Teacher Talent Show Ideas

     Recently I've been thinking about talent shows.  It may not be that time of year for you, but I wanted to share some ideas in case you are looking for something to do with other teachers in your talent show! 
     We have a talent show at our elementary every year near the end of the year.  I love getting to see what kids choose to perform!!  As much as the students love seeing their friends perform, their absolute favorite thing is to see their teachers perform!  This can pose a challenge since some teachers are not super excited about getting outside of their comfort zone.  Granted, I have seen a group of male teachers perform as KISS and the Spice Girls!  But since not everyone is that comfortable up in from of people, here are a couple of ideas that perhaps even a shy teacher may consider:

Teacher Talent Show Ideas

1.  Recorders--teach them Hot Cross Buns or something else simple.  Dressing up silly is a MUST of course!

2. Pop See Ko--If you haven't signed up for GoNoodle, you need to!  You can check it out yourself here, or check out this blog I wrote about it awhile back.  Pop See Ko is one of my students' favorite chants and last year we changed it into our teacher talent act.  It took about 15 minutes to prepare.  Each grade of teachers created their own dance move and we started with kindergarten and went up, and even had our principal come out in the hotdog outfit at the end (see the video below)!  Then we invited the students to do their own "Pop See Ko."  It's kind of hard to explain on a blog, so log in and check it out!

3.  Dancing in the dark--as STICK FIGURE PEOPLE!  We did this a couple of years ago and boy was it a hit!  This option helps shy teachers because they know people can't see who they are.  It was so much fun and silly at the same time.  (Tip:  Make sure it's completely dark!)  I wish I had a good video of our simplified version for you, but here's a way over the top version:



And here's directions on how to do it!

4.  Lastly, I can already sense a Whip Nae Nae act coming this year . . . anybody else?



Why do we do these crazy things?  For the students.  Catch you next time I have something Noteworthy!

Tips for the End of the Year

     It's getting close to the end of the school year--and boy, do the students seem to know!  Or maybe it's the teachers :)  Here are some tips for the end of the year to keep it fresh, purposeful, and fun:

End of the Year Tips

1.  Review what your students learned this year!

     I have a word wall for each grade in my classroom.  When we get near the end of the year, I like to do a whirlwind of activities to review the concepts we learned throughout the year while pointing back to the word wall and talking about what we did.  It keeps the students on their toes and also helps them to be proud of all that they have learned!  Here's a sample of part of my 3rd grade word wall (we do a unit playing the violin).  Someday I hope to have the word wall all printed out and pretty. 

 2.  Try a new activity

     I always like to go to workshops to get new ideas each year, otherwise I don't feel as excited about my teaching!  Other great places to search for music activities are blogs and Pinterest.  Recently, my kindergarten students were "painting" their bodies to the beat while we sang "I Ain't Gonna Paint No More." I think we will create our own rhyming verses next week just for fun.  I have the CD that I got through scholastic books, but I don't know where it's available now :( 

3.  Have a choice day!

     The very last day of my music classes is always a game day where students can pick their favorite activities from the year and revisit them!  I also include folk dancing and the broom game as options.  Sometimes we even have our last class outside if the weather is nice. 

4.  Set goals for the summer

     I am the queen of post-it notes.  My desk is covered in them!  But, it allows me to take those small ideas I get throughout the day and not forget them.   So, now is the time of year I look through my ideas for the summer and start working on it.  This year's goals?
     1.  Redo the costume closet at my school.
     2.  Take Kodaly Level I (or Orff Level II if that doesn't work out).  Either way, it will be invaluable!
     3.  Read some books. It's always nice to hear how someone else runs their classroom so you can pick their best ideas and use them in yours.  Here's one I'm going to check out for sure:

     4.  Pick out possible music and musicals for the upcoming school year.  I normally wait to make my final decisions until the school year is in session, but it's always good to have a list to choose from instead of starting from scratch.  And next year I will be K-12--so it's never to early to start planning!

     Catch you next time I have something noteworthy!  Feel free to share how you are making it to the end of the year!

     For more great tips on what to do at the end of the year, click here to see who else is blogging about it!

Five Favorite Music Freebies Linky Party

     Hi all!  I'm hosting a linky party this week for music bloggers to tell you what their "Five Favorite Music Freebies" are on Teachers Pay Teachers!

      If you have used Teachers Pay Teachers at all, you will know that one of the best parts about it is that every seller is required to have at least one product in their store that is free!  Not only does this give you a FREE activity to use in your classroom, but it also gives you a taste of each seller's work so you know that what they make is high quality (or not!).       I have compiled a list of some of my favorite music freebies available on Teachers Pay Teachers--check them out! 

Five Favorite Music Freebies

1. Listen & Roll, A Music Listening FREEBIE

     This is a fun way to get students to talk about what they are hearing when they listen to music.  Rolling the dice makes them much more engaged in answering the questions--I even had fun myself!

 2. Headbands! A Rhythm Decoding Game, ta ti-ti

     This is a fun activity that has students wearing rhythm headbands while their partner claps the rhythm.  They have to try to decode what rhythm they are wearing on their head.  What a great way to practice rhythm dictation.  There are other levels available, but this one is free!!

3.  Favorite Folk Song--Alabama Gal

     Make Moments Matter has a great line of products about folk songs, and this one is free!  Find out about the historical context, vocabulary, and get a copy of the music without any work on your part!

4.  Music Brag Bracelets

     I do something similar to this in my classroom and plan on making a set of what I do for free this summer, but until I do, check out these from the always creative Jena Hudson.  Simply print and put them around students' wrists when they do something great in music class!

5.  Aaron Copland Composer of the Month with Youtube Links

     I thought I would throw one of my own freebies in for fun!  There are lots of composer of the month sets out there, but one thing that makes mine a bit unique is the youtube links.  Each set in my  composer of the month series has a page with youtube links of the composer's music being performed in a variety of settings.  It's like a virtual field trip for your students and it saves you time and money trying to find examples of the composer's works :)

     And as a special treat, I've decided to make my 100 Follower Freebie permanently free :)  Click below to get it!  You can follow me on Teachers Pay Teachers here to find out about new products, sales, and freebies in the future!

      I would love to hear of other freebies that you love!  Please comment below if you have one you love, or if you have one that's in your own store that I didn't cover!  Or, even better--write your own post and add in to the linky party!  Don't forget to grab the linky party logo at the top of this post, put it in your post, and link it back to this one!

An InLinkz Link-up

     Catch you next time I have something noteworthy!
Graphics by KG Fonts, Udy Studio, and Graphics from the Pond :)

"Sign"mon Says--A Quick Solfege Attention Grabber

 Ever looking for a quick game to get your students' attention?  I randomly came up with this game while teaching this year and my students love it!
      My 4th graders finally learned all of the solfege for a full major scale--wohoo!  It seemed like there needed to be a bit more of a celebration than, "Yay, you just learned a scale."  So, I had them all stand up and told them we were going to play Simon Says, but a new way--"Sign"mon Says!

Rules for "Sign"mon Says:

1.  All students stand.

2.  The teacher either says or sings a solfege syllable.

3.  Students show the symbol for it.  If they are incorrect, they sit down (most students did this honestly!).

4.  The game increases in speed as it goes on, forcing students to respond more quickly.  I let my students use the visuals hung up in my room as we began, but I warned them it would get faster and that it wouldn't help them eventually.

5.  The last one standing wins!

     My students LOVED this!  Such a simple game, and I'm sure someone else has done something like it before.  I just enjoyed how motivated my students were to get every sign correct.  I was also surprised by who won!  It wasn't always who I always expected...

     I'm already formulating ways to differentiate this in the future:
Sing the note without saying the syllable, do a longer pattern, etc.  What ideas do you have?

     Catch you next time I have something noteworthy!

     P.S.  I'm posting this blog entry as part of a linky party, if you want to see more ideas, click the picture above!!

Motivation During Movement: Special Scarves

     So, I have the privilege of teaching my kindergarten students every day!  One day is music class and the next is musical movement class.  This means I have to come up with A LOT of activities for them.  It can be challenging to make sure I keep the movement activities fresh.
     As part of their movement curriculum, I decided to focus on one classical song every two weeks.  So they hear the same classical song every movement class for two weeks.  This worked well for awhile, but several students were lacking enthusiasm when we were doing scarf movement to go with the songs.  
     Enter my hanger of "special scarves."  

     My mom had given me some of her old scarves since she retired from teaching last year, and I just had them hanging around my classroom doing nothing when I got the idea.  We will do the song two times every class and I will pick the best movers to come pick a special scarf for the second time through.  Boy did it work like a charm.  Everyone had their eyes on me and were following me intently!!  Still works even a couple of months later :)
     So, if you don't have some extra scarves hanging around your house, send a letter out to your students to see if their parents have some they can donate to your classroom.  It's so fun to watch their faces light up as they use the special scarf.  It really helps bring the music to life!!
     Catch you next time I have something noteworthy!