Celebrate and Advocate for Music In Our Schools Month

March is Music in Our Schools Month (MIOSM), so it’s a great time to have some fun, showcase some fun music, and advocate for music in our schools. Here are some ideas to help you celebrate and advocate for Music in Our Schools Month.

Celebrate

Bulletin Boards:
- Questionaires – feature student or teacher questionnaires
- All school collage – everyone fills out a small item like a note and create a collage of everyone’s answers
- Celebrities and sports stars who were in music in high school
Home activities
- Have students bring home a questionnaire and ask questions of an adult about music they’ve made, or their favorites.
- Have students bring home an activity. Teach a game, sing a song, or try their favorite activity at home.
In Class
- Have students share their favorite music from home, music they listen to/sing at home, or music fro their culture
- Design an instrument of the future – have them get some inspiration from something like Animusic
- Celebrate by listening to music you might not have had a chance to yet
- CREATE – creating is an important part of music, so spend time CREATING! Bust out composition sheets, Incredibox, Mario Paint Composer, Chrome Music Lab, or any of your favorite composition tools.
All School
- Take over announcements! Do a music fun fact, music of the day, or mystery song that students need to ‘guess’ – put a drop box in the cafeteria for them to write their guesses and announce winners the next morning.
- Dress like a musician day!
- Fun music history of the day!
- Create a “Ways Music Effects Me” list – have students submit to create a huge list or bulletin board in the front hallway.
- March Madness Brackets – what a fun way to incorporate both a current cultural event as well as incorporate lots of different music listening.

Advocate

Create MIOSM buttons for everyone to wear!
Help teachers advocate music education in their classrooms – provide a calendar for listening, include songs in their classes, or talk about how they participated in music when they were young (or still do!)
Have students create a Why Music poster
Have an informance! Invite parents to participate in their child’s music experience. Host an evening music class for them to come to and participate in music class.
Have a family folk dance night!
Perform for your local PTA, School Board, or community.

Resources

More ideas from NAfME
Music Advocacy Worksheets – This set includes 10 different worksheets and activities that you can hand out to allow for variation between grade levels. Includes quarter notes with questions to create an all school bulletin board. Get it here.