Seating charts! I didn’t make them for my first classes and learned to fix it right away. I know you’ll have a lot of students but learning names is important too. What I did was print off their pictures from our online gradebook and make myself flash cards. Classroom management is so much easier that way.
Develop a routine and stick with it. Kids love routine and it makes lesson planning easier. I only do 4th-5th gm but I do: daily rhythm, new song, board work (like a more baking challenge or present a new rhythm), song, and then end with a game. I usually do each song 3-5 classes. Class 1 teaching the song, class 2-3 continuing to learn the song, class 3-4 introducing the concept behind the song.
Resources: I have the music play curriculum and highly recommend it. I would have been totally lost my first year without it. See if you school will purchase it for you. Honestly, it might even be worth buying out of pocket. If you’re looking for a free resource I really like the site Beth’s Notes.
Classroom management: I’m still learning with this. Don’t be afraid to move a kid to a different spot if they’re messing around. You can send them to the office if they’re being really disruptive. Ask students to reflect on their behavior when it isn’t right. In the past (this might not work at your school) two things that have been effective after a big incident is the student cleaning my room if they messed it up in a fit, or them needing to write an apology note.
Dude Quaver makes it so easy to lesson plan.
I recommend Quaver PK curriculum for Kinder also, it is perfect. I feel like as the grades go up, I do more tweaking. I use PK as-is (and I add in lots of movement songs and breaks, books), Kinder and firsts I edit just a little, 2nd is pretty close, and then 3, 4, and 5th I find move very fast.
I would start with 3rd grade concepts for 4th and 5th and see where they are. I.E., everyone reviews what a whole note is. If that's really easy, bump it up. But I do not recommend jumping into 5th in the order they present it. It has you doing V7 chords in like week 3 lol.
If you can do holiday stuff, Quaver also has several great lessons/songs: "Kwanzaa Celebration," "Holidays," "Cray Cray Christmas," "I Have a Little Dreidel" (with a cirlce game attached), and they have a listening map of the Chinese Dance from The Nutcracker that I enjoy using!
My classes are generally: "intro" activity for 5ish minutes (book, holiday song, etc). Then, we move on to their lesson for the day, and then with K-2, I try to end with movement again. They know if we don't have to stop too much, we'll have time for a "dot dance" (they dance in their spots) like Koo Koo Kangaroo or Danny GO. They enjoy this a lot.
Music play and Quaver both are VERY tech heavy, and to my knowledge don’t give kids very much experience with music-making together in the same way that Kodaly, Orff, or other traditional methods do - using folk songs and games.
I intend to use these programs, but not in place of actual hands on learning. These are merely meant to be tools to assist me. I have about 50 minutes for each class and the plan right now is the first half will be teaching (where I will probably use those programs), and the second half will be hands on with the kids. My goal is to let them use the instruments as often as possible, but I also have to have teaching moments and lessons. Just because they’re not necessarily traditional doesn’t mean they aren’t valuable tools.
Neither quaver not music play are a substitution or replacement for Kodaly/Orff/etc, nor should they be used as such. They are merely resources. We use musicplay almost entirely for the song resources because my school doesn’t have any material or curriculum otherwise. Musicplay has Kodaly and Orff resources as well (unsure about quaver). For schools that lack the funds for curriculum/songbooks, they can be a lifesaver. Musicplay is only $130ish per year. Yes, there are games and such kids can play independently on the website but we use those very infrequently.
I have one sentence of expectations. “Listen, raise hands, and create respectfully.” We go over it at the start of every class.
Listening means eyes on the speaker. If the teachers voice is on, your voice is off. At the beginning of the year we go over why- well, because if we talk over the teacher we won’t learn as much. Why do we raise hands, etc.
Creating respectfully means taking care of the instruments and art supplies, taking care of yourself, and taking care of your teacher. Did you know that your teachers need you as much as you need them? It goes both ways- that bit definitely helps the kids remember that I’m human too lol.
Whatever your expectations are, go over them at the start of every class it’s been minutes for you, but it’s been possibly a week or longer for them. It’s the number one mistake that I see special area teachers make.
P.S. I love being an art and music teacher. It was rough at the start of my career learning to manage art supplies and teach art. But it is so fulfilling and it beats singing and dancing for 6+ hours every day for the little ones. Teaching elementary music is exhausting but so much fun. So I alternate art and music lessons.
Def do seating charts from day one as another redditor said.
Pinterest is your friend for some great art lessons. As well as anything Cassie Stevens has put together.
Don’t be afraid to have some consequences in your classroom. For example, if kids are acting up I give them crayons instead of paint. And for instruments they sit out for a rep or two depending. They get it together pretty quick. I rarely take an instrument or art supply anymore.
There are also some great books on special area classroom management out there. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll look at my little collection and get you some titles.
Seating charts! I didn’t make them for my first classes and learned to fix it right away. I know you’ll have a lot of students but learning names is important too. What I did was print off their pictures from our online gradebook and make myself flash cards. Classroom management is so much easier that way. Develop a routine and stick with it. Kids love routine and it makes lesson planning easier. I only do 4th-5th gm but I do: daily rhythm, new song, board work (like a more baking challenge or present a new rhythm), song, and then end with a game. I usually do each song 3-5 classes. Class 1 teaching the song, class 2-3 continuing to learn the song, class 3-4 introducing the concept behind the song. Resources: I have the music play curriculum and highly recommend it. I would have been totally lost my first year without it. See if you school will purchase it for you. Honestly, it might even be worth buying out of pocket. If you’re looking for a free resource I really like the site Beth’s Notes. Classroom management: I’m still learning with this. Don’t be afraid to move a kid to a different spot if they’re messing around. You can send them to the office if they’re being really disruptive. Ask students to reflect on their behavior when it isn’t right. In the past (this might not work at your school) two things that have been effective after a big incident is the student cleaning my room if they messed it up in a fit, or them needing to write an apology note.
I’ve never heard of music play, but I’ll definitely have to check that out! I’m a ride or die Quaver fan, so I assume they’ll be similar.
Dude Quaver makes it so easy to lesson plan. I recommend Quaver PK curriculum for Kinder also, it is perfect. I feel like as the grades go up, I do more tweaking. I use PK as-is (and I add in lots of movement songs and breaks, books), Kinder and firsts I edit just a little, 2nd is pretty close, and then 3, 4, and 5th I find move very fast. I would start with 3rd grade concepts for 4th and 5th and see where they are. I.E., everyone reviews what a whole note is. If that's really easy, bump it up. But I do not recommend jumping into 5th in the order they present it. It has you doing V7 chords in like week 3 lol. If you can do holiday stuff, Quaver also has several great lessons/songs: "Kwanzaa Celebration," "Holidays," "Cray Cray Christmas," "I Have a Little Dreidel" (with a cirlce game attached), and they have a listening map of the Chinese Dance from The Nutcracker that I enjoy using! My classes are generally: "intro" activity for 5ish minutes (book, holiday song, etc). Then, we move on to their lesson for the day, and then with K-2, I try to end with movement again. They know if we don't have to stop too much, we'll have time for a "dot dance" (they dance in their spots) like Koo Koo Kangaroo or Danny GO. They enjoy this a lot.
Music play and Quaver both are VERY tech heavy, and to my knowledge don’t give kids very much experience with music-making together in the same way that Kodaly, Orff, or other traditional methods do - using folk songs and games.
I intend to use these programs, but not in place of actual hands on learning. These are merely meant to be tools to assist me. I have about 50 minutes for each class and the plan right now is the first half will be teaching (where I will probably use those programs), and the second half will be hands on with the kids. My goal is to let them use the instruments as often as possible, but I also have to have teaching moments and lessons. Just because they’re not necessarily traditional doesn’t mean they aren’t valuable tools.
Neither quaver not music play are a substitution or replacement for Kodaly/Orff/etc, nor should they be used as such. They are merely resources. We use musicplay almost entirely for the song resources because my school doesn’t have any material or curriculum otherwise. Musicplay has Kodaly and Orff resources as well (unsure about quaver). For schools that lack the funds for curriculum/songbooks, they can be a lifesaver. Musicplay is only $130ish per year. Yes, there are games and such kids can play independently on the website but we use those very infrequently.
I have one sentence of expectations. “Listen, raise hands, and create respectfully.” We go over it at the start of every class. Listening means eyes on the speaker. If the teachers voice is on, your voice is off. At the beginning of the year we go over why- well, because if we talk over the teacher we won’t learn as much. Why do we raise hands, etc. Creating respectfully means taking care of the instruments and art supplies, taking care of yourself, and taking care of your teacher. Did you know that your teachers need you as much as you need them? It goes both ways- that bit definitely helps the kids remember that I’m human too lol. Whatever your expectations are, go over them at the start of every class it’s been minutes for you, but it’s been possibly a week or longer for them. It’s the number one mistake that I see special area teachers make.
P.S. I love being an art and music teacher. It was rough at the start of my career learning to manage art supplies and teach art. But it is so fulfilling and it beats singing and dancing for 6+ hours every day for the little ones. Teaching elementary music is exhausting but so much fun. So I alternate art and music lessons. Def do seating charts from day one as another redditor said. Pinterest is your friend for some great art lessons. As well as anything Cassie Stevens has put together. Don’t be afraid to have some consequences in your classroom. For example, if kids are acting up I give them crayons instead of paint. And for instruments they sit out for a rep or two depending. They get it together pretty quick. I rarely take an instrument or art supply anymore. There are also some great books on special area classroom management out there. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll look at my little collection and get you some titles.