Ms. Wonderly Makes Music Videos

This will forever be one of my favorite lessons to do with my Kindergarten music makers! ⛸🎶 I introduced my Kinders to figure skating this week, then we used our poly spot markers to skate around the music room! To get started, we watched a clip of Disney on Ice and several videos of American figure skater Starr Andrews! She began skating when she was just three years old, so I love showing my students the proof of what can happen when you keep practicing and learning new things! These cuties were so eager to try it out for themselves and show off all their tricks! I especially loved watching them get back up when they fell and practice their new skills till they got them just right! Several students squealed that they were going to be ice skaters when they grew up…and I told them they could be one right now! It just doesn’t get better than this! 😍 #mswonderlymakesmusic

Day 1 of organizing my new music room was a productive one! 🎉🎶 • Although my new room is the same size as my old one, it only has half the built-in storage! These shelves from Sam's Club (that I discovered in a 2019 blog post from David Row at Make Moments Matter!) are an absolute GAME-CHANGER for open and accessible instrument storage! I added a collection of Hefty tubs from Lowe's, and watched this corner of my music room come to life! I’ll unpack and display my other auxiliary percussion instruments on top of the smaller shelves and add labels to the tubs in August, but my new happy place just got a whole lot happier! 💗 #storagesolutions #musicroomstorage #classroomorganization #mswonderlymovesrooms #mswonderlymakesmusic

You’ve been so good to me, Room 1! The magic that happened in this room over the last six years has absolutely changed my life forever. I’m getting more and more excited about my new room down the hall, but this room and the music makers that filled it will forever hold a special place in my heart! ❤️🎶 #lastdayofschool #mswonderlymovesrooms #mswonderlymakesmusic

And I think to myself...what a wonderful world! 🌈🎶💕 • These Listening Glyphs from The Bulletin Board Lady Tracy King are still one of my favorite yearly traditions for Black History Month! Each year, students get to learn about and listen to a new musician, and I get to step back and let them create! 🖍 • With my 1st and 2nd graders, I spend a lot more time guiding students through each step, making sure students have colored each part of the picture before we move on to the next! These 3rd graders have been coloring Listening Glyphs since 1st grade, so it was time to let them have a little more independence! We read through each instruction box together, then they were split into groups to color the whole thing on their own...asking questions if needed, of course! It was so fun getting to take a step back and spend some peaceful moments coloring right along with them! 💕🎶 #louisarmstrong #bhm #blackhistorymonth #listeningglyphs #bhminthemusicroom #mswonderlymakesmusic

I don’t think I’ve ever heard my name said so many times! 😂⛸ • I introduced my Kinders to Starr Andrews last week, then we used our poly spot markers to go ice skating around the music room! These cuties were so eager to try out and show off all their new tricks! Several students squealed that they were going to be ice skaters when they grow up! When I asked if they knew how Starr doesn’t get dizzy when she’s spinning in circles, one of my precious students responded, “I know! It’s because she believed in herself!” It just doesn’t get better than this! 😍 • I’ve seen other teachers do this activity with paper plates during these winter months, and it would be a wonderful way to celebrate the Winter Olympics with your students this February! I’ll likely bring it back for these Kindergarteners because they clearly had WAY too much fun! ❤️⛸🎶 #paperplateiceskating #mswonderlymakesmusic

Everybody sing! 🔔🎶 • Students of all ages are jamming out to Music with Mrs. Dunc’s original song “Everybody Sing (Jingle Jangle)” this week! My Kinders were precious as can be today tapping that steady beat! My 2nd graders were dancing all around and loved shaking their bells as they identified the long notes we’ve been preparing to introduce! (They’re really dotted quarter notes and not half notes, but shhh…no one needs to know! 😉) When I told them that one of my friends wrote the song, one student asked ever so excitedly, “She wrote it for us??” So I said, “You know what…I think she did!” ❤️ #merrymusicroom #jinglejangle #mswonderlymakesmusic

Happy Veterans Day! 🇺🇸🎉 • We did not have an in-person assembly this year, but our gym was full earlier this week as 60+ of our 4th and 5th choir members recorded The Star Spangled Banner to be included in our virtual celebration! 💻📱 • Our first choir rehearsal was only two weeks ago, which means these students had four rehearsals to learn and record this music…without having ever sang in a choir before! This recording was also the first time the 4th grade and 5th grade groups had performed together. I had really hoped to spend more time with some rounds and partner songs at the beginning of our year, but with a delayed start and a November 11th deadline, we had no choice but to push forward! I was terrified and perhaps not setting high enough expectations for these students because they SOARED past them! Many of their teachers told me they caught students looking over their music in our Google Classroom on their iPads or practicing together on the playground! They were determined to be successful and were so very proud to show off their video to their classmates! And now I get to show them off to you because I’m also so VERY proud! ❤️ #veteransday #starspangledbanner #mswonderlymakesmusic

I never knew folk songs could be so hype! 🎉🎶 • I started off my 4th grade lessons this week with the book, “Every Cake Has a Story” by @christinatosi of @milkbarstore! It’s a precious book that tells the story of a girl whose delicious dream comes to life, filling the world with color, creativity, and joy! At the end of the book is a recipe for Dreamy Strawberry Frosting, which served as the perfect transition into this week’s folk song, “Red are Strawberries”! 🍓🍰 • This specific group of 4th graders has spent most of the year adding their own flare to every song we sing! I love their natural sense of rhythm and try to highlight and celebrate it as much as I can! This week though, it was especially important for us to focus on the simple steady beat and the rhythm of the words, as I was presenting our newest rhythm element, “Ti-Tika”! So I had to come up with a transition on the spot to get them refocused in the right direction without making their natural talent and excitement seem like a negative thing! We made sure to bring their beat back later in the lesson though so they could try it out with their new rhythm words! 🥁 • I ran out of space to feature the whole lesson in this reel, so let me know if you’re interested in seeing more! #kodaly #kodalymethod #kodalyinspiredclassroom #mswonderlysbirthdaybash #mswonderlymakesmusic

Whoo Whoo! Who are you?🦉🎶 • Our big focus in Kindergarten right now is steady beat and singing voice! We start every lesson with our Hello Song and a review of the songs we’ve added to our song bank so far, including “Wise Old Owl” from Lynn Kleiner’s book Kids Make Music, Babies Make Music Too! Each week, I ask a few students if they would like to sing on their own! I make sure to remind students that we never laugh at anyone’s singing voice because it takes someone super brave to sing by themselves! Each week there have been more and more hands raised by students who are eager to be brave and show off their singing voice! • It is so important to me that I’m raising students who are proud of their voices and eager to share them with others! I have been able to see that in action this year specifically, as my 5th graders have been doing this kind of work with me since Kindergarten! I can’t wait to see where these music makers will be in 5 years! ❤️🎶#kindergarten #kindermusik #kindergartenteacher #mswonderlymakesmusic

My Kindergarteners love showing off their singing voices! ❤️🎶 • This week we used our Quaver curriculum to learn Mi Cuerpo and talk about all the ways our body can make music! My Kinders were so proud of themselves and couldn’t wait to show their teachers all they had learned! ☺️ • I try as much as possible to invite teachers into our room at the end of the lesson to see what their students have been working on! This not only offers students an opportunity to perform, but it also gives their teachers an insight into what’s happening in your room each week! There’s no better way to advocate for your program than to let people see your students in action! #hispanicheritagemonth #latinxheritagemonth #quavermusic #mswonderlymakesmusic

1st Graders have the best reactions! 😍🎶 • We’re deep into practicing walk and tiptoe sounds in 1st grade right now, getting ready for our big ta and titi reveal in October! This class was especially mesmerized by the magical feet that appeared behind our song cards, perfectly matching the rhythms they had just read! It’s the absolute best getting to guide them in putting the pieces together and watching their precious reactions when it finally clicks! Normally Ms. Wonderly doesn’t allow screams in her music room, but we let it slide for this mini lesson because these 1st graders were just so excited! ☺️🍎🐝 #kodalymethod #kodalyinspiredclassroom #mswonderlymakesmusic

You might be tired of hearing about grizzly bears over here, but my Kinders are not! 😍🎶🐻 • Last week we learned how to switch between our singing voice and thinking voice (inner hearing) using our Folkmanis bear in a stump puppet! When the bear is out, we sing! When the bear is hiding, we put the song in our brains and sing with our (silent) thinking voice! This week, we brought back our familiar song, but with a bigger challenge…singing the whole thing in our thinking voice! 🤔💭 • This activity is perfect for preparing and practicing steady beat too! Students bounce their “bear paws” on their laps all the way until the growl at the end. Then, they lift up their paws for the most precious silent growl you’ve ever seen…before doing it all over again with their singing voices! This Kinder class brought so much joy to our music room today! ❤️🎶 #kodalymethod #kodalyinspiredclassroom #kidnergarten #mswonderlymakesmusic

It’s time to find our shouting voice! 📣🐻 • My Kindergarten students have been busy the last few weeks learning about our five voices! They’ve met puppet friends that introduced our whisper, talking, and singing voices, so it was time to learn about our shouting voice! • Last week, we started our lesson with the story “The Bear Went Over the Mountain” by Iza Trapani. I love using this illustrated version of the folk song to segue into another bear-y favorite folk song - Grizzly Bear! I even change the last line of our story to make it a seamless transition! The book says “now the bear is snoring snuggly in his den,” but I always sing the last word as “cave”. Then I pull out my favorite Folkmanis “Bear In Tree Stump” puppet friend, and the magic begins! 🧸🎶 #kodalymethod #kodalyinspiredclassroom #childrensbooks #storytime #mswonderlymakesmusic

The ✨MAGIC✨ of storytelling! 😍📖 • I include a book in every single lesson I teach in my music room…to learn about new people, new places, new rhythm patterns, and new melodies! Not every book is musical. Instead, I use the story as the connecting piece to get students excited about the new music or concept we’ll be exploring that day! I recently added The Neighbors by Einat Tsarfati to my classroom library, and it has been the perfect introduction to this week’s folk song, “Ding Dong Digga Digga Dong”! • My students loved reading this story about a young girl who climbed the seven stories to her own (very boring!) apartment. They imagined right along with her what might be behind each of the doors she passed. Does the door with all the locks belong to a family of thieves? Might the doorway with muddy footprints conceal a pet tiger? Each spread reveals—in lush detail—the wilds of the girl’s imagination, from a high-flying circus to an underwater world and everything in between. After we finish the reading the book, I get to tell my own story about the girl and her lost cat…which helps introduce our new song!🐱🎶 • #kodaly #kodalyinspiredclassroom #childrensbooks #childrensliterature #mswonderlysbooknook #mswonderlymakesmusic

We folk danced our way into Summer Break! 🎉🎶 • Every class in every grade spent their last music day of the school year folk dancing! This specific dance (Rakes of Mallow) was exciting enough to keep students engaged yet simple enough for those students who hadn’t done much folk dancing yet to get used to how it all works! This 2nd grade class loved making it their own too, adding bows, claps, and chicken imitations! 🐓😂 #folkdance #lastdayofschool #mswonderlymakesmusic

My 1st graders’ trip to New York City was BEARY fun! 🐻🏙🎶 • We are practicing quarter rest and preparing for Sol-Mi! I knew I wanted to use the “Teddy Bear” folk song and corresponding activities from Joy Nelson’s “The Music Effect: Kindergarten Book 2” this week, so the challenge was...”How do I make these activities fit in New York City?” The inspiration came once I reread one of my favorite bear books, “The Bear and the Piano,” about a bear who discovers a piano in the forest then becomes famous performing in the big, bright city! I had used the Apple Memojis earlier this year to make a video version of this book, so first we hopped in the taxi to go to the NYPL The New York Public Library to listen to that version of the story (preview in the comments)! Then it was off to Central Park for a game of Simon Says, and finally a trip to FAO Schwarz to see the BIG piano and pick out our teddy bears! 🧸🎹🎶 #newyorkcity #virtualfieldtrip #kodalyinspiredclassroom #mswonderlymakesmusic

My kindergarten classes definitely made the most of their trips to New York City! 🚕🎭🍎🎶 • We kept each activity short and sweet and used a fleet of taxis to help us get around the city! In one 50-minute class we: 📚 Read a story at the NYPL The New York Public Library 🏙 Danced in Times Square, New York City 🦁 Saw The Lion King - Musical on Broadway 🍐 Played fruit rhythms at a bodega ❄️ Saw Frozen - The Musical on Broadway 🥁Played more rhythms in Central Park 🌉 Danced with GoNoodle at the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge 🧞‍♂️ Saw Aladdin - The Musical on Broadway • In the middle of one of the performances, a precious Kindergartener turned back to me and whispered, “Thank you, Ms. Wonderly!” 😭 Needless to say, it’s been a magical week! #newyorkcity #virtualfieldtrip #mswonderlymakesmusic