tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20565927183095211592024-03-13T14:12:00.492-07:00Elementary Music ActivitiesThis is a blog that will hopefully help a few elementary school music specialists.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056592718309521159.post-34522070243241380592019-03-31T15:31:00.001-07:002019-03-31T15:31:55.024-07:00It's all about attentionThere are four functions of behavior: <span class="fullpost">
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Attention</div>
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Escape</div>
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Sensory</div>
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Tangible</div>
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At least that's what I can remember. </div>
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Guess which one I think is most important in teaching. Oh. Guess you read the post title.</div>
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So, you're in a classroom, trying to teach, and you have a kid who is clowning around and interrupting your important speech on the Bb mixolydian scale. So you go:</div>
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Hey kid! stop that!</div>
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and the kid says.</div>
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Stop What?</div>
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And you say TALKING!</div>
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and the kid says</div>
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I wasn't talking!</div>
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And you say I'M NOT ARGUING WITH YOU!</div>
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And the kid says</div>
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I wasn't talking!</div>
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And you say YES YOU WERE! in kind of an argumentative manner.</div>
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Where did we go wrong? It's all about attention. Let's re-examine:</div>
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Kids talking and interrupting your teaching. Did you ask yourself how bad it was before you called him out in front of the class? Was he distracting everyone? half the kids? a few kids? Just you?</div>
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Why is this question pertinent? Well, where was the classes attention before you called him out? Was it on him or you? Let's say that out of 28 kids, one kid was paying attention to the miscreant, while the other 26 were listening to EL Teacher-O.</div>
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You call him out in front of everyone and now the little scamp has the attention of 27 people plus the teacher.</div>
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So, you just rewarded this kid by multiplying the amount of attention he is receiving by a factor of 28. You also just made a point to the rest of your pupils that this lovely little tyke is 28 times as important as your lesson. </div>
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Since this blog is for myself, I'll just end by saying that this is information worth studying.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056592718309521159.post-74967627833849766362011-08-09T07:55:00.000-07:002011-08-09T08:00:57.507-07:00Singing thoughts 1singing-start with the upper register exercises-sirens to get kids ears hearing the music correctly and singing in tune.
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<br />When you start singing, choose a group of 5 or 6 kids to sing without the rest of the group so that you can tell if they are singing correctly or not
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<br />Don't sing in a whiny bad voice if you wouldn't be willing to do it in front of the whole class or whole school.
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<br />It's not what you're singing, it's how well you do it and how much fun you have with it.
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<br />If the kids sound good, maybe they will like singing more.
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056592718309521159.post-61238896339569991152011-08-08T12:29:00.000-07:002011-08-08T12:37:04.246-07:00Orff Teaching thoughts, recorder questions, and tambourine loudness<span class="fullpost"></span>Just a couple of things I learned today. First off, when I'm teaching students to use the rhythm building blocks from Orff Schulwerk, or just teaching a simple bordun, I really need to isolate at least one or two students and have them play for the group while the group sings the song. This seemed to work really well today with a fourth grade class I was teaching. I chose one student who was just making up his own thing on a bordun with C and G and I had him play the bordun Jag-uar, El-e-phant (Quarter, Quarter, 8th 8th Quarter) while the rest of the class sang "Green Sally Up" It was like magic. Stuff like this rarely works for me. It's always too loud or half the kids are playing the wrong notes or wrong rhythm, but having them demonstrate really seemed to make a difference.
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<br />Speaking of too loud, tambourines were not a good Idea. I need to stick to softer accompaniment instruments like woodblocks, triangles, and quiros or clicker sticks. Those tambourines drown out everything.
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<br />Also, earlier, when I was teaching recorder, I asked some students to tell me the fingerings for each line of music and they had no problem telling me the fingerings for the whole song. This is good questioning. I need to make more of a habit of this. OK,
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<br />That's all.
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056592718309521159.post-75190869745559442852009-10-18T14:57:00.000-07:002009-11-08T16:03:47.593-08:00Schema song-cornerstone orff arrangementIf you're school is working on cornerstone literacy, you might want to try this song with your music classes. This is a song about using information you already learned to make connections to what you're reading today. <span class="fullpost"> <br /><br /><br /><br />It's set to the tune of "Where is Thumbkin". Click image to make it bigger.<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_y_dfw84Ij68/StuRb4-ltkI/AAAAAAAAAC0/TkJVv_RMnpY/s1600-h/schema.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394064887043700290" style="WIDTH: 323px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_y_dfw84Ij68/StuRb4-ltkI/AAAAAAAAAC0/TkJVv_RMnpY/s400/schema.JPG" border="0" /></a></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056592718309521159.post-89625070851318514072009-10-16T19:09:00.001-07:002009-10-16T19:09:57.796-07:00Podcast 2-Mrs. Fisher's 3rd Graders sing "Ghost of Tom"These 2 songs were both performed by Mrs. Fisher's 3rd Grade Class at Georgetown Elementary. Very spooky and kinda gross song, ghost of tom is first sang in a two-part round, then in the second clip sang with a simple bordun accompaniment on various size xylophones and glockenspiel. This class is talented!<br /><br /><object width="250" height="66"><param name="movie" value="http://www.teachertube.com/player.swf?configXmlPath=http://www.teachertube.com/musicConfigXmlCode.php?pg=music_1047&playListXmlPath=http://www.teachertube.com/musicPlaylistXmlCode.php?pg=music_1047"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.teachertube.com/player.swf?configXmlPath=http://www.teachertube.com/musicConfigXmlCode.php?pg=music_1047&playListXmlPath=http://www.teachertube.com/musicPlaylistXmlCode.php?pg=music_1047" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="250" height="66"></embed></object><br /><br><br /><object width="250" height="66"><param name="movie" value="http://www.teachertube.com/player.swf?configXmlPath=http://www.teachertube.com/musicConfigXmlCode.php?pg=music_1048&playListXmlPath=http://www.teachertube.com/musicPlaylistXmlCode.php?pg=music_1048"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.teachertube.com/player.swf?configXmlPath=http://www.teachertube.com/musicConfigXmlCode.php?pg=music_1048&playListXmlPath=http://www.teachertube.com/musicPlaylistXmlCode.php?pg=music_1048" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="250" height="66"></embed></object><br /><br><br /> <a href="http://www.teachertube.com/musicList.php?pg=musicnew">See more Audio at TeacherTube.com.</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056592718309521159.post-86934808068997287422009-10-13T15:37:00.000-07:002009-10-16T12:28:40.566-07:00Podcast-Mrs. Freeman's 2nd Grade-Skin and BonesThis is Mrs. Freeman's 2nd graders performing "There was an old lady all skin an bones". This is their second day singing it and first day adding the bordun on the xylophones.<br /><object height="66" width="250"><param name="movie" value="http://www.teachertube.com/player.swf?configXmlPath=http://www.teachertube.com/musicConfigXmlCode.php?pg=music_1045&playListXmlPath=http://www.teachertube.com/musicPlaylistXmlCode.php?pg=music_1045"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.teachertube.com/player.swf?configXmlPath=http://www.teachertube.com/musicConfigXmlCode.php?pg=music_1045&playListXmlPath=http://www.teachertube.com/musicPlaylistXmlCode.php?pg=music_1045" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="250" height="66"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.teachertube.com/musicList.php?pg=musicnew">See more Audio at TeacherTube.com.</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056592718309521159.post-19165469269194456482009-10-12T20:12:00.000-07:002009-10-13T15:46:30.109-07:00Proper Recorder TeachingToday I was teaching a class. It was a group of, oh, let's say 5th graders (their grade level may or may not have been changed to protect their identities.) Well, anyway, I had not taught this class in a while, but of course, being the horrible teacher I am, I acted like they were on the same level as my other classes. I tried to be patient, but these kids wouldn't be quiet and as a result, could not play claire de lune on their recorders. Of course, my mistake, as I mentioned two sentences ago, was the fact that I was going way too fast with them. So here's proper recorder instruction people (I think):<br /><br />(update: since I originally posted this blog, I taught another difficult class trying the method outlined below and got much better results.)<br />Claire de lune:<br /><br />1. Write all of the notes on the board like dis:<br /><br />GGGA B_ A_<br />GBAA G____<br /><br />2. Have students say the names of the first four letters, while pressing the right keys/holes<br /><br />3. Repeat step two until the students can finger the notes correctly.<br /><br />4. Have students play the first four notes: GGGA-maybe get a couple of volunteers to play this by itself<br /><br />5. Repeat steps 2-4 on each 4 beat section of the song<br /><br />6. Combine all notes and have class play it together.<br /><br />7. Give 1 or 2 minutes independent practice time.<br /><br />8. Test individuals or small groups on the complete song and give out stickers.<br /><br />---This is the way I'm a gonna try it next time....Maybe I've learned from my mistake this time???...We'll see.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056592718309521159.post-28962480534531412732009-09-30T20:00:00.000-07:002009-09-30T20:03:12.033-07:00Great boomwhacker youtube videosI love this video! I wish I could do something like this with my kids. It woudl just take too much time, though....well, maybe one day:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HndNr_PbZr0&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HndNr_PbZr0&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Now here's one that I actually have tried with Fourth and Fifth graders and surprise! It worked great! We even did it at a PTA meeting.:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/e-Nweg2KYVQ&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/e-Nweg2KYVQ&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056592718309521159.post-71423762909598238972009-09-30T19:37:00.000-07:002009-10-02T16:57:43.798-07:00Glockenspiel rhythm idea<div>You may notice that I write a bunch of stuff on this blog that is not directed to the public, but to me, myself and I. The reason for this is simple. I'm the only one who reads this blog....so, why am I putting this disclaimer anyway?<br /><br />OK, here's the problem. In my Orff, level one course, as well as in Denise Gagne's Orff Source book, most of the glockenspiel parts are quarter notes played on beat 1 or 4 of each measure. I have had a tough time trying to get kids to play on beats 1 and 4 only, especially while everyone else is playing oom pah oom pah on alto and bass xylophone or even worse, the evil rhythm known as "will, you, be my friend!".<br />Here is an example of what i'm talkin' bout (click to make it bigger):<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_y_dfw84Ij68/SsaTSTAccPI/AAAAAAAAACk/JZEoy463pBU/s1600-h/example1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388155946744443122" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 243px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_y_dfw84Ij68/SsaTSTAccPI/AAAAAAAAACk/JZEoy463pBU/s400/example1.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />So, my idea is simple...cuz I've been doing it all wrong. Here's the sequence I'm going to try:<br /><br />1. Teach kids to say "pat rest rest pat - pat rest rest pat" over and over again while making the up motion on every rest<br /><br />2. Have half the kids keep a steady half note or quarter note beat while the other half says and pats the pat rest rest pat glock part<br /><br />3. Split the groups into three parts like this:<br />Part A: pat rest pat rest -bass<br />Part B: res pat res pat -alto<br />Part C: pat res res pat -glocks<br /><br />4. Transfer to instruments and repeat (or maybe start off on instruments to save time)<br /><br />5. Sing a song that goes with a basic chord bordun while kids play accompaniment.<br /><br />I'm not going to ask them to sing until we've practiced this a few times.<br /><br />OK, that's it....I'll let you know if it works and maybe do a recording once I get this podcast thing figured out.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056592718309521159.post-10927964450025584242009-09-30T19:25:00.000-07:002009-10-16T19:19:25.571-07:00Plans for podcastingThis is an idea that I hope pans out. If it does, I'll do another post later to let all of my readers (that's me...my only reader) know how it goes.<br /><br />I signed up for a free account with <a href="http://www.teachertube.com/">http://www.teachertube.com/</a>, so that I can make my own podcasts online. Teachertube's audio section allows me to post audio on the internet and embed it here on my blog.<br /><br />What I would like to do is to record my kids singing, and post it on the internet. I don't have any fancy recording device, though, so I'm going to do the following:<br /><br />1. Record the kids using my old cassette tape recorder.<br />2. Using a male-ended cord I got from radio shack, I will plug the tape recorder into the microphone input on my computer.<br />3. Using audacity (a free program you can download on the internet...google it) I will record the song onto my computer and edit it<br />4. finally, using teachertube, I will upload the song and e-mail it to my principal and parents to hear.<br /><br />It sounds like a good idea, but only time will tell...I'll let you know if it works.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056592718309521159.post-65818978419026507602009-09-27T12:30:00.000-07:002009-09-27T12:35:17.655-07:00Cornerstone Reading Initiative SongsIf your school is involved in the Cornerstone Reading Initiative and you would like to help your classroom teachers by teaching the kids some songs with strategies to make reading a little more exciting, then go to this link and download these songs. You can even burn them onto a CD. They include songs about asking questions, visualizing, using schema, metacognition, and others set to the tune of songs like Three Blind Mice, Where is Thumbkin, and the Mexican Hat Dance. You can even add a little bordun to some of them on the xylophone to make them more interesting. <a href="http://spe.leesummit.k12.mo.us/lmcspe/Reading%20Strategy%20Songs.htm">Here's the link.</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056592718309521159.post-87586346947686969962009-09-26T19:35:00.000-07:002009-09-26T19:37:46.114-07:00Really cool video:Open Up Some Happiness<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Cxfkg3RaRjs&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Cxfkg3RaRjs&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056592718309521159.post-35181342519326223592009-09-24T06:51:00.000-07:002009-09-24T07:02:55.132-07:00Mallet Madness by Artie Almeida rotation processOK, I haven't actually used any of the activities in this book, yet, but after looking at the variety of Orff-based activities offered, I've gotta say this is a good one. In fact, if you are a music teacher, elementary or middle school, and you don't have a lot of training in Orff Schulwerk or money to go to a workshop, buy this 30 dollar book and I think you'll be happy. The one thing I have done from the book is the rotation method, which is the greatest thing since sliced bread. You can read about it on the preview pages for the book on amazon: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mallet-Madness-Grades-Reproducible-Flash/dp/0893284440/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253800487&sr=8-1#noop">Mallet Madness link</a><br /><br />When I tried this with the kids, they loved it, because even with a large class of 26 kids, every child gets a chance to play every instrument, almost every day they come to music class. No more whining "I never get to play the big xylophone" or "I never get to play the big drum". This lady is a genius. Buy this book, you'll be glad you did!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056592718309521159.post-37402197030790674622009-09-24T06:16:00.000-07:002009-09-24T06:51:14.494-07:00Activity 1-Simple BordunsOK, I took an Orff course last year with Deanna Stark and learned a lot and I decided I really wanted to work with my kids on Borduns because A. Borduns allow students to create their own simple accompaniments. and B. Kids like xylophones and I can bribe them with them. <br /><br />In Orff, we learned that a bordun or a drone involves playing one or two notes over and over again while singing a song. They work best when the song is pentatonic or uses the tonic note on all the strong beats.<br /><br />Fortunately, there are about a billion songs that are pentatonic (only involve 5 scale notes, excluding fa and ti). Bee Bee Bumblebee, Charlie went over the ocean, Cobbler Cobbler, Wade in the water, etc. etc. So, if you teach the kids one simple bordun, you can have them sing thousands of songs or medleys using the same accompaniment. Here's a simple example, that I'm trying for the first time with my second and third graders:<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_y_dfw84Ij68/Srt1rTdFLFI/AAAAAAAAABU/KQyreOcx7Jo/s1600-h/bordun1.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 156px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_y_dfw84Ij68/Srt1rTdFLFI/AAAAAAAAABU/KQyreOcx7Jo/s320/bordun1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385027166268632146" /></a><br /><br />Day 1: I taught the kids the song charlie over the ocean (google it), then taught them the circle game that goes with it (chase game: kid walks around the circle, tags another kid at end of song who tries to catch them before they can get to the second kids spot-like duck duck goose).<br /><br />Day 2: I teach the kids the Bordun 1. You can change the key if you like. <br />Step 1-students pat half note beat on laps<br />Step 2-students play beat with both hands together on C and G.<br />Step 3-I sing while they play a few times (no singing kids!)<br />Step 4-Kids try and sing while playing simultaneously.<br /><br />Day 3: I teach them Bordun 2 AKA: the oompah bordun<br />Step 1-take turns patting with the kids-I pat the bass, they pat the alto.<br />Step 2-split kids into two groups-Group 1-pat bass, Group 2-pat alto<br />Step 3-groups switch parts.<br />Step 4-repeat on the xylophones<br /><br />OK, so I tried this, and so far it worked well, so I'm going to try it with 4th and <br />5th grades too and once we can do this on several songs, I'll try some more of those advanced things they taught us in Orff training.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056592718309521159.post-60845640166368099402009-09-22T19:28:00.001-07:002009-09-22T19:28:55.158-07:00Bobby Mcfarrin Pentatonic Scale<object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ne6tB2KiZuk&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ne6tB2KiZuk&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056592718309521159.post-64358996546681301532009-09-21T17:27:00.001-07:002009-09-21T17:29:00.271-07:00Four Horses of Texture<img style="VISIBILITY: hidden; WIDTH: 0px; HEIGHT: 0px" height="0" src="http://counters.gigya.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bHQ9MTI1MzU3ODkzNTA*MiZwdD*xMjUzNTc5MjUxNDY*JnA9MTcyMDgxJmQ9Rmxhc2hnYW1lZGVuJm49YmxvZ2dlciZnPTEmbz1kOTNiNTlkYzZiOTU*ZTY3OTgyM2FmNmRjZGQ4ZDhiMSZvZj*w.gif" width="0" border="0" /><embed style="WIDTH: 524px; HEIGHT: 418px" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=" src="http://www.flashgameden.com/uploaded/flash/1369.swf" width="524" height="418" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high"></embed><br /><br /><a title="Free Online Games" href="http://www.flashgameden.com/"><img height="18" alt="Free Online Games" src="http://www.flashgameden.com/smallbutton.jpg" width="100" border="0" /></a><br />Get games for your myspace at <a title="Myspace Games" href="http://www.flashgameden.com/" target="_blank">Flashgameden.com</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2056592718309521159.post-56269228671510683192009-09-19T17:42:00.001-07:002009-09-24T06:50:11.326-07:00What's this blog for?This is a blog to help elementary music teachers, by posting activities and ideas. If you'd like to post an activity or an idea, let me know and I'll make sure that I give you credit.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0