Hi everyone! I hope you had a good weekend. My family just got back from Cincinnati for a short, one-day trip, and it was fun and relaxing! Today, I’m writing again with my “Three Things” linky party, in which I blog about three things that worked for my and my students this week. Thanks to  Whimsy Workshop Teaching ,  Kimberly Geswein fonts , and  Jax and Jake  for the cute clip art and fonts! #1: Reviewing Orff instrument rules before playing instruments My first graders have been practicing steady beat and rhythm, so I had them sing “Engine Engine” (all on sol-mi) while playing the beat on the Orff instruments (a bourdon, on C and G.) I think the reason this was more successful for my students than in years past is that I took my time to explain how to play the instruments correctly before having students go to the instruments. I used Cori Bloom’s Orff instrument rules in the first lesson, which you can see below (click on the pic to buy them in her store): After ......

Hi everyone! I hope you had a good weekend. My family just got back from Cincinnati for a short, one-day trip, and it was fun and relaxing! Today, I’m writing again with my “Three Things” linky party, in which I blog about three things that worked for my and my students this week. Thanks to  Whimsy Workshop Teaching ,  Kimberly Geswein fonts , and  Jax and Jake  for the cute clip art and fonts! #1: Reviewing Orff instrument rules before playing instruments My first graders have been practicing steady beat and rhythm, so I had them sing “Engine Engine” (all on sol-mi) while playing the beat on the Orff instruments (a bourdon, on C and G.) I think the reason this was more successful for my students than in years past is that I took my time to explain how to play the instruments correctly before having students go to the instruments. I used Cori Bloom’s Orff instrument rules in the first lesson, which you can see below (click on the pic to buy them in her store): After ......

Hi everyone! Today I'd like to bring my linky party, "Five favorite pins," back for the month of June! If you are a blogger, feel free to link up. Just see the directions at the end of this post. #1: Folk music anchor chart Being a Kodaly-inspired teacher, I use folk music ALL THE TIME. So I love the idea of making an anchor chart all about folk music! Sometimes, when a discussion about folk music is not had, kids end up thinking that I make up all of the songs, which is really funny and endearing but of course not true. We want our kids to know all about folk music, and what a great way to do it! #2: Mason jars with ribbons I have a hard time organizing stuff, like pencils and markers. I have the urge to just throw everything into a drawer because I get overwhelmed, so solutions like this are GREAT for me! Since I'm going with a jungle theme this year, I'm going to find jungle-inspired ribbon for the mason jars. So cute! (If you are looking for jungle-themed deco......