With December upon us, today I'm teaming up with Amy Abbott to blog about my favorite December activities for the music room! The kids are SO excited this month! Here are my favorite activities to keep them engaged and celebrate winter holidays while still practicing musical concepts and skills: #1: Singalong Whether you simply sing through your favorite carols in your room or have a school-wide singalong, it is SO fun to sing holiday songs with your students! If you're looking for more information on directing a singalong, check out this blog post . #2: Picture books I love using children's literature as much as I can. Here are some of my favorites for December:        #3: Play dreidel After singing my absolute favorite Hanukkah song " When oh when ," I love to play dreidel with my students! I bought a dreidel at Target and then play with candy. Great way to teach about another holiday while having lots of fun! #4: Christmas Carol Bingo If you feel like all your ......

Since it is Thanksgiving week, I thought I'd write a quick blog post today with a round up of some fun ideas for your music room this week! Here is a post I wrote with a few different ideas for the music room, including using turkeys to write rhythm, a picture book for thankfulness, and more! (Click the picture to go to the post.) Amy Abbott just wrote this post with lots of great ideas for Thanksgiving, including a stick game, turkey beach balls, and more! Here is a post by David Row, from Make Moments Matter, about the Thanksgiving song, "Over the River and Through the Woods." Jennifer at the Yellow Brick Road wrote this blog post about one of my favorite call/response songs, "Shoo Turkey." Tanya is a blogger with the collaborative blog, the Kodaly Corner (which I also contribute to), and she has a variety of songs and ideas in this blog post: Last but not least, Tracy King (the Bulletin Board Lady) wrote this blog post with lots of great ideas for Thanksgivin......

Since Halloween is just around the corner, I'm blogging today with four of my favorite picture books for the music room during Halloween! Two of the four books I'm blogging about aren't specifically Halloween books, but because of their theme, can work really well during this time of the year! Here goes! Go Away, Big Green Monster A few years ago, I saw this book being read at my daughter's daycare and fell in love with it! I decided it would be a great book to add instruments to...so here's what I do: First, I just read the book to students and we discuss it. Before the second reading, we decide as a class which non-pitched percussion instruments should be played for each body part. For example, for eyes, a few students might play the finger cymbals. For the nose, a few students might play wood blocks. For the mouth and teeth, some students might play the gathering drum, and so on! Every student would have an instrument and a specific part.  Here is a video of the ......

This past week, my choir performed their holiday concert, and it got me thinking about my favorite songs for this time of year, as well as songs I'd like to perform next year. Today, I'm teaming up with my friend Amy Abbott at Music a la Abbott to blog about our favorite Christmas choir songs as well as ones we'd like to do for next year! A couple notes: My choir consists of third, fourth, and fifth graders. Many of these pieces could also work for middle school. Many of the titles are linked to the octavos on JW Pepper or other sites; simply click to view! #1: Christmas is coming This is one of my favorites for this time of year. It's an English folk song that works well as a round. I've heard a few different versions of it, but this is the one I use: You could also have one part of the choir sing "God bless you" on mi-re-do as an ostinato. #2: "Minka " arr. by Jill Ann Jones This is one of my all-time favorites for Christmas! It's a 2-part......

This past week, my choir performed their holiday concert, and it got me thinking about my favorite songs for this time of year, as well as songs I'd like to perform next year. Today, I'm teaming up with my friend Amy Abbott at Music a la Abbott to blog about our favorite Christmas choir songs as well as ones we'd like to do for next year! A couple notes: My choir consists of third, fourth, and fifth graders. Many of these pieces could also work for middle school. Many of the titles are linked to the octavos on JW Pepper or other sites; simply click to view! #1: Christmas is coming This is one of my favorites for this time of year. It's an English folk song that works well as a round. I've heard a few different versions of it, but this is the one I use: You could also have one part of the choir sing "God bless you" on mi-re-do as an ostinato. #2: "Minka " arr. by Jill Ann Jones This is one of my all-time favorites for Christmas! It's a 2-part......

Are you looking for gift ideas for a loved one who is a music teacher? Or are you a music teacher trying to find gift ideas to give your family? I'm teaming up with my friend Amy Abbott , to blog about great gift ideas for any music teacher! Please note that some of the links in this post are affiliate links. Echo Dot I was super excited when my husband bought me the Echo for my birthday in late November. I hadn't asked for it and didn't even know what it was, but now, I'm hooked! The idea of the Echo is that you can play music wirelessly just by asking. It will play genres of music ("Alexa, play classical music," or "Alexa, play holiday classics") and it will play specific songs. For some songs, you do need a monthly membership to Amazon music, which is $3.99, but there are lots of songs that it will play without that membership. You can also ask Alexa to add things to your to do list, ask her for the weather, ask for the items on your calendar for ......

Are you looking for gift ideas for a loved one who is a music teacher? Or are you a music teacher trying to find gift ideas to give your family? I'm teaming up with my friend Amy Abbott , to blog about great gift ideas for any music teacher! Please note that some of the links in this post are affiliate links. Echo Dot I was super excited when my husband bought me the Echo for my birthday in late November. I hadn't asked for it and didn't even know what it was, but now, I'm hooked! The idea of the Echo is that you can play music wirelessly just by asking. It will play genres of music ("Alexa, play classical music," or "Alexa, play holiday classics") and it will play specific songs. For some songs, you do need a monthly membership to Amazon music, which is $3.99, but there are lots of songs that it will play without that membership. You can also ask Alexa to add things to your to do list, ask her for the weather, ask for the items on your calendar for ......

Today, I'm blogging about ten tricks or treats for the music room...ten ways to integrate Halloween into your music lessons while engaging your students and improving their musicianship! #1: Skin and Bones This is truly one of my favorite folk songs for Halloween! Here is the notation: This is a call/response song, with the first part being the call, and the "ooo" part being the response. Here are the additional verses: She lived down by the old graveyard, ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo! One night she thought she'd take a walk, ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo! She walked down by the old graveyard, ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo! She saw some bones a layin' around, ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo! She went to the closet to get a broom, ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo! She opened the door and BOO! I learned a great game from my former colleague Jenna that my students love:  students lay on the ground with their eyes closed. As you sing, tap two students, who then go and hide! The rest of the students have to figure out who is missing. A rea......

Today, I'm blogging about ten tricks or treats for the music room...ten ways to integrate Halloween into your music lessons while engaging your students and improving their musicianship! #1: Skin and Bones This is truly one of my favorite folk songs for Halloween! Here is the notation: This is a call/response song, with the first part being the call, and the "ooo" part being the response. Here are the additional verses: She lived down by the old graveyard, ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo! One night she thought she'd take a walk, ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo! She walked down by the old graveyard, ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo! She saw some bones a layin' around, ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo! She went to the closet to get a broom, ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo! She opened the door and BOO! I learned a great game from my former colleague Jenna that my students love:  students lay on the ground with their eyes closed. As you sing, tap two students, who then go and hide! The rest of the students have to figure out who is missing. A rea......