So Long, Farewell...

Another school year is over. I cannot believe how quickly time flies! Packing up is always a little sad for me. I try to take everything completely down so that I will have a clean slate at the beginning of next year and will be encouraged to try new things.

One new thing I tried this year that was a success was the

Musician of the Day Rock Star Autograph board. 

I had this up all year, and as you can see, I had to add more paper! The kids loved finding their names or getting to figure out a way to make their name stand out.

I rewarded students who had gotten straight As for me in music with the best behavior box again. Here are two girls showing off their "stinky feet" and a boy who chose "pet shop" and got to sit with my big stuffed Baghera for a whole class period!

I has put up the "We <3 Music" board way back in February. I like to think of it more as creativity rather than laziness that I came up with the idea to have students add Post-It notes with why they love music. Some notes include: Singing, Dancing, Drums and Games.

Here is my room at one of my schools.... 

See you again in August!

What We've Been Up To

I have totally been slacking on keeping this blog updated. I got married in April and am still playing catch up on anything that wasn't mandatory. So here are some things that we've been up to in the music room.

Lots of instruments!

3rd Grade got to learn the parts of a violin and how to hold it. 

2nd Grade learned about Glockenspiels and even got to play them as a part of their PTO performance this year. They did a sound story of the song Little Bunny Foo Foo.

First grade used different instruments to show songs that have two parts. 

The big drum was a big hit!

We've also been doing a lot of moving! 

 4th Grade learned the Macarena

 5th Grade did a conga line.

1st Grade played a bridge game.

We had our K-2 PTO performance in April. Our theme was Holidays. 

Kindergarten sang about New Years Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

1st Grade sang about Groundhog's Day, President's Day and Read Across America Day.

2nd Grade sang about The First Day of Spring, Earth Day and Easter.

Line Up: UPDATE!

At the beginning of the year, I decided to try something new. Line-up Songs! It was such a big hit, that I decided it needed a little bit of an update. Let me introduce my line up song iPod...

I eventually added a play and pause button too and the kids make sure I always hit stop when we're done singing. 

I also added a stop light by the door as a reminder for the little ones. All I have to do is say "red light" and they all face forward to look at the stop light. I'm thinking I might have to splurge and try to get a real one instead of a poster that I drew. :)

I just found a new idea from Mrs. Dennis about putting a treble clef where the line leader should stand. This not only reinforces music vocabulary, but it also helps students make the connection that a treble clef is the beginning of a line. Genius! I can't wait to try this idea next year.