Elementary Etudes: Five Favorite Pins of October!

October 13, 2013

Five Favorite Pins of October!

I love Linky Parties! This is my second time participating and it's so great to see more resources to use in the classroom. I'm linking to Mrs. Miracle's Music Room about my favorite pins of October.

http://www.mrsmiraclesmusicroom.com/2013/10/five-favorite-pins-of-october-linky.html

1. Monster Melody Madness

It is Halloween and fall time, but I love activities that can be used throughout the year. My 2nd graders are just starting to learn about "do" and this set is a great way for them to review their skills soon. It's from Amy Abbott on TeachersPayTeachers.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Monster-Melody-Madness-a-collection-of-activities-for-teaching-do-914219

2. Primary Listening Sheet

I'm trying to focus more on listening this year, through various activities. It's hard for my younger students to do this because our district is really working on writing and communication/negotiation. I love this gem I found for primary students to start communicating how they feel and why about certain types of music.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Music-Listening-Activity-Worksheet-805853

3. Every Little Thing

I LOVE singable story books, especially ones that have a great message and are relevant songs to people in every day life. I stumbled upon Cedella Marley as an author through the blog "Treble in the Classroom." I can't wait to order this book and her other story One Love.

http://trebleintheclassroom.blogspot.com/2013/08/every-little-thing-song-picture-book.html

4. Beat Buddies

I saw this on Mrs. King's music room and knew I had to incorporate it immediately. I'm having some struggles with a couple of my kinder classes concerning behavior. Beat buddies are perfect for keeping the beat and learning, but also a behavior incentive for them. If they aren't following directions, their beat buddy is taken away. My 4th graders even wanted to use them for our program practice! If they were showing program posture and doing their best at singing and listening, they could sing with a beat buddy. Wow - love!

http://mrskingrocks.blogspot.com/2013/09/beat-buddies-help-keep-steady-beat.html

5. Emergency Sub Plans

Whenever I am gone (planned or unplanned), rarely do I have a music sub or an actual scheduled sub. They are few and far between in our district, so I usually have an associate or someone in the building who is free to cover my class. I hate always showing a movie if it's not relevant to our current topics, but it's the easiest for whoever ends up teaching music. However, I found this great idea that will get the students learning about things we can't cover, as well as talk with one another.