Five Favorite Pins of July

Sorry I've been MIA recently. I've been in my classroom creating and putting so many new things together for fall. Today, I'm linking up with Mrs. Miracle's Music Room to show my Five Favorite Pins of July.

#1: Mystery Song Music Listening: Bundle #2

I absolutely LOVE Cori Bloom's products. Plus, she is super nice and quick to respond if you have comments and questions. She has been creating these listening bundles for awhile, but I super excited about the mystery songs. It's a great way to break out and let the students share their ideas while introducing them to a variety of music. Her most recent bundle is great for Christmas and winter - the graphics are beautiful!

#2: Singing with a Sub (Sub Plans for the Music Classroom)

Aileen Miracle has recently been updating some of her files and this one is awesome! I purchased her "Wild About Music" sub plans in the spring and thought they were great stand alone lessons. The updates and additions she's made this pack are wonderful. There are ideas for listening, movement, centers, etc. I can't wait to purchase this in the next few weeks. 

#3: Instrument Petting Zoo

I have been wanting to have an instrument petting zoo for my primary students ever since I was student teaching. I've never figured out how to do it, though! This is a great pin to David Row's blog about an instrument petting zoo. He also just released a product in his TPT store with more guides and information. I know I will use this somehow in my classroom this year, either for conferences, back-to-school night or in a lesson. 

#4 Star Spangled Banner word cloud

This year is the 200th anniversary of the Star Spangled Banner. My 4th graders have the yearly tradition of putting on the Veteran's Day program. This is a great way to practice the words to the national anthem, while also displaying their creativity with technology. This Tagxedo was created by another music teacher I met through an elementary music education chat on Twitter. Genius!!

#5: Stretchy band ideas

Earlier this year, I created my own stretchy band for movement. Here's the post if you'd like to make your own (it literally takes 10 minutes!): Stretchy Band tutorial

Anyways, I happened upon this pin with several ideas for using the stretchy band. I struggle for ideas with my younger students and the website really gives some awesome ideas. 

Only 1 more month until school starts - gosh, it's flown by! I've already been in my room and starting putting things together. Hopefully, you're finding some great ideas from pins, blog posts, workshops, etc. to bring to your music class this year. Take care!

TeachersPayTeachers Wishlist!

It's Teacher Appreciation week!

I've been having some family issues in the last few days - which should be totally unrelated to Teacher Appreciation week - except for the fact that I have an amazing support system at school! My principal has been amazing and understanding, as well as my fellow teachers. I couldn't ask for anything more. There have been some days lately and there are more ahead, but I have cried so many happy tears today because of the blessings of friendship.

Another wonderful thing about Teacher Appreciation week is that so many wonderful music teachers are celebrating with TeachersPayTeachers. Tomorrow and Wednesday (May 6th & 7th), the website is having a sale and many of the teachers I follow are giving an extra discount to their products. This is so exciting! I can't wait to get a few last minute items for the end of the year and already start thinking about new ideas for next year. Here are a few top items on my wishlist:

1. Meet the Composers

             Teaching about composers is always something that is a stretch for me. The kids aren't very interested and it is a lot of...dare I say it...sometimes boring material. However, The Bulletin Board Lady has just put out a collection of coloring and fact pages about composers. This is a great jumping off point for my primary students AND we love coloring in the music room!

Meet the Composers

2. Form help

            I am really into teaching my students form right now. There are so many movement and listening activities out there, but I have found a couple of new ideas I am really excited about. The first is a circle game called "The Farmer's Dairy Key." My students are active learners, so this will definitely be a winner if it has a game attached. Second is the "burger" method of teaching form. Let's face it - kids relate to food (hello - I relate to food! ha). The burger picture is a great way to show form and this packet helps them separate out the different parts, but also get a chance to compose their own form burger. Cute and a great assessment!

The Farmer's Dairy Key

Build a Burger

3. Evaluation packet

           My first year of teaching, I constantly had the students assessing themselves, especially following a performance. Recently, though, I haven't done this and I think that is a big fault of mine. It is a great learning experience for the students to review themselves, highlight the great things and think about ways to create a better performance. Plus, data and assessment in the classroom is a great thing to show to administration or parents. This bundle of over 40 worksheets should fit every concert, grade or learning level. Check it out!

Music Performance Evaluation Bundle

4. Sub Packet

          I always try to have a folder on my laptop with emergency sub ideas. Granted, planning ahead doesn't really help too much when you are in a crisis. Still, it is nice to have ideas ready to go in case you have a planned absence, sick voice day or early out/late start. It's also nice to throw in little isolated ideas here and there so the curriculum doesn't become a boring routine. Aileen Miracle has put together two packets for teachers with a ton of ideas. I am super excited about the second one and can't wait to get my hands on it.

Out of the Wild Sub Plans

       I could post resources for hours! I hope everyone goes and checks out TeachersPayTeachers for the next two days. Help out these teachers who are sharing the wonderful things that they are utilizing in their classroom. Also, leaving feedback is so helpful to teachers and people checking out the resources.  Most of these sellers and many more will give you extra discounts with the code TPTXO.

Thank you to all of the teachers who have influenced and supported me in the past, present and those who will touch my life in the future. Have a great week!

Music Express Magazine

Goodness golly! It has been almost 2 weeks since my last blog post - sorry!

My life has been crazy lately because....drumroll......I GOT MARRIED! "Ms. Dunn" is now "Mrs. Skog." Some kids have it down, but it's going to take awhile for the students, parents and teachers to catch on. No biggy, though!

There have been a lot of things going on in the music classroom because 3 grades (4th, 5th & 2nd) are getting ready for their music programs in November and December. Also, chorus is getting ready for their December concert AND several students were selected to participate in the high school's production of "Honk - the musical." Busy time!

Anyways, I am going to post today about Music Express Magazine. I am in love! (cue magical cartoon floating hearts above my head). I came across the mention of this several times in blog posts and resource lists but had no idea what it was. So, I checked out the website and literally gasped in excitement. This magazine has exactly what I'm looking for! There are world music articles, lots of music ideas (singing and instrumental) and their is always a small article about relevant music! This is huge! Sometimes it's a singer (Justin Bieber, Carrie Underwood) or a musician (Josh Bell) or even about music technology, stage production and recording. I am constantly trying to pull classroom activities back to why it's important in the big picture. We are really pushing this in our district and it's hard with some concepts. Still, this was so exciting!

Then, I discovered you could get a sample pack AND the previous music teacher had received some. JACKPOT! While some of it isn't as helpful, there is a big plus in having this subscription. It's almost $200 for a whole year (6 issues), but I can't stop thinking about how this is going to help students see the bright light and help them improve their reading and reasoning skills. As soon as I can scrounge up the money (weddings are expensive, wow), I am totally going to subscribe for a year and try it out. I get a teacher book filled with more ideas and a CD, plus 30 student magazines. I would love to use these for project resources throughout the year. So many ideas! I even found an awesome listening map that can be used for Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever next week with the 4th graders.

EEEK! Music teacher overload. 

Please let me know what you think about Music Express Magazine - good, bad, eh?

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.

http://musicelementary.blogspot.ca/2012/01/emergency-sub-plan.html?m=1

Can't wait to see the other great ideas that others post. Enjoy!

The dreaded "movie day"

I posted a sub sheet that I am going to start using this year in my last entry. This got me thinking about my emergency sub ideas for the school year. Substitute teachers are just few and far between these days! Maybe this is just in my neck of the woods, but it is a sad thing. Last year, I might have had one or two actual substitute teachers when I had other school events or was sick. In most situations, I had one of my principals or another teacher/associate cover and then switch back and forth with someone who was available for 30 minutes. Because I never knew what was going to happen, I was recommended to leave movies - I know, movies! The kids live for these days, but I am not too keen on missing some class time. Still, since this is an easy idea for a last minute sub, I wanted to have something that we could tie into our concepts or start up a new idea.

I am always looking for new ideas, especially for my intermediate students (grades 3-5). Here are some of my ideas. PLEASE give me suggestions, ideas, comments :)


Primary (K-2)
 
Arthur's Music Jamboree - I'll admit it...I still love Arthur. This DVD has several episodes relating to music, like instruments, performances and stage fright. It's especially good for my younger students before a performance. Even Arthur makes mistakes and gets nervous, but everything turns out great!

Lomax, the Hound of Music - I love the music and work of John Feierabend! I had the opportunity to go to his workshop last year and had so much fun. While some of the episodes steered away from his vision, this DVD has hand-selected episodes that Feierabend approves of. The kids will also recognize some of the music and stories because I use a lot of his materials in class.

The Tuneables - I haven't had a chance to watch this yet, but the reviews look great. There is singing, steady beat and lots of instrument introduction. However, it is pricey. For $30, you get a CD and DVD, but the DVD is only one episode. I'm really interested to purchase it and try it, but the previous DVDs are more worth the money in my opinion.

Little Amadeus - This is the other set I'm intrigued about. It is a boxed set of the first season all about Mozart as a child. It looks fun and is a great way to start talking about composers, classical music and opera. However, the reviews say that it is more "fairy-tale" like instead of historical accuracy.




Intermediate (3-5)

Fantasia 2000 - I love using Fantasia for lots of things! It's great for the kids to watch, but also to listen, create and compare with writing. I've done lots of writing activities and group discussions with Fantasia. The kids especially like The Sorcerer's Apprentice!

Classical Kids - Classical Kids has great stories about composers. My students love watching "Beethoven Lives Upstairs." The only drawback to these is that they are over thirty minutes. Therefore, I don't like using them in a pinch because I want to build on the information in it or use it as a review - not just shove it in randomly for them to watch and never mention again!

Musicals - We talk about musicals in 5th grade, but it's always nice for the kids to have a preview or small understanding of them. Again, the time length is a problem, but I always have The Music Man and Mary Poppins on hand in a pinch.


Any Grade - Phineas and Ferb & The Magic School Bus always work for both parts of the elementary. The Magic School Bus has a great episode about sound and a winter musical about recycling. Good introduction to musicals, especially during that "almost Christmas break" time. Phineas & Ferb is the same way. They do a rollercoaster musical and a summer musical. These aren't my favorites sometimes, but on emergency days, you have to do what you have to do.



Again, I am not an advocate for constantly using DVDs. I think they serve a purpose occasionally, but this post is for those last minute days or times when the substitute situation is out of your hands. Hopefully this provides some new resources. If you have any suggestions, I would definitely take them - thanks!

Sub Form

As a music teacher, I tend to have a lot of subs throughout the year when it's time for music programs. Each grade has one program each year because my classes range from 100-130 students in each. I always try to be detailed with my sub notes, but it ends up being a complete page. This leaves no room for the sub to write good/bad things or any questions/problems that came up throughout the day.

I spotted this gem from http://creatingandteaching.blogspot.com/2011/06/substitute-binder.html

It's a free sub template that comes with other sub binder ideas. If you like this template and want to see more, you can go to Erin's store and download it for free: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Substitute-Teacher-Binder-Pack-135734

Since this form is very "classroom teacher" based, I chose to edit it a little for my own tastes. Here is my version, though I give all the amazing credit to Erin and her wonderful design tools.

The graphics are more music friendly and I changed "students" to "classes," as I usually have more problems with classes as a whole with substitutes. Let me know if you'd like the form - I'd be happy to share!