This is my second week of school and we are in full swing now! For me back to school is an exciting time and I love seeing my students again and getting to make music with them. I teacher 1st-4th graders, so it is nice when I see my 2nd-4th graders they already know my… Continue reading Back to School
Tag: Classroom
Assessment Ideas
In the past I have felt uncertain about how to assess my students that helped them and helped me. I had done singing assessments and written assessments at the beginning of my career that just did not fit with the kind of teaching I was doing. I was having to stop the learning to do… Continue reading Assessment Ideas
Curriculum, Planning, & More
Curriculum I started a very basic form of curriculum in my first few years, but it wasn't helping as much as I had hoped. Then, I took a music-curriculum course. It was lead by Arvida Steen and Jay Broeker, Orff-Schulwerk legends. They helped us to start out with just a basic list of things to… Continue reading Curriculum, Planning, & More
I Can Statements
Mallets & Music : I Can Statements There are never enough hours in the day, and there are especially never enough minutes in a music class it seems. Over the past few years it has seemed that the minutes of "music making" keep decreasing due to the various other educational things I have been asked to… Continue reading I Can Statements
Formative Assessments & Exit Slips
I have tried to do different exit slips over the past few years. They are a great tool to use as well as a great thing for principals and observers to see. Over the past few years I tried post-it notes, small pieces of paper, thumbs up/down; all to no avail. It was either too… Continue reading Formative Assessments & Exit Slips
Music Around the World
I love to use songs, games, and activities from cultures all over the world. I try to help my students learn as much as I can about the world outside of their school district and state. When we learn a song or game from another country we use the Music Around the World board to… Continue reading Music Around the World
Instrumentarium
As an Orff process teacher, I use my instrumentarium almost every day with at least one grade level. Some days every class is using it. Because I use it so much, and thankfully have the room in my room, I leave the instruments out all the time. The students know not to go into "instrument… Continue reading Instrumentarium
