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.  

iPad App: ABC Music

A couple of months ago, my husband came across the app ABC Music by Peapod Labs.  He thought it would be great for my classroom, and I think he's right.

http://peapodlabs.com/applications/abc-music/

I hadn't had a chance to really look at the app until he was playing with our 7 month old niece a couple of weeks ago.  She was delighted by all of the instrument sounds and video.

The App is basically an alphabetical list of instruments.  When you click an instrument, it opens up a screen with a picture of the instrument and it's name.  Along with each instrument are videos of the instruments being played.  The app can be played in either English or Spanish; this is great for bilingual programs.  It's available in the App Store for $2.99.

I plan to use this app with my Kindergartners this year.   We will do a letter each rotation, hitting my benchmarks and supporting their classroom benchmarks as well.  This will be a great way to end each lesson.