Music Teacher Coffee Talk

Music Teacher Coffee Talk · MTCT #189: Halloween Spooktacular! Announcements: Carrie and Tanya will both be presenting at the  OAKE Western Division Mini-Conference  on November 7th and 8th in Denver. Tanya will be presenting a session on Friday, Carrie will be presenting on Saturday, and we'll be doing a live podcast recording on Saturday. We are looking for questions to answer live on our podcast. If you have any questions, we love for you to submit them here . If you plan on attending the conference, you can ask your question live if you would like to! We will also both be presenting in January at the  Colorado Music Educators Association state conference  in Colorado Springs. Be sure to say hello if you go! Main Theme: Halloween Spooktacular! Here are some of our favorite songs and activities for Halloween and Día de los Muertos. Going on a Goon Hunt by Michael Rex: A great Halloween twist on the classic chant Going on a Bear Hunt. This is a great book and cha...

Music Teacher Coffee Talk · MTCT #164: Peek at our Week: 2nd Grade Main Theme: Peek at our Week: 2nd Grade Tanya: These are the songs and activities I am using to practice tika-tika (16th notes), practice so/mi/la, and prepare do. Of course we are also including some Halloween songs. Little Leaves Are Falling Rondo alla Turca (Tanya recommends the Glenn Gould recording Use scarves to sway on the steady beat Two Rubble Tum Bell Horses Black Cat  (check out Amy Abbott's blog for suggested activities) Say Hello: New opening song learned from Tom Borden Carrie : These are the songs and activities I'm using to practice 2-beat meter, practice rest, and practice so/mi/la. Bounce High, Bounce Low Students bounce and catch a racquetball to demonstrate 2-beat meter. Zapatito Blanco Ickle Ockle Blue Bottle We also did our first stations day in 2nd Grade. Here's what I did: Station #1: Linda McPherson's Dracula Dance interactive game Station #2: Rhythmic dictation with rhythm bl...

Music Teacher Coffee Talk · MTCT #143: Primary Lesson Segments: Recipes for Sucess Pt. 1 Main Theme: Primary Lesson Segments (Recipes for Success, Part I) We are starting up a new series all about lesson planning called Recipes for Success and today's episode is all about lesson segments for primary grades.  Think of daily lesson plans as a layer cake and the lesson segments are like the foundational layers of the cake. What are lesson segments? Lesson segments are the foundation of your lesson and include the songs, games, and activities you do in your room. Lesson segments can be tied to a specific conceptual focus, or can just be for joy and musicking. In a Kodály-inspired classroom, the songs and conceptual focus of lesson segments are chosen from song lists and concept plans and are laid out time-wise from your yearly plans and/or district pacing guide.  How many lesson segments should there be? How long should they be? In a Kodály-inspired classroom, a typical 45-minut...