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!

Let's Get It Started!

I got back to school and what did I see? A great big mess staring back at me!

Needless to say, I was a little overwhelmed. I had two days at each school to get everything ready. Thanks to Pinterest and music teachers from all over the place, I had a lot planned. And guess what? I got it all done! I'm very excited for this upcoming school year. And here are some of the reasons why...

Rockin Behavior Chart idea stolen from The Inspired Apple.

Welcome Bach! (I love puns)

Last year I had a bulletin board for Musician and Instrument of the Week where I put up a new fact every day. To start of this year, I thought I would put up those facts and see if they students could name the mystery instrument! I went easy on them for this first week of school.

Dynamics Vocal Chart

Autograph Wall as seen in my room last year. Originally from Wendell Elementary.

I finally added labels to my instruments! 

 Double Bar at the end of my line.

Treble Clef to show the start of my line. Yay for reinforcing vocabulary and recognition!

 View when you walk in the door at school #1.

 Rules, Rewards, Consequences and Rockin Behavior at the front of the room.

View when you walk into the room at school #2.

Found a Converse Key Chain to match my shoes! I also bought Pete the Cat (who also likes to wear Converse). I can't wait to read the story to my students and have them color their own school shoes!

Now to wait until Monday.... :)

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.