Sally's Sea of Songs: Back to School

Showing posts with label Back to School. Show all posts

Picture this: it's the start of a brand-new school year, and you, as a music teacher, are gearing up for that all-important first lesson. But here's the catch – you're faced with a whirlwind of tasks like greeting eager students, going over rules and procedures, and, oh yeah, memorizing a whole bunch of names. It's like juggling melodies, lyrics, and administrative duties all at once!

So, how do you strike that perfect balance between the necessary practicalities and the sheer joy of making music? Fear not! In this blog post, we'll unravel the secrets behind navigating these challenges, so you can kick off your music class with a captivating start that will have your students humming and tapping their way to a year full of melodic adventures.

Music teachers, especially at the elementary level, have so many students. So Many Names! Learning all those names (and their correct pronunciations) is an important step towards showing respect, building trust, and creating a positive classroom community. But, there is still the huge challenge of actually learning those names.

My experience has been in an elementary school with 500-750 students. The population in my school was very transient, so our numbers varied a lot over the years. The biggest in/out changes came at the end of each quarter. I remember coming back to school one January to find that we had 50 new students and we had lost quite a few as well. Learning names wasn't just something I had to do in August. It was year-round.

We all want our music classrooms to feel warm and inviting. How many of us have taken hours setting up and decorating the music classroom in preparation for that first week of school? My hand is raised!

Pinterest-worthy classroom photos found on social media add to the temptation to over-decorate. How can I make my music classroom cute while providing the best environment for students? Here are some tips to consider as you decorate your classroom for music learning.

In my last post, I shared many ways to use one welcome song, Hello Everybody, across the grade levels. In this post, you will find a small collection of my favorite hello songs or welcome songs from various sources.

Hello! Welcome!

Greetings are a common social norm whenever we are out in public or invite people into our homes. Greeting songs serve the same purposes in our music classrooms - to make our students feel welcome and to set the tone for the day. Here is one of my favorites, Hello Everybody!

One cool thing about being a music teacher is that we get to see every student in our building. They are our students year after year. We watch them grow and develop long-term relationships.

One challenging thing about being a music teacher is that we get to teach every student in the building. How to remember all those names!

Name games!

Name game chants and name game songs are certainly the solution to the problem of learning and remembering hundreds of names! Because getting through the whole class will take some time, it is often best to keep it simple and focus on the names rather than the game. Simple chants are quick and fun.

Establishing clear rules and procedures which can be consistently and lovingly enforced is of the utmost importance in classroom management! Rules help guide students and teachers towards appropriate behaviors, while procedures tell us HOW we should do the things that we do. Setting my music classroom rules to music has been one of my favorite back-to-school ideas!

Kindergarten music is my favorite class of the day. In my district, the first time students get to come for music class is in kindergarten. Every thing in the room is new to them, I am new to them, and they are all new to me. I love their enthusiasm and imagination, however during the first month of school they are definitely distracted by all of this newness. The first challenge is getting them in to the room and seated in an orderly fashion. In August, this is a bit like herding cats!

Entry Procedure

You really must have a procedure for everything! Kindergarteners thrive on repetition, so setting procedures really helps them enjoy their stay in the music room. For my entry procedure, we play "Follow the Leader," but it takes on many variations throughout the year. At the beginning of the year, I like to play "Music Train." Velcro strips that attach to the carpet are placed in a path all the way around the room, forming the train track and guiding us into our circle.

I repeat this chant (over and over!) as we all walk in around the circle. There is always some improvisation on my part, depending on how we are doing at following the leader. It might sound something like this:

Johnny, Susie, it's a game!
Don't break the music train!

Of course, I can't always come up with a rhyme, but I do try to keep my steady beat going unless too many "cats" have gone exploring! This gets us in and seated in a circle in a quick and musical fashion. The train imagery really works because we all know that trains have to be on a track to run!

Once this procedure is established, I change my chant to a song. Most of the time I sing on a neutral syllable, only interjecting words when I need to remind someone to walk on the circle. Any song that you have in your own personal repertoire can be sung on a neutral syllable. Vary the tonality and meter of the songs that you choose! It is very good for students to hear music right from the start of music class!

Name Games

With 100 new kindergarten names to learn, name games are so important to me! When I first started teaching elementary music, I used Name, Name, What's Your Name from the old Music Connection series all the time. Because it takes ME longer to learn all these names, I find it necessary to play name games for a month or even two. Thankfully, kindergarteners love repetition! I use several different chants for variety and also to infuse both duple and triple meters into my lessons.

One chant that came out of the Engine, Engine entry procedure goes like this:

Choo, choo, music train. To get on board, just say your name!

Once again, the train imagery works to keep the students calling out their names on time because we all know that train cars are connected together and we want to BE the music train.

The other two chants that I like to use are common to elementary music classrooms. Bee, Bee Bumble Bee is a duple meter chant, while Hickety Tickety Bumblebee is a triple meter chant. These two chants are great to use along with other bee-themed activities, such as buzzing vocal explorations and flowing scarf activities. You can find some visuals to accompany these chants by clicking on the picture below.

At the beginning of the year, many kindergarteners are not yet ready to keep the steady beat, so I do not use any clapping or patting or accompaniment tracks for quite awhile. Instead, the focus is to learn the pattern of the game first.

We begin with all students standing. I say the chant by myself, then ask each student to say their name. The class then echoes the student's name and that student sits down. My goal at first is to make it down one line of students without a break! After a week or two, the students just naturally start joining in with me on the chant, and we develop more and more of a steady beat once the students understand the pattern of the game.

Set Procedures, Then Vary the Repertoire

The key to success is to set your class procedures right from the start. Kindergarteners have such energy, and they love to sing and play musical games. You want all of their energy to be focused on this musical learning, rather than on behavior challenges. Once my entry procedure is set, I can change the song or chant every week if I want to, and the children still follow me around the track to our seats. The same is true for the name game procedures.

If you would like to use the train graphics, right click on the picture, save it to your computer, then insert the picture into PowerPoint, Keynote, or your IWB software for display. Using imagery, such as the train chants, can help hook the students into your new musical world with a little make believe!

Streamline Your Classroom with File Folder Centers

Working together in small group centers is a powerful way to reinforce learning in any subject, and music class is no exception. But let’s be honest: the thought of managing endless papers, game boards, and puzzle pieces can feel overwhelming! When my administration first encouraged me to try centers in the music room, I was skeptical.

The solution? A simple, effective File Folder System I adapted after seeing a colleague’s classroom in action. Here’s how you can set it up for your own students:

How to Create File Folder Centers

Step 1: Gather Your Supplies

You’ll need:

File folders
A title card (or neatly printed label)
A task card
Scissors
Glue stick
Envelope

Step 2: Attach the Title and Task Card

Glue or tape the center title card and task card to the outside front cover of the file folder. This ensures everything is clear and easy to identify at a glance.

Step 3: Add an Envelope for Storage

On the back cover of the file folder, attach an envelope. This will serve as the perfect storage spot for small game pieces, cards, or other loose materials.

Step 4: Laminate for Durability

Open the folder and laminate the entire thing. The lamination will keep it sturdy through lots of use. Don’t forget to carefully slit open the top of the envelope once laminated to ensure it’s usable!

Step 5: Trim Excess Lamination

After laminating, trim any extra film around the edges. Now you can store smaller items in the envelope and larger materials or worksheets inside the folder.

Pro Tips for File Folder Centers

Here are some creative ways to adapt your centers for maximum use:

Glue Game Boards Inside

Keep game boards secure by attaching them directly to the inside of the folder.

Laminate Closed Folders

For extra durability, laminate the folder while it’s closed. Carefully slit open the top afterward. This method limits space but offers more protection for items inside.

Use Dry Erase Markers

Laminate questions or puzzles inside the folder and add a dry erase marker to the envelope. Students can write and wipe as they go!

Organize Task Cards

Decide where task cards work best for your activity: on the front cover, inside the folder, or laminated separately and stored loose within the folder.

Try Pocket Folders

Pocket folders without prongs can be a great substitute for file folders. They’re also easy to laminate for extra durability.

Why File Folder Centers Work

This system has been a game-changer in my music room! It keeps materials organized, portable, and easy to manage during transitions between classes. And the best part? Almost any small group activity can fit neatly into a file folder—tailored to your curriculum and students' needs.

Looking for inspiration? Game boards, puzzles, and task cards are all great starting points. I’ve even seen some excellent file folder center books in local teacher stores—though, unfortunately, music-specific options are hard to come by. That’s why I started creating my own!

Ready to Dive In?

If you’re curious about File Folder Centers or want ready-made examples to get started, check out my Tile It! Letter Tile Spelling Centers and other music center resources.

[Click the image to explore more center activities!]

Musically yours,

p.s. Check out more great blog posts at the Fermata Fridays linkup!

We spend so much time in our classrooms - they need to be beautiful and functional! Thank you to The Bulletin Board Lady-Tracy King for suggesting that we share our music rooms with everyone. Here is a peek at my beginning-of-school bulletin boards.

I am very fortunate to have a huge long bulletin board on one wall of the classroom. I have found it easier to manage when I separate it into four separate sections. Here is the "work in progress" pic of all four sections:

The first section, the prime real estate, contains the terms associated with meter and tonality because we work with those terms all the time.

The second section will get changed every so often. We're starting out the year with steady beat and tempo, so I decided to get my Tempo Cats out again this year. They are quite old, but I take them out of the rotation some years so that when I do use them, they are new, especially to the younger students. Please check out my 2nd Grade tempo lesson ideas using music from the Carnival of the Animals! Here is the link: Behind the Scenes at the Carnival of the Animals - Tempo.

Next, is my Composer of the Month section. Well, truthfully, it is just the Composer section. I don't always get it changed every month! My district has specified certain composers that each grade level should focus on, so I do get at least 6 different composers up during the course of the year. This year, I am starting out with the great set on Bach from Music with Sara Bibee. The picture of Bach and the organ poster come from very old sets of composer & instrument posters. I think they have been in my room for 20 years!

The last section of this long board contains my movement words based on Laban's basic efforts. It is good for students to be able to verbalize what they are doing, and having these words available adds appropriate terminology to our class discussions.

In the front of the classroom, right next to the SmartBoard, are the MUSIC rules and I CAN statements. The I CAN statements are new to me this year. I put them up with magnets because I am really unsure if I want all of them to stay up all year, or if I should just put the focus statements up. You can read about my pack rat magnet success here.

All of these word wall words (and more), music rules, and coordinating binder covers are available in my Teachers Pay Teachers shop.

Now, perhaps you noticed that I didn't share any pics of shelves or desk or closet. There's a reason for that! :) I'm going to be looking through all of the other links for some great organizing ideas to get my paperwork under control! You can check out the other music rooms by clicking on the picture below. Thanks for taking my tour!

Summer's gone, here comes the bus! The first lessons of the school year are often heavily loaded with class rules and procedures. I know our students need structure, but a full class of rules is boring and this is MUSIC class! My preference is to be sure there is some active music making right from lesson #1. Reading and chanting rhythm patterns is a part of each music lesson, so I include the Back-To-School theme to rhythm reading during my first few lessons.

Rhythm Reading

By collecting a group of common back to school sayings and "translating" them into rhythmic notation that my students are familiar with, I can get my students reading & reviewing familiar rhythm patterns right from the start. I like to project these patterns on the SmartBoard for easy group viewing and chanting. Younger students will echo my own chanting of the pattern, older students will read the pattern for themselves. Then chant the pattern with neutral syllables or the rhythm syllables of your choice. This second step helps children to realize that words can create rhythms.

In the following example, the words are chanted with a steady beat in duple meter:

Teacher: Summer, summer, summer's gone.
Students Summer, summer, summer's gone.
Teacher: ba-ba, ba-ba, ba-ba, bah
Students: ba-ba, ba-ba, ba-ba, bah
Teacher: du-de, du-de, du-de, du
Students:du-de, du-de, du-de, du

Music Arranging

There are several ways to turn this simple reading practice into a composition activity. This first example will focus on arranging the teacher's ideas. Print the sayings on cards, laminate for durability, then display at the front of your classroom on the chalk tray or music stands. Ask students to arrange the cards in the way they sound the best. Each class may have a different arrangement. This gives the students some creative control, allows for discussion of the difference between a composer and an arranger, both music careers. Chant the phrases, then chant with rhythm syllables. Finish by playing the arrangement on rhythm instruments.

Musical Form

Choose four back to school phrases and work as a class to create a rondo form. Of course the class will have to decide which pattern will be the "A" section that repeats. Perhaps the class could create a movement for this phrase together, then small groups of students could be assigned one of the remaining patterns to create movement. Put all of this together for a class performance. This can all be accomplished during one music class and demonstrated for the classroom teacher at the end. Extend this idea by adding rhythm instruments.

Complementary Rhythms

Define complementary rhythms and determine which pairs of cards may be complementary. Rhythms may be considered complementary when one pattern is moving while another pattern is keeping steady. The first two patterns in the photo below could be considered complementary:

Create a group performance by layering in your favorite complementary patterns. With younger students, this might mean choosing only two patterns. Older students may be able to maintain 3, 4 or 6 patterns at the same time. Add a conducting component to this activity! Select a student to bring groups in or out of the performance, then discuss thick and thin texture, and which patterns sounded the best together and why. (Analyze and explain: higher order thinking in the music room!)

Melodic Composition

If you have access to Orff instruments, tone bells, or other melody instruments, combine them with the back to school phrases and procedures for small group work to create a melodic composition. I am blessed to have a large number of Orff xylophones, so that is my instrument of choice. Divide the class into groups of four students. Give each group one phrase worksheet and one melodic instrument. I chose C pentatonic when setting up my Orff instruments.

Students should work together to create a melody for their phrase and record it in the grid. Because I wanted students to be able to sing the melodies, I asked students to experiment playing and singing what they played to find a pattern that they liked, then write it down. Use whatever symbols your students are ready for in their compositions. Because reading and writing melodic notation was not one of my objectives, I chose to ask students to record the letter names taken from the Orff instrument bars in each box.

Giving each student in the group a job can facilitate smoother group interactions. For example, one student plays, one student sings what was played, one student notices the letter names of the melody and calls them out to the fourth student who writes them down. Switch jobs and write another version, etc. When the group has created four versions of the phrase, they should sing them again and decide which one they would like to select for their group performance. Of course, editing and combining versions would be allowed! Create a group performance by sequencing the small groups.

Additional hints on using a grid for music composition may be found here.

To Make or Purchase?

That is the question. You do not need to purchase anything to do this activity! A sharpie and some card stock will get you through that first day quite nicely. I can say this from personal experience. An IWB file with the phrases pre-typed on a page could lead to a short lesson on decoding the rhythm patterns by listening. Write the rhythms by hand on your IWB, then on to any of the other choices listed above.

If you do not have time for even this (no judging - we have LOTS to get ready for the first day of school!!!!), you can purchase my set of slides, printable cards and worksheets in my TpT store here:

Back to School Rhythms & Composition

Here's to making back to school MUSICAL!

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