Mad Minutes help students develop their note reading ability. Mad minutes were invented by math teachers to help children develop instant recall of math facts. In music, Mad Minutes are timed drills to practice letter names. As the students enter the classroom give a mad minute and a pencil to each student. Usually I hand out the papers, and the first student in line gives out the pencils.
A recent Facebook asked for help finding a cute song for K-3 students. In this article, I’m giving suggestions for easy and cute holiday concert ideas for your primary (PreK-Grade 3) students. If you choose a song that is already familiar to the students it will be quicker and easier to learn. Some of the ones that most will have heard before include those in the K-3 Christmas Concert Idea Book.
If you only see your K-6 music students for 30-60 minutes/week, you have very limited time to assess student progress. In this article, I want to give suggestions that will help you make the most of the limited time that you have.
Bucket drumming is a really engaging activitiy for your music classes. It’s inexpensive to equip a classroom with buckets and sticks, and they are easy to stack and store, so bucket drumming is an activity that’s accessible to all.
I received a question this week, and think this is a good forum to post my answer.
We’re down to the last 2 weeks of school for Canadian teachers, and this can be a tough 2 weeks to get through. Taking your classes outside can give you some welcome sunshine and fresh air, and give you an opportunity to do some activities that don’t work as well inside.
I’d suggest that outside to save your voice from vocal strain, you use a portable microphone. You can order a Chattervox online – http://www.chattervox.com. (Themes doesn’t sell them any longer) . If you don’t wear a microphone, consider taking a coach’s whistle with you and develop some hand signals with your class.
Teaching is a giving profession. Lawyers and accountants get to bill by the hour. Ha! If teachers got to bill by the hour, we'd all be billionaires. I love the post that comes around that says teachers should get paid like babysitters - and ends up showing that if we were paid like babysitters, we'd make a LOT more money than a teacher's salary.
| July 24-25, 2017 – Artie and Denise Workshop #8 in Las Vegas, NV |
Dynamics Lesson Plan for K-5 Music Classes