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Teaching Pre K-8, Mar 2001 by Lindroth, Linda

Music instruction has never been easier. Even the music novice will find something to sing about with this wonderful selection of web resources to make it easy to add the "sound of music" to your curriculum.

Time to Get in Tune

http://users.massed.net/-carrier/ Bring music history to life with this great collection of middle school resources for music education.

The Musical History Hall of Fame is a webquest which asks students to explore periods of music history and nominate two candidates for the Music Hall of Fame in a biographical article. Research includes a timeline of the nominee's life, important contributions to music history and an essay explaining why this person should be elected to the Music Hall of Fame. The links are excellent, with great insight into the history of music.

In Instrumental Information, students begin an investigation of the families of instruments to identify a "mystery instrument" for a museum. Web research is easy using the collection of links to an Instrument Encyclopedia and instrument families to discover more about the brass, percussion, string and woodwind instruments and how they work.

Finished with your research? Test your skills with the Learning Network Funbrain quizzes created for this website. Or, try any of the dozens of interactive games to test your music skills. My class' favorites are Match the Symbol and Name that Note.

Notation Station http://64.94.206.8//

Here's a free online notation program which allows students to see, hear and play their music lessons. They can even compose and record their own music and print out the sheet music!

Created by GVOX, this website uses a plug-in called MusicTime Online. The plug-in shows the sheet music for a song and lets students change the notes, tempo and volume. The mixer even lets them choose a virtual instrument that will play the music. Recorded music can be saved, printed and sent to the teacher.

A free copy of Music Time Deluxe lets you and your students create lessons and music offline and then upload to your own class page. Or, select from the Lesson Library of public lessons created by other teachers. Midi files can be imported or exported, and students can even play an instrument into the PC microphone to see and hear the music!

Don't miss the Musical Celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the White House featured on NotationStation. Use the lessons to learn about patriotic music, songs, and dance from White House history - and create your own versions.

A to Z Teacher Stuff

wwv.atozteacherstuff.com

Here's a must visit for the start of every school month. This comprehensive website is designed by a teacher for teachers! Monthly themes with lessons, tips and resources will help you with all your content areas. Reproducibles give teachers a head start with themed word banks, story starters and more. Try an activity from the St. Patrick's Day resources for some Irish fun.

LessonPlanz.com is a database of more than 3,500 lesson plan resources, categorized by content area. LessonPlanz.com can also be searched by keyword or grade level. You'll find lesson plans, thematic units, book activities and dramatic play activities. There's something here for everyone.

Linda Lindroth is a K-5 Technology Teacher, a Teaching Editor and Website Coordinator for Teaching K-8. Email: Linda@TeachingK-8.com