I don’t know about you, but my elementary students are ALL ABOUT the song “Old Town Road” right now. At first I wasn’t a fan, but I have to admit it has grown on me. There are only 4 more work days until summer, so I needed a lesson that would keep my students engaged…
youtube videos
“We Will Rock You”-Bucket Drums+Guitar
Beginner Guitar and Beginner Bucket Drumming lesson for music teachers.
Mindfulness in the Music Classroom
Last week I was teaching my 3rd grade students how to sing in rounds. One moment they were singing like beautiful angels, and then the next moment I hear a student shout to another student-”stop looking at me!”, and then another, “You looked at me first!”, and then another, “SHUT UP, GUYS!!” All of a…
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…
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…
Skin and Bones
I’m not gonna lie. Sometimes as a music teacher, the holiday seasons from October-December start blending together. Even though I love Fall with the air getting cooler, the pumpkin patches, and festivals left and right, often I’m not the most “seasonal” person during the Fall months. I don’t always put out pumpkins and halloween decorations,…
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…
Solfege Videos
Solfege is not every music teacher’s FAVORITE subject to teach. But in Texas, it’s part of the standards that are required to teach our students. Solfege is also great because it is breaks through to multiple learning styles, including visual, kinesthetic, and auditory. It helps students learn to hear pitch more accurately and is helpful…