Back to School: Stickers

Look what I bought at Target this week!

Aren't they cute?  They were around $3.00 (a bit pricey for the number of stickers).  You can find them with the school supplies.  There were other packs with peace signs, so you may need to dig through the rack to find these.  You may even be able to wait a few weeks and get them on clearance!

Mrs. Q's Resources: First Grade Rhythm Pack

I have another resource up in my store; a first grade rhythm pack.  There are 20 cards in the pack containing patterns with quarter notes/rests and beamed eighth notes.  The pack is regularly priced at $4.00 but if you click the link below, you can purchase it for $1.00 off!  There are a limited number of coupons, so don't wait too long.  More rhythm packs coming soon.

http://gum.co/zkZi/25fgrp

Mrs. Q's Resources: Word Wall Pack and Giveaway

I can't believe July has come and past.  This summer seems to be flying by!

This past week I came out of my vacation fog to focus a bit on school but in a fun way!  I'm at peace when I'm creating, so I've been sitting in front of the computer creating in Photoshop and I hope you will love what I've done.

Over the past year many of you have asked about word cards to accompany the word wall toppers I use in my classroom.  Unfortunately, those old files got lost somewhere along the way.  But not to worry, I have created a whole set of color coded word wall cards and musical elements toppers.  

My Word Wall Pack will be for sale starting this Friday, August 9th.  If this sounds like a product you would LOVE to have for your classroom, you may be interested to know that I will be giving away 1 Free Word Wall Pack and 10- 50% off coupons to followers of Mrs. Q's Music Blog.  

How do you enter?  Well many of you already are.   To be entered in the Giveaway you must follow Mrs. Q's Music Blog by email or Google.  I will use random.org to pick the winners and they will be announced this Friday.  Good luck!

Back to School: Popsicle Sticks

I was at the Dollar Tree this evening doing a bit of my Back to School shopping and I happened across these:

What a great deal!  100 Popsicle sticks for $1.00.  I think my box was $7 or $8 when I bought it at one of the craft stores.  There are about 16 of each color which is great for Popsicle Stick Rhythms.  You only need 12 sticks per students, so I would purchase 3 or 4 packages.  Four may be a bit much but you would always have spares just in case.

Here is the post I wrote in January about Popsicle Stick Rhythms.  

I'm thinking the variety of colors would lend themselves well for small group work.  I'll have to think about that and how I could use a variety of colors for other rhythmic activities this year.

Resource: The Singing Classroom

Have you ever picked up one of your resource books, looked at a lesson and thought "What does that mean?"  It happens to me every so often and sometimes it's not convenient to call or email a colleague to find out how to do a certain dance step.  I've often wished that I had some pictorial guide or video to watch in order to better understand how to play a game or do a dance.

https://www.thesingingclassroom.com/

TheSingingClassroom.com is a great new resource available to music educators that solves these problems.  Deborah Pasternack, a Kodaly and Orff certified educator, along with her husband have created an online collection of songs and games to use in the elementary classroom.  Each song has a detailed description of the activity, materials required, the recommended grade and the skills/concepts that can be taught using the song.  In addition to all of this wonderful information, there are videos and animations of the games being played and recommendations from Deborah on how to implement the lesson in your classroom!

Check out a sample lesson here:  https://www.thesingingclassroom.com/sample.html

After browsing the site, I have discovered that even more than video instructions, what I really needed was organization.  Once you have discovered a song or game that you LOVE in the collection, you can bookmark it so that you can easily access it when you need it.  The nice thing about being able to bookmark a song is you don't have to worry about carting a bag of resource books around with you.  If I know the song is bookmarked in my account, I can access it from anywhere I have internet.

It's fun watching the videos and thinking about using the lessons with my own students.  Right now there are just over 50 games/songs in the collection but it grows every week.  I look forward to emails letting me know that there is new content available.

This resource is available for a $12.95/month subscription fee.  Now, I know that may seem like a lot but there is new content added frequently, so it's like getting a bunch of resource books all at once.  I'm pretty cheap when it comes to purchasing resources; I want something that I know I will use and won't just sit on a shelf.  For me, this is something worth the investment.  Remember, PTO is always a great option for resources like this!

I am so excited about this site and using it to supplement my curriculum this year.  I've already bookmarked a number of songs and games to use with my kids!

Resource: pixlr.com

Have you ever wished that you had Photoshop?  Did the price scare you away from purchasing a copy?  Well.....here is a great solution!

http://pixlr.com/editor/

Pixlr is a FREE photo editing service.  If you are familiar with Photoshop, it works similarly, you just don't have as many options.  This is a great resource for customizing photos or images to use in your classroom.  Here is a little image I whipped up using the service.  

What to buy?

Recently a colleague of mine ran into a happy problem.  His PTO ran a fundraiser for his program and decided to donate about $250.00 for him to spend however he saw fit.  I can just imagine the drool running down your chin.  :)  While a donation from PTO may not be the source of a little extra cash for your program, there tend to be funds from grants or other sources from time to time.

My colleague asked me what I would purchase if I had these extra funds available, so here is the way I usually break down spending money on my program.

1.  Immediate needs:
What are the immediate needs for your program.  Do you need to repair any of your barred instruments?  Is there a costume, prop or sound effect instrument you need for an upcoming event?  I usually address these needs first.  I don't have to worry about this often because the fees I charge for my performing groups cover the costs of programs but every once in awhile there is a special need like a snare drum.

2.  Additional Instruments
While I have a pretty well stocked music room, there are always odds and ends.  For example, when my school was built, two quality wood blocks and 4 crappy wood blocks were purchased for my classroom.  It always annoys me when we learn how to play the wood block in K and two rows sound good and the other three sound flat and colorless.  This would be something I would purchase the next time I have some extra funds.  I also look at filling in my sound effects baskets with cool sounds.

3.  Supporting Curriculum
All those cool apps, manipulatives, etc. you have been wishing you could have to enhance your program.  If there are items you can purchase to support learning, these would be the next on my list.  If you're able, an itunes gift card would be a great purchase because you can always be on the look out for new apps or sound files.

4.  Children's Books
I L-O-V-E kids books.  While you can find great connections to the curriculum, they are just plain fun and they grab the kids attention.  Now that we have been open for a few years, our Media Center is pretty well stocked but I still prefer having my own copy.

5.  Posters
I don't buy a lot of posters, I prefer to make my own but there are a few that I do purchase.  A timeline with composer pictures, instrument families, or large composer posters.


Things I don't spend money on (at least school funds) are:

Resource books -
I want these to be my own copies so that I can take them with me if I change schools.

Stickers, puppets, stuffed animals -
While all of these can be great for classroom management and curriculum connections, I find that you can get many of them for free.  Ask for donations from parents.

Creating a Program: Favorite Resources

This is the second post in my series on Creating a Program.  Last week I wrote about coming up with a concert theme and this week is all about some of my favorite (holiday) resources.  Below are some of them.

Anything by Randy and Jeff is perfect.  They have a number of publications that are perfect for the holidays; Highlighting the Holidays, Making the Most of the Holidays.  Check out all their publications  here!

The link below is to a cool book with short stories that are perfect for orff dramatization.  Add a few sound effect instruments and they are a lot of fun.  Plus, these are a great jumping off point to create your own stories for Orff Dramatization.
http://www.amazon.com/Holiday-Stories-dramatization-Robin-Uhr/dp/B0006YH5QC

The Duet Recorder
Recorder Duet
Duet Time
Recorder Express

I'm not big on using recorded sound tracks, so all of these resources have orff accompaniment or none at all.  If you are looking for a performance track I would look at Music K8.


Next week's post, Creating a Program......making things fit.

Instruments at Target!

I stopped at Target this evening to pick up a couple of things and could not resist taking a peek at the $ section.  I was excited to see a bunch of $1 and $3 toy instruments.  Now, I would never use these during a lesson but for my Maestro of the Month backpack they would be great additions.  I didn't pick up any just yet because I want to look in the backpack and see what I need but I won't wait too long because I'm sure they will get picked over.  What I remember seeing are:

Egg Shakers
Whistles
Tambourines
Jingle Bells

I know there were more, I just can't remember now.  This would be a great way to create a reward backpack for your students.

Parachutes and Ribbons and Scarves, OH MY!

I'm soooooooo excited!!!  This week one of my parents mentioned that she wanted to donate something to our music program.  After asking how much she was thinking of gifting, I sent her a list of materials that were around that price.  I can't tell you how excited I was this morning when her little one walked in holding Artie Almeida's Parachutes and Ribbons and Scarves, OH MY!

I have been sitting here looking through the pages and getting more and more excited about the fun lessons I will incorporate this year.  I love Artie's stuff and I can safely say (even without testing this with my kids) that this is a resource well worth purchasing for your classroom!  Below is the link to this book on West Music.

Parachutes on West Music

New Featured Product!

Check out the Featured Product section of my blog.  September's featured product is listed along with July and August.  I'm not a paid spokesperson, just a teacher who loves these products!

Pluck-a-Note

So, this isn't the cutest display I've ever done but it worked.  In past years I have printed out copies of a supply wish list and asked parents to donate items to the music room but it has never been all that successful.  I can imagine that with all of the papers parents are handed at the beginning of the year things get lost or forgotten.

To try and increase the donations, I made this poster and hung it outside of my door tonight for "Meet the Teacher".  I figure the music notes will be a better reminder than another piece of 8.5 x 11 paper.

I wish this was more colorful and had a treble clef but I ran out of time.  Although it's not perfect I did notice a lot of notes missing at the end of the night, so fingers crossed.  Hopefully those supplies will start rolling in!

My Go To's

Do you ever have that moment where you think "what the heck am I going to do with 1st grade"?  Well I have them from time to time...whether it's I can't remember what I used for a certain concept last year or I'm looking for something different these are my "Go To" Resources:

Game Plan by Randy Delelles and Jeff Kriske
I have all 6 grade levels of Game Plan and they are an amazing resource.  There are tons of songs, games, visuals, etc..  What I really love is this series helped me better spiral my curriculum.  I am much more aware of the direction I'm heading in with lesson planning and I believe this has greatly impacted my students musicianship.

http://kid-sounds.com/

Mallet Madness by Artie Almeida

Artie is awesome!  I love many of her publications but Mallet Madness is one of my Go To's.  This is such a great resource for incorporating children's literature, mallet technique, and more.

http://www.artiealmeida.com/

The Orff Source by Denise Gagne

I love this resource because it is sequenced by tone set (sm-lsm-etc.) it is great to quickly find a song to support your objective.

westmusic.com

While there are many other resources, including my Level binders, that I own and use these 3 are the ones I find myself going to first.