Music in the Classroom

I recently posted about the use of toys in the upper elementary classroom (Part One and Part Two), and in one of those posts, I mentioned the music I use for a review activity. I want to thank ATUE reader Julie L. for leaving a comment that inspired me to write a post about the music I use in my classroom! Julie, if you leave a comment here with your email address, I have a special surprise for you to thank you for your inspiration!

In my toy posts, I mentioned that when we do detective theme practice or review (when students are searching for something like adjectives in a sentence, etc.), I like to use The Pink Panther theme as our timer (as well as a Pink Panther for our mascot).

I have also used the Mission Impossible theme for other detective theme challenges (but I like to call it Mission POSSIBLE).

However, there are so many other songs I LOVE to use in the classroom. All of these songs are those that I have on CD or have purchased on iTunes for use within my classroom so I can save them and use them when needed. It's really worth it! Before iTunes, I would buy a whole CD for one or two songs. Now I can buy just those I want to use in my classroom!

Sometimes the music is the timer for the activity. Sometimes it is background music as we work. Sometimes it is chosen to suit the mood or theme. Sometimes it is used to rev up my students. I personally love music and can't imagine life without it, so it's only natural for me to infuse it into my lessons whenever possible! I usually like to pick songs with very few or no lyrics so it doesn't distract the students.

We have a popcorn theme when we practice pronouns, and when I try to have students identify the personal pronouns on a popcorn-themed sheet, I like to play "Popcorn" by Hot Butter as the timer.

Sometimes I even use the popcorn song when I am passing out my popcorn prompts. It is so much more fun to receive your prompt as the teacher hops around from desk to desk to the popcorn tune! Students can't wait for their turns to put their hands in the popcorn bag and pull out their prompts!

Aphex Twin covered the song "Popcorn," and I've used his version with my class once or twice. The kids seemed to love it! However, it made their old lady teacher a bit batty, so I stick to Hot Butter's older version!

I also do a race with the whole class to practice the pronouns (where the whole class competes as team against time), and I use music as our timer. I love the song "Busy Child" by The Crystal Method because it really motivates them to move quickly. Their toes are tapping and their eyes are wide with excitement as we do the race. The music DEFINITELY adds to the excitement. The song slows down and speeds up, and they always panic because they think the time is almost up in the slower parts. The part from 4:07 to about 4:55 is the most exciting every time I use it!

I also have created a review game called Long Train for my classroom. The review cards are on little train cars and it works like a Scoot game. I purposely put the questions on trains so I could use the song "Dark and Long" (Dark Train Mix) by Underworld. It's a trance track that was used in the movie Trainspotting. It's is definitely not distracting because of its repetitive melody with few lyrics ("Long train...Ride the train...") My students love it...and so do I! The beat picks up a little at around 3:05, but its "catchy monotony" is what makes it great background music.

When I use Carnival of the Animals by John Lithgow as a mentor text, I want students to hear the music that inspired this book. The always enjoy listening to "The Carnival of the Animals" (Le Carnaval des Animaux) by Camille Saint-Saens, especially if we are working independently on a project inspired by our mentor text.

I have so much more music to share with you,
so I will continue over on my blog, The Peanut Gallery,
with PART TWO HERE!

Stop over for a special
 FREE Gift Certificate Contest

that goes along with Part Two!

Until next time, happy teaching, friends!

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A Toy Story (Part Two)

It's time for Part Two of my blog post on using toys in the classroom.

If you didn't read Part One yet, head on back and read that one first.

After reading Part One, you know my rationale for using toys in the classroom... even with students who are eleven and twelve. It's just difficult not to smile and pay attention when a toy is around to symbolize things like:

Good job!

Your team has earned points!

This is IMPORTANT! Listen up!

Isn't this FUNNY?

and most importantly...

Don't zone out! This is going to be FUN!

Let's face it. Teaching punctuation is never the most exciting thing. However, there are some things I do that actually make my students seem to ENJOY punctuation.

One is my partnership with an old favorite, Mr. Victor Borge. Okay, so we're not exactly partners, but I adore him (may he rest in peace). I may be getting up there in years, but he IS a bit before my time. However, I grew up in a household where we knew and sometimes actually liked the things our parents liked. 

Victor was one of my favorites because of his phonetic punctuation. He inspired me to use it in my own classroom. My students laugh from the minute I start introducing it to them. If you don't know what phonetic punctuation is or have never seen the master at work, take a look at this video. It's not one I use for class (not with the kissing part! Haha!), but it's my favorite. You could also take a look at it if you just want to smile. In fact, I dare you to watch him and NOT smile! 

I use this method in my classroom every year, and my students just can't get enough of it. I have changed the sounds a bit to suit my own preferences, but the idea is the same. When we check dialogue practice aloud, students must read it and put in the punctuation sounds. It is so much fun! If you've never tried it, you must give it a chance!

You can also incorporate toys by using some fun noisemakers to represent the punctuation sounds as well! Here are some of my favorite exclamation marks. If you've ever heard these toys make their sound, you know just how perfect they are for punctuation...and how you HAVE to smile when you hear them. 

In facts, kids like just about anything that makes a silly noise or lights up. Why not jazz up your classroom with these types of toys? I sometimes use them to signal double participation points or that an important question is coming up. 

Have you ever seen the wooden toys with the little doors that open or shapes that come off? Melissa and Doug make some great ones! They are for younger kids, I know, but my students are fascinated by them because I HIDE things behind the doors. I can hide questions, point values, challenges, etc. There is just something so magical about opening up a little door and not knowing what you'll find!

I also have a magnetic fishing one where you use a fishing rod. I put review questions on fish-shaped cards, and then teams have to fish for their bonus points. They get SO EXCITED as they find out how many points are hidden behind each fish!

A colleague of mine always uses a basketball hoop in his room during review games. He divides the students into teams. If the team gets the question right, someone from the team comes up to try his/her hand at the basket (they take turns). He creates lines on the floor with masking tape and each student who shoots decided where to stand. This determines how many points the team gets. Each line is worth a certain number of points, and if you make the basket, you earn that amount of extra points for your team.

I found some fun and REALLY INEXPENSIVE hoops at a site called Office Playground. They have the kind that mount that you could rig up on your chalkboard, etc. and the kind that are freestanding.

I hope you will be inspired to bring some toys into your own classroom this year! It is so much fun to watch your students' eyes light up from the wonder of it all!

Before I end, I would like to mention a new product which was created because of requests from some of the readers here on All Things Upper Elementary. A few months back, I wrote an ATUE post entitled Short Stories in the Classroom. You can read that post if you like by clicking the photo below.

After I wrote this post, many people contacted me looking for a short story packet similar to the one I talked about in my blog post. That packet was specifically for the story I used in the post, so I wasn't much help in sending it to them. Many people wanted one that would work for ANY short story. 

Well, I have finally created one that will work for any fictional short story. What's great about it is you can use it all together like a packet (which really helps with organization while covering a short story) or just use individual sheets for certain stories. It's called Short Story Sleuths (A Comprehension/ Reading Skills Packet) and it's now available in my TpT shop. Thanks, ATUE readers, for the inspiration!

Until next time, happy summer, friends!

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A Toy Story (Part One)

My classroom is full of toys. Yep, I said TOYS. Yep, I teach middle school. Even though my kids are 11 or 12, they still love toys. Heck, I am an "almost old" lady and I still love toys! Toys are colorful, fun, and they make us smile. I have also found that they can add a spark to lessons.

Whenever I have a toy out that I will be using as part of a lesson, my students' eyes light up.

"What's that for?" they ask curiously as they enter the room. 

"Do we get to use that?" they wonder. 

"Is that for OUR class?" they hopefully question. 

There is something about toys that heightens their curiosity, and their immediate attention is mine as they silently wonder, "How is she going to use that?"

I never worry that things will be "babyish" or beneath them. Anything can work if you use it the right way. We teachers know that. We know we can make a popsicle stick or a cardboard box fun with the right plan. We are magicians! We are miracle workers!

My last post was about how I use my police toys in English class to reinforce proper writing. If you want to head back and take a look at that post in case you missed it, you can find it HERE.

I wanted to share just a few more toys from my "bag of tricks" and discuss how I use them in my classroom. Toy stores offer a wealth of teaching ideas if you just walk in with your eyes open and your creativity switched on.

I love music in the classroom. I think instrumental music is very motivating for students. I play classical music while they are working, techno music when we are having races, etc. 

One of my favorite things to do is have a "detective search." They may be searching for adjectives in sentences or underlining all nouns...whatever we are working on in class will do. While they do this, students become the detectives, and I play music as a timer for the activity. I try to make the music fit the activity, so for our detective searches, I have a favorite song. When students enter the room and see this little guy sitting at the front, they know we are ready for a detective search activity! I play the theme from The Pink Panther as students work to complete the task given. It's a lot of fun! He is kind of our "mascot" whenever we do this.

Humor is a big part of my lessons. I am always looking for toys or accessories that will make my students giggle. When we talk about writing, I do a whole unit on boring, overused words (good, bad, etc.) I have found, though, that students often want to replace these words with words that are just as boring but longer. They choose words like wonderful, awesome, etc. 

My whole lesson focuses on using words that actually give us some information. For example, instead of a "wonderful" hamburger, tell us it's a "juicy, mouth-watering" hamburger or a "flavorful" hamburger. Let us know why it's wonderful! I call these words like wonderful, terrific, etc. by the name of "boring words in disguise." They make you THINK they are better because they are BIGGER, but the truth is, they're NOT. I teach the whole lesson wearing my "teacher in disguise" glasses. They get such a kick out of it!

I also just found a very cool sound machine that I can't wait to incorporate next year! Some of the sounds are just downright funny!

Speaking of writing, we've all seen the hamburger as a model for writing an essay. The top bun represents the topic sentence and the bottom bun represents the conclusion. All the good stuff in between is the delicious part of the essay. Well, I found this great prop at a yard sale and knew I had to have it for my writing lessons!

I also look for "Dollar Store Deals" that I can use during review games. My students love the mini frisbees I sometimes use. I found the set at a dollar store, and each color represents a different team. I create some "bullseyes" to lay out on the floor, and I use the frisbees to see how many extra points each team earns. Landing on a bullseye earns you that extra point amount (whatever the bullseye is worth). If a team does not land on any bullseye, they receive the standard number of points.

You can see just how tiny these frisbees are in the photo with my finger!

I saw this idea on Pinterest for using hula hoops when creating Venn diagrams. I think my students would really enjoy it, and this is something I hope to try this coming year.

I will be back on July 31 with Part Two to share some more classroom toys with you. 

Until then, I would love to know if you have any favorite toys you like to incorporate into your lessons. 

I'd love to hear your great ideas!

Until we talk again on July 31, happy summer, friends!

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Sound the Siren: The English Police

I've been teaching English for many years, and I'm always trying to look for ways to "spice up" my lessons. English/language arts can be very dry, and it seems that very few students find it exciting. I also find that upper elementary kiddos don't always want to check their writing. ("Yeah, I know all of my sentences should have the comma rules you taught us, but I just don't feeeeeel like checking.") Well, it's not that they come right out and SAY that, but sometimes you feel like it's what they are thinking!

I've blogged about the English Police before on my blog, but I wanted to share the idea over here with my friends on ATUE. Ever since I started using the English Police in my classroom, checking no longer seems like a chore to students! It's actually FUN! 

Sirens blare and tickets fly as the English Police make their first appearance in my classroom. My students get such a kick out of this (and believe me when I say that even the students who THINK they are "too mature" for something like this are giggling so much they can't help themselves). My kiddos are 11 and 12, but I have found that they are still very much KIDS. Anything can be fun if the teacher is not afraid to be silly (which I am not), and silliness is contagious!

I am the police officer (complete with badge and accent depending on my mood). Sometimes I have a Southern drawl and other times, I sound more like I am from England! They never know what to expect. I always use a different voice so I am no longer "me" but rather "the police officer."

I also sometimes have a back up officer who sits on a student's desk if I have "pulled him/her over" to ensure that the student does not exit the vehicle (the desk).

I use my little police car that has a siren as my vehicle. I also have a police bike, but I save that for warmer days. I also have an ambulance at the ready in case someone's writing is soooo bad that it must be sent to the writing hospital!

I pick a focus area such as punctuation, spelling, capitalization, correct grammar, etc. I choose something we have been working on in the classroom. After students have been working for a little while and have enough for me to check, the police start "driving" around the room. I walk around looking for the first student I will "pull over." When I find him/her, I put the siren on and park the car on the student's desk. Students know they should always be nice to the officer!

I start with, "How are you today, ma'm (or sir)?" They can't stop giggling, especially when I use one of my accents! I ask to see the student's driver's license (which is the English notebook). I carefully inspect the focus area and ask the student questions as I do. I am kind of  a "bossy officer," but that seems to make them giggle all the more!

If a student has done well in the focus area, he/she may get a ticket. That's right! The English Police give tickets to the GOOD drivers! I use our school reward cards, but you could use any system you like. The police give the drivers with mistakes a warning, but if they are pulled over again with similar mistakes, they must do an extra practice page on the skill. If a student has way too many mistakes, we also call for the ambulance because that writing needs medical attention! Everyone tries to avoid the ambulance (and extra practice)!

After I am finished with the police for the day, I'll put my supplies away, walk over to the student who was pulled over and dramatically say, "Oh, my gosh! I heard you were pulled over while I was out of the room!!!! What happened?!!!!" Of course, they get a big kick out of this as well!

It may all sound a bit silly, but that's what gets them! They seriously check their work and try much harder when the police are around. Sometimes I hear students say, "I'd better check this in case the police are in the area." When the police haven't been around in some time, students hopefully ask me, "Are the police coming back soon?" I have used this method for many years, and it adds some much needed fun to English!

Remember...If you ever meet up with the Grammar Police, follow the tip below:

Stay tuned tomorrow on the Fourth of July 
for a SPECIAL POST you won't want to miss! 

Until next time, happy summer, friends!

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The Sweet Arrival of Summer...

Hello again, friends! Well, I just finished up the school year, and I am rejoicing that summer vacation is finally here! I know there are some friends reading who still have a few more days, so I wanted to share an idea that my students always enjoy which kind of has a summer vibe to it. I say that because you'll need some fly swatters, and summer seems to be the time to buy them!

I am not sure if this game has some other name to it, but I call it SWAT. I just don't feel comfortable using clip art of living creatures of any kind (like flies) on my SWAT games, so I use things like apples, books, etc. 

I use this game when I am reviewing vocabulary, key terms, etc. It could even work well for a trivia game or end of year review. Basically, all you need to do is create a sheet or board that has all of the key words or answers. Divide the class into two teams and use different color fly swatters for each team. That makes it much easier to see who swats first. You could do this on a large piece of poster board, but I just put a sheet on my screen with the document camera so that my whole class can see it. 

A member from each team (students take turns) stands in front of the board...fly swatters ready. I read the question, and the first person to "swat" the correct answer earns a point for his/her team. My students know to swat gently and to leave the swatters on the answer until I tell them to remove them. The students really enjoy it!

If you are concerned about the active engagement of the students not at the board for each question, you can creatively plan your SWAT game so that all kiddos are engaged. Here are two ideas that I like to use:

1. Give all students on each team a photocopy of the board and have them SWAT (with their pencils or fingers) along with the two students at the board. They then check to see if they answered correctly. Many swats are followed by questions from students who were not at the board but need clarification of the answers. This lends itself to a great test review!

2. Call on students from the team at random to repeat the definition or question. For example, I state the definition. Students at the board swat the answer. We confirm whether or not the answer is correct. Students remove the swatters. I call on a team member from the team who scored the point to repeat the question or definition I stated. They can earn bonus points for their teams. I also allow team members to answer if both teams swatted the incorrect answer. Let me tell you, they ALL pay attention (and the repetition helps retention of material).

I also want to share some summer theme FREEBIES with you! Maybe my Summer Word Search freebie might help fill a few moments these last few days for anyone who may still be in school.

It's not like a regular word search because the words are not provided. Just the first letter of each word is given. If you are already out of school for the summer, perhaps you can file it away for next year. You can download it for FREE at my TpT shop by just clicking the link below.

Summer Freebie 1

Another summer theme freebie that might come in handy during these last few days is my Flip Flop Fragments: Changing Fragments into Sentences. Students first must identify 15 groups of words as either sentences or fragments. They then must change the fragments into complete sentences in order to write a summer story. You can also download this activity for FREE at my TpT shop by clicking the link below.

Summer Freebie 2

There are some new summer blog features and an anniversary giveaway 

(thanks to my ATUE friends for your very kind donations!) 

over at The Peanut Gallery Blog, 

so I hope you will stop by and say hello!

Until next time, happy summer, friends!

You can find me here:

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Book Share: A Cat Named Haiku

About three years ago, my husband and I made the trip to the Collingswood Book Festival in New Jersey. It was an amazing afternoon filled with new book treasures just waiting to be found. There were so many authors and illustrators there, and it was such a rewarding experience to meet the talented people who actually created the books I was purchasing for my classroom. The autographed copies I now own ARE treasures in my classroom, and my students always treat these special copies with the respect and awe they deserve. 

It was here at the book festival that I first stumbled across a special little book called A Cat Named Haiku. I teach haiku every year during my poetry unit. I LOVE teaching poetry and am always on the hunt for new poetry resources. In addition, animals are everything to me, so whenever a great poetry resource has an adorable animal theme, I am sold!

I was able to meet the author, Mark Poulton, at the festival as well. Mark is a freelance comic book writer and children's book author who lives in New Jersey. When I was thinking about what to post for this week, I contacted Mark to see if he would mind me blogging about his wonderful book. He was so gracious and kind, and he truly seemed to appreciate my email. For that, he deserves author extra credit (as only teachers can give)!

A Cat Named Haiku (written by Mark and illustrated by the very talented Dexter Weeks) "tells the story of a day in the life of a mischievous little cat as he learns a valuable lesson on love told completely in haiku. All of Haiku's antics are chronicled in the three line poetry of his namesake in this 40 page children's book."

Let me tell you, my students ADORE this book! They chuckle out loud at Haiku throughout the pages of this book, and they love both the illustrations and the poetry. 

I use the book as a springboard for my students to write their own stories in haiku. We have done this in several different ways. One year, I purchased the accompanying coloring book and gave each student a page. Students worked together as a class to write our own tale of Haiku and his antics. Each student wrote his/her own haiku on a coloring book page and colored the picture as well. We then bound them into a book and gave it to my student teacher at the time as a gift for her own future classroom. She was so touched, and she loved that her first book for her classroom was written by all of us!

I have also had students try their hands at writing their own haiku stories. I read A Cat Named Haiku first for inspiration. Students then picked animals of their choice, and they wrote and illustrated their own haiku stories. We had lizards, ostriches, and elephants named Haiku!

This book is always such a hit with my class that I just had to share it with my bloggy friends! The great news I just heard through emailing Mark is that a sequel is coming soon! It will be out in September and is called A Cat Named Haiku 2: The Dust Bunny. "In this all new adventure, Haiku discovers a new world underneath his owner's bed. In the process, he makes a new friend." It is also told entirely in haiku. I can already envision a poetry lesson revolving around what someone might find under our beds or in our rooms!

You can find Mark Poulton and A Cat Named Haiku here:

Arcana (to purchase A Cat Named Haiku)

Mark Poulton Writing Facebook Page

A Cat Named Haiku Facebook Page

There is also an app for the iPhone/iPad that comes with an audio version of the book read by Mark as well as eight different puzzles and games...and it's only 99 cents! You can find it HERE.

Thanks to Mark and Dexter for creating such a special book that will be a big part of my poetry lessons for years to come!

Speaking of cats, if you haven't read yesterday's post by Meg from Fourth Grade Studio yet, check it out. She has a great new product, Rescue Pets: Word Problems for Charity. She is donating all profits to help homeless animals! A great math product + helping animals = a win-win!

Until next time, happy teaching, friends!

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Classroom Rewards...for the Teacher!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week, my fellow teacher friends!

As teachers, we demand so much of ourselves. We do and do and do, and sometimes, we forget to breathe. We scarf down lunches in twenty minutes and are fortunate when we find time to use the restroom for a minute. We bring home stacks of papers, and we work long after we physically leave the school building. 

I think that even when we are physically away from school, we are never really mentally away. Even in the summer, we are thinking about it in the backs of our minds. I can recall being on vacation and seeing things I just HAD to buy for school! I bring an extra suitcase for the things I "need" to take home for my classroom! It's just the way a teacher's mind works. My husband has learned to just deal with it.

In the first two or three years of my career, I never even considered classroom niceties for myself, though. I would spend so much money at teacher stores, on rewards for my kiddos, on classroom games and decorations and...well, you all know what I mean. However, I went to school with a teacher bag that was a bit worn on the bottom. A fellow teacher had a beautiful bag that she carried her papers in, and I told her how much I loved it. She told me where she had purchased it, and it really wasn't even expensive. Then she grinned and said (as she was older and wiser), "Sometimes I like to reward myself, too." 

Since then, I've realized that allowing myself the little niceties in my teaching day is a lovely thing, and though they may not seem like much, they color my world a little bit brighter. They are the little splurges that make me feel at home in my classroom. That, in turn, makes me a happier teacher. A happier teacher equals happier kiddos. 

Go ahead, indulge every so often. This week, it's Teacher Appreciation Week. I can't think of a better time to appreciate YOURSELF and the great job you do each and every day!

Here are some of my own favorite "teacher treats" or niceties:

1. I have a special soft spot for Vera Bradley. Carrying my papers to work in a Vera tote is a beautiful thing. She also makes very pretty desk accessories! I love her pencils.

2. I love to have B. Witching Bath Co. lotion on my desk. My hands get very dry in the winter months, and I have found that their goat's milk lotion is the absolute best. It smells so good, too!

3. I love pretty pushpins and thumbtacks! I ordered this set from YUMYUM Buttons at the start of the year, and now I am hooked! She has so many beautiful designs!

4. I treat myself every morning with a different flavor of coffee. However, my newest favorite is Green Mountain's Wild Blueberry Coffee. I know...blueberry coffee sounds YUCKY! I thought so, too, until I tried it. When I drink it, it makes it very easy to imagine I am eating homemade blueberry pancakes on a lazy Sunday rather than on my way to work. I'm serious!

5. I also love interesting cups and mugs for my teacher coffee or tea. Have you seen the great stuff at Anthropologie? They have some really pretty teacups. I love their pencil cup as well!

6. I also love anything from Papaya! Art. They make the absolute prettiest sticky notes in the universe! Every "To Do" list is more bearable on a whimsical sticky note!

7. Though I don't have one YET, I am thinking of treating myself to a lesson plan book for next year from the amazing Erin Condren. If you haven't seen her things for teachers yet, you have to head on over to her shop. She has personalized planners, desk pads, clipboards...you name it. They are just so much fun! What's even better is that during the month of May, she is offering 25% off for Teacher Appreciation!

Don't forget that the HUGE Teacher Appreciation Sale (TODAY IS THE LAST DAY!) is also going on right now at Teachers Pay Teachers! What better way to treat yourself than to save up to 28% on teaching resources to wrap up the year or start the year off right in the fall? All of us here on ATUE are offering 20% off in our shops. Add that with the coupon savings from TpT (just enter the code TAD13 at checkout), and you have a savings of 28%! Just click on the pic below to see some special featured products on sale!

Now that I have mentioned some of my favorite teacher treats, what are some of yours? I'd love for you to share them with me! 

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, I'd like to offer a special THANK YOU to our blog readers here on ATUE! The first three people who leave a comment with the mention of a "teacher treat" that's a small indulgence for you (AND your email address) will receive my End of Year May and June Writing Prompts for FREE! 

UPDATE: The first three spots filled up so quickly (and I love hearing about the teacher treats so much), that I have decided to extend the fun. There are three new lucky numbers (between 4 and 20). Leave a comment with your teacher treat and email, and if yours is one of the three posts that matches one of those numbers, you will also win the prompt set for free!

Until next time, happy teaching, friends!

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