End of November

The last week in November was kind of a mash up of catching up on things left from the short week of Thanksgiving. We began discussing timbre and reviewed notes (either duration or the staff depending on the grade). 

Kindergarten discussed Timbre by discovering the different sounds things can make. 

Their favorite was the chair drums.

2nd Graders made NoteFlakes! 

Trying to get them to learn the actual names of notes instead of the sound syllables they learned in 1st grade.

3rd Graders doing centers. There was Rhythm (drawing on a dry erase board), Reading, Over the Edge, Listening, and a music concentration game. 

Board for December filled with the above mentioned Noteflakes.

Why We Do What We Do

From one of my 3rd graders this week...

"Thanks for everything you have taught me"

Priceless.

Form

I could not teach my lesson on Form to my 4th graders on Monday because I didn't have any 4th graders to teach! I understand that homeroom teachers need certain things from their students and taking away their resource time is the only way to do this. However, it is very frustrating when I have to just cancel my lesson to accommodate them.

The two students I did have got to play on my computer at Chuck Vanderchuck. (awesome website!)

2nd grade made a form grilled cheese to learn ABA form.

Kindergarten learned about echo and got to even practice their spelling on the board!

1st grade learned about Call and Response. For this song, they had to move the scarf around during the "call" section of the song and throw the scarf in the air during the "response".

Planning Binder

I have been working on putting together a lesson plan binder this year, but it has become so much more! It is my life line to work! The state is requiring every teacher to complete an evaluation binder to show that we are in fact effective and efficient teachers. So what I have done is kind of get my plans organized around the county pacing guide and the SOLs for music. That way I can just make copies from my lesson plan binder to put into my evaluation binder. 

So here is the cover:

 Table of Contents: 

*Year-long Planning Guide *Weekly Lesson Plans *Schedules and Calendar *Music SOLs *County Pacing Guide *Student Assessments

 I am trying to really organize what I do and when I do it so that I don't leave anything out! So I have four things to think about each month: Topic to teach, Instrument for lower grades to learn, Holidays to sing about  and when I do Rewards.

 The county calendar so I can know whats going on.

 I teach at two different schools, so I was sure to have my schedule for each so that I won't get lost! I teach 7 classes for 45 minutes at one school and 8 classes for 35 minutes at the other. Annoying for planning.

 The Music Standards of Learning for K-5

 Music pacing guide for my county.

 We had to make our own assessment that would be given to the students 3 times throughout the year as a way to show that students are indeed learning what they are supposed to in music class. This was a very long and annoying process considering I was coming up with six tests all on my own. 

On the left you see an example rubric that I used for K and 1st grade. 

On the right is the 2nd grade assessment with simple matching and multiple choice.

One Thing At A Time

I am loving my new method of teaching one topic across all of the grades! It is working so well!!!
Not only am I not going crazy as I try to organize my thoughts, but I am able to quickly remind students what we did last year to cover the same subject. I love seeing that little light bulb go off in their heads as they make these connections. I even had one of my 5th graders tell me "I think I'm getting music more this year than ever".

I was trying to think of some examples from the past two weeks (Tempo and Dynamics) to post on here, but really the things that have been working the best came from a book! The Music Zone has a bunch of songs to help students remember various topics. The songs are fun and catchy and really stick with the students. They have topics at all levels and each song comes with an activity or a game idea. I will definitely be getting The Music Zone 2!

Fun Friday

This month's Fun Friday plan... Dance Dance Revolution!!!!

1st Graders concentrating very hard. :)

I think we need more stinky feet! Everyone loved being allowed to take their shoes off (myself included!).

Some Changes

Realized I had some majorly under-used space with the back of my piano! A little paper and copies of my kodaly hand signals later and voila! 

I have a laminated poster board where my Musician of the Day gets to write down what we learned in class. My new addition is the music topic of the day. I've decided to start having one blanket topic to cover over the course of two weeks. Each grade will work on that topic at their own level. To show the students how we continue to build and learn music, I thought I would let them know the blanket topic and challenge them to write something specific that their class learned.

This week's topic was Tempo. I forgot to take the picture before erasing what the students wrote, but some examples were 1st: Fast and Slow and 4th: Adagio and Allegro.

One of my schools let me use some money not in the music budget to buy handchimes!! My 4th and 5th graders will be using these beauties at our Winter PTO to play Jingle Bells and Joy to the World. 

I'm so excited!

Music Leaves Me Happy!

Changing seasons means changing bulletin boards!

Nice Pitch! Each softball has a solfege syllable.

I almost did "What You Autumn Know", but most of my students were not amused with my "Welcome Bach" punny board.

September

The first 6 weeks are officially over! Hard to believe report cards go home Monday. Here are some highlights from September.

4th Grade reviewing dynamics by putting the signs in order while listening to a song.

1st Grade played a game of "Beat, Beat, Rhythm". It's like duck duck goose, but differentiating between steady beats and rhythms.

2nd Grade did a  listening where they had to draw a picture and write a sentence about what the music made them feel. We listened to Vivaldi's Winter.

5th Grade practiced drawing treble clefs and drawing notes on the staff. The third line should be a quarter note and the third space a half note.

I brought in my copy of "Just Dance" for the wii for our Fun Friday this month.

Kindergarten studied high and low pitches by putting Boomwhackers in order from tallest to smallest. 

Getting Organized

Being organized is difficult for me because I usually have a hard time deciding how to organize things. Do I organize my music based on the theme? Theory concepts? Grade level? 

Here are some of my attempts for 2012-2013: The Year the Music Room Makes Sense.

Music K-8 Magazines in order by Volume and CDs all in the same case!

I finally put together a Substitute folder with 2 weeks of plans! Hopefully I won't need them consecutively.

I also made a lesson plan binder. One page has the Music SOLs I'm covering for the week and also the materials needed. I go to a different school everyday, so writing down what I need to pack is quite helpful. In the back I have the county's pacing guide, the state SOL standards and a copy of the written assessments I've been forced to give this year.

Speaking of tests...

I don't have desks. 

But I got a new rug!!

We've Got Rhythm!

Last week we reviewed Steady Beat and Rhythm.

These boys are looking at different metronomes. The digital one is mine that I use when I teach private piano lessons and the older one was my grandmother's. She was also a piano teacher!

3rd Grade reviewed their types of notes by coloring all of the quarter notes to reveal a hidden picture. The worksheet came from Beth's Music Notes.

1st Graders used plates as drums to practice playing a steady beat.

5th Graders created their own rhythms by using body percussion.

This year, I alternate which school I am at on Fridays. At one of my schools, I have to teach in the computer lab. However, at the second school, I am allowed to take the students for an extra music period. I have decided that this extra music will be Fun Fridays! Upper grades were broken into three groups and rotated to different activities. Lower grades enjoyed Mary Poppins and Richard Scary's Best Learning Songs Ever.

Here are some 5th graders playing Wii Music. I was so blessed that the new PE teacher does not like the idea of playing video games in the gym. I am now the proud new owner of a new TV, a Wii and some Dance Dance Revolution pads. Responding to music with movement is one of my SOLs, so I'm excited to get to play video games at school!

A second station was continuing our review of note values. It is a game called Over the Edge that I stole from Pianimation. Jen has so many awesome games with free printables!

Here is a view of all three stations. The third was an instrument match game just like Memory. I got it out of my Ultimate Music Game Book.

First Week of School

August 13 was our first official day of school. I teach at two different schools. For the past 3 years I have split them up so that I went to one school on A weeks and the other on B weeks. This year, they decided that I should switch schools every day. So I'm at one school on Mondays, Wednesdays and every other Friday and the other school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This is WAY more exhausting than I was expecting. However, it is nice to be able to see all of my students every week though. :)

This week we got to know the rules, the classroom and each other.

Here are some Kindergarteners coloring their School Shoes after hearing Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes. They loved the song! I think Pete may be my new best friend.

We played a game called "Remember Me?" where one person hid their eyes while another described themselves in a silly voice and the first student had to guess who was talking. I loved how the students turned my piano into their shield.

1st and 2nd Grades did a Music Room Scavenger Hunt. This was a great way for students to get comfortable in the space. I changed some things around, so even if students remembered where everything was last year they still had fun looking for new things.

Since my name changed from last year, one of the things on the Scavenger Hunt was to find my new name spelled out. They found it!