If your teaching style were a movie genre (don’t worry, this isn’t a Buzzfeed quiz), what would it be? Maybe Comedy? I once knew a trigonometry teacher who somehow combined math with an ongoing stand-up routine – every year he’d dust off his headdress and be Chief Socatowa (Something about sines and cosines? Luckily I […]
What’s on the wall next to the door of your classroom? I mean at a level where your students can see? If the answer is “nothing,” you might want to consider adding some intriguing pictures – artwork or photos of animals, space, plants, other cultures, – anything they may not have seen before that’s beautiful […]
Exploring the Sounds of Egg Cartons I started using egg cartons in my early childhood music classes many years ago. They always interested me because they’re so light, yet because of their structure they can make sharp and impressively loud sounds. At first, I had my classes simply tap the cartons on the floor in […]
Noisy Science If necessity is the mother of invention, I’d have to say that one of my best teaching “inventions” was inspired by the necessity of my not going completely deaf. You see, I’m an early-childhood music teacher. You know how noisy a typical preschool classroom is? Well, I’ll see you that noisiness and raise […]
Quick, guess what this is! Raise your hand if you said “melted snowman!” (Or “snowperson” as I refer to them…) Here in NJ we haven’t had a lot of snow yet. I can’t complain about the mild weather, but I have so many snow-related songs and games, and I want to get them in before […]
Here’s my latest article for Teachers Net Gazette! It’s all about creating an atmosphere of curiosity and excitement in the classroom. http://gazette.teachers.net/gazette/wordpress/abigail-flesch-connors/wait-for-it-a-fun-way-to-nurture-childrens-curiosity/ I’m all about encouraging children’s curiosity, so if you have any more strategies for sparking curiosity, please share them here!
“The job of adults is to make sure natural curiosity is supported and not squashed. Curiosity cannot be directly taught and doesn’t have to be; it emerges and can be nurtured.” – Anne Mitchell […]
Music (and Science) For Young Children 