Creating Your Own Songtale Book
Need to create a quick ebook or songtale manipulatives? Canva and Book Creator have got you covered!
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Elementary Music Technology and Integration
Amy M. Burns has taught PreK-grade 4 general music for over 25 years at Far Hills Country Day School (FH) (https://www.fhcds.org/). She also teaches grade 5 instrument class, directs the FH Philharmonic, is the Performing Arts Department Manager, and teaches privately in the after-school conservatory after being the director for over 20 years. She has authored four books and numerous articles on how to integrate tech into the elementary music classroom. She has presented many sessions on the topic, including four keynote addresses in TX, IN, St. Maarten, and AU. She is the recipient of the 2005 Technology in Music Education (TI:ME) Teacher of the Year, the 2016 New Jersey Music Educators Association (NJMEA) Master Music Teacher, the 2016 Governor’s Leader in Arts Education, and the 2017 NJ Nonpublic School Teacher of the Year Awards. Her most recent publication, Using Technology with Elementary Music Approaches (2020), published by Oxford University Press (OUP) is available from OUP and Amazon. Burns is also the Community Coordinator for Midnight Music (MMC) at https://midnightmusic.com/, the General Music Chair for NJMEA Board of Directors, and the Elementary Music Consultant for MusicFirst (https://www.musicfirst.com/), a company built by music educators for music educators, dedicated to helping music teachers and their students make the most of technology in the classroom.
Looking for my YouTube Channel, or the manipulatives for my Play-Along Videos, click on the social feed buttons below!
Need to create a quick ebook or songtale manipulatives? Canva and Book Creator have got you covered!
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Book Creator is a web-based app that gives your students the opportunity to create ebooks using traditional and digital methods. In this case, we read the story by Cronin and Lewin, Click, Clack, Boo! This popular story is about how Farmer Brown does not like Halloween and tried to sleep through the evening so he does not have to listen to the sounds and see the Jack-o’-Lanterns. However, the barn animals have a different idea and decide to throw a party in the barn.
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What happens when you can use Zoomerang to create quick boomwhacker snippets? Currently, a work-in-progress, hopefully by the end of the week, I will find out!
Read MoreNeed an elementary fall-themed video for preschool through grades 4? Or a Halloween-themed video? Rhythm Play-along? Boomwhacker? Song? Games? Look no further! Here is a Wakelet, along with a YouTube webisode and blog to give examples of how they can be used in the classroom this season!
Read MoreThe practice of the steady beat in early childhood is so important. Rhythm can help students with their language skills, as well as their gross- and fine-motor skills. Using a play-along video is a great way to have young children practice and perform the steady beat.
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It is the start of a new school year here in NJ and I am looking at a song that will describe the feeling of starting a school year with a more normal feel. I chose the Lego Movie’s Everything is AWESOME by Tagan and Sara featuring The Lonely Island. Here is a rhythm play-along to the song.
Read MoreHats off to the elementary music educators who create the most decorative spaces and then take it a step further to create TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube shorts showing the process of getting their rooms ready for the first day of school. I marvel at their talent and I tried to do the same as my oldest daughter and I created the music bulletin board outside of the music room.
When it comes to me and supplies to use for creating bulletin boards, the items win. Thank goodness for my oldest daughter who saved the day by finding this simple, yet very inspirational board to emulate.
Read MoreThese tips might be new or a refresher for you, but they are good tips for those using YouTube in the classroom. Plus, if you cannot use YouTube in the classroom, there is some additional information in these tips to give suggestions for when you cannot use YouTube in the music classroom.
Read MoreIt was another inspiring day at the New Jersey Association for Independent Schools (NJAIS) Innovation and Collaboration Conference! There were thought-provoking sessions and a wonderful keynote address. Here are my takeaways from Day 2, how some can be implemented personally and how some can be implemented in elementary music.
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Credit: https://www.njais.org/
The New Jersey Association for Independent Schools (NJAIS) held their annual Innovation and Collaboration Conference live, after having virtual conferences for the past couple of years. It was so wonderful to be back together in-person and to learn how educators are using technology in ways that focus on innovation and collaboration.
When I first attended this conference back in 2017, I left inspired. Jaime Casap, who at the time was a Google Education Evangelist, was one of the keynote speakers and he spoke about the fact that our current generation does not understand the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” This was a popular question asked to many of us when we were growing up in the 20th century. Instead, they are asking, “What do I need to learn to solve that problem?” And this leads to collaborating with others to solve problems. His keynote inspired me to use technology in ways of collaborating to make music. This was very successful with students working together using Seesaw and Soundtrap to create music and reflect on it together. This was especially true when the pandemic hit and we had to adopt virtual learning.
The first day of NJAIS’s Innovation and Collaboration Conference proved to be just as inspiring. As I break down some of the sessions I attended, I end each reflection with what the tech tool or concept looks like in an elementary music classroom.
Read MoreThe pandemic caused more technology to be introduced into every subject area. Some of this technology has a lot of benefits for elementary music classes. Especially those that foster creativity and those that provide assessments.
This week’s episode shows how to use multiple apps that are mostly free to create interactive activities that promote creativity and assessment. Learn how to use Canva, Google Slides, Seesaw, or Interactive Whiteboard apps to create amazing manipulatives, interactive assessments, and creative musical activities.
Blog: http://amymburns.com/elmusedtech/creativeactivities
Shareable Zip File: Creating Interactive Activities for Assessment and Creativity Zip File
Canva. (2022, March 1). [archive] free media license agreement - CANVA. [Archive] Free Media License Agreement. Retrieved July 31, 2022, from https://www.canva.com/policies/free-media-license-agreement-2022-01-03/
Flat for Education: https://flat.io/edu
Canva for Education: https://www.canva.com/education/
Seesaw: app.seesaw.me
Midnight Music Free Notation Files: https://midnightmusic.com/2013/06/the-big-free-music-notation-image-library/
Mote Extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/mote-voice-notes-feedback/ajphlblkfpppdpkgokiejbjfohfohhmk?hl=en-US
Midnight Music Clipart Body Percussion Library: https://midnightmusic.com/2020/12/midnight-musics-body-percussion-clipart-library/
Read MoreThis is the fifth installment of my summer project of creating play-along videos of songs and concepts found in the Kodály and Orff Schulwerk approaches. This week, I feature We Are Dancing In The Forest Play-Along (Boomwhackers, Percussion, and Recorder) video.
Each video (found on my YouTube page) will be accompanied by lesson manipulatives. The lesson manipulatives can be found on my Teachers Pay Teachers page starting in September (these free manipulatives are now showing up on my TPT page). Up until then, you can have them for free (as seen below and beginning to show up on my TPT page). This gives you the opportunity to use the video for free to work well with your classroom approach or purchase the lesson that goes along with the video on my TPT page. Either way, the videos are free to use in your classroom.
Google slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1fHjgrbaRpyIiBY6aLjXf0XuRk8G-96EGEj94rr9w2_w/copy
PDF File: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10_7A9PKoapFKYa7ZvIojoJ55OizNpaY9/view?usp=sharing
Seesaw Activity: https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_activity?prompt_id=prompt.49b4ebe7-65bd-48d8-802f-a95ce1a54873&share_token=DmycA2--QjqHlOUx6gERkw
YouTube Play-Along Video: https://youtu.be/hCwj2SRlunY
Read MoreLooking for summer PD where you can learn on your time, at your own pace, and about music creativity? Join us for a course that includes lessons and ideas for Garageband, Soundtrap, and Bandlab.
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This week's installment is a Tech Tip featuring Book Creator (https://bookcreator.com/)! Like my videos and resources? I am proud to say that I am a Book Creator Ambassador as I believe in this product and the way it helps my #elmused students' creativity and confidence. Learn more in this video and check out this blog post with examples.
Read MoreThis is the third installment of my summer project of creating play-along videos of songs and concepts found in the Kodály and Orff Schulwerk approaches. This week, I feature the Teddy Bear Play-Along video to go with the retrieval practice worksheet (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zN-cwSbWZ_7aS1uhQ97olGHVgWJqUCaE/view?usp=sharing) that I posted earlier this week.
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Tech Tip: Use Flat for Education and Canva to create a station in your classroom, or an interactive worksheet to add to a google classroom or Seesaw Activity, or just as a worksheet for retrieval practice or when you have a sub. This worksheet involves naming the pitches in the song Teddy Bear using Kodály hand signals.
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Throughout the 21-22 school year, I created many “mashup” or medley play-along videos featuring seasonal pop and rock songs. This summer, I made it a goal to create play-along videos and lessons for songs inspired by the Kodály and Orff Schulwerk approaches The first is Lemonade.
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Canva for Educators (https://www.canva.com/education/)
Canva is amazing! It is a one-stop show for finding templates, finding graphics, creating presentations, creating short videos, finding useable images, creating manipulatives, and so much more. This video focuses on the "Tidy Up" feature to assist in making concert programs. I cannot say enough about how great of a tool it is for #elmused educators. Like my videos? Please consider buying me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech
Read MoreCheck out this lesson using Vivaldi's Spring from The Four Seasons, Movement 1, with kindergartners and creating music to a Rondo Form using https://www.doctormusik.com/apps-and-games/robot-sequencer/. Like my videos? Please consider buying me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech
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