for purchase so I think I am safe posting this. Let me know otherwise. :)
The beginner's guide to Piano! Get started learning the piano with this easy to read chord chart. Ready to start learning? This digital download chord chart is yours at the click of a button. Perfect for students and teachers! Happy learning!! *Please note this is a digital download and NOT a tangible copy that will be sent through the mail. Upon purchase you will receive a PDF file and you may then print as many as you'd like! DETAILS: -Digital image measures 8.5in x 11in perfect for printing on regular printer paper -After purchase check your email for printable PDF file :) -Print as many as you want! -Any further questions? Let me know! **Please feel free to contact me for more information, or if you run in to trouble with the downloading process!** *Not satisfied? Let me know what I can do to help!
Free Music Substitute Lesson Plan (for a non-music sub). Teach meter with short, fun video clips, "script" for the teacher and movement activities for kids.
Reading music is like reading a book in another language. It has its own characters and sounds. The following collection of music lesson plans for the elementary music classroom will help music tea…
I love when we have an Olympic year in music class. This is the second one we've celebrated since I began teaching, and we went all out! I started off by selecting 8 countries and then dividing each of my classes into 4 teams (I have 4 risers, so each riser was a team). Students in grades 4-6 participated, so there ended up being one grade level each on every team. Each day, students competed in a different Olympic event. The events we competed in were the ski jump, speed skating, curling, bobsled, biathlon, and ice hockey. Each event focused on a different musical concept such as rhythm, singing, note reading, rhythmic values, etc. Here are the posters I created for each one. We listened to the national anthem of the winning country after each event and kept track of each country's medals on the board in the back of the room. The students loved checking the board to see which country was in the lead. Here is the final medal count from the end of the month. Here are some pictures of the students competing in each event. We used paper plates for ice skates, actual curling brooms for curling, floor hockey sticks and tennis balls for hockey, and laminated tag board for cross-country skis. The difficulty of each event was modified based on the grade level. It was a great month! Speed Skating Speed Skating Curling Ice Hockey Instrument Family target for the biathlon Cross Country skiing to the target in the biatlon Biathlon Biathlon: matching the instrument to the correct target
I am one of those people who cannot work in silence. I have always incorporated music into my classroom whether it be just for background noise, or to enhance our lesson plan. A few years ago I sub…
The season of gift giving is coming up! Teachers play a special part in our development and it’s essential that we show them how much we appreciate them. Math and English teachers get all the love but what about Music teachers? Music programs tend to get the short end of…
All piano students should know these basic music theory concepts: Staff Awareness bass clef treble clef Note Names and Placement on the keyboard on the staff Basic Music Vocab measure bar lines, double bar lines repeat symbols slurs fermatas, etc. Basic Music Notes quarter eighth whole half Dotted Notes and Triplets timing Rests quarter […]
A collection of inspirational music quotes for teachers and educators.
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.
Like most teachers I am such a fan of dollar stores. I can shop there to organize my classroom, create new workstations and add a little flair to my bulletin boards. I'd like to share with you just a few of my favorite finds! Flyswatters My kids are always a little in awe when they see my collection of flyswatters. (This pictures shows most of my collection.) I sometimes use them as pointers when projecting things on my white board, but most often these are used for Swat the Staff or Swat the Rhythm games. With Swat the Staff, I use masking tape to create a large staff on my board. Two students (from two different teams) stand at the board. I call a pitch name and the first person to correctly swat where that pitch should be gets a point for their team! Fun! You can check out some of my Swat the Rhythm games in my store. Plastic Fruit, Veggies and Food I try to do all of my singing assessments with my primary students in a game like setting. "Doggie, Doggie, Where's Your Bone" and other singing games help them relax and I can assess their ability to match pitch, sing in head voice or whatever we are assessing that day. The plastic fruits, veggies and food are great for this kind of thing. The teacher sings "Who has the lemon?" (sol mi la sol mi) The student with the lemon sings back "I have the lemon!" (sol mi la sol mi) Little Cars At one time I'm pretty sure I had a thousand of these little cars in every nook and cranny of my house! It wasn't quite that many, but it certainly seemed like they were constantly multiplying. Now, they are a music workstation! I added stickers to them and used the Music Town Parking Center file to create an interactive activity that my kiddos really enjoy. I've used this fabulously with 2nd and 3rd graders. At some dollar stores you can get 3 little cars for $1. Score! Clothespins I love using clothespins for assessment. Yep. Assessment. I painted some wooden clothespins, drew rhythms in various meters and had students pin them to a piece of paper that I had drawn a 2, 3 and 4 on. If the pattern had four beats, they pinned it to the side of the paper with the 4 and so on. Another GREAT activity for assessment is Clip It. I have several of these sets that you might be interested in: Animals, Camping, Careers, Christmas, Presidents, Thanksgiving and Instruments. Students match the syllables of each picture with one of the rhythms by clipping them. Balls I like to use balls to bounce to the beat and for workstations like Note Toss (click to learn more) and Snowball Scoop (click for more details). Alphabet Puzzles These inexpensive alphabet puzzles are great manipulatives for Kindergarten and First Grade. We sing the alphabet song while touching each letter. Then I'll pick a letter and we will all remove that piece. Next we sing through the alphabet song again but when we get to the missing letter we say "shh". Later this knowledge translates to a quarter rest. In first grade, the students can handle this activity on their own in small groups and I set it up as a workstation. Craft Sticks Craft sticks are handy for many reasons. Two of my favorite uses are creating groups and rhythmic dictation. To learn more about how to create classroom groups with craft sticks read THIS post. For rhythmic dictation, I show students how to create quarter notes and barred eighth notes with the sticks. I clap patterns and the students "notate" them with the craft sticks. When they have mastered that we figure out how to create a quarter rest with the craft sticks. I've found that students are really creative with this! Pipe Cleaners My pal, Kristin Lukow, introduced me to this idea and I LOVE it! The kids do too! We listen to some soothing music while fashioning pipe cleaners into different notes. For some notes or symbols students really have to use their problem solving skills to create them with only a pipe cleaner. This activity gives students a chance to identify notes and symbols in a new way. Flashlights I have just started to experiment with using flashlights as manipulatives for listening activities and movement. I've used them in performance before (see THIS rendition of "Fireflies") and I've been in workshops with the aaahhhmaaazing Artie Almeida who used them during listening activities. Artie calls if flashlight painting and it is an amazing way to keep 100% of your students engaged. Here's a video that might explain a little more. Play Dough There is just something about play dough that makes me smile. The kids love to have the opportunity to use it in music class. I use THESE play dough mats as a workstation. The mats name each symbol or note and contain and brief definition. Styrofoam Coolers Weird, right? These little coolers are PERFECT for creating the Snowball Scoop workstation I've described in a previous post. They are also great for decorating a winter/snow themed concert. At a buck each you can by dozens and create a wide variety of "snow" structures. Dip and Veggie Trays Once I started creating workstations with these dip and veggie trays it was pretty hard to stop! Check out: Dip and Chip Workstations Dip Tray Workstations: Instrument Families and Note Values (freebie here!) Dip Tray Workstations: Bottle Cap Pitches Pool Noodles If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that I am a big fan of using pool noodles in creative ways. Noodle ponies, steady beat swords and unique bulletin board displays are just some of the ways that I have used them. You might like to check out these pool noodle posts for more information: How to Make Pool Noodle Ponies Pool Noodle Ponies: What to Do with Your New Herd Steady Beat Swords Unusual and Incredibly Fabulous Bulletin Board Borders Like these ideas? Pin them for later!
