General Music Classroom Budget

Columbia, Missouri has a history of being supportive of the Arts.  Because it is a college town, there are fine arts opportunities available to our schools and classrooms which will not be found in many districts of Missouri.  Each of our classrooms is outfitted with the Gameplan Music Curriculum, Purposeful Pathways Curriculum Resources, and the basic Musicplay Curriculum Resources.  Every music room should have 1-2 of each barred Orff Instrument and a variety of hand percussion instruments.  There is a district classroom ukulele lab for checkout as well as a keyboard lab.  Each school owns more or less physical items depending on a variety of factors including: the school budgets, PTA support, the focus or needs of the music teacher, grants written and the needs of the school.  Every elementary music specialist is issued a yearly budget  to continue furnishing the music room with music, instruments or programs each teacher sees the need for.  

Recently, I asked my CPS colleagues, what are the most important things they spend their budgets on and here are some of the responses I received:

1. First Steps in Music by John Feierabend

2. A nice Concert or Tenor Ukulele for the teacher, a teacher guitar.

3. A Cajon to have a handy place to sit in the front of the room and always have an instrument to keep the beat in the background.

4. Instruments! Instruments! Instruments! replacements for worn out hand percussion & mallets.

5.  I love my Kodaly resources. I use all kinds of charts and magnetic hearts for rhythm and solfege work.

6. Choir Octavos for music library

So . . . how do I spend my budget?  My room is blessed with instruments and I have the bad habit of purchasing every picture book or puppet I want from my personal budget.

Last year, I used my music room budget to purchase 5 soprano Kala Ukuleles for student use, a couple of choir octavos and a school pass for the Virtual Field Trip featuring Somos Amigos.

https://www.powayonstage.org/arts-in-education/artsed-onstage/virtual-field-trips/. 

This year, I will continue to add to my school ukulele set, replace some mallets, replace some maracas, add some egg shakers and add 2-3 more octavos to my school library. I am also going to make a point of doing a better job of keeping a running wish list with items of different price points for the music room. You just never know when someone might want to make a donation.

Behavior Management in the Elementary Music Room

 If you are an educator in a music room, you are well aware that classroom management in your school space looks different that any other space at the school.  During the first couple of weeks we are offered the opportunity to assess and reassess our students to establish the best procedures and relationships in our young musicians.

As you compose your procedures, routines and lesson plans for the year and for a unique community students, it is apparent that behavior management in a music room is its own art form. It is my hope you might glean some strategies here to help your classes run smoothly.

In my opinion it is quite important to keep your expectations simple.  I recently posed these questions to my colleagues in Columbia Public Schools:

What are the non negotiables in your music room?  What are your boundaries? What if you could only choose two rules?

My non negotiables are:

Be Respectful and always musical.

Here are some of the responses I received from my collegues:

Respectful, Responsible, Positive, Safe, Do Your Best

My focus this year is Kindness and all property must be treated with respect.

All children deserve to love their school experience

"Whole Brain" teaching rules 

NO negative talk, towards others or towards yourself!

Always be musical. Respect one another, do not disrupt the learning process. Take good care of our classroom and our materials.

In preschool, our three school rules are Be Safe, Be Kind, Be Responsible. Those are our non-negotiables.

If you could only choose two or three non negotiables in your classroom what would you choose?

I have chosen to stick with the Actor's Toolbox model I learned from Sean Layne in a Focus Five: Acting Right Arts Integration Professional Development.  With this model, I am able to utilize what I know about Social Emotional Learning along with the importance of simplicity. 

1. Control Body

2. Control Voice

3. Use Imagination

4. Concentrate

5. Cooperate

As you continue to evolve as a teacher and build your musical community revise and consider what simple expectations work for your community and feel authentic in your classroom.

Once you have decided what your non negotiables are, it is time to dig in to the work with your students so you and your students can be active musicians and creators. Here are a few structures to put in place to help your year run smoothly.

1. Teach and model and practice routines & transitions.  It seems to be a point which is obvious but as adults we don't always stay in this mode long enough for our students because we understand the expectations quicker due to life experience.  Students often only visit the music room once a week and the routines and expectations need to be calming taught, modeled and re-taught several times throughout the year. How should students enter and exit the room? How are instruments supposed to be played and respected? How do we show respect? How do we move through space? How do we ask the teacher questions? How do we respond to we respond to each other?  Be firm and consistent with these procedures for each student and they begin to trust you. Behavior is a learned skill that takes TIME and PRACTICE. Remember each transition in your room can offer an opportunity for musicality and a teachable moment.

2. Build Relationships. We see every student in our schools so in can seep to be an insurmountable task to know about each student but you can make each child feel important by making eye contact, speaking to them by name (keep a class list near by on a music stand if you need), be in the hallway before and after school if you are not on duty. Take the time to walk around the building and build relationships with other teachers and see the dynamics of each class outside of your room. This takes TIME but it will pay off.

3. Sing, Play and Dance.  The students did not come to your room to hear you talk.  Also much of their day is spent in a chair. This may be the most creative point of their day.  Transition through a variety of activities during the hour you have your students and give them the desire for more. 

4. Take time for Assessment.  Both you and your students need to know what your strengths and weaknesses are.  An assessment as a class doesn't have to be elaborate.  It could be as simple as asking the students what they notice about an activity.  It could simply be the teacher letting the students know what went well along with one goal or expectation for next time (keep it simple). If you provide quick assessments for you and your students throughout the year, you can better customize the material for each class so that it is not too hard or too easy . . . 

I hope these thoughts help you to jump into the year in a thoughtful and reflective manner. 

Musically Yours,

Elizabeth

There's a Spider on The Floor

“A spider lives inside my head
Who weaves a strange and wondrous web
Of silken threads and silver strings
To catch all sorts of flying things,
Like crumbs of thoughts and bits of smiles
And specks of dried-up tears,
And dust of dreams that catch and cling
For years and years and years...”― Shel Silverstein, Every Thing on It

This week when digging through the corners of my closet and cabinets to pack up for summer, I was gifted a large spider bite. No, I didn't positively I.D. the thing because frankly there were several spiders that I scared up. When I was little I remember a little spider in the back seat of my father's car and he "wove" a story about his pet "Herbie" who happened to be a spider living in the back seat of his car. Every spider since then has been "Herbie". Countless spiders named "Herbie" have been released back into nature by yours truly. My personal story is a bit bigger, but needless to say, I was not so compassionate with Arachnida camping in my room this week and we certainly the song, "There's a Spider on the Floor" in Kinder Music this week.  We acted it out with our hands as spiders and very clear directions that our spiders were NOT to touch any other person in the room.  I am constantly fighting through my web of thoughts on life, school, family, faith and the connections all of these things have.  We will definitely be weaving a web in the music room next fall.

Spider Songs and Activities for the Music Room and Beyond

There's a Spider on the Floor - Raffi

The Itsy Bitsy Spider,  Iza Trapani

Ten Little Elephants: Pop-ups, Pull-tabs, and Elephant Escapades!

I love to build a "spider web" out of yarn while singing this song and having the students pretend they are elephants on a spider web.  The song offers opportunity to encourage students to use their head voices.

The Very Busy Spider, Eric Carle

In my music room, we use wood blocks  to play a chorus after each page when the animals invite the spider to participate in different activities.  "The spinning until the job was done."  The kids always beg to read it again and add more instruments for each animal.  It is an excellent opportunity for students to create and take ownership of their learning.

"Little Miss Muffet"

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet,

Eating her curds and whey,

And frightened Miss Muffet away!

Along came a spider who sat down beside her,

And, I am tempted to order this poster for my room next year.  It seems like the perfect rhyme to pull a short program together. https://vintagraph.com/collections/wpa-posters/products/little-miss-muffet-wpa-poster

The Spider and the Fly, Mary Howitt and Tony DiTerlizzi

I have not used this book in my classroom yet.  It is waiting on my bookshelf for the perfect musical idea to join up with it.  I love that it is set up like an old black and white movie.  I really think that I could use something from the Orff volumes to bring it to life for my students.

The Diary of a Spider, Doreen Cronin

"Welcome," Said the Spider, M. Ryan Taylor

http://freesongsforkids.com/audios/welcome-said-spider

"Welcome," said the spider. "Come right in."

"I'm so glad to have you. I feel mighty thin."

"Rest your weary bones. Lay down your pack."

"The time has now come to have a snack!"

The Spider, Jack Prelutsky

First Line: The spider, sly and talented . . . .

🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️

Other🕷️

Now it's Time to Go

Yesterday was my last day of music for this school year with many of my classes.  We sang and played some of our favorite songs and games and it was such a great day of music making where students jumped right in.

Among many activities, here were my favorites

Kindergarten

It was actually their final concert going along with their spring integration, which included:
Los Pollitos (with chick shakers made from paper mache lightbulbs in art integration)
From the Seed in the Ground with Mr. Luke Robison on the Guitar (my favorite)
How Does a Garden Grow? (MK8 one of the kids favorite's)
Each of us is a Flower (with flower faces made in art integration)
I'm Growing Up - Amidons with Mr. Luke Robison on the guitar
All I Really Need - Raffi
It was a lovely ending of the year and after their picnic, the students who remained, got to play parachute games with me and Mr. Robison.

First Grade

The theme for the day was dogs!
Knick Knack Paddy Wack
Bow Wow Wow
Doggie Doggie Where's your Bone
Then the students each got to play one of our newest instruments and describe the sound.
We ended with "Now its Time To Go" by the Amidons.  I played recorder while they made up scarf movement.  Then we "arranged" the song into a form.  It was a touching moment where every student was so focused that I wished I had a photo. Perhaps we will bring it back next year.

Now It's Time to Go

by Peter Amidon

Now it's time to go,

We've been singing and playing all the day,

Until tomorrow we must say...

Growing through Performance in Musical Theater

Wow!! I am now completing year number FIVE at Lee Expressive Arts Elementary School and now I have to say good-bye to another group of fifth graders as I evaluate myself as a teacher and set new goals.

Today this post popped up on my Facebook Feed:

Elizabeth Tummons

13 May 2013 at 06:25 · 

Join me in praying for NO rain on Friday! Darn the luck but it stormed for every performance and rehearsal we have walked to this year. Now there is a chance of rain on Friday, the day of our Princess and the Pea performance. Of course it is to be outdoors at Stephens Park. Yikes!

5th Grade end of the year performances at Lee Expressive Arts include:

2013

Princess and the Pea by Andy Beck (LOVE this show and I was also able to use it at Ashland as well). It is a great show for any elementary school. We found opportunities to twine in other fairy tales and it was truly fitting for our students and school on this particular year. The process built a lot of unity among this group of students. I was so EXCITED to be able to perform at the outdoor amphitheater in Stephens Park.

2014

Seussical Junior (My first experience with an MTI production and what professional development that was!). This was our first year to take our 4th and 5th graders to perform at the Missouri Music Educators Association as well! These kids were singing, playing and dancing from the first day of school and there were NO breaks until the end of the school year. Dr. Seuss was EVERYWHERE at Lee. I really look forward to producing this show again. The fifth graders put their hearts into making the characters come to life. However we learned a hard lesson about Missouri weather - The heat and rain almost got the best of us. The outdoor Amphitheater was not as enjoyable as the previous year!

2015

At The Bandstand! by Sally K. Albrecht, Jay Althouse, Andy Beck & Greg Gilpin - - This was our first opportunity to use the Macklanburg Playhouse at Stephens College and what a difference it made to move it indoors! Lee Students fell in love with the music and opportunities for dance. This music, featuring Rock music from the 50's had everyone bopping into the end of the year! Who doesn't love a poodle skirt, or two or three. . .

2016

Lion King Junior - Fifth grade also studied and attended the Metropolitan Opera Live Showing of Julie Taymor's Magic Flute which is significant as Lion King is one of the shows she is most well known for directing. The opportunities for integration were never ending for anyone at Lee who chose to participate. We realized this might be the last year for our musicals to include our 4th graders as our productions, ideas and number of children were growing to big for our space. *This is also the first year I dove into writing original operas with Kara Johnson and Whitney Adams. What a trip to see it all fold together! I know many of our students had the opportunity in 2017 to take the love they found for theater and road trip to Saint Louis to see Lion King at the Fox Theater!

2017

Schoolhouse Rock Live! This is the third of our MTI shows. Hallie Rieves Rainwater and myself poured through musicals in 2016 to find the perfect musical for this group of musicians. This year the 4th and 5th graders were invited to perform for the second time at the Missouri Music Educators Association. It was important to me that the students still participate in the spiraling curriculum offered up by the Kodaly philosophy and the creating, singing, dancing and playing offered by the Orff philosophy. Going into this year, it was important to me that the students not be constantly bogged down in preparation for performances but growing in love for music. . . AND the show was marvelous.

So, that was my prayer five fifth grade performances later from my original Facebook post. I guess I have grown with my students as well. I am so thankful I didn't have to pray about the weather and just that my students LOVED the journey and have musical skills and appreciation to pass to their children one day.

Thank you, Luke Robison, Hallie Rieves Rainwater, Kara Johnson, Whitney Adams and Jill Walters, for being my school family, for holding me up and for dreaming big. I love all of the things we share together at Lee Expressive Arts.

Goodbye to my 2016-17 fifth graders. I have LOVED seeing you grow up and I look forward to seeing what you do to make the world a better place!

AND, YES! Hallie and myself have already started thinking about our fifth graders for next year and what best suits them. Nope. . . we won't share with you yet!
Elizabeth

Summer Professional Development

I am so honored to receive a scholarship for my Orff Level II Certification!

Each summer since I started teaching (I am now completing my 16th year), I have participated in some kind of professional development.  The past several summers have been consumed with Kodaly, Orff and World Drumming.  I wish I could do all of them at once, but unfortunately, my budget can only go so far.  This summer I am heading back to Saint Louis to take classes for 2 intense weeks to have level II of Orff training. For my friends who hear me talk about Orff but are not quite sure what it is:

Orff-Schulwerk certification is offered in conjunction with the American Orff-Schulwerk Association (AOSA). The certification focuses on training music teachers to implement the creative music and movement approach developed by Carl Orff. This approach is known for using instruments such as xylophone to improvise and compose music. Training includes recorder and movement classes.

To me, it is so much more though: singing, dancing, creating. . . taking ownership of your curriculum and having students take ownership of their learning, and building a network of trusted colleagues 

This past weekend I was honored to receive a scholarship for the workshop fee from the Saint Louis AOSA chapter. I am heads over heals excited to extend my professional development into another summer of my teaching career.  Thank you St. Louis AOSA! It is so humbling to be honored by your peers!

To all of my new and more experienced teacher friends, check out what workshops or trainings you can take part in this summer so you can come back to the classroom refreshed with new perspectives and ideas in August. You will never regret it!

Elizabeth

Rock Bridge High School Show Choirs Present First Stage: "Camp Show Choir"

This event is for children in 3rd through 6th grades on Saturday, December 13, 2014 from 12:30 PM - 5:30 PM.  From back stage to on stage in just 5 hours! Parents may take advantage of a free afternoon to relax or run errands while students learn a song and dance routine from the Rock Bridge High School Show Choir students.  When parents return at 5:00, they will be invited to view a performance of the practiced routines.

Cost is $30 / child and includes an afternoon of fun, T-shirt, DVD with photos and videos and a wrap up performance.

Camp Show Choir Registration Form

We have had many Lee Expressive Arts students attend in the past and they have reported having a great time!

Musically,

Mrs. Tummons