Page 4 - Elementary Music Curriculum Bundle Intro

The textbooks we used in the elementary schools for many years were editions from MacMillan and the last 4 years that I taught we switched to Silver Burdett. Even though I had access to all of the materials that wentwith these series, I also used many other resources gleaned from workshops, colleagues, and independent study. You will see a sequential thread that goes through all grade levels as you teach musical elements such as form, rhythm, and melody.
Currently, our system, as well as many around the country, are converting to online curriculum like Quaver and Musicplay Online. While I am highly in favor of implementing technology into the music classroom, I am old-school about the use of music books.
There is nothing random in these plans. Everything has a purpose. And for that reason, I never worried about evaluations, observations, or the many initiatives thrown my way. I learned to just incorporate whatever came next into what I was already doing and give it the new "name of the day." I knew I was giving my students the best music education experience and foundation they would receive anywhere.
Room Environment
Over the years, I had many different rooms, from being in outdoor portables with no storage to a beautiful music room with a large storage room, and finally, I had 3 music rooms, one downstairs for K-1st where I also had an office (I know, it was a dream situation) and large storage room, and an upstairs music room for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades that also had a large storage room and a keyboard lab across the hall. Fabulous!!
Most principals would listen to me about the room layout and the importance of placement, etc. However, there were times when I had to fight for everything (I usually won, but even when I didn’t, I managed to get it in the long run). Even though I preferred to not have carpet, that was one battle I lost. If you can keep from having carpet, students can slide in sock feet, tap beats on the floor with sticks, stomp, etc. and make wonderful sounds. The floor is also kept cleaner than carpet. Carpet is to keep everyone else in the school from being disturbed by your class!
I always insisted on facing the door when teaching. Meaning that the white board, projector, bulletin boards, should all be attached to the wall opposite the door to the hallway. That battle had to be fought a lot. But I convinced everyone that the teacher must be able to see who was entering or peeking into the room before the students. That was a safety issue that I refused to compromise.
At one time, they wanted to put all kinds of counters, cabinets, and sinks with a water fountain in my room when a new wing was added on. These were all standard. I had to go to the mat and finally got the head of the Arts Department at Central Office to convince the principal that I needed SPACE instead. So I got the bare walls and designed shelving for the instruments that they wanted to go in the storage room. No, no, no! Your instruments should be out and available for use. Students should be able to reach them and should also know how to take care of them and put them up.
© Copyright 2015 by Janis Aston. Revised 2020. All rights reserved.