Dr. Marcyliena Morgan from Harvard’s Hip Hop Archive call raps the “poetry of a generation,” but many would disagree. What are the similarities between rap and poetry and in what ways are they different? We explore this question with this week-long thematic unit that looks at lyrics from modern poets, like Amanda Gorman, and rapper […]
Literacy Integration
The Sign of the Beaver: A Game-based Learning Project
After leading a small Lit Circle with some 3rd & 4th graders we took our text, The Sign of the Beaver, and turned it into a board game. A fun and effective activity that utilized both project-based and game-based learning. Literacy instruction isn’t typically within my wheelhouse but I was really proud of the work […]
Snow Sounds: A Musical Story Unit
Is it story time? Music time? Why not both! During this fun and engaging seasonal unit, students will enjoy listening to and creating their own winter sounds. With fun activities such as: a Winter Bingo listening game, a read-aloud picture book, and a DIY create your sounds project! An interdisciplinary unit that allows students to […]
Spring has Sprung: an Interdisciplinary Music Unit
In this exciting cross-curricular unit students learn all about spring! Using music as a platform we touch on all sorts of K-2 Standards, from parts of a plant (science) counting currency (math) and The Very Hungry Caterpillar (reading). Perfect for both the sunny and rainy spring days! Unit Overview Video: Find Materials Here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/A-Sound-Mind […]
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
As spring approaches (supposedly) I like to incorporate the changing of the seasons into my music lessons. Young learners are fascinated by nature and science, and one of the most fascinating things is, in my opinion, the caterpillar’s metamorphosis. Using the 1969 Eric Carle classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, we explore the science behind these […]
AG&C: Week 6/7 – Discussion Groups
Wrapping up the Graphic Novel unit we had a lot to celebrate and a lot to reflect on. It was really a new experience for me as a teacher as I had never ran such in depth lit-circles before. The students all enjoyed the novels immensely but the discussion and reflection pieces left me wanting more. Luckily, […]
Tacky & the Winter Games
Tacky and his fellow penguins Goodly, Lovely, Angel, Neatly, and Perfect have to work hard to get in shape so they can represent Team Nice Icy Land in the athletic competitions. After rigorous training, they’re ready – but are the games ready for Tacky? Lesson Materials Available Here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Tacky-the-Winter-Games-the-Olympics-S-Korea-3636255 The Winter Olympics! I love the spectacle […]
Winter Concert: A new approach to old ideas
With another year in the books I wanted to take a look at what I felt was one of the most successful Winter Concert / Holidays Shows I’ve ever put together. A thematic show is something that a lot of music teachers struggle with, since there are only so many options year after year. […]
Musician Reports: An Interdisciplinary Hands-on Research Project
A fantastic month long project that combines local musicians and gen-ed social studies standards in a fun and innovative way. Working with classroom teachers, together we were able to reinforce the material learned in their classes while making it relevant by tying in popular musicians the students loved. Through a detailed step by step process we researched, created, […]
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
March 17th is St. Patrick’s Day and if you’re not from Chicago it’s a big deal here! For starters we didn’t have school that day, and also the city dyes the Chicago River green! In grades K – 4th we spent the last 2 weeks focusing on not just fun Irish songs and dances, but […]