RESOURCES

Teaching elementary music takes more than great lessons—you need practical ideas for everything that happens in between. Teaching also means having lots of ideas—and knowing what to use when. Our Resources page is your Go-To Toolkit, filled with practical activities, strategies, and teaching tools for the entire year. Explore ideas for running your classroom, creating learning centers, managing transitions and having fun games and activities ready when your students need something to do. This page will be here for making music teaching easier, more engaging, and more fun.

And this is just the beginning! I’ll be adding new ideas, activities, and practical teacher tips regularly, so check back often. My goal is to keep building a collection of resources you can turn to whenever you need a fresh idea, a little inspiration, or a solution to one of those “What am I going to do with them today?” moments.

Warm Ups

Chutes and Ladders Vocal Warm Up

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I am always looking for fun ways to warm up the kids voices. I have used the handy dandy slide whistle, lines on the board, sirens, etc.…., but for the little ones I thought it would be fun to use a familiar game. I came up with the idea when I was playing around with […]

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Create A “Morning Message”

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When I taught in a combined first and second grade regular classroom, the head teacher always wrote a “morning message” that was to be read as soon as the students came in the classroom in the morning. This message often included the activities of the day or something special that was going on soon. It […]

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Teacher to Teacher

10 Morning Messages That Make the First 5 Minutes of Music Class Count!

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When I was in graduate school, I did my student teaching in a first- and second-grade looped class. This meant that students would have the same teacher for both first and second grades. Although this teaching model has both positives and negatives, I learned a great deal about how to accommodate multiple learning levels. I […]

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Curriculum Decisions Part 1: My Top 5 Resources For Creating A Curriculum

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When one moves schools, a lot goes through one’s brain: What space will I be working in? What materials and resources will I have available? How many kids in a class and how often will I see them? What special needs will arise? How is disciplined handled? …and then there is the major question of: […]

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Why Sharing Is A Four-Letter Word

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Yesterday I was at a playground in an open mall here in GA with my daughter. She saw a wall activity where kids can flip a series of large tiles. Although another child was playing, she thought she would join in. He got angry at the intrusion and pushed her away. His mom immediately jumped […]

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Beginning of the Year Activities

Classroom Set Up Part 3: A “New Set Up Scavenger Hunt”

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I have been living in my current house for 6 years, yet there was nothing on the walls, really, until about 3 weeks ago. My sister and a dear friend of mine were coming to visit from Rhode Island (where I am from), so I thought it was time I decorated…. at least the first […]

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Classroom Set Up Part 2: Get Ready In 4 Easy Steps!

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As promised, here’s a first look at my classroom! The floors were done last week, so everything was in a new place. This actually was quite helpful, as I was able to see the room arranged in a different way. It was by no means a set up that would work, but it offered another […]

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Learning Centers

Getting Back To Centers: A Listening Activity

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This activity you can do as a center, in small groups or as a whole class. For the center activity, you will need listening center equipment, which can be expensive, so opting to do this as a whole class or in small groups makes sense! The goal here is to take the skill of identifying […]

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Center Series: Activities

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For the first week of school, my goal was for the activity to be familiar for the kids returning and simple enough for any newcomers. I also wanted it to be fun and unexpected! I created task cards for each group to help them be more independent ~ they worked really well in that kids […]

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Center Series: Logistics

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When creating a center based curriculum, there are a lot of logistics involved beyond what concepts/ skills you want your kids to learn. Questions arise: what procedures need to be taught? What materials are involved? Do I need to set them up, or can the kids do it? How does only having 20 minutes play […]

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Games

Dice Games for Fun

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GAME 1: Fill the Frame • Players: Up to 5 players • Materials: Note Knacks Dice and One Note Knacks Set per small group How to Play 1. Each small group receives a Note Knacks Set. 2. Roll the Time Signature Die to determine which time signature frame everyone will use. 3. Player 1 chooses […]

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The Steady Beat Freeze Game Updated

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When I was a teacher, I was always looking for new ways to practice the steady beat with my students. And while kids LOVE the Freeze game, even our favorite activities can start to feel a little predictable after a while!

So why not combine the two?

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Steady Beat Freeze Game

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