“We’ll start when everyone is in their place, quiet, and ready to sing!”

This has been my magic phrase this week. When kids are being antsy in music class, this worked surprisingly well with all age groups for getting their attention and starting on task! Except, of course, for the sixth graders yesterday.

I had gigglers, slouchers, and chatty Cathy’s all over the place! I just could not keep their attention. The thing is, I have a lot of sympathy for these kids. The sixth graders are treated to pretty much the same exact curriculum as the Kindergarten class. I would be dying of boredom and looking to cause a little excitement if that were me!

But this isn’t a post about the importance of matching activities to cognitive development (that should be a given). I wanted so badly to tell those kids how much I understood their pain, that the songs were beneath them and that they were capable of making music!

For now, I just file it away for my list of things not to do in my classroom and do my best at creating musical experiences as best as I can!