by Melissa Stouffer | Mar 11, 2025 | Kodaly
Last week was an amazing time in Chicago with my OAKE family. It’s always healing for the soul to spend time with your music teacher friends and this weekend was no exception. Here are my takeaways. Connecting Elementary and Secondary I was in a presentation...
by Melissa Stouffer | Feb 4, 2025 | Folk Songs, Kodaly, Lesson Planning
Hey all! This week I’ve asked my friend Larena to talk about something she’s awesome at: teaching songs in different languages. I hope you get as much out of this post as I did! Hi, my name is Larena Code Boyle; I teach elementary music in Chicago, IL. I’m...
by Melissa Stouffer | Jan 21, 2025 | Folk Dance, Folk Songs, Kodaly, Learning Through Play
Since the Michigan Music Conference has been eating my life the last few weeks, I thought I’d give you a quick preview of what I’ve got coming up at my sessions at the Michigan Music Conference later this week. For those of you not in Michigan, I hope you...
by Melissa Stouffer | Jan 14, 2025 | Interactive Learning, Kodaly, Lesson Planning, Note Reading
When I first started teaching, I saw Write the Rooms and thought they were simply a filler activity. After a few years, and some enlightenment, here’s why I think using a Write the Room is the right idea in the music class. 1. Practice Makes Perfect When we...
by Melissa Stouffer | Oct 29, 2024 | Folk Songs, Kodaly, Learning Through Play
This commonly shared game is a fun guessing game for students, a great way to work on Low La, and show music from the Comanche/Otoe tribes. Both tribes were around the Great Plains area which may be why there is a similar game from both nations. Positionality: I have...
by Melissa Stouffer | Oct 22, 2024 | Interactive Learning, Kodaly, Manipulatives
Putting music on the staff can start as early as 1st grade with students, and even younger if you are talking about high/low. Changing up manipulatives is a great way to keep lessons feeling fresh when you are using them often. Here are five staff manipulatives to use...
