One of my favorite things about music is that it can transport you all around the world and help you to learn about different cultures. We are always striving to do this in my elementary music classroom. Although I use songs from different cultures all year round, I love any excuse to highlight a culture!… Continue reading Favorite Folk Songs for Hispanic Heritage Month
Tag: elementary music
Ocean Themed Folk Songs and Ocean Animal Composition Activities
Maybe it's because I live in Savannah, Georgia (on the coast), but I love including ocean themed folk songs, listening activities, and lessons in my elementary music classroom. Every culture around the world has water-themed songs, and most also have ocean songs, which make it a great place to start including pieces from around the… Continue reading Ocean Themed Folk Songs and Ocean Animal Composition Activities
Easy + Fun Ways To Teach Sol + Mi With Star Light, Star Bright
Star Light, Star Bright is a fun folk song to teach kindergarten, first grade, and second grade elementary music students about sol and mi or quarter and eighth notes. Although the song is quite common, these lessons are not. Make sure you read down to the extensions so that you get all of the ideas… Continue reading Easy + Fun Ways To Teach Sol + Mi With Star Light, Star Bright
Little Silver Moon : a Chinese Folk Song Lesson for Quarter Rest
Do you ever find a folk song that you didn’t know existed, but once you did, you couldn’t believe you hadn’t ALWAYS had it? That is how Little Silver Moon is for me. I discovered it at the beginning of this year, and I am now obsessed-- and so are my second graders! Little Silver… Continue reading Little Silver Moon : a Chinese Folk Song Lesson for Quarter Rest
The Best Movement Activities For K-1 Elementary Music Lessons
If you want your students to be engaged, you need to have movement activities in your classroom. Movement allows students to feel things in their bodies, get the wiggles out, and be actively engaged in the lesson. In this post, we’re talking about 10 of my favorite lower grade movement activities. This is certainly not… Continue reading The Best Movement Activities For K-1 Elementary Music Lessons
Christmas Tree Hunt and Music Charades
So I started my TPT shop in September. So when it came to Christmas, I said, "I'm only going to make one or two Christmas products." Then I made five. Three of them are from my classroom, so it's not as bad as it sounds. Then I said, I'm not going to make any more… Continue reading Christmas Tree Hunt and Music Charades
Fall Music Center Activities
Last week, we talked all about the ins and outs of centers in the elementary music room (Check it out here!) This week, I am sharing some fun (and easy!) centers activities that are all Fall music center activities-- because themes make everything better, right? These are just a couple of ideas, definitely not an… Continue reading Fall Music Center Activities
Feed the Monster Rhythm Game (for Centers!)
Rhythms centers can be really fun.. or really boring, depending on how you handle them. My kids always love them, because I try to include at least one game. Now, I love to stick to crowd favorites, like Kaboom! (seriously, they are disappointed it we don't play this one!) or Go Fish (yes, even my… Continue reading Feed the Monster Rhythm Game (for Centers!)
5 Simple Movement Activities Using Stick Figures
Looking for a super simple movement activity for your elementary music room? Whether you need a warm up, a time suck, or to just wake the students up, these 5 movement activities with stick figures are the way to go. They are easy, require almost no prep, and the kids LOVE them.
Instruments of the Orchestra Four Corners
I don't quite remember when it hit me, but for a long time I have thought that I wanted to do the game 4 Corners with the instruments of the orchestra. I even put it in my lesson plans a few times and took it out. Why? Because I couldn't figure out how to make… Continue reading Instruments of the Orchestra Four Corners