A few days ago, I experienced a small Christmas tree disaster, truly a first-world problem. I was on my own putting up the tree, and could NOT get it to stand up straight. I must have tried for an hour, straining my hands on those screw-things on the stand, tightening … Continue reading
It’s spring! Here in New England, we have a beautiful sunshine-y day outside, daffodils are blooming and everyone’s frolicking and eating popsicles. I’m making a video of a spring song that I wrote with a Pre-K class a few years ago. I plan to post it on my Youtube Channel, … Continue reading
Memo to musicians under 40, of all musical styles and persuasions: Could you share your music with kids? Please? I’m reaching out especially to those of you who don’t look or sound like me, a white female of a certain age, who strums my acoustic guitar and sings folk-y type … Continue reading
The story of the Three Bears is a fun way to help children learn about high, medium and low pitches. This idea is not original to me (I’ve referenced some lesson plans below), but I found a way to involve students playing different instruments and repeating lines of the story. … Continue reading
During the summer of 2016, I had lots of adventures. While traveling through the American south, I stopped at the University of Memphis for two weeks to take a course about an approach to music education called Orff. Orff isn’t an acronym, it’s the name of the founder, Carl Orff, … Continue reading
What follows is an excerpt from a recent interview with Liz on the Lesley University web page. Liz received her M.Ed. degree in 2009 from Lesley’s master’s program in Creative Arts in Learning. 1 In early childhood, use songs and finger plays to encourage learning about rhyming, letter sounds, narrative, … Continue reading
This school year, I have the pleasure of teaching music to 120 kindergarten students at the newly-opened KIPP elementary school in Lynn, MA. Our school will add a grade each year, so for now, we are all K! It’s great fun. One of the first literacy skills kindergarteners need to … Continue reading
