Products for Prep - TpT Sale

For those of you that haven't heard, the big Teachers Pay Teachers sale starts on Monday and ends on Tuesday this week. That means everything in my store is 20% off and you can get an additional 10% off at check out using the promo code 'BTS14'. That means 28% saving on my entire store!

Today I'm linking up with Mrs. Miracle's Music Room to talk about a few items from my shop that I think will help you prepare for the upcoming school year, as well as, some items I'm excited to purchase and/or use in my classroom this coming school year.

The first item I would recommend for starting out your school year is my Music Street file. This file not only includes the items necessary for a Music Street bulletin board, but it also comes with student manipulatives and the story I use for introducing these houses. I have heard many great comments from teachers that have already purchased this file, saying that it has inspired them to use kodaly in their classroom.
(Click any of the pictures to find the file on Teachers Pay Teachers)

Here is a look inside the product:

These are the manipulatives that can be used on the staff paper I added in the file. Each student can have their own staff to place the notes where they belong.

  This is a black and white version of the large house cut-outs that come with the file.

Another item I would recommend for the beginning of the school year is a new file I just added! My Rhythmic Detective game is a great game for all ages and will definitely help when reviewing rhythms at the beginning of the school year! Even though the original game only uses ta & ti-ti the games I have included will be sure to please any elementary grade level. These cards come with standard and stick notation and color or black/white versions.

I will also be adding the other rhythm concepts throughout the next couple days and I'm hoping to get them all done before the sale ends, so stay tuned for updates.

Finally, I would recommend my newest posters that I've been adding to my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. These are a great alternative to a word wall or another addition. They are posters that have music vocabulary words sorted by groupings. Here are the four I have in my shop so far:
(click on any picture to see the product)

As well as items from my own store, I am very excited about the following items in other teachers' shops.

1) I would love to grab some of Amy Abbott's music inspired games. I think these would be great for use with a substitute. I especially have my eyes on the following:

(click on the pictures to view the files)

• Music - An UNO-Inspired Treble Clef Game


• Old Maid - A Music Version of the Classic Game


• Go Fish! A traditional card game with General Music Classroom Instruments

2) I have my eyes on the Music Center Sets from Aileen Miracle:

• Music Centers Set (3rd Grade)

Don't forget to use the promo code 'BTS14' when you check out or you won't get the addition 10% of savings!

400 TpT Giveaway Scavenger Hunt

As a celebration of reaching 400 TpT followers, I'm having a giveaway! To make it more interesting I'm going to make it a scavenger hunt. The clues I created represent 5 different items in my Teachers Pay Teachers shop. One item is worth at least $12 (only one riddle), one is worth at least $10 (only two riddles), one is worth at least $5 (three riddles), one is worth at least $3 (four riddles), and one is worth at least $1 (five riddles).

To enter the giveaway you will need to search MY STORE for items that represent my riddles. Solve as many as you can to earn more chances to win! When you have solved as many riddles as you can, send me an email at bcritters2231988(at)gmail(dot)com or send me a private message via my Facebook Group - Making Music Memories. Make sure it is a private message and not on the group page for everyone to see, otherwise you'll be giving away answers!

Note: There are only 5 products represented in the riddles so you will get the same answer multiple times.

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Riddle #1
10 practice sheets are there
In this coloring bundle of flair
Don’t forget to search for spring
To find sunshine, rainbows, and other bling

Riddle #2
After do, then comes re
Let’s all practice before we play
These fun worksheets will show you how
To find re on the staff bam, ka-plow!

Riddle #3
Baby Shark, A Ram Sam Sam
If you like these songs then you’ll be a fan
Of this fun bundle of 15 tunes
With slides, lyrics, and guitar chords, too

Riddle #4
This bundle is filled with 10 whole songs to teach your first music rhythms


Riddle #5
This bundle will help reinforce the note
That you can find between do and mi

Riddle #6
This bundle uses solfege and teaches students tonic
With 7 songs they’ll sing along and learn as quick as Sonic

Riddle #7
Solve each box with so and mi
To find the color in the key
Then color, color to your delight
‘Til everything is pretty and out of sight

Riddle #8
Bee, Bee Bumblebee, that is what you’ll see
Using this fun bundle, you’re students won’t stumble

Riddle #9
Say, hey, kay, and may, these are words that rhyme
With the worksheet bundle I made
For the solfege syllable ______

Riddle #10
Summer weather, summer sun
Let’s have a campfire and some fun
Sing these songs and giggle a long
Boom Chicka Boom now sing this song

Riddle #11
This bundle includes the following sheets:
Neighborhood Mix-up, Show Me the Sign, & Stuck in the Middle

Riddle #12
Grab some marshmallows
Let’s have some s’mores
While we sing from the newest
bundle of campfire songs

Riddle #13
Coloring, coloring it’s so fun
This spring bundle with lots of sun
Can help your students to find so & mi
Many of the sheets have a different key

Riddle #14
The first two notes students learn to sing
Why not practice with coloring things?

Riddle #15
After using my song file Pairs or Pears,
To help your students prepare
These worksheets would be next on my list
To help them practice… I insist!

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This giveaway will end on Sunday, July 6 at 9 pm CST! I hope you enjoy the giveaway, I'm hoping it is as fun for you as it was for me to create the riddles and clues.

Milestones Worth Celebrating - 2013-2014 School Year

Today I'm linking up with Make Moments Matter's linky party about Milestones for this school year. You can link up to by clicking the image below and following the directions in the blog post:

School Year Highlights 2013-2014:

• I had two 5th grade students conquer their stage fright and perform in a large Kaleidescope concert in front of hundreds of people, as well as, a Recorder Recital at the end of the year.
• 3-5 Jingle Bell Jukebox Christmas Concert was a HUGE success
• Included 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade small ensembles to create nice transitions and flow during Christmas Concert
• First ever Spring Fine Arts Night, which included band, choir, reader's theatre, and a talent show went wonderfully and parents asked us to do it again next year!
• All Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd graders got through all of their curriculum for the year (this is as far as we have gotten with unified assessments, and each year I'm getting a little better at getting through it all, YAY!)
• My choir students have really grown in their singing abilities and commitment to choir.

Blogging Highlights 2014-2015:

• This year I have been better about maintaining my blog and wrote at least 2 blog posts every month of the school year. I would still like to be more consistent, but I have definitely surpassed my blogging from last year.
• I posted almost twice as much as last year (41 blog posts this year compared to 22 posts last school year)
• I have began to network with other bloggers and have participated in 30 Linky Parties this year!
• I created and coded my own look for my blog! I will work on making it even better, but I'm really proud of my first attempt on creating my own blog layout and coding it myself!

Other Social Media Highlights 2013-2014:

• I have a profession twitter account that I'm trying to become better about using. This will be another goal for next school year
• I put together Pinterest boards for all my Teachers Pay Teachers products and I feel I'm doing a better job of tagging items and organizing my boards for all of you
• I started a Teachers Pay Teachers Store in October and I already have almost 400 TpT followers! I'm so appreciative for all the love you have all showed me!
• I started a Teacher's Notebook Store, as well, to spread out my products to more of you and allow you multiple options for buying
• I created a Facebook Page for my Teachers Pay Teachers Store and thanks to several frenzies and all your kind words I have over 1,200 fans in just 6 months!

Personal Highlights 2013-2014:

• I started working out on a pretty consistent basis since about February this year. I've been going to zumba and kickboxing classes and suprisingly, I've been enjoying them!
• This year I tried out for a community musical and was cast as The Cat in the Hat in Suessical the Musical. This is my first musical since high school (which was over 8 years ago), so I'm really excited about this opportunity!
• I ran my very first 5K this year. I honestly never thought I could run 3 miles without dying, but I did and am even planning on running another 5K in October. (What has happened to me?)
• I'm finishing my 4th year of teaching and am only one year away from having to renew my license (where has the time gone?)

Winding Down to the End...

One of the disadvantages of using social networking, this year, is I get to see how many of you are already done with school or are only a day or two away from the end. It's nice to know that some of you are in the same boat as me, or have even longer before you're done with school.

Working in two different districts has it's challenges and one of them is the end of the year. I work in one district that is always done with school before the other. This year, one of my schools is done on June 5 and the other isn't done until June 11. It makes it tricky for teaching. I have to find ways to wind down at both schools, but I have to do it at different times.

One of the things I always do at the end of the school year (thanks to my wonderful cooperating teacher) is Campfire Songs Week. The last full week of school I always have students come into class and make a circle while we sing all sorts of silly and fun songs that you would learn around a campfire or at a camp. These songs soon become favorites of my students and they ask me by December, "When are we going to sing those silly songs?"

This year, I started putting together a powerpoint presentation with all of the song lyrics for the songs we sing. This way it can help me save my voice a little bit, because students can see the lyrics themselves. (They often already know the melodies, since they sing the songs every year, but they don't always know the words.) There are so many great campfire songs, so each year I put together different songs with a mix of student favorites and new camp songs I know they will enjoy.

My first presentation of Campfire Songs is available at my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. People seemed to enjoy it so much, I am in the process of creating a Campfire Songs, Vol. 2. Each Campfire Songs Volume comes with 15 songs that have written lyrics, lyrics with chords, standard notation, plus blank slides which allow you to change the lyrics to the version you sing.

Here is a preview of what you will see
(Click the images to buy the file yourself!)




What are some of your traditions for the end of the year? I'd love to know in the comment section!