Praxis Passed!

I am so happy to report that I passed the Music Content Praxis exam! Now I am a "highly qualified" French music teacher!
The teaching highlight of this last week was in a kindergarten class. I've been trying to improve transitions in my classes. It seems that after only 10 seconds of down time some students lose interest and focus!  So I experimented this week. While transitioning from teaching a new song (using the stereo) to learning half notes (on the board) I decided to sing a couple songs with the kids that we have learned the past few weeks. It worked really well! I know that I probably have heard of this method before but for some reason I hadn't tried it yet. I can't wait to see how it works with all of the grades. Bon week-end!

Piano Lab

After a mere 6 days from start to finish, I am thrilled that my new DonorsChoose project has already been funded! I am working on raising money this year to buy 10-12 full size keyboards for my classroom. Then for the older students next year (3rd and 4th graders) we can have a piano lab! The students are already getting excited and I am too! With the funding of this 1st DonorsChoose project, we now have a great start to the piano lab. We have 2 keyboards now, with stands and headphones.
DonorsChoose.org!
It is awesome!