Middle School Rhythm and Note Naming Stations

The halfway point of the year has passed and I received my new 7th graders for the second half of the year.  Our schedule splits the grade in half: Quarters 1 & 2 I have 2 sections and Quarters 3 &4 I switch kids and get 2 new sections.

I decided I wanted to revamp my curriculum.  Again.  Because what's the fun in teaching the same lesson over and over again?

I did a station review for my note naming review and I was really regretting not documenting it well.  I did take a quick video for our department Facebook page though.  Check out the quick and easy "mini units" below!

Okay - Maybe my learning targets were a liiiiiiiiiitle lofty. 💁

*For future reference, I pick teams randomly using this Class Tools "Wheel of Fortune" style.*

3 stations:

1. Floor Staff Jumpers: Easy game.  Made a floor staff of washi tape, the kids jumped one at a time, named the note.  The staff is NOT labeled with a treble or bass clef because we do two separate rounds of this game.

2. Quizlet SmartBoard Flashcards:  You can make your own sets or use these Treble Clef and Bass Clef sets.

3.  Match the Coffee to the Donuts! : Memory match game.  The kids had a lot of fun with this.  I used the manipulatives from the Treble and Bass Clef Mega Set I bought off a Teachers Pay Teachers.

Rhythm Stations

For both of the mini units, I use a Nearpod presentation the class before.  Our students have chromebooks for 1:1 instructions, but you can also use smartphones.

The flu and a respiratory virus has been ripping through our school, so for this particular day I set up the Rhythm Review on self paced mode while the other students made up their tests.  You can track the data from their interactions after they are done!

3 Stations

1.  Rhythm Chain Bean Bag Game:  Okay so I forgot my bean bags for this and used tennis balls (oops).  The effect is still the same.  Student teams chain up rhythms one by one and "play" then however they choose to.  I created these Rhythm Cards in Illustrator and laminated them so that they wouldn't get scuffed.  Follow my Google Drive link so that you can download the game rules and cards HERE! 

 2.  Rhythm Dice Game:  I love this Teachers Pay Teachers file!  It's a great warm up tool.  It doesn't have dotted rhythms, but you could easily make your own to add them in.  Find it HERE.

Ending Activity:  Rhythm Kahoot.  This one is my FAVORITE.  If the kids could Kahoot every day, they probably would.  You can search through the millions (yes, millions) of premade quizzes or make your own.  I usually use this one HERE because it has a cool review intro video.



Next activity will be a Rhythm and Rap team assignment.  Laaaaawd help me with the results of this one...lol.

Excuse Me?

I hereby declare this a rant.

This is not a political post. This is a WHAT IS HAPPENING post. This has zero to do if you voted for Hillary, Bernie, or Donald. I am just feeling a bit down about my profession :-/ .

Things I've seen today.

"Hey teachers - the gravy boat is now OVER."

"The unions are the ones that pushed back against DeVos being nominated. They need to go."

"DeVos brings change. Schools have been corrupted for 30 years. No wonder why our national rankings are so low."

"She's going to bring back power to the states and local government!"

"We should have a choice of where to send out kids to school."

Okay.

-First off, what is this gravy boat you speak of? This isn't 1992. Half my monthly salary LITERALLY covers my rent and students loans. That's it. Someone show me the gravy boat lol.

-Not all states have unions. Look at South/North Carolina, Georgia, Texas and Virginia. Teachers aren't protected by crazy, lunatic parents that can literally come in and claim a teacher treated Johnny terribly in class. Because Johnny's parents have donated a bunch of money for the new football field, the teacher is out. That's it. These 5 states also rank on average 50th, 49th, 48th, 47th, and 44th in SAT/ACT scores. If I felt undervalued, was under paid, and was attacked all the time, I wouldn't be a highly effective teacher down there either. I'm lucky that I get to deal with amazing parents. I definitely count my blessings.

-You know what brings change? HOME LIFE. Checking your child's homework. Making sure they even brought it home. Raising them in general. Teach them right and wrong. Just LOVE them. That's the biggest thing. Get off your phone and show your kids that you care. Compared to 30 years ago, teachers not only have to teach, but we also make sure kids have a quarter to pay for their reduced lunch, set them up with charities to get them glasses, let them stay after school just to talk and much more. Society has changed folks, and it's not a liberal/conservative thing. I've seen vile social behaviors from both sides.

-Power to the states. Okay, I actually don't have a problem with this at my specific district. Except not everyone works where I do lol. Here are a few problems. If there are no national standards, then a child that moves from Alabama to New York could be in a completely different grade because they are behind/above where they should be. Did I like how common core was rolled out? Absolutely not. Did it start out as a good thing? Yes. After I did more research on it, I was like "Oh, this makes sense." When Pearson starts ruling NYS with their tests and politicians get ansy and roll things out because Pearson owns them, that's where you have a problem. What if a state's budget starts tightening up and they want to cut special ed positions that are no longer mandated? They could do that now. What if a district wants to blacklist some books for English? The list goes on and on.

-Choice. You do have a choice. No one is stopping you from homeschooling or sending your kids to private school. I went to private school from K-8 and public school from 9-12, so I've experienced both sides of this. I remember doing a debate in high school and I got assigned "pro school vouchers". I though it would be a piece of cake. Wrong. Before I did research, I didn't understand the effects of money getting spread out throughout a district. I didn't understand how poorly charter schools scored compared to what they were promising. I didn't know that private companies had money invested in these schools. Ever since then, I've been anti vouchers. I was lucky and my parents sent me to a tiny private school. Most of these vouchers don't even count for private schools out of district, so I don't know why people think they can magically go wherever they want.

Guys. Teachers want to teach your kids. We don't sit on our butts and ignore your kids all day. Every profession has its bad apples. The problem with education is that when you hear about a bad teacher, it gets blown up (which I TOTALLY get). Look at the percentage of good to bad though. We love your kids!

*edited to add: A picture of Ryan Gosling to make me feel better.

Flexible Seating in the Music Classroom

Long time, no post!

Just wanted to give a glimpse into my classroom for the year.  It's not completely finished, but I figured since school starts Wednesday, I might as well post an almost complete picture.  All of this furniture cost me a total of $60!  Half of furniture at Salvation Army and curb finds were my best bet. You can't see it well now, but in the left corner I have a super short table that I put on top of foam flooring I got from 5 Below (which I NEED to go to more often.  Great teacher finds).  It's so cozy with my bean bag chairs and the best find: lawn chair cushions!

I'll have to take a picture of one of my favorite pieces.  It's a dresser a student donated to me (I use it for storage.  I framed a huge picture of my students from our recent trip to Chicago over it and there's also a framed "Believe in Your Inner Beyonce" lettered drawing a friend did for me.

Planner Update and SALE!

Just wanted to give an update on my Passion Planner use as a music teacher.  So far so good - I just wish I had space to write details.  So what did I do?  I bought and Erin Condren life planner and it just came in TODAY.  Check out the size difference on top of my Passion Planner.  I figured I would try the EC one out since I got it 40% off for being so late in the year.

I also just ordered Erin Condren's Teacher Planner which has the big boxes I was looking for.  ALL TEACHER STUFF is 25% this month!!!!!!! CLICK THIS LINK TO GET $10 OFF YOUR FIRST PURCHASE!

Back to my PP.  I love using washi tape because I can re-stick a lesson if something gets changed.  I'm also a rainbow nut.  I would love to see how other people are decorating their PP!

SSA - Home/Dirty Paws OPB - The Gardiner Sisters

Here's my first arrangement post!

So I have a new all-female acappella group at school (as well as a male one) and was really stumped on what other pieces I should arrange for them.  I have to arrange ALL of the music used for both groups since I don't have budget money for them.  I was going back through songs that I have saved on Spotify and came across this mashup of Home and Dirty Paws by The Gardiner Sisters.  Check them out if you haven't already - they're amazing!

This arrangement is SSA and has a piano accompaniment.  I also arranged it in two prep periods (no idea how that happened.  I think I was sweating by the end.)  I added the piano part for rehearsal so I may or may not take it out yet and add pads instead.  Either way, the girls loved it!

Download it here!  Let me know if you like it!

10 Things That Happen After Spring Break - A Teacher's View

1.  Me the first morning back.


2.  First day back includes a mix of sunburned lethargic kids who were in Florida for a week AND kids who ate their entire basket of Easter candy for breakfast.  Differentiation at its finest. ;)

  

3.  Everyone forgot what we learned before break.  EVERYONE.




4.  But hey!  At least the kids are excited to show you the new song they've been belting at home.



 5.  You tell the kids that you finally finished their choir arrangement that they've been hounding you about.



6,  You realize you have one more holiday off for the rest of the year.




7.  At the same time you realize your concerts are a month away.




8.  HOW IS EVERYTHING A MONTH AWAY!?




9.  State tests begin.  Children immediately begin stressing out.  Teachers are stressing out.  Everyone wants a nap.




10.  It's April.  It's a tough month.  BUT SUMMER IS COMING!!

How I Use My Passion Planner for My Music Classes

I jumped on the Passion Planner bandwagon back in December and bought one for myself and my student teacher.  Now if you've been following Passion Planner, you know about the late shipping (for various reasons).  Shipping seems to be all caught up though, so if you like it, go for it!  I received my planner at the end of February and love it!

A little something about me: I'm a Google calendar and planbook.com addict.  However, there really is something about putting things down on paper and even though planbook.com is great for adding specific standards (go check it out!), I really wanted to have my plans open on my desk all day.  Enter - an old fashioned planner.

The planner is really professional looking - nice black faux leather.  The planner opens completely flat which I like because I don't have to fight with the pages.  I use my passion planner for my personal and work schedules, so the fact that the time ranges from 6am-10pm is great!

(Excuse the Insanity workouts and Jamberry scheduling (I'm a consultant))

Now my favorite part about this for music is the note space on the bottom right.  I use it A LOT for brainstorming but it works even better for putting together groups/teams in classes.  I like that depending on what I'm doing that week, I'll have my group lists and everything else pertaining to my lessons RIGHT THERE.

Now although I do love this planner, I am thinking about ordering an Erin Condren Teacher Planner for next school year.  I know she ran a Teacher Appreciation sale last May, so I'm holding out till next month.  I would just like more room to write in more detailed lessons.  I love the Passion Planner because as a music teacher, it's an awesome way to not only keep tracking of what part of a lesson you are on, but it's a great way to keep track of rehearsals!  I love just being able to look down and see what my afternoon schedule looks like.  I ordered a regular Erin Condren Life planner (they're on sale now!) to see what that's like as well.  I don't know which one will win out!