--- title: Teaching with Musicplay (28) description: Elementary music lesson planning, Teaching tips and updates from the Musicplay team! (28) --- [![musicplay-logo](https://blog.musicplay.ca/hs-fs/hubfs/musicplay-logo-2.png?width=2701&height=877&name=musicplay-logo-2.png "musicplay-logo")](http://musicplay.ca) Open main menu Close main menu # Teaching With Musicplay ##### Sign up for email notifications. New blog post weekly! [Sign up Here!](https://marketing.musicplay.ca/newsletter-sign-up-form) Select Category Assessment Blog Posts Boomwhacker Bucket Drumming Choral Classroom Management Games and Centers Holidays and Special Days Lesson Planning Literacy and Music Programs and Musicals Recorder Vocal Development What's New with Musicplay [Blog Posts](https://blog.musicplay.ca/tag/blog-posts) ### [Last Class Before Holidays!](https://blog.musicplay.ca/last-class-before-holidays) Dec 12, 2011, 2:27:00 PM ### Last Class before Holidays The holidays are coming!  Teachers can tell that a school break is coming without having to look at a calendar.  I found this post on Facebook - it is too true! [Denise Gagne](https://blog.musicplay.ca/author/denise-gagne) [Read More](https://blog.musicplay.ca/last-class-before-holidays) ![](https://blog.musicplay.ca/hubfs/Screen%20Shot%202023-06-02%20at%2011.00.45%20AM.png) [Blog Posts](https://blog.musicplay.ca/tag/blog-posts) ### [Pumpkin Stew](https://blog.musicplay.ca/pumpkin-stew) Oct 12, 2011, 12:02:00 PM October is a fun month - even if you don't have Halloween at your school. If a song in Musicplay talks about Halloween, options are always given to adapt it so that all students can participate. Pumpkin Stew is a simple chant that you can use to create a rondo, and create ostinato accompaniment. BATS is a kids favorite song, with cool sound effects created on balloons. [Denise Gagne](https://blog.musicplay.ca/author/denise-gagne) [Read More](https://blog.musicplay.ca/pumpkin-stew) ![Number Concentration Notation](https://blog.musicplay.ca/hubfs/Screenshot%202023-05-29%20at%202.35.24%20PM.png) [Blog Posts](https://blog.musicplay.ca/tag/blog-posts) ### [Thanksgiving Ideas](https://blog.musicplay.ca/thanksgiving-ideas) Oct 4, 2011, 3:40:00 PM Canadian Thanksgiving falls on Monday, October 10th. For my American friends, save this newsletter until November! [Denise Gagne](https://blog.musicplay.ca/author/denise-gagne) [Read More](https://blog.musicplay.ca/thanksgiving-ideas) ![](https://blog.musicplay.ca/hubfs/Screen%20Shot%202023-06-22%20at%202.05.17%20PM.png) [Blog Posts](https://blog.musicplay.ca/tag/blog-posts) ### [Staff Lesson For K-6](https://blog.musicplay.ca/staff-lesson-for-k-6) Sep 16, 2011, 3:07:00 PM ### Staff Lesson There is a new interactive staff lesson attached to Songs 1-6 in K-6 at www.musicplayonline.com.  When I teach the staff, I use several tools - the floor staff games, hand staff, cookie sheet staff, and now there's an interactive tool to help students learn about the staff. If you have a SMART Board or IWB, you or your students can drag the lines to make the staff or drag the treble clefs to the staff.  If you don't, you can do this with the mouse on your computer or on an iPad. The first four activities are suitable for all grades - even your kindergarten students can learn that the staff has 5 lines. [Denise Gagne](https://blog.musicplay.ca/author/denise-gagne) [Read More](https://blog.musicplay.ca/staff-lesson-for-k-6) [Blog Posts](https://blog.musicplay.ca/tag/blog-posts) ### [Name Games](https://blog.musicplay.ca/name-games) Sep 13, 2011, 4:04:00 PM It's difficult to have good classroom management or to assess if you don't know the names of your students.  I met a teacher in Ontario (Dan - my hero!) that teaches more than a thousand students each week.  Although it might seem impossible to learn the names of that many students, if you review names at the beginning of each class, you have a chance at least at remembering them for the 30 or 40 minutes that you're with them. [Denise Gagne](https://blog.musicplay.ca/author/denise-gagne) [Read More](https://blog.musicplay.ca/name-games) ![Dynamics Assessment Cards Cover](https://blog.musicplay.ca/hubfs/Screenshot%202023-05-29%20at%2011.16.12%20AM.png) [Blog Posts](https://blog.musicplay.ca/tag/blog-posts) ### [Assessing Dynamics](https://blog.musicplay.ca/assessing-dynamics) Jun 6, 2011, 12:18:00 PM In teaching music, assessment of the student's knowledge is relatively easy. There are a multitude of ways that you can use to determine if your students know that forte means loud. [Denise Gagne](https://blog.musicplay.ca/author/denise-gagne) [Read More](https://blog.musicplay.ca/assessing-dynamics) ![Moms are Special Notation](https://blog.musicplay.ca/hubfs/Screenshot%202023-05-29%20at%2010.53.57%20AM.png) [Blog Posts](https://blog.musicplay.ca/tag/blog-posts) ### [Moms are Special](https://blog.musicplay.ca/moms-are-special) May 1, 2011, 12:04:00 PM Easter and Mother's Day are closer together this year than I can ever remember. This lesson is from Musicplay for Kindergarten, but you can teach the song to Grade 1-2 as well. [Denise Gagne](https://blog.musicplay.ca/author/denise-gagne) [Read More](https://blog.musicplay.ca/moms-are-special) ![Find the Basket Notation](https://blog.musicplay.ca/hubfs/Screenshot%202023-05-29%20at%2010.32.47%20AM.png) [Blog Posts](https://blog.musicplay.ca/tag/blog-posts) ### [Easter Games](https://blog.musicplay.ca/easter-games) Apr 18, 2011, 11:45:00 AM ### Find the Basket With Easter weekend coming up soon, I’d like to focus on a dynamics lesson from Musicplay 3, that uses the game, “Find the Basket.” There are similar games in Musicplay 1 and 2. If you teach Grade 4, 5, or 6 play the game with them. They still love to play games, and this is a great way to review dynamics. [Denise Gagne](https://blog.musicplay.ca/author/denise-gagne) [Read More](https://blog.musicplay.ca/easter-games) ![Mr. Troll Notation](https://blog.musicplay.ca/hubfs/Screenshot%202023-05-29%20at%2010.09.59%20AM.png) [Blog Posts](https://blog.musicplay.ca/tag/blog-posts) ### [Mr. Troll Singing Game](https://blog.musicplay.ca/mr.-troll-singing-game) Mar 25, 2011, 11:23:00 AM ### Game Directions: Create some kind of a bridge. You could lay down two skipping ropes, you could use rubber dots, or or use painter’s tape to mark a bridge on the carpet. [Denise Gagne](https://blog.musicplay.ca/author/denise-gagne) [Read More](https://blog.musicplay.ca/mr.-troll-singing-game) ![](https://blog.musicplay.ca/hubfs/Screen%20Shot%202023-06-13%20at%202.40.02%20PM.png) [Blog Posts](https://blog.musicplay.ca/tag/blog-posts) ### [Writing New Words for Holiday Songs](https://blog.musicplay.ca/writing-new-words-for-holiday-songs) Feb 2, 2011, 2:40:00 PM ###### Write new words for a Holiday Song: #42 Musicplay 3 - Santa Claus is Coming OR  for PreK - 1 new words for Ring Ring Ring the Bells Learning Goals: I can write new words to a song. I can describe many different holidays that children in North America celebrate. [Denise Gagne](https://blog.musicplay.ca/author/denise-gagne) [Read More](https://blog.musicplay.ca/writing-new-words-for-holiday-songs) [26](https://blog.musicplay.ca/page/26) [27](https://blog.musicplay.ca/page/27) [28](https://blog.musicplay.ca/page/28) [29](https://blog.musicplay.ca/page/29) [30](https://blog.musicplay.ca/page/30) ##### Sign up for email notifications. New blog post weekly! [Sign up Here!](https://marketing.musicplay.ca/newsletter-sign-up-form) #### Our Products - [MusicplayOnline](https://musicplayonline.com) - [Musicplay Store](https://store.musicplay.ca) - [Musicplay Downloads](https://downloads.musicplay.ca) - [Musicplay Workshops](https://workshops.musicplay.ca) - [Musicplay Help](https://help.musicplay.ca) Follow us on Facebook Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Instagram