High and Low Worksheet Activity

This year I created a small project for us to work on to continue work on high vs. low. I really enjoyed this project because the students got excited about it. (It includes coloring, cutting, and gluing. All things Kindergarteners love.) Plus, it was an easy way for me to assess how students were doing with this concept. The first time I used this project with my first set of Kinders, I chose to do it too soon and students struggled with it. So, I tried it as one of my final activities with my second set of Kinders and they were rather successful with it.

Here is how it works:

1. First, students get the page with all the pictures of different items.

2. I played short music clips of each of these sounds for students to hear. I really stressed that they should NOT just pick based on what they thought, but on what they actually heard. (Link to these music clips is included in the file)
3. As we went along, students colored the squares orange if they sounded HIGH and purple if they sounded LOW. Note: It's extremely important to continue to remind students they are listening for high and low. I also had students draw an orange - UP arrow and a purple - DOWN arrow to remind them what color they should color the square.
4. After coloring all the pieces I had students turn them in. This gave me a chance to assess how they did and figure out which students I needed to work with on certain sounds.
5. The second day, I had students cut out their squares and glue them into the correct places on their "Is it High? Or is it Low?" worksheet. (With some classes, that did really well on this worksheet, I had them cut and glue on their own. Other classes, that struggled, went through the answers one by one and glued them in the correct places. This allowed them to easily see which ones they got right or wrong.)

In the end, some students ended up with sheets that looked 'perfect' and others were 'imperfect' but it was a great learning experience. I also found that after doing this activity my students were much more aware of high and low sounds. They didn't refer to everything as loud and soft all the time.

Now for the GREAT news! This project is a FREE download in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. You can download it HERE! Please feel free to download and use. I'd also really appreciate any and all feedback you can give me!

Five Favorite Music Freebies

I'm really sorry for another lack of updates, but I promise that my next blog post will have a cool forever freebie you can all add to your collection. Hopefully, that will make up for it!

Today I'm linking up with Noteworthy by Jen to bring you my Five Favorite Music Freebies on Teachers Pay Teachers.


There are MANY out there, so it is very hard to pick just five. Read about the freebies below and then click any of the pictures to download them yourselves!

1) Cowgirl Compositions
I actually found this gem LONG before she was creating other items on Teachers Pay Teachers. I don't exactly remember how I stumbled on it, but I know I downloaded it one of my first years of teaching. It was my first year teaching at a school where students had little to NO experience clapping ANY rhythms. (Even basic rhythms like ta & ti-ti) My 4th and 5th graders had no desire to learn music, because they never had to do much before I got there. This rhythm football really made my 4th and 5th grade boys excited to practice rhythms. Not only because they love sports, but because it was a game and competitive. I cannot tell you how many times we used this game and how many times they would beg me to play it. Cowgirl Compositions now has several others versions of the game that you can download and use in your classroom, as well.
Note: This file is a SMARTnotebook file, so unfortunately you will not be able to use it if you don't have SMARTnotebook.

2) Floating Down the River
Along the same lines, Floating Down the River has a freebie for March Madness. I like this idea because not only does it involve singing, but again it is perfect for my boys who are obsessed with sports. This is such a creative game and what boy will not want a chance to shoot a basket? Now to find some different size balls to play this game next year...

3) The Yellow Brick Road
It's the perfect time of year to use this matching game by The Yellow Brick Road. I like how she has two different versions: one for a whole group activity and one as a center activity. Can you ever have enough activities for preparing and practicing ta and ti-ti?

4) Totally Tuned-In Teacher
My students can never get enough practice on counting BEATS for different rhythms. This year, this has been a major focus. My students have such a hard time understanding that two notes does NOT mean two beats. Plus, my 3rd graders are working on time signatures right now and this would actually tie in well with that. Even though this freebie is 'technically' for Valentine's day, you still could use it any time of year OR you can get one of her other rhythm activity packs.

5) Brittany De Laruelle
Finally, I just have to do a shout out for one of my favorite freebies in my store. I have several freebies, but this one is still one of my favorites. This would also be a GREAT activity to use with your students this time of the year. Not only will your students be able to practice their solfege, but they'll also love the chance to color.

That's all for now! Don't forget to read about all the other freebies back at Jen's original post. You can read about those HERE.

13 Nights of Treats and Frights

This is just a short post letting you all know about the fun event going on, on Teachers Pay Teachers the next 13 days. 29 music teachers on TpT have decided to give away ONE freebie and mark down ONE item to 50% for a day. Because there were so many of us we decided to split it between the first 13 days of October. So, for the next 13 days (STARTING TODAY), you can grab at least 2 freebies and at least 2 items at 50% off. Below is the promo so you can see who is hosting this event each day, but to make it even easier you can just search '13Nights' on Teachers Pay Teachers, so you don't miss any days!

We all hope you are as excited as we are about this event. Click on the picture above to be immediately brought to Teachers Pay Teachers '13Nights' search.

Happy October!

Great things going on Right NOW!

I really want to share a cool project I'm just finishing up with my 4th and 5th graders, but you will all have to wait patiently for that post. Hopefully this week I'll get around to posting it!

I do want to inform you quickly about three pretty awesome things going on right now!

1) $2 Tuesday 4/1/14
For just a few more hours get some great music resources at just $2. Many are marked over half off including my resource! You can click on the image to find all the items on sale.

2) Lindsay's 1,000 TpT Giveaway!
Lindsay recently hit 1,000 followers on Teachers Pay Teachers and she is currently holding a huge giveaway. You could even possibly win 2 of my song files! Lindsay's resources are some of my favorite music resources and I definitely suggest checking out her giveaway by clicking on the image above!

3) MY 300 TpT Followers Giveaway!
I recently hit 300 Teachers Pay Teachers followers, which is just amazing to me. I've only been at this for about 5 months and it is amazing to me to have so much support. I never dreamed that so many people would buy items I create and I'm truly humbled to have so many of you buying, promoting, and cheering on my products! As a thank you, I'm holding a giveaway that ends on Friday (4/4/14). For information on how to enter click the Giveaway picture and follow the directions. (It is really simple, I promise!)

WILD about Music Facebook Frenzy

The music teachers Facebook Frenzy starts in less than 12 hours. If you have already participated in a Facebook Frenzy you know what to do, but I decided to put together some directions for those of you that don't know what to do.

1) Start by going to my Facebook Page -->Making Music Memories

You need to make sure you are a computer, where you will see these tabs towards the top the page:


2) Click the tab that says Music Frenzy. If you have NOT already 'liked' the facebook page you are on this image will appear when you click the tab:


3) Once you have 'liked' my page or the facebook page you are on you will see an image that looks like this:


4) Click the image that shows a cover page to download the freebie
5) Click the sun to go to the next page

As you continue through the pages just keep looking for the Music Frenzy tabs and clicking the downloads until you get back to my page. That way you know you collected all the fun goodies. Then you get to go through the fun process of figuring out what you got and how to use it all!

Tiptoe, Walk, and Jump

My kinders are starting to learn about long and short sounds. This is the last thing I need to teach for analysis this year. We have already learned about high vs. low, fast vs. slow, and loud vs. soft.

To learn about long and short I like to use the patterns tiptoe, walk, and jump. Tip-toe represents the two shortest sounds as it gets two sounds in the beat. Walk represents the one beat sound, and jump represents the longest sound (two beats). Jump, jumps from one beat to another. In order to practice this I normally have students jumping, tiptoeing and walking by their chairs for several days. Then I give them symbols to represent the three actions: two small dots for tip-toe, one short line for walk, and an upside down U for jump. I have students create their own patterns on the board with these symbols and we perform the actions together as a class.

This year I created a mini-composition for all the kids to work on, so EVERYONE gets a chance to create their own long and short patterns. There are only a few rules to their compositions. They have to create two lines of four beat patterns. (This means that the two dots of tip-toe must go together in a beat. You cannot separate them!) Jump has to take up two beats and you can only put a jump to beats 1 and 2, 2 and 3, or 3 and 4. (Otherwise you jump off the edge!) It is much easier to explain all of this visually to my kinders and they had no problem understanding what they needed to do.

Today, all my kinders created their own compositions and performed them for their classmates. Here are some pictures of finished compositions!

If you would like to use this composition in your own classroom, this is a forever freebie in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store and you can find it HERE. Please leave a rating and feedback if you use it, but please remember that it is free and nothing fancy by any means. Just something cute and simple! (Click the follow me link, if you haven't already, to be updated on all my future products and told about my special followers only deals.)

That's all for now!

2/4 Tuesday - Worksheets, Activities, and Freebies

Time for another 2/4 Tuesday post. A linky party with Steph's Stay Tuned blog. Check it out by clicking the 2/4 Tuesday picture below.


I know it is actually Wednesday, but it has been a LONG week already. I've been home sick for the past two days. I can't complain, since the last time I was sick was almost 10 months ago, but I've never had to call in sick two days in a row. Here's to hoping I feel well enough tomorrow to go back to school.

I have two different things to share with you today:

1) Instruments of the Orchestra Worksheets
I created three crossword puzzles for teaching about the brass, strings, and woodwind families. I like to have fun when teaching about the instruments. These puzzles make taking notes more interesting for my 3rd graders and for me. Each one has different questions about the instruments in the family.

My percussion worksheet is a little bit different, as there is not as much I want students to really know about percussion instruments. What I really want students to understand about percussion instruments is the fact that they can be pitched and non-pitched. So, the worksheet I created for the percussion family is for students to play different percussion instruments and decide which ones are pitched and which ones are non-pitched. You can learn more about my percussion activity in a blog post from last year HERE.

I have used these worksheets for four years now and have continued tweaking them each year. As a special thanks for all of my readers and followers, I have added these worksheets and a SMARTboard review file to my Teachers Pay Teachers store for FREE! Just click the picture below to grab it. Please leave me feedback and if you aren't already following me, feel free to. I'm only 25 followers away from having another HUGE celebration.


2) Textbook Scavenger Hunt
One of my goals for this year is to help my students learn the music vocabulary. I've tried many different activities, but vocabulary is just a hard thing to teach. Last week, I found an activity that reinforced some of the vocabulary my 2nd graders have learned this year.

Here is how the activity works:

1. I started by writing a vocabulary word on the board (example: bar line).
2. Students searched for that symbol in their book as quickly as they could.
3. When students find it they keep their hand in the book with the book closed. I walk around and check the students that found it.
4. After I check everyone (they only get one try), I put the symbol up on the board for everyone to see.
5. Each word is worth a different amount of points based on its difficulty. (I just asked the students to keep track of their points, but you could also keep track if you wanted.)
6. I kept going with different words and at the end of the game gave stickers to kids that got a certain amount of points.

I was surprised to see how excited my students got about this game and was glad I could help them practice their vocabulary.

Facebook Free-for-All!

It is my first full week back since Christmas break and I'm just chugging along. I'm struggling trying to keep all my classes straight after all the missed days and early dismissals due to weather.

I'm very excited for the weekend because I'm involved in my first Facebook Free-for-All!

This weekend check out the map provided by clicking the link above. Search for the Music Category (or anything else you may be interested in) and go to the facebook pages provided. Search for the Facebook Free-for-All Tab, like their page (if you haven't already), and download the freebie.

My freebie is my new Mother, Mother file for practicing Low Do on the Staff:

This file comes with the song lyrics, picture notation, and standard notation of the song. It also has slides to help introduce Do and introduces how to use the Do Key!

This file is in my store right now and you can see more information about it HERE.

There are three Music freebies in all and I know you won't want to miss any of them! Check out what Aileen is offering her Facebook Fans HERE.

Thankful Thursday Linky Party!

So I know it is Saturday and I am just finally joining the Thankful Thursday Linky Party, hosted by Aileen Miracle. I have been looking forward to this linky party, but it has been such a crazy week I just had the hardest time finding time to write my blog post.

On a personal level, I'm thankful for my family and my 'families.'


This is my immediate family - me, my sister, brother, sister-in-law, mom, dad, niece, and nephew. My brother and sister-in-law recently had a third child that was just born about two weeks ago. I am so glad to have a family that is so supportive and loving. My dad was diagnosed with stage four Kidney cancer in July of 2012. When my family found out it was devastating. I have always been daddy's girl and the last year and a half has been a roller coaster of emotions. However, I do believe it has brought us all closer together.

I have been blessed to not only have a wonderful family, but many people in my life that I consider my family. One of the schools I teach at only has one of each grade level. I have taught at this school for three years now, so the staff feels like a second family to me. They have been there for me through hard times and great times.

My third family is my church family. When I moved 30 minutes away from Green Bay (my hometown), it was kind of scary. I didn't know if I would find new friends or have people near me that would help me through the hard times. However after only a few weeks I started to get to know the wonderful ladies at my church. They are so supportive and I'm forever grateful for making me feel at home in the little town of Pulaski.

I'm thankful for my students and job!


I have the kind of job that I can do silly things like the picture above without being criticized for acting like a child. My students love that I am over dramatic. They love that I tell detailed stories and run around like a chicken with my head cut off. They are so much fun to be with and I can't believe that I have such a fun job. I actually decided I wanted to be a music teacher when I was 7 years old! This is just a dream come true for me. :)

I'm thankful for my new music teacher friends

Thanks to the Facebook Frenzy going on right now, I have met a lot of great music teachers who I can bounce ideas off of. These ladies are all so passionate about what they do it is hard not to be inspired by all of them. I'm so honored to be a part of there group even as a rather new teacher.


And just as a reminder, the Facebook Frenzy is going on until 8:00 pm EST - December 9th. You can find great freebies like the one above. Just click on the picture above to go to my facebook page. Then click the penguin tab and collect the freebie. Don't forget to follow the snowman all around to get 17 FREEBIES!

Fall/Thanksgiving Rhythm Activities (Flash Freebie!)

Wow! Was this week a long week for the rest of you? It seemed to drag on for all the teachers at my schools.

Now that Halloween is over, it is time to look forward to Thanksgiving. Are you looking for some fun rhythm activities to use with your students for Thanksgiving and fall? Well, I have a bundle of activities for ta, ti-ti, and ti-ri-ti-ri.

This bundle includes all the following:

• Cute pictures of different fall and Thanksgiving items (from My Cute Graphics) with words typed underneath.

• Directions for 3 different activities you can use these pictures for.

• A composition worksheet for using ta and ti-ti

• A composition worksheet for using ta, ti-ti, and ti-ri-ti-ri (this worksheet also comes with one that says ti-ka-ti-ka, one that says 4 sixteenth notes, and one that is blank)

These activities are great for working in small groups, station work, or even whole class work. It is a fun way for students to be creative and create their own patterns. My 3rd graders did the Halloween composition and they had a blast doing it.

All of this is FREE until Tuesday at 9:00 pm. Make sure you do not miss out on this! Also, please leave me feedback on what you think. Every comment really does make my day and helps me improve my products.

Get the bundle HERE!