Hey friends! Since Martin Luther King Jr. Day is coming up, teachers in our district get a 3 day weekend! I am SO looking forward to this! I don’t know about you, but January feels long…..like, REALLY long. It’s been rainy for the past few weeks in Dallas, so I’m hoping there will be some…
homeschool activity
Nutcracker Story & Music Questions
Ah, yes- 1 week left until Winter Break. It is the best of times……it is the worst of times. You know what I mean!! Thankfully, I’ve got my Winter Program out of the way and I can fully dedicate my classes to teaching “The Nutcracker”. There are many resources out there for “The Nutcracker”, but…
Ukulele Christmas Carols for beginners
I love Christmas. The decorations, hot chocolate, carols, cheesy hallmark movies, and cozying up on the couch by the fire. I even love helping my students prepare for their Winter Program. This year, I wanted my ukulele club to perform a few Christmas carols. But after some searching, it was hard to find songs to…
Top 5 Tips for Teaching Ukulele
1.Use the “sticker method”. I buy these tiny neon stickers from Walmart or Amazon, and color code each chord. Often, I will create corresponding chord charts with songs we are working on. 2. Partner Up. You don’t need a full class set of ukuleles. The student’s fingers start to hurt and by partnering up it…
Simple Sub Plan
It’s October! That means Pumpkin Patches, fair days, crisp air, halloween, and I don’t know about you, but for me it also means ALLERGIES. I was out sick the other day and needed a simple sub plan. When I first started teaching, I would print off hundreds of worksheets for my sub and leave behind…
Pipe Cleaner Rhythms
Hello everyone!!! I’m currently teaching Kindergartners and 1st graders about quarter notes and eighth notes. Fortunately, they seemed super excited to clap and shout “TA, TA, TI-TI, TA!!!!”. It has never been a problem for my students to learn rhythms by rote. But in the past couple of years, I’ve been trying to put an…
1st Day of School Music Lesson for Upper Elementary!
Hello friends! As a part of my “Back-to-School” series, this next post will be about FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL lesson ideas for 3rd-5th grade. I remember my first year of teaching, I was so nervous about what I would do with my students once they walked into the classroom! So I am going to go…
Bate Bate Chocolate
Hello friends! Today I am going to share 2 rhythmic chants that are in the Spanish language. BOTH having to do with chocolate. YUM! My husband and I traveled to Antigua, Guatemala for 2 weeks in order to take Spanish classes through Proyecto Linguistico. It was a great experience and I would recommend Antigua to…
Beach Ball Music!
Hello friends! So today is the first day of summer! I may be a bit more weathered and beat down then the beginning of the year, but I thought it would be the perfect time to introduce my favorite summer learning tool- the BEACH BALL! A few years ago I randomly purchased 3 beach balls…
Fun Movement Songs!
Hello friends! The end of the school year is finally upon us! I just finished inputting my grades for the last 6 weeks! HALLELUJAH! Now I’ve just got to make it through field day, award ceremonies, and all of that fun end-of-the-year stuff. For most teachers, the end of the school year means FREEDOM! But…