"Happy Moments"

I really needed to share what kindness there is out there.  Sometimes I have a really difficult time conquering those negative thoughts that happen throughout a day...isn't it terrible how one teeny comment can hurt and take up so much space in your brain and time of your life?  I have had a goal for a very long time to keep the positives on the front lines of my thoughts - the "I love you, Mrs. Jones...will you sleep over tonight?" notes from 1st graders....the "You have the most beautiful singing voice, Mrs. Jones!"  the "I want to be a music teacher when I grow up" the..."My daughters "play" Mrs. Jones at home and have music class!"  Those are the moments that matter.  And this one, is HUGE on that list of "positives" in my little musical world...today I walked back to the music room after lunch and on my door...was this:

One of my third grade classes made this for me - each heart was filled with a personal "thank you" and they turned them into music notes...how sweet was that???  I was so surprised.  Of course, the classroom teacher is one of the most kind, caring, and thoughtful teachers you'll ever meet.  They are very lucky students to have such a great role model and I am a very lucky elementary teacher to have such a wonderful colleague and friend.

I just needed to share this happy moment to let everyone know that even know it's not always said or expressed every day, you ARE appreciated.  And to read their kind thoughts, makes me remember WHY I do what I do.  I hope your days ahead at this very trying time of year are filled with many, MANY, happy moments!  And if you want to share some here, please do!  My "happy-o'meter" would love to be filled up!

Wild About Music!

Something very exciting will be "roaring" it's way here at the end of this week!!!  It's the "Wild About Music" Facebook Music Frenzy!!!

If you had a chance to gather up the amazing freebies offered during the December Frenzy, I'm sure you know that there is so much musical talent out there!  Over 20 music teachers have created great resources for your music classroom and are offering them for free for their facebook followers.  All you have to do is "like" each page in the frenzy and hop from one page to the next as you download your freebie files!   Aileen Miracle has already blogged about many of the "wild" treasures you be finding throughout these pages - visit Mrs. Miracle's Music Room to read about some of these goodies coming your way!

I can't wait for you to grab my freebie this time around and tell me if you enjoyed using it with your students!!!  I'll give you just one little hint about the animals I chose to go with our "Wild" theme...we haven't seen them in a long, long, lonnnnnnnng time.  But Fred Flintstone has!!!  heeheehee.  My freebie downloads include an interactive game and printable visuals for review.  I really hope you like it and would love to hear your thoughts! :)

And remember, starting March 28, just hop onto anyone of our facebook pages to start gathering up your "wild" and amazing freebies.  You are more than welcome to start on my FB page so you know where you started...once you reach my page again, you'll know you've completed the frenzy and gotten tons of great resources.  You can click the picture above to go to my facebook page.  Thanks for visiting!  :)  

Wishlist Wednesday

It's Wishlist Wednesday! 

What's "Wishlist Wednesday" you ask? Well, it's a perfect time to talk about items on our wishlists for TpT!!!  AND, as I'm sure you've heard, the BIG TpT Sale starts TOMORROW and goes until Friday!  For more details, look at this cute image from Krista Wallden at Creative Clips:

(Thanks for the great image, Krista!  Awesome as always!)

So a bunch of my music teacher buddies and I are taking this opportunity to tell you about one of our own products you might like to hear about, a musical item on our own wishlists, and a non-music one that could come in handy, too!  Here we go!

First, something from my TpT Store:

Here's my opportunity to tell you about one of my newest products in my store.  I am SO excited about these "Zoom to the Moon" Rhythm game sets. 

This is the fun game sheet you would print for either individuals or partners.  My kids LOVE these games and ask to play them often.  The students are "astronauts" and each have space shuttles ready to cover the pattern they hear "ground control" (a.k.a. the music teacher or an individual) clap or play on an instrument.  These games are great for rhythm reading practice and also for assessing how your students are doing with new rhythm concepts in a fun way that will not take up an entire class time as well as allow you the opportunity to easily assess through informal observation. 

Each set comes with printable flashcards and some suggestions for using them along with the game and directions for play.  Here's a pic of the flashcards you can print and laminate.  By the way, don't you just LOVE the beautiful clip art from Glitter Meets Glue Designs?  OMG - these print beautifully. 

 Each set is also available individually as well as in the bundle of rhythm concepts.  Check them out and let me know what you think!  I hope you have fun with these and your students.  I have sets for Melody in the works as well. 

Next:  A Musical item on my wishlist:

Just discovered this one via Pinterest and can't wait to get it in my cart and give The Bulletin Board Lady - Tracy King a well-deserved cha-ching: 

They are SOOOO cute.  I can't wait to see the whole set.  I wonder where she found this adorable clip art???  The sample pics show Harry and Hermione with paths leading to Gryffindor - Tracy wrote "Follow the path of the characters as they make their way to Gryffindor" in her description and I can see my 3rd and 4th graders especially excited about this since so many of them seem to be into Harry Potter.  I want to use these as warm ups before chorus next week!  "Wingardium-leviosa!!!"

 And finally, a non-music item, but something ANY teacher could adapt for their particular subject!  Have you seen "Pink Cat Studio's" interactive games???  If not, go see - I'm addicted!  This one is so cute!  I'm going to use it for note reading review and practice...I'll ask my students to name notes I place on the treble staff or for a strategy to read the notes from the treble clef staff...if a student can give me a strategy, they can go to the SMARTboard and click on an item to add to the monster!  You end up with a different monster every time!  My kids are going to go bananas for this game!

Man, I LOVE to shop.  And well, tomorrow, I'll be shopping!  What's on your wishlist?  Go on over to Music a la Abbott and link on up so we can all learn about more great products from each other! 

So if you have a wishlist, get it ready! Most items could be up to 28% off! Remember to use the Promo Code TPT3! Thanks so much to Amy Abbott for hosting this fun linky party! Check out the many great music teacher's wishlists and their stores, too! So many great ideas out there - why not learn from each other and make this world a more musical place?!?

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment below if you'd like to tell me about your wishlisted items, too!