Have you visited the Composer page? There's a different composer featured for every month of the year. This month's composer is Lin-Manuel Miranda! Since the TONY Awards are held every June, I decided to feature a musical theatre composer, and who better than Lin-Manuel? Best known for composing and starring in the smash hit broadway musical Hamilton, Miranda is currently one of America's leading composers of musical theatre, film and television. He is also a singer, actor and dancer who just had a starring role in Disney's Mary Poppins Returns. Click the button below to learn more about Lin-Manuel Miranda and watch clips from his musicals, including some rare video clips from his earlier work on the kids television show The Electric Company!

Every teacher has their own special way to manage behavior or "keep the peace" in their room. As music teachers, we usually service most, if not all of the school, so coming up with something that works universally for every class is quite the challenge. In my room, I've created two different kinds of incentives for my students: individual and whole-class.

INDIVIDUAL - I created a set of grade-level specific music flash cards that are color-coded for each of the grades I teach (1st - 5th). They are in the front of the room and separated into individual bins labeled 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th. When a student answers a question correctly or assists me or another student with a lesson, they can go select a card. At the end of class, they hand the card back to me for a skittle or a sticker. If there is time at the end of class, I'll ask those students who have cards to come up to the front and share the musical term/definition on their card with the rest of the class.

WHOLE-CLASS - I have a clip chart in the front of the room with every classroom teacher's name on it. The chart is color-coded as follows:
Blue - Standing Ovation
Light Blue - Bravo
Green - Round of Applause
Yellow - 2 thumbs up
Orange - 1 thumb up / 1 thumb down
Red - 2 thumbs down
​Purple - Award Winning
All classes start the year out on "Yellow - 2 thumbs up". During each class period, depending on class-wide behavior, their clip moves up or down. At the end of each quarter (9 weeks), the classes whose clips are on "Purple - Award Winning", get a prize or game day. All clips move back to yellow at the beginning of the next quarter.

What do you use in your classroom that works? Comment below.

It took me a while before I found classroom rules that I liked. I wanted something positive but effective, and I also wanted them to be musical and interactive. I searched Pinterest and found some rules with a rhythmic pattern, and with a little tweaking, I settled on these eight "RHYTHM RULES"...

What rules do you use in your classroom? Comment below. If you like my rules and would like a copy, you can download them FREE here...

A new school year is about to begin and it's time to put together your music classroom. Bulletin boards, posters, instruments, rugs, chairs, tables, etc. We all use similar materials but have unique ways of designing our rooms. It's always fun to see other music classrooms to get new ideas. Here are some pictures of my room...

​What are some things that are important to you or that you always like to include when designing your music classroom? Comment below. You can also email me pictures of your classroom and I will share them to this blog.
mrqsmusic@gmail.com