Welcome!

Welcome to the Music at RES blog!  Here, I'll be updating the fun lesson plans and ideas that I use for my elementary music classes at Riverton Elementary School.

Just for general information about my school:
I teach K-4 music at Riverton Elementary School.  Our school hosts students from Pre-K through 4th grade, and we have about 650 students.  I have all students in kindergarten through fourth grade, and I see them every other day.  I see 11 classes per day for 25 minutes with 5 minutes between.  Our school has between 20-30 kids in each class.  I have 5 4th grade classes, 4 3rd, 2nd, and 1st grade classes, and 5 kindergarten classes.  I see two kindergarten classes at once every other day, which provides a new challenge.  I absolutely love my students, and teaching them and interacting with them every day is a great joy to me.  There is very little that I enjoy more than seeing my students enjoy themselves while making music, and I love to sneak in as much learning as I can to make them lifelong music learners.

Technology:
My school received a grant thanks to our excellent principal a few years ago that provided 1:1 mini laptops for all students in our district from 3rd-8th grades.  We also have a computer lab with minis for our K-2 students.  In my classroom, I have a Promethean interactive whiteboard and we use the ActivInspire software.  It is my goal to figure out new ways to incorporate the use of the minis with my students as much as possible, especially with the 3rd and 4th graders, who have their own.

Curriculum:
One of the reasons I am creating this blog is to help organize my curriculum better by blogging about what lesson plans or units have worked well and what hasn't.  I have a curriculum that is very good, but it is not all-inclusive, so I feel the need to use my own resources quite a bit so that my students are receiving what I consider to be a well-rounded music education.  It is also a goal of mine to figure out a way to develop an honor choir to give my students more opportunities to participate in music ensembles from a young age.

My education:
I received my Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois in 2009.  I taught for 2 years in Charleston, Illinois public schools.  I took the job at Riverton in 2011.  I began my masters in music education in January 2013 at the University of Florida online, and I will complete it in December 2014.  I will also be beginning my Kodaly certification process this summer at Silver Lake College in Wisconsin.

I hope you enjoy reading my blog and are able to find useful resources for your music education classes.  Or, if you are a Riverton parent, I hope you enjoy the blog as you venture into the activities of your child in music class at Riverton each day.

Enjoy!
Melody Kneezel