In the past years I’ve struggled with teaching songs about Thanksgiving in music class because of the history associated with it. I want to teach kids the true facts about Thanksgiving but the facts are grim. So, my solution has been to put the focus on learning about Native Americans and the general idea of gratitude.
elementary music
Top 7 Christmas Songs for Pre-K & Kinder [With Movements]
In my first year of teaching, I was asked to prepare a Christmas Program for my Pre-K & Kinder students. I knew it would be challenging but also super fun! It turns out it was a little more challenging than it was fun. This was mainly because I chose songs that were too wordy or…
“The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything”-Storybook+Movement+Instruments
One of my favorite things to do in the music classroom is read books to my students! I especially love it when the book has musical aspects to it so it can be easily incorporated into my music curriculum. A book that I look forward to reading every Fall is “The Little Old Lady Who…
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,…
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…