Singing Fun and Games!
Posts by:
Denise Gagne
St. Patrick's Day Jig
A fun lesson for Thursday/Friday of this week, would be to teach your classes, the St. Patrick's Day Jig.
Pumpkin Time!
Pumpkin Time!
Whether you celebrate Halloween or harvest, October is the time for pumpkins.
Managing Tough Classes
This was posted in our Facebook group this week, and there were many teachers who are in similar situations and posted suggestions. So - thank you to all who posted in the Musicplay Teacher’s group on Facebook - you’re the authors of the Musicplay newsletter this week.
Centers in the Music Class
Why use centers in the music room? Learning centers are typically set up in a classroom to encourage children to make choices. As they work in the centers they learn to work independently as well as cooperatively. Behaviors are getting more difficult to manage every year. If you use centers and have one or two students not behaving appropriately, this is a time when you can intervene and have them work one on one with you, or you can give them a written task instead of letting them play the games at the centers. I found with the grade 5 classes I worked with that the level of engagement was really high, and students were almost all on task.
Easy Assessment
Teachers are talking on Facebook about grading and their end of year assessments. If you teach all the children in a school that is a lot of report cards to find grades for and to write comments for. It's one of the jobs that I really don't mIss now that I am a guest teacher and I'm not under contract.
Melody Hunt - Fun Game!
I find that teaching rhythm reading is much easier in Gr. 1-3 than teaching melody reading. I like to use solfege in K-3, then transition the students to pitch letter names.
Fun with Bunnies! - Hop into April with Bunnies, the Musical and Spring Activities
Who doesn't love bunnies? Whether you just love seeing baby bunnies in the spring or you want to share fun with the Easter Bunny, Musicplay has bunny songs, games, and activities for you.
Engage Your Music Classes - Part 2
Our kids had way too much screen time during lockdowns, and we are still seeing the effects. How do we keep children's attention in a classroom, when they are used to watching 6 second TikTok videos? Even Disney movies are moving at a pace that's much faster than they used to. In this newsletter, I'm continuing the discussion on increasing engagement in your music classes. Whether you're a brand new music teacher or have taught for 40 years, there will be ideas here for you!
Engagement is Key!
Our kids had way too much screen time during lockdowns, and we are still seeing the effects. How do we keep children's attention in a classroom, when they are used to watching 6 second TikTok videos? Even Disney movies are moving at a pace that's much greater than they used to. In this newsletter, I'm going to begin a discussion on increasing engagement in your music classes. This is too large a topic for just one newsletter, but this is very necessary for our tired, hard-working, dedicated music teachers.