♫♩♫♩Instrument Petting Zoo♫♩♫♩

Parent Teacher Conferences at Martin Grade School last night had an extra dimension added this year.  Ms. Tiensvold and I put together and Instrument Petting Zoo for parents and children to come and explore after their classroom conferences.  It was a BIG hit!  We used materials from TPT by David Row at Make Moments Matter to plan our night.  His signs, posters etc. were a BIG help!  There are several follow-up activities as well to take home or do in the classroom the next day.

We talked up the activity in our music classes and encouraged the students to bring their parents.  They did!  We heard comments from many parents similar to, "My son/daughter has been waiting ALL WEEK for tonight!  We HAD to come here!"  

The instruments were set up in the room next door to our music room, since it had easier access for parents.  Signs were up in the hallways directing people to "The Music Zoo".  Parents and children came to explore, and several came back again for more!

We had instruments grouped in categories around the room - woods, metals, skins, melodic, scrapers.  There was an informational sheet on each table explaining the instrument group.  It wasn't just the students who were involved in the petting zoo, several parents explored the instruments as well, and many times parents/children joined together to make music!♫♩♫♩.

Both young and old enjoyed the instrument exploration!  

We all enjoyed the activity, parents, children and teachers alike!  I have to say, this is the MOST parents I've seen in all my years combined during Parent-Teacher conferences when I've actually been in my own room!  Normally, I'm stationed by the front door helping with the parent survey, so I have seen many parents then.  It was nice to have them come and see the space where their children explore music during the school day.

In other news, we did a fun activity in technology this week.  It was a sort of typing relay race.  The class divided into teams and had a text to type.  We used the verses to the Battle Hymn of the Republic since we are all learning that for Veterans Day.  Each student typed for 1 minute, then the next in line would continue typing from where the previous student had left off and so forth.  After all team members had typed, the team who got the furthest with the least number of errors were declared winners!  The kids loved this, and it was a cool way to incorporate some musical learning into technology!