Retro Groovy Classroom Tour

I am looking forward to have the grooviest year ever!  This year I decided to embrace the cool, retro vibe that is appearing in fashion, home furnishings and more.  I hope you'll enjoy this peek of my classroom.

My desk is in the front corner of my room.  It holds every pen or pencil known to man and the mixer box for my classroom speakers.  I play music through my computer but it is set up to quickly play from my phone if I need to.

This wall contains my light up treble staff and the board where I'll post my student objectives for the week.  I am in the smallest room I've taught in and storage is limited for instruments.  On this board I have the descriptors for our grading scale. We use standards based grading and I ask students to check where they are with our learning goals for the day and show me by raising fingers to go with the scale below.  

The chicken's name is HENnifer Lopez.  She is sometimes used as a reward.

 

This light up treble staff display is one of my favorite things.  You can learn how to make your own HERE.  The butterflies are sitting on magnetic shelves.  As the school year goes on, I plan to display books that we are reading or that connect with a subject we are learning about.

I painted this rocking chair a few years ago and my students love it. Actually teachers and staff members love it too.  When they come in to talk they often ending up rocking and talking!  The light up mushrooms don't heat up and I love the way they look.  

This corner is used mostly for storage.  On the shelves in front and behind the chairs is where I store my Orff instruments.  I really only use the chairs second semester but we don't have a place to store them until then.  

The Boomwhackers are stored in plastic bag storage containers from IKEA.  I have Boomwhackers in each container.

I use my cabinet doors for extra display area.  When we are studying instrument families or working in stations, I utilize this area as a reference for students.  You can take a closer look at these instrument family posters HERE.

My media cart holds a classroom set of iPads.  On top there are groovy containers for Kleenex, hand sanitizer and spray and a stack of blank paper.  The cart is near my classroom door so that students can put their iPads up on their way out the door.  The cute mushrooms are from Schoolgirl Style.  

This is the back of the room that displays some bulletin boards that I will leave up all year.  On the shelves my library is sorted by categories.  You can read about this organizational system and download some files to get you started by reading more about it in Organizing Books in Your Music Library.  

  

The pillows are used during workstation time.  Students love grabbing  one and sitting on it or laying on it during reading time

You can take a closer look at more of the files I used in my retro groovy classroom here.  I hope you have the best school year ever!

Musical Things to Do While Waiting in Line

For one reason or another, I often find myself waiting with students in a line.  It can be challenging to keep them quiet because let's face it...standing in line is boring!  Here are a few musical things to do while waiting in line.

Steady Beat Follow Me
This quiet game is easy and engaging.  Lead students to keep the steady beat with you, but challenge them to stop on exactly the same beat you do.  To be successful, students have to watch closely and remain quiet.  I tap my head, chin, arms, stomach, knees and nose.  I clap with two fingers or snap.  I nod or shrug my shoulders to the beat and whatever else I can think of that makes no sound or very little sound.

As students are following me, I freeze occasionally.  If they are watching closely, they can freeze on the same beat that I do.  Vary the tempo to keep it interesting.

Snap on This Beat
As students are waiting in line I'll ask them to listen to me count a steady beat and snap only on the even numbers. 
|: 12345678 :|

When they have established that rhythm, I'll switch it up.  I'll have them snap on the odd numbers, on 1, 4, 5 and 8 or any combination.  Occasionally when I walk a class back to their room we will do this.  It makes me feel like I'm on West Side Story.

Silent Singing
This is great activity to use when you are working on memorizing songs.  As students are waiting in line, I'll silently conduct one of the songs we are working on.  Every line or two I will stop and either ask them what word comes next or have them change from silent singing to whisper singing.

After I have modeled this a few times, I choose student leaders to conduct silent singing.  They love the challenge and pick up on it easily.


What's in My Pocket
This is a silly game, but the kids love it!  Before we line up, I'll slip something into my pocket.  My kids know that my desk drawers are treasure chests of weird and wonderful things so I could be putting almost anything in my pocket.

Students may ask yes/no questions one at a time by raising their hand and being called on.  I try to keep the items musical or related to music.  Some great items to slip in your pocket:  a small metrenome, tuning whistle, a reed, whistle, egg shaker, triangle striker, castanets, a small slide whistle, a recorder belt, guitar pick, or mini maracas.

Sparkle
Okay, this isn't the most musical activity but since I rarely find time to practice spelling during class I use this line game to do just that.  Usually when you play Sparkle, you stand in a circle but it works in a line too.  I say an instrument name, musical term or name of a composer.  The first student in line gives the first letter, the second student the second and so on.  If someone gets it wrong, we start over with the next person.  The goal is to spell enough words correctly that we make it through the entire line.  Traditionally, Sparkle is an elimination game but I keep everyone in and participating.

I also use this Sparkle technique to work on memorizing songs in line.  The first student says or sings the first word of the song, the second student says or sings the second word and so on.  The challenge is to get all the way through one song without having to restart.

Do you have games or activities that you use while students are waiting in line to keep them learning and engaged?  Feel free to share them in the comments.

Staying Organized in the Music Room: Three of My Favorite Things

With a busy teaching schedule, after school commitments and family life, staying organized is a must.  In my classroom I am often preparing for a concert with one grade (sometimes two different concerts!) as well as teaching my curriculum.  With hundreds of students a week, it can be overwhelming keeping everything organized.  Here are few of my favorite things for keeping my sanity in the music classroom.

1.  Playlists for Everything

This may seem like an obvious one, but keeping a playlist for each class or grade level can be super handy.  I also make playlists for concert songs, seasons and holidays, movement activities, scarf activities and more.  These playlists are organized in playlist folders.  I use iTunes for the most part, but also organize music on other streaming platforms too.

In iTunes go to File, New and select Playlist or Playlist Folder to get started.  You can create the folder and then drag any existing playlists to it and drop them in.  Here's a quick look at mine.   Notice the playlists and folders on the left.

2.  Category Boxes

I have several magazine boxes that sit on the shelf behind my desk.  I call them my category boxes.  They hold books, CDs, manipulative, folders, IEPs, classroom forms (office referrals, etc...), tidbits of inspiration, resources and more.  All of these things don't fit on a shelf or in a folder neatly as they are different shapes and sizes.  The category boxes collect all of these items and group them by topic.  

Some of my categories are ukulele resources, choir, classroom forms, song books, and seasonal and holidays.  Two of my most used boxes are the ones marked "File Me" (where I stash things that I need to file out of sight) and "Great Ideas" which is a place to put some great ideas of activities I want to try or centers and manipulative I want to make.

3.  Seating Charts that Serve Double Duty

Teaching every student in the school makes seating charts a necessity for me.  I also use them to record assessments, to note learners that need accommodations, to note behaviors until I can record them more formally, and of course to take attendance!  Read more about my seating chart in my blog post, Music Assessments with Seating Charts.

Note:  This looks real, but the names and data are fiction.

I hope you'll try one of my favorite ways to stay organized in the music room this year.  Let me know some of your favorite ones here or on Facebook.

March Music Madness

March Music Madness is an event that my school looks forward to during Music in Our Schools Month.  This bracket style tournament has one objective:  crown one song as the champion of music based on student votes.   There are several ways that you can host this event in your music classroom.  Keep reading to learn more.

There are three basic steps to take in planning and carrying out March Music Madness:

    1.  Song Selection

    2.  Experiencing the Music

    3.  Voting

Song Selection

There are several ways to go about selecting songs for March Music Madness.  

• You Choose - Select 16 songs that you think your students might like.  Consider choosing a variety of different genres and include pieces that are popular now and from several different decades (or centuries!).
• Staff Chooses - Invite staff members to recommend songs for the music bracket.  Send out an email asking for suggestions or maybe share a Google spreadsheet for them to record their recommendations.  When I do this, I add an extra incentive by rewarding the staff member that recommended the winning song with a gift card.  
• Students Choose - Have students share their favorite songs.  Be sure to check both the lyrics and any accompanying video for appropriateness if you choose to show videos.

I prefer to invite staff members to submit recommendations.  Their recommendations are already checked for lyrics and content, so that saves me time.  It also creates opportunities for great conversations in students' regular classrooms about the styles, genres and artists related to the songs.  Staff members love checking the bulletin board that I put up with the bracket each week to see how their song is doing.

I am a very theme oriented person and think that adding themes like "Music of the Movies", "Color Wars" (songs with colors in the title), "Heroes and Villains" or "Old and New" (originals and cover versions) can make this even more fun.  A friend of mine did a Disney Showdown theme and students and staff loved it!

Experiencing the Music

How will your students explore the March Music Madness bracket?  Here are a few options to consider:

• Lesson Plans - Add the bracket to your lesson plans.  The first week will probably take most of your class period to get through each song.  During the first week I usually only play about a minute to a minute and a half of each song.  The second week maybe 20-30 seconds more.  The last two weeks there is time to play all of the songs as the majority of songs have been eliminated by then.  
• Morning Announcements - Some teachers share their music bracket on the morning announcements.  Two songs per morning are played and then students vote on the songs with their homeroom teachers and the homeroom teachers enter their tallies on a shared spreadsheet.  The winners are announced the next day and this continues until there is only one winner.  If this works best for you, you will probably want to choose a smaller amount of songs so that you can get through the bracket in a month.
• Google Slides or PowerPoint - Another option is to create a PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation with the songs either linked to a playlist on a streaming service or to a music video.  Homeroom teachers present the songs, tally votes for their class and then send the count to you.  After the first round, send out a new slideshow with the winners and then repeat until there is only one winner.   If you teach older students, you could share the slideshow in Google Classroom or another digital classroom setting.

I usually present the songs to students using a video that I find on Youtube or Vimeo.  I add them to Google slides (because we can skip the commercials on YouTube that way) and present them in class and tally the votes myself.  Last year I had to miss a day in March, so I sent the slide show to the classes I would have seen that day and the homeroom teachers tallied votes that day.  The teachers that were involved loved this!

Voting

    I've previously mentioned voting as something that I do or ask homeroom teachers do.  In the past I have had students close their eyes and raise their hands to vote in my classroom.  I ask them to close their eyes so that they don't all follow the popular kid or try to see what a friend is voting for and vote that way.  This has worked for most classes but there are always kids that refuse to cooperate and then blurt out.  This year I am going to experiment with a couple of different ways to vote.

    I'll use pencil and paper with some classes.  They will circle their answers and turn their papers in on their way out of class.  This will require me to create a new page each week and tally all the papers myself.  That doesn't sound fun for nearly 500 students, but I'm testing it with a few classes that have demonstrated issues with self control and blurting. 

    In other classes, I will use Plickers.  Plickers are cards with codes on them.  Students hold them up to vote.  The teacher then scans the cards by taking a picture of the whole class holding up their signs in the Plickers app.  It isn't complicated to use and I think my 3rd, 4th and 5th graders can handle it.  You can learn more about Plickers here.  The best part about this method is that it is fast and FREE!

    You may consider collecting votes digitally using a poll or form in Google Classroom, Padlet, ClassQuestion or other online services.

Displaying the Bracket

I create a bulletin board that showcases the March Music Madness bracket and update it each week as winners are chosen.  It hangs outside the music room which is across from the cafeteria.  Each class passes it at least once a day.  

To set the board up, I type up the song titles (including artist or composer and the staff member that recommended it) and place them on the left.  Then I add the next columns of boxes for the winning songs that will move forward.  In the picture above I used a black marker to draw the bracket lines.  In the picture below I used colored masking tape.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the goal of this activity?

One of the goals of this activity is to explore the elements of different genres.  Students can fall in love with new artists, new instruments and new styles of music with this activity.  Another goal is to facilitate higher level conversations between students in which they compare and contrast songs, critique using music terminology and make choices about the kinds of music they want to consume or perform.

2.  What if I miss a day of school and can't leave this for my substitute to do? 

You could try sending the slideshow or links to the homeroom teachers of the classes you missed or just don't include their votes for that round.

3.  I can't use YouTube at school.  What else can I do?  

Use music you already own or link your bracket to a streaming service.

4.  What if my bracket is uneven?

It happens.  Select a song or two and just bump them up to the next round.  This is like getting a "buy" in a sports tournament.  You can select a song that you think will win or a couple of songs and have their first duel be in the second or third rounds.

Need some help getting started?  Check out my March Music Madness Starter Kit.  You'll find more than 50 song suggestions that you can link to your preferred listening media, editable brackets and bulletin board elements.

Have a great Music in Our Schools Month and may all of your March madness be filled with music!

Organizing Books in Your Music Classroom

 One of the things in my classroom that I have worked the hardest at is growing my music library.  No, not that one.  My books about music and musicians, not the sheet music and octavos.  I love my classroom library!  Here's the story of how it has grown and evolved over the last 10 years or so.  Read on to find solutions for your music room and a free resource to help you organize your books.

For several years I just piled my books onto a little shelf with no system whatsoever.  This worked quite well until I started buying duplicates.  As my collection grew, I needed a better solution.

The next step was to put SOME of the books into book bins with labels on them.  I picked a few categories that I had several books for and the rest I just tossed in a milk crate.  This worked beautifully for centers.  I created a small reading area with a rug and loved keeping this a permanent center no matter what group I was teaching.

During the next few years I gathered books from used book stores, discount sellers, Amazon and from authors in workshops I attended.  You can see some of my favorites in these posts:  Books You Need in Your Elementary Classroom Primary and Upper Elementary.  As my collection grew I needed a way to keep track of what I had.  At first I created a spreadsheet, but to be honest I just couldn't keep it updated.  It felt cumbersome and wasn't easy to edit from my phone.  That's when I was inspired by a post from Katie Wonderly on Instagram and downloaded Book Buddy.

Book Buddy allowed me to QUICKLY add books to the app and download a paper list only when I needed it.  I currently use Book Buddy Pro to catalogue my classroom library, keep it organized and to keep me from buying duplicates.  All I do is use my phone to scan the barcode and for most books the information about the book just pops up, including cover photos!  I can add custom categories too which is how I organize my books.

Current Categories:

BOOKS ABOUT MUSICIANS  In this category I put picture books with stories about musicians that may not be bibliographies or about musicians of a specific genre.

BOOKS THAT RHYME  I use rhyming books for drumming, for movement, to add instrument accompaniment and more.  In this bin students can re-read some of the ones we have used in class.

DANCE AND MOVEMENT  I guess this category is pretty self explanatory.  Titles like Giraffes Can't Dance and Boys Dance are in this category.

CAREERS IN MUSIC  I NEED more books for this category. Right now it contains one fabulous book called Mandy's Mom The Music Therapist.

COMPOSERS  In this category are the typical composer books that many of you may have.  I'm always looking for books about more contemporary composers.

INSTRUMENTS -There are mostly non-fiction books in this category, but some titles like The Remarkable Farkle McBride are also in there.

LEARN ABOUT MUSIC This category used to be pretty dull.  LOL.  Recently I have added books like When Step Met Skip and Tiger Tempo. My students love them!

MUSIC GENRES  In this category there are books about different genres of music like When the Beat Was Born and The Story of Country.

MUSIC HISTORY  I am currently not using this category as the books that I have all fit into other categories too.

MUSICIAN BIOGRAPHIES  In this category you'll find non-fiction books about musicians.

NON-MUSIC I have several books about character that go in this bin.  Also books that don't rhyme but that I may have used for some other purpose in class are here.

PATRIOTIC/AMERICN  Books about the Star-Spangled Banner, song lyric books with patriotic songs and books about songs like "America the Beautiful" are in this category.

SEASONAL AND HOLIDAY Books about holidays or about seasonal topics or music are in this bin.  My favorite might just be "Leaf Man".

SONG HISTORY  This category is one that I am introducing this year.  It holds books about the history of certain songs. 

SONG LYRIC BOOKS This category is SO full that I have 2-3 bins of books in this category.

THIS AND THAT  I don't have a category for everything.  Oh wait....this is it!  LOL.  If it doesn't fit anywhere else, it fits here.

WOMEN IN MUSIC  I am introducing this category this year and moving some books from the Books About Musicians category into this one.  I have a LOT of books about Dolly Parton.  This is almost a bin filled will Dolly books.

WORLD MUSIC  I don't like the name of this category, but I don't have enough books from one specific place or about one specific culture to create bins for them.  Yet.  I hope to one day.

Before students use the library, I remind the class that they should return the book to the SAME bin that they take it out of.  I didn't expect this to work.  I was surprised that about 80% of the books DID remain in the right container, but it is not foolproof.  This year I'll be adding color coordinating dot stickers to both the bins and the books that go in them so that they also have a colorful way to remember where they go.

To help you get started organizing your music room library, check out these colorful labels that can fit on a book bin, magazine box or basket.  The categories mentioned about are all included, but they are not in any particular order.  If you find these handy, please leave some feedback!

DOWNLOAD HERE:  Book Bin Labels for the Music Room

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5 Ways to Use Pop Tubes in Music Class

If you can't beat 'em, join them!  Pop tubes are a popular fidget toy in elementary schools across the nation.  They can also be a fun and engaging tool for music education.  

Pop tubes are plastic bendy tubes that you can pull and push to expand or condense.  They make a hollow popping sound.  When fully extended, you can swing them around in the air and they make a pleasant sound as well.

You can find pop tubes at local discount stores, dollar stores, Amazon and toy stores.  When searching for them you may find them named pop toobs, whirly tubes  or "expanding tube toy." 

When I have students use the tubes, I always have them place it on a drum stick or rhythm stick.  This allows students to move them back and forth quickly without the tubes bending wildly.  I also insist that students hold their sticks and tubes horizontally.  This curbs the giggles of 5th and 6th grade boys that arise when held vertically.

Ways to Use Pop Tubes

Use to Accompany

Pop tubes make a delightful and oddly satisfying sound and are fun to play with pieces like "La Raspa" and "Blue Danube" as the obvious "ti ta" response to these pieces.  I've also used the pop tubes in the place of clapping or snapping for songs like "The Clapping Song",  "Addams Family Theme" and "If You're Happy and You Know It".

If you're happy and you know it, pop your tube.

If you're happy and you know it, pop your tube.

Pop it high and pop it low.  Pop it fast and pop it slow.

If you're happy and you know it, pop your tube.

Rhythm Reading with Flashcards 

Practicing rhythms with flashcards is as boring as practicing multiplication facts with flashcards.  Add pop tubes as the instrument students use and suddenly flashcards are great fun!  This makes a great workstation.  Set out 4-5 pop tubes and a stack of flashcards.  Done.

Poison Rhythms

Pop tubes have made a fun addition to Poison Rhythm Games.  You can read more about how to play Poison Rhythm here: POISON RHYTHMS.  You can also purchase one or all of the ready to go games at my TeachersPayTeachers store The Bulletin Board Lady.

Assessment

I use these What Do You Hear worksheets with my 3rd-5th graders.  The process is to perform the patterns, then listen as I play the pattern on a drum, cowbell or other percussion instruments.  Next, they circle the pattern they heard.  I add pop tubes to the first step.  Students read and perform the patterns on the pop tubes, then listen, then circle.  It really adds some fun to assessment. Click the picture to take a closer look at this set of worksheets.

Four Rhythm Cards

I should really find a better name for these, but it is working for now.  You can download these cards for free and read about other ways to use them HERE.  Here's what I do with the cards and pop tubes:

After passing out the pop tubes, I choose a song with a medium to fast beat (which are much easier than slower songs) and start it while holding up one of the cards.  Students use the pop tubes to play the pattern as an ostinato until I change the card.  That's really it!  It is a fun way to use pop music in your classroom.  (See, what I did there?  POP music?  LOL). It also gets students excited about practicing rhythms and performing as an ensemble.

I store my pop tubes in a plastic shoebox container.  They are easy to clean.  You can have students expand them and then spray them with Lysol or they can go in a sink of hot, soapy water.  If you enjoyed these ideas, pin them for later.

Bulletin Boards for February ❤️

There are so many things to recognize and celebrate in February.  Valentine's Day, President's Day, Black History Month and Random Acts of Kindness Day are in February just to name a few.  Here are four bulletin boards that are easy to print and post during the shortest and sometimes busiest month of the year.

NOTEable Black Musicians from A to Z

This colorful bulletin board is great for Black History Month or to post and leave up all year. It features 26 amazing musicians. Each musician is featured in an ABC format (with a few liberties taken with the alphabetization). On each page there is a picture and a short synopsis of their careers and accomplishments.

All That Jazz

Celebrate Jazz with some of these amazing musicians: 

Duke Ellingon, John Coltrane, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Thelonius Monk, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, David Brubeck, Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Wynton Marsalis, Count Basie and Jelly Roll Morton

Love Yourself

Let's change the way we talk to ourselves and make it more positive.  This bulletin board reminds students to do the same too.

What Does Kindness Look Like?

Random Act of Kindness Day is February 17th so it is a great month to inspire students to be kind.  This colorful bulletin board does that.  Check it out and you can pick up a free kindness bunting to decorate the halls too!

I hope these ideas have inspired you and I hope you have the best February ever!

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DIY Light Up Staff

I have wanted to create an interactive treble clef staff display for my classroom for such a long time!  Using just a few simple and easy to find supplies, my students and I now have a beautiful and engaging new tool in the music room.

I use this staff display to show melodies for sight reading, lighting up a specific interval that I want them to notice.  I use it to highlight the notes that we will be using on Orff instruments.  I've used it when grading pitch naming worksheets by having students come up and tap the light of the correct answer.  I've even used it for games and centers.

As a center, students have labeled the lines and spaces of the treble staff.  They have taken cards from my Pitch Match Up sets and created the words on the staff.  They have used it to create their own "words" with the pitches of the treble clef staff.  I really feel like I have just scratched the surface of using this in my classroom. 

Let's get started with the supplies that you will need to create a light up staff display in your room. First consider the space that you will have for this.  You'll need some kind of magnetic white board or something similar.  I used a portion of a long white board in my room for this display.

Next, you'll need some puck lights.  You can also find them named push lights, tap lights and under the cabinet lights.  They often come in the shape of a circle which works great for note heads!  You can find them at hardware stores, Walmart, Target and on occasion at dollar stores.  I wanted mine to change color and I found two packs of Energizer Coloring Changing Puck Lights at Target.  

You'll also need black masking tape or black electrical tape, scissors, a roll of magnetic tap (the thick kind) and batteries for your puck lights.  

I started with a portion of my white board that I hadn't used and added a bulletin board border.  This one is from Schoolgirl Style.  I used black masking tape to place the staff lines.  Be sure to measure the distance of your lines by placing one of your puck lights between them.

I also used the masking tape to create the treble clef.  I'm sure there are more eloquent ways to do this, but this was fast and efficient.

Next I placed the puck lights on the board by hot gluing magnets to the back of them and them putting them on the staff.  

I considered stopping right here and using the display as it was, but was concerned that students who struggled with naming the pitch names would not find this very helpful.  I found some letter stickers at a local store and added those.  This was a great decision and has been really beneficial to all students.  If you are proficient with a cutting machine like a Cricut, you could use that to make your letter stickers. 

Like this idea but need to work on it later?  Pin this post!