Mrs. King's Music Class: July 2012

Looking for Tubs

I would love to have 4 or 5 more of these tubs if you are school shopping and see them. Some Wal-Marts have them on sale for $4! I'd prefer black and red but will take any color you can find. These make amazing bass drums!

Getting Ready for School

Less than two weeks until teachers report back to school! This summer has flown by! Here are the pencil cans that I made to match our disco/groovy song of the week bulletin board. The inspiration for this idea came from a pinner on Pinterest.

Making Swimming Noodle Ponies

Summer's off? Bah! There's always a school project of some kind happening. This week I've been making stick ponies out of swimming noodles. Its true that they look a little like seahorses instead of regular horses, but I think that just makes them even more special!

To make these ponies you'll need:
-a swimming noodle (the skinnier ones work best)
-twine, rope or your choice of something for the bridle that you can tie tightly. Consider using patterned duct tape. It holds firmly and looks great!
-felt (9 x 12 sheets work well)
-large wiggly eyes
-low temp glue gun and glue

Yes. You can use a glue gun on the swimming noodle, but trust me you want it to be the low temp kind!

First tie the bend the noodle and tie the twine tightly around it. If you want you can weave a pipe cleaner around it to add some color after you've tied it on. I left a little bit of the twine hanging so that it looked line reins, but they are more for looks than for function of any kind.

Next turn the piece of felt long ways and cut a strip about an inch wide. Cut the ends of it into points for the ears. Cut the next strip (still looking at the felt long ways) at about 4 inches wide. Next I folded this wide stripe and cut waves around the edges to create the mane.

Slide the long piece for the ears between the part of the noodle that is folded and pull them up firmly in place. Glue the ears up. Hot glue the mane and wiggly eyes in place. Voila! Swimming noodle pony!

We'll use these ponies in class for listening and movement activities. You can learn more about what I do with them in this blog post: What to Do With Your New Herd

Want to see some more pool noodle crafts for music class? You might enjoy Steady Beat Swords or Noodle Notes.

New Donors Choose Project: Prop to it!

Our classroom has a new project posted on Donors Choose. Check it out and help us add some creative props and manipulatives to our classroom!

Teacher Appreciation

On Monday and Tuesday of this week I was honored to be a presenter for the Missouri State Teachers Association Leadership Symposium. My session was called "Make It! Take It! Celebrate It!" and focused on ideas for improving morale in our districts and little teacher appreciation gifts that CTA leaders could make and pop into teacher mailboxes. Here are some of the projects that we made:

These paper bag backpacks contained all the supplies for the make and take. Aren't they cute? I think they would be great for back-to-school open house time too.