Every family has a culture, it is either made on purpose or on autopilot. Here are simple ways to build your family culture, on purpose.
Anchor charts that will engage your students while they learn about identifying the author's purpose in a nonfiction text!
Julia Child's Tarte Tatin is a delectable dessert featuring a flaky pastry crust embracing caramelized apples. With simple ingredients like all-purpose flour, butter, and apples, this timeless recipe delivers in about 3 hours and serves 6 people.
For those who have been following my blog, it's been a full week since I released the post on Depression is For The Weak . ...
The Purpose and Function of Holidays Many suppose that a holiday is simply time off work, similar to a vacation, an opportunity to rest and relax and engage in various recreational activities. This…
Dealing with children who won't listen can be challenging, but using these three strategies will encourage cooperation and mutual respect.
We all want purpose in our lives, but how are you supposed to find your soul purpose if you can't see it or touch it? In this blog, I'm sharing 3 simple steps to find your soul purpose and life's calling.
Type: Warm-Up, Break Out of Shell Purpose: A simple way to get some of even the shiest kids acting bold in front of the group. Procedure: 1. Players stand in a circle. 2. One player starts a small gesture. 3. The next player takes it over and makes it even bigger. 4. This continues all the...
Check out this list of 50+ social skills for teens to help them learn skills to help them in conversations and in friendships...
Because who's got time for swirling negative thoughts when you have hands to hold and people to love?
Amoroso was the CEO and founder at the helm of Nasty Gal, a direct-to-consumer clothing company that served up trendy looks at a pretty affordable budget to millennial-aged women. On the cover of the Pepto-pink book stood Amoroso, hands on her hips in a defiant power stance. The pages inside detaile
A Turku uno spazio di comunione tra Arte e Religione
“Happiness is only real when shared” – Chris McCandless, Into The Wild It is true, isn’t it? The world is full of terrible things. However, there is happiness in every corner as well. All you [...]
If you missed it, make sure you check out my previous post on the logistics of setting up, organizing, and running a drumming circle in your classroom. Today's post is focused on my favorite lesson ideas and activities to use in the drumming circle. These basic ideas have worked well for me with students in first grade all the way up to eighth grade (and I'm pretty sure they would work with high schoolers too!). I'm listing them here in the order that I usually introduce them to my students. 1. Basic techniques and vocabulary I intentionally start the drum circle with an activity that requires the students to hold the drum without playing it, just to make sure everyone is focused and understands that I really mean it when I tell them they will sit out if they play their drum, even by mistake, when it is not their turn! We start off by going over how to hold the drum, and the names of the different parts of the drum (rim, head, body etc). I also go over the parts of the hand (heel, finger, knuckle, palm, side) that we will be using to play the drum. From this point on, I try to only use the specific vocabulary when I am describing what to do. I introduce each playing technique by giving a brief description (1 sentence max!) and then demonstrating. I then use that one technique to play different 4-beat patterns and have them copy it back. Here is a demonstration of some basic playing techniques you can use on most drums (I wouldn't use this video with students- too much verbal explanation etc- but it is a good model if you are working on it yourself before leading the group): 2. "Let's All Play Our Drum" This is a great way to really get students to focus on listening, and also get some practice on the basic playing techniques. Basically you say the phrase, "let's all play our drum", and everyone plays their drum on the word "drum". I usually specify which playing technique they should use so they can practice different ones throughout the exercise. Say the sentence at different speeds and see if they can play at the right time. Then start taking words away and have them use inner hearing to know when to play- you say "Let's all...", they hear "play our" in their heads, and play on the word "drum". There are other variations of this as well, which you can see in the video below: 3. Pass the Pattern I start this by having them echo some 4-beat rhythms after me again, then having each person take turns playing that pattern all the way around the circle. Focus on keeping the beat steady and having no gaps between each person. Then explain that you are going to start passing a new pattern around the circle while the first is still circling. Have each student point to the person before them, to whom they should listen. The people across the circle will be doing a different pattern so they should NOT listen to them! My older students have been able to get up to 4 patterns going at a time. Everybody loves the challenge of this one! 4. Longer Patterns While we're in the echoing mood, I teach the students a more complex pattern, mixing some playing techniques and using more complex rhythms, with a mnemonic device- I match the rhythm to a phrase and have the students repeat the phrase after me several times so they internalize the rhythm. Our favorites have been, "yum, yum, tastes like chicken", "Mom, I'm home, and now I want to eat", and "come and get your ice cream! come and get it now!" (yes, I like to talk about food). Once they can say it correctly, I have them echo the pattern on the drum slowly while saying it, eventually speeding it up and taking away the words. 5. Improv Circle This time, instead of copying the pattern of the person before them, everyone is going to make up their own rhythm! Each person gets 4 beats to improvise. Go around the circle without stopping (like the beginning of the Pass the Pattern game). For younger students I usually count each person's 4 beats by holding up my fingers towards them. I tell them that if someone misses their turn, that is a 4-beat rest- we will not give you another turn or stop for you! This is also a good time to talk about the importance of respect for yourself and others and especially focus on facial expressions. I encourage them not to make a cringing face when they improv (a common defense mechanism), laugh, or react negatively to anyone else's playing. 6. Improv Circle 2 Once students are comfortable improvising, remind them of one of the longer patterns you practiced with a phrase. Practice everyone playing that pattern together, clapping for 4 beats, then repeating the pattern. Once they can do that, tell students that the 4 beats of clapping is when one person will be improvising. Everyone will play the pattern in between each person's turn to improv. 7. Drum Talk Everyone continues to improvise in this activity, but this time instead of going straight around the circle, you improvise in between each student's turn. Go all the way around the circle with this pattern once to make sure students understand the new order. Now tell them that if you play 3 notes (ti-ti ta or 1-&-2) at any time, everyone needs to copy it whether it is their turn or not. After that, the order will resume as before. Eventually of course I like to up the ante and have any students who miss the echo pattern put their drums down for the rest of the round. I also raise the level of difficulty with my older students by telling students they can also play the echo pattern on their turn (and they would improvise something else after everyone else echos). 8. Free For All If your group is focused and positive, it is great fun to get to the point where I can just tell students to watch me and play something appropriate, and just go to town jamming with the whole group. Here's an example, but you can see how if everyone is watching, listening, and comfortable in the circle, you can take this in many different ways and is a great way to culminate the drum circle time: You can find all of the sources linked here, plus many other great drum circle and world music ideas, on my Pinterest board called Music Teaching: World Music and Drum Circles. If you have other great resources for drumming circles, please share and I'll add them to the board!! Leave a comment here or share on my Facebook page! Looking for teaching ideas and tips for other instruments like recorder, xylophone, ukulele, keyboard, and more? Head to this post:
Engaging sight word activities that help students recognize and learn sight words! Learning sight words can increase fluency and build comprehension.
There are so many questions right now, and very few answers. The one that melts my brain the most right now, though, is how to teach elementary music class without anyone being able to sing (and I know I'm not the only one struggling with this)! If we are teaching in-person in some way, shape, or form, there is a good chance that singing won't be safe to do. I don't have many answers but here are some of the thoughts and ideas I've come up with so far. 1. Non-singing participation So much music involves singing, but we can have other people do the singing on a recording (or pre-record ourselves singing) and join in with the music in other ways: Play an ostinato on instruments or body percussion Show melodic contour, steady beat, dynamics, or mood through movement Dance Use props- cups, bean bags, scarves Play along with the melody on a pitched instrument (boomwhackers, xylophones, virtual instruments like Song Maker) Show solfege pitches with hand signs 2. Non-singing vocal performance How much of this we can and cannot safely do will depend on ongoing research findings, but it seems likely that we will be able to use our voices in ways that don't project as much, whether that's humming, whistling, or speaking. Depending on what I'm trying to teach through the song, I can adjust the activity: humming for melodic elements and speaking for rhythmic elements. We could even switch back and forth between the two to get a little bit of both! This would actually be a great way to really focus on what we're trying to practice. 3. Singing outside the classroom This option depends on what our school model looks like, but I could potentially have students learn how to do something vocally while they're in class, then have them practice doing it themselves at home and even record themselves (via something like Flipgrid). Those recordings could potentially be used in the next class period, or individual recordings could be combined to create a "group singing" experience that we all watch together. 4. Approaching concepts through non-singing My primary solution that I keep coming back to as we try to completely reinvent ourselves is to go back to the concepts I'm trying to teach and come up with different ways to "get there". So if the concept I want to teach is singing in canon, I can have students perform in canon with movement, instruments, or body percussion. If the concept is 4 voices, we can listen and identify recordings of the different voices instead of performing them all ourselves. If the concept is showing high and low, we can do that with our bodies, on instruments, or with online notation (like Song Maker mentioned above). The thought of music class without singing is depressing and terrifying. It seems completely ridiculous. We may find in a few weeks that we're all back to distance teaching and all of this will be a moot point. Or we may somehow find out that there are, in fact, safe ways for us to sing in groups in school. But for now, I think it's important for us to at least think through our options in case we're presented with this situation, whether it's at the beginning of this school year or later on when buildings start to reopen. We are all being stretched in ways we never even dreamed, and it's critical that we collaborate as a profession and support each other! If you have other ideas you've come up with for in-person music teaching without singing, please leave a comment. I will be continuing to update the Distance Learning Resources page to include ideas for social distancing and modified teaching through covid- don't forget to look there for all my posts related to these unusual times we're living through.
I've spent too long of my life in waiting. Waiting can become an excuse for not holding yourself accountable to do the things you were born to do.
After living on auto-pilot I decided to live on purpose. Here is what I've learned about SHOWING UP for your life. Pay attention, listen closer, act brave.
We hear that many approach minimalism with 'is it useful, beautiful or sentimental?' criteria. But here is the deeper criteria that most minimalists approach their stuff with, how they think about their relationship to their home and belongings #declutter #minimalism
A master list of how to get started with living your life on purpose. For moms who are looking for encouragement to live intentionally with purpose and passion.
Are you struggling to feel fulfilled? Do you often wonder why you are here at this moment? Are you struggling with finding peace and happiness in your life? The truth is you are most probably struggling to find your purpose and understand your why.
Perhaps you would have noticed the nudges, the synchronicity, the signs or the wondering of what “could be”. When you uncover our soul purpose and live a life on your inherent truth and alignment— you become the unstoppable, most empowered version of you. Read on to find out below what are the 3 sim
This post is dedicated to the ones that wonder, "what is the purpose of my life?" Try this effective Life Purpose Matrix and find the answers for yourself!
Finding your purpose, life dreams, what do you want to be when you grow up, what should you do with your life, how to live on purpose, what is your calling, what to do with your life next. We can phrase it many ways but it all comes down to owning what YOU WANT YOUR
In this article, I have listed down the painful steps I took when asked "How to Find your Passion and Live the Life of your Dreams."
Explore Your Interests: The first tip on how to find your purpose in life is to explore your interests, this is very important when it comes to finding your purpose in life, look Into what you are interested in and what you are not.
A meaningful life is ultimately one you can look back on and feel fulfilled by. When life comes to a close, everyone wants to know that they spent the bulk of their time and energy
Tips to finding purpose in your life. Learn the purpose in your depression and trials. Easy steps for improving your happiness. What is God calling you to.
In this post, I'll offer 37 personal purpose statement examples and tips that will help you write your own.
Learn to live life on purpose with this guide to intentionally cultivating your life! Explore your natrual abilities, past experiences, and God's plan.
Are you struglling how to find your purpose, passion, and life? Are you feeling a bit stuck when it comes to uncovering your purpose?
Each new year, each new month, each new day, we should seek to live with intention. Here are 6 ways to help you start to live with intention today.
A purpose in life can be your internal GPS when you feel lost or stuck. It can even benefit your health & wellbeing. Find out why & how.
Have you ever heard people talk about having a purpose statement for their life or a personal mission statement that they live by? It might sound lofty to create something like that for yourself but it’s actually totally doable and can be a life-changing way to start living more intentionally. In th
True steps to help you find to your purpose in life and start living with intention. Self Discovery is one step that will help you gain clarity.
What if what is considered the “norm” in today’s society was actually far from what we need to live a happy life? What if our priorities were wrong and we were wasting our lives away focusing on the wrong things? And what if the simplest things were the way to find meaning? The...Read the Post
These simple living quotes are perfect for inspiring change and boosting motivation on your journey to simplify, declutter, and slow down.
