Recorder Rewards

My 4th graders are thrilled this week, because their recorders have arrived! Pretty soon they will be on their way to earning belts as they master songs from their books. We use "Recorder Express," and students can select from a couple of songs for most colored belts. (For the more info on specific song choices, you can find our recorder belt chart in Recorder Extras.)

There are many different ways to reward students for mastery of a recorder piece. I love the recorder karate idea, because it really motivates the students to work hard. They feel so much pride when they get to put a belt on their recorder. There are all kinds of materials you can use for the belts. Some teachers use ribbon, some use jelly bands, and some use yarn. There is no telling what some teachers have come up with to use for rewards. Music teachers are a creative bunch!

I like to use yarn because it's relatively cheap and makes a cute pompon on the recorder. I bought skeins of yarn about 9 years ago, and I still have a great supply. I have only had to replace white, yellow, blue, and green(although I just noticed my purple and pink are almost gone). Since I have a good number of students who work their way past black, I add some rainbow colored belts to keep the fun going.

In order to cut a lot of belts quickly, I simply wrap the yarn around a textbook about 20 times, pinch the yarn, slide it off, cut the bottom loops, and cut the top loops. Boom! 40 belts cut in 30 seconds flat!

I really don't know what took me so long to decide to cut belts quickly, but I'm embarrassed to say that I used to cut one belt at a time. Ha! Maybe it's because I didn't have an organized method for storing a lot of belts. No more! After I saw a brilliant teacher's bucket on Pinterest with dividers to store belts, I looked around my room and found a caddy, some cardboard, scissors, and duct tape. A little while later, I said "hello" to this handy, dandy, recorder belt caddy:

If you are interested in additional recorder tips, check out Recorder Extras for ideas about reinforcing flimsy plastic recorder bags and a link to a Word document I created to track students as they earn belts. You also might enjoy Recorders Rock for more info on how we label and organize recorders and for a JPEG image to insert in a PowerPoint with recorder tips for beginning players.

I hope your recorder players are as excited as mine are. Isn't being a music teacher rewarding and fun?!

Two-Toned Tip

I haven't written a post in a while, and things are crazy with preparation for our K-3 winter concert. So I thought I would share a quick idea that I have implemented with my students as they notate music on whiteboards.

First of all, let me share my new setup for whiteboard supplies. There is a little space right outside my door, and I wanted to have the materials in the hallway for students to gather as they entered the room. I also needed a mobile station, because there are times when older grades meet next door with the other music class. 

I found this two-shelf cubby at IKEA, which can be put on casters (sold separately). The shelf unit is from the Expedit collection. I can't find the two-shelf model online, but it was in the store in Atlanta.

Markers and erasers are kept in clear bins. I typically hold the marker bins a few feet in front of the supply station to help with traffic flow.

The eraser bin is placed on top of the wooden crate that holds the boards, so they are close together and easy to pick up quickly. 

A bin of my classroom set of recorder books sits on the lower shelf. 

I am loving my new station! It keeps things neat and organized, and the mobility is a plus. 

Now, back to the tip I promised. Some of my students were struggling with differentiating between line and space notes at the beginning of the year. Also, some students seem to be able to identify B-A-G most of the time, but I found they were unable to transfer music from the board to their whiteboards. 

I decided to have students use two markers: one colored and one black or brown. They use the colored marker for line notes, and the black or brown for space notes. I believe it helps them focus on the precise location of the pitches, and they seem to have better accuracy. I can also assess how well they are doing very quickly.

I keep the markers in two separate bins, so they can pick one out of each bucket on their way into the room.

So, that is my quick and easy tip. Use two different colored markers to notate line and space notes. It's helpful and more fun. Let's face it: two markers are better than one! :)

Enjoy!

4 Apps 4 Teachers

I am so excited that I recently acquired an iPad to use in my classroom! I immediately began to search for apps to enhance my teaching. Since I only have one iPad, I began by looking for apps that will assist with administrative tasks. In addition to the obvious must-have apps like Dropbox, Splashtop, and Evernote, I have found several other apps that any teacher is sure to love.

Planbook

Planbook is an awesome app that can be accessed from a computer, as well as other devices like the iPad. Although there is an annual fee of about $12, you can try it free for 30 days. Believe me - after thirty days, you'll want to purchase the annual subscription!

As a music teacher, the trickiest part was deciding how to set up classes and schedule them. I finally decided to set up a couple of grades on each day, so I can see the entire week's plans at a glance. I have several grades twice a week, which is why they are listed on two different days. Here is a sample week, just to show how I arranged my classes:

Not only does it provide a great format for keeping up with lessons plans, it makes it very simple to note standards for each plan. You simply select the source of your standards (it even includes state standards), and then click on the standards addressed in the plan.

There are plenty of useful features, which include extending lessons, bumping lessons, attaching files, and adding notes and events. Use a computer to start your online Planbook today. You can set up your classes and begin planning in minutes. There are video tutorials to help you start. Visit Planbook.com to begin!

Teacher Kit

I LOVE this app, which is totally free! Using Teacher Kit, I can set up classes (with photos of students), arrange their seating chart, track behavior and attendance, enter grades, and set up any additional fields of information I want.

As an elementary music teacher in a school with approximately 800 students, I have a lot of names to learn. After finding this app, I was able to import my class rosters, take pictures of the students, and arrange their "desks" in the exact way they sit on the carpet in my room. I can study classes (especially kindergarten) to make sure I know all of my students' names.

The behavior tracking tool allows me to enter behavior as positive or negative, and also lets me add notes about the specific behavior. It keeps track of the date and behavior for each student.

The trickiest part was importing my student rosters for each class using a CSV file. Refer to the Teacher Kit Support Center for clear directions and answers to other questions you may have. (My first attempt failed, since I didn't use the right headings for the spreadsheet.) If you are a classroom teacher, you can simply enter your students individually. However, with 40+ classes in our school, I needed to utilize the import feature.

Set up classrooms for each class you teach.

Arrange seating charts by touching the desk and dragging it wherever you want. (This is a sample photo from the app store. My students sit in a semi-circle on the floor.

Track behavior and attendance, as well as keep up with grades.

Pick Me!

Although the Pick Me! app doesn't have as many bells and whistles as Teacher Kit, it may suit your needs. You can enter students by classroom, add pictures and other information (like parent e-mail address or other notes you want to add). The main purpose of the app is to randomly select students and keep track of their answers (via a thumbs up/down). You can reset the scores whenever you want to, but the limitation is that there is no way to record what skill has been assessed.

Class Dojo

Class Dojo is a free, fabulous, fun app that allows you to track student behavior using a computer or mobile device. I have been using it for a couple of years, and I highly recommend it. The iPad app (or app for phones) allows mobility while running the program. You can read more about Class Dojo in my previous post, Behavior Boosters.

Several of these apps can be run through a computer, so don't worry if you do not have a mobile device. I hope you'll try some of these teacher tools. I predict that you will find them as useful as I do!

I decided to join Steph's 2/4 Tuesday Linky Party at Stay Tuned, since I had 4 apps to share. Be sure to check out her party for ideas from other music ed bloggers. 

Is Your Open House a Mad House?

I recently read Mrs. Q's post about her school's "Meet Your Teacher" night. She has some great ideas that she implemented for her evening and even provides a template for an informative Keynote presentation that you can customize to meet your needs. Her opening description of how this type of event goes in a music room made me laugh, because it sounded so familiar. If you are a music teacher, you understand how loud and chaotic these nights are when you mix crowds of people with drums, xylophones, and other exciting instruments.

My school's Open House is near the end of the year, and I have to admit that our classroom teachers are brilliant! Some of them have their students create a list of places to visit, such as the gym, art room, music room, and media center. After a brief time in the classroom, students are encouraged to take their parents and siblings on a tour of the building. While the classroom teachers prepare to leave on time, it seems the entire student body & family are in the music room playing drums, xylophones, and anything else I was unable to hide. Okay, I exaggerate a little, but it really does get crowded, loud, and chaotic.

I love getting to know parents, but it's impossible to have a conversation with the noise and the stress of watching 2-year-old children bang on $1300 instruments. I've watched mallet heads fly across the room while parents are oblivious, and students who would never run around banging drums or digging through instrument bins during class seem to believe everything in the room is free game during Open House. I used to attempt to put as many instruments out of harm's way as possible, but there are only so many places to hide numerous large instruments.

I needed a solution to the madness, so Open House would be a pleasant experience. In addition to running a slideshow, I've tried one other activity that went fairly well. It was actually just a way to organize the chaos, but it also served to educate the parents about what we do in music class.

I set up stations in the music room, and created a handout to serve as an educational guide. I gave specific directions about what to do at each station and gave brief background information about some of the instruments. The goal was for students to complete each station while educating parents about what they are learning in music. Meanwhile, the plan was for me to be able speak to parents at the door as they entered or exited the room. I can't say that it worked perfectly, but I feel that the handout and stations gave parents an idea of some of the things their children do in music class, and the stations kept people moving around the room with purpose.

If you want to further reduce the chaos, you could select stations that do not require playing instruments. Students could demonstrate music software, games, manipulatives, flashcards, whiteboards, smartboards, among other activities.

Do you have strategies for a successful Open House? I'm always looking for new ideas, so please share!

Google Forms Can Work for You

Have you used a Google Form? I am just learning how to make my life much easier with this little goodie. I may be a little behind the times on this incredible tool, but I just didn't know what I was missing. I believe that people rarely learn to use new tech tools until they have a real-world application for them. Once someone has a legitimate use for new tool, it is worth the effort to figure it out. A need for quick information is what led to my recent discovery of Google Forms.

Our 5th grade students are preparing for a Veterans' Day Program, and solo auditions will be held this week when our students are dismissed early for Parent/Teacher conferences. Rather than typing up permission forms, printing them, handing them out, sending them home, and waiting for them to be returned, I simply created a form in my Google Drive. This has been the perfect opportunity to test a Google Form to see how much it could help me do my job.

One really cool feature is that I could embed the form into my school web page. However, the most awesome feature is that the submitted results are automatically entered into a spreadsheet in my Google Drive. That is amazing! I no longer need to collect forms and create an audition list by day. Now I can simply sort the spreadsheet and print.

The list of uses for Google Forms is limited only by your imagination. If you would like to try one, follow these steps to get started:

1. Sign up for a Google account, if you do not already have one. Click here to register.
2. Go to your Google Drive.
3. Click on the red "Create" button, then select "Form."
4. Create your questions. There are choices for question types, and you can mark questions as required, if needed.
5. You can select a theme.
6. The form or link can be e-mailed, or the form can be embedded in your web page.
7. As completed forms are submitted, the results are directly entered into a spreadsheet that you will see in your Google Drive.
8. Sit back and enjoy the time and paper you saved by using this remarkable tech tool.

If you need more help, Google provides plenty of assistance: Google Forms Help

You should try a Google Form! It will save you time, effort, and paper. It's so simple! Now, if only selecting the soloists for our program could be that easy. Is there an app for that? :)

Recorders Rock!

Our 4th graders are very excited about learning to play recorders. They selected their recorder colors (blue, green, or pink), and have anxiously been waiting for them to arrive. Yesterday was the big day! However, they had to be patient, so we could label the recorders and  place them in their teacher bins. So, the playing actually began today.

We printed a class list, cut the names out, and taped them to the upper, front part of the recorder. We used to write names in permanent marker, but the ink ended up not being so permanent. Names would fade over time. We continue to write names on the plastic cases, because the ink lasts on that surface. 

We keep the recorders for each class in a clear tub labeled with the homeroom teacher's name. The tub travels back and forth to the classroom, so students can take recorders home and return them to the tub during homeroom.

The challenge for new recorder players is learning to get a nice sound. We have a PowerPoint slide with a few pointers that we display on the screen to help students remember a few important tips:

We spend the first class working on soft breath, covering holes, and tonguing. We only play the pitch b, so there is less to think about. I tell the students to blow on the palm of their hand, as if they are blowing out birthday candles. The air is cold and forceful. Next, I ask them to breathe on the palm of their hand, as if they are fogging a mirror. They discover that the breath is now soft and warm, which is different from blowing. I also point out how they raised the soft palate to achieve the soft, warm breath.

When students blow too hard, I remind them to "breathe," not blow. I tell them to think about breathing "warm, stinky breath" on a sibling. They think that is funny, so it is easy to remember.

For students who are struggling with tonguing, I have them hold the recorder in front of them and whisper "tuh, tuh, tuh..." As they continue whispering, they bring the recorder to their lips. Hopefully, the tonguing continues and they hear and feel the difference.

Do you have favorite tips for helping students get a nice sound on the recorder? Try the "stinky breath" technique. You'll be surprised how well it works. :)

Update (March 2016): I have found that these tips seem to help students visualize ways to improve their sound in the following situations:

• Too much air? Tell them to imagine breathing just enough air on a birthday candle to make the flame flicker, but not go out. 
• Playing each note too forcefully and separated? Speak or sing a sentence in the same manner. Ex.: "We! Don't! Sing! Like! This! So! Let's! Not! Play! Like! This!"
• Leaky holes? This is usually from a lack of fine motor skills or an understanding that they should be using pressure. Walk up and take the recorder out of their hands while they are playing. Then giggle and give it back, but tell them to cover holes and hold it tightly enough that you can't get it again. Next time you will merely need to say, 'Don't let me get your recorder!"

Have fun!