Happy 2018! I hope you've all enjoyed the holidays. I had a great time relaxing with my family! This year, my break is rather short, and I'm going back to school January 2. With the short break, I've had to do some reflection during break to make sure I was in the right mindset to go back! Here are a few ways I've reflected on my school year thus far: Where have they been? Now is a great time to look at my year plans and previous lesson plans to see where my students have been. Are they "on track" or did we get a bit behind? Which concepts have they learned so far? How is their understanding? Do they need more practice or are they ready to move on? What worked well? What didn't? A note here: don't feel guilty if your kids are behind. Almost every year, at least one of my grade levels gets behind. I look at my year plan and shake my head at where I thought they'd be and where they actually are. But the time they've spent is time well spent--they......

Upper elementary can be a tough level to teach. They are sometimes "too cool" for school, and self-conscious of their singing voices. Academically they are advanced, yet musically they may need the basics. In this blog post, I'll detail my tips for lesson planning for the upper elementary music room. Keep reading for how to receive a free upper elementary music lesson with songs, materials, and more! A little background about my situation: most of the fifth graders I teach, I've had since Kindergarten. I know, I'm very lucky! But I have been in other situations, where they needed a lot of help with the musical basics, where behavior was an issue, and where students didn't want to sing. Here are my suggestions for teaching and planning for upper elementary: Choose songs and games wisely When choosing song literature for fourth, fifth, and sixth grade, I am very careful. I make sure to choose songs that I know kids will love, yet can be used to teach concepts on......

My first few years of teaching, I sat down for hours at a time, on Saturday or Sunday, and planned all my lessons for the next week…by hand. Now, having kids at home, I really prefer for my weekends to be family time, and make sure to have time during the school day or right after the school day, before I go home, to write lessons (and I do them all by computer!) I realize that some music teachers have little to no planning during the day (as I’ve been there) so today, I’m writing a blog post with different options for when to lesson plan. During the weekend Like I wrote above, you could simply take a chunk of your weekend, sit down with a few cups of coffee, and knock them all out for the next week! It can be great to not have to worry about lesson planning during the week—especially if you have little to no planning. Another benefit is that once you’re in lesson planning mode, it sometimes goes faster. The disadvantage is that you lose a decent amount of your weekend. And if you have......

My first few years of teaching, I sat down for hours at a time, on Saturday or Sunday, and planned all my lessons for the next week…by hand. Now, having kids at home, I really prefer for my weekends to be family time, and make sure to have time during the school day or right after the school day, before I go home, to write lessons (and I do them all by computer!) I realize that some music teachers have little to no planning during the day (as I’ve been there) so today, I’m writing a blog post with different options for when to lesson plan. During the weekend Like I wrote above, you could simply take a chunk of your weekend, sit down with a few cups of coffee, and knock them all out for the next week! It can be great to not have to worry about lesson planning during the week—especially if you have little to no planning. Another benefit is that once you’re in lesson planning mode, it sometimes goes faster. The disadvantage is that you lose a decent amount of your weekend. And if you have......

Here in the states, we've just begun our second half of the year, but I was reminded recently about how our friends in Australia are starting school right about now since they just finished summer. Because of this, TeachersPayTeachers is throwing a big sale on January 20 and 21! Many stores, including mine, will be 20% off, and then you can get an additional 8% off with the code START16. Since we are starting our second half of the year, and Australians are at the beginning of their year, I thought I'd write about resources that can help with planning--whether you are starting your year or trying to regroup after the first half of the year. I'll write about one of my products that has helped me, a product I've already bought that has helped me, and a product I will be buying during the sale that will help with planning. If you are a teacher blogger, feel free to link up; directions are at the end of the post. Here goes! #1: Planning in a Snap Recently, I created this se......

We've all been there...we get sick in the middle of the night, or our kids get sick in the middle of the night, and we are scrambling to put together sub plans. It's not fun to put together sub plans when your loved ones or you are sick, especially when we often have to plan for a substitute to not have any music background! A few years ago, after finding some sub tubs on Pinterest, I decided to make a sub tub for myself, so that I could be prepared in ANY situation with solid sub plans that could work with any sub! Here is what worked for me: I bought my sub tub from Target (you can purchase a similar one here. ) Here is the outside of my sub tub: ...and here is the inside of my sub tub: Here is a closer look inside the sub tub: File folder with general information I put the following information into this folder: Introduction to my classroom (and a thank you to the sub!), information about any duties I have, information about fire, tornado, and safety response drills, routine......

We've all been there...we get sick in the middle of the night, or our kids get sick in the middle of the night, and we are scrambling to put together sub plans. It's not fun to put together sub plans when your loved ones or you are sick, especially when we often have to plan for a substitute to not have any music background! A few years ago, after finding some sub tubs on Pinterest, I decided to make a sub tub for myself, so that I could be prepared in ANY situation with solid sub plans that could work with any sub! Here is what worked for me: I bought my sub tub from Target (you can purchase a similar one here. ) Here is the outside of my sub tub: ...and here is the inside of my sub tub: Here is a closer look inside the sub tub: File folder with general information I put the following information into this folder: Introduction to my classroom (and a thank you to the sub!), information about any duties I have, information about fire, tornado, and safety response drills, routine......