The final weeks of school are always difficult. The weather is nice, and most students have their minds on summer activities, not school work! Okay, let’s be honest, that applies to teachers and staff too! So how do you keep your sense of humor and not turn into a grouchy teacher? The answer is to […]
Each year in the spring I teach a unit about the Instrument Families. It is the perfect time of year to introduce the instruments, especially since the fifth grade is preparing to transition into band or orchestra at middle school in the Fall. Our local band and orchestra teachers visit my fifth grade classes during […]
Problems – we all have them! The important thing is learning how to work through our problems and take steps to solve them. Each school year, I spend two weeks in my classroom singing and discussing the super power word “Problem Solving”. At the beginning of music class, we sing the song “Problem Solving” […]
The Lotus Arts and Education Foundation from Bloomington, Indiana brings music and the talents of many artist from all around the world to our local communities and schools. The Lotus Foundation was established in 1994 and is named in part to honor Indiana musician Quinten Lotus Dickey. The mission of Lotus is “to create opportunities […]
My husband and I are visiting our oldest daughter Bethany and her husband Tomo in Japan during my spring break. Bethany has lived in Tokyo for three and a half years. We enjoy all the different cultural things to see and do while in Tokyo. Japan has such a huge selection of places to go […]
Our podcast group from Lincoln Elementary “What’s Up Lincoln?” has officially posted its first podcast on Trojan radio at Lincoln Elementary School’s website under the student tab. If you would like to hear the podcast please follow this link. This podcast is about tongue twisters. The children had a lot of fun trying to say the […]
Every March 1st, schools across country celebrate “Read Across America Day”! We are celebrating the creative writer of children’s books, Theodore Seuss Gisel, a.k.a Dr. Seuss. Theodore was born in 1904 and died in 1991 at the age of 87. Theodore, better know as “Ted” to his friends, was a magazine cartoonist who officially took […]
The dictionary defines a shadow as, “a dark figure or image cast on the ground or some surface by a body intercepting light.” Shadows are such an interesting phenomena! What is it about seeing our shadow cast that makes us want to make hand puppets, dance or shiver in the night with fright? Shadows are the ideas for songs, movies, books, and even puppets! When our youngest daughter Caitlyn was one year […]
I grew up around music and pianos. I fondly remember a old upright piano in our dining room that Mom gave piano lessons on. When I was just a small child, I would sit on the floor in the living room playing with dolls, while Mom gave lessons. When at age 4 I began to […]