It’s the beginning of a new season, and that calls for new books! We have chosen 10 of our favorite new print titles to feature in this month’s music and book review. Make sure to add these to your classroom collection for fresh ideas this spring. Movement activities, new Orff resources, and engaging storybooks are here!
First Steps in Global Music
By Karen Howard
Travel the globe with this collection of songs that have captivated the imaginations of children across the continents! Karen Howard’s newest addition to the First Steps series is perfect for children of all ages. This book opens the door to encountering songs from diverse cultures and experiences on themes from family, animals, flowers, food, and more. Fans of the First Steps series will love the familiar format that includes fragment singing, simple songs, movement of form and expression, movement with the beat, and songtales. The book comes with access to a digital download of recordings for the songs use, making this a great resource for your classroom!
Can We Do It Again?
By Erik Whitehill
There’s a special joy when your students love a song or activity so much, they ask “Can we do it again?”. This collection of activities is designed to inspire joyful musical exploration and student engagement. Ideas for incorporating movement, listening, composing, playing, and more abound in classroom-tested warm-ups, big ideas, and closure and line activities that also offer ample opportunities for assessment. Whether you need some movement ideas for the winter wiggles or some fresh listening activities to add to your curriculum, Erik Whitehill’s newest book has engaging activities for children of all ages and ability levels.
The More We Get Together
By Celeste Cortright
Here is one of my favorite new children’s books! Author Celeste Cortright takes a classic song and re-purposes it as a lesson about caring for the earth, giving back to your community, and using your voice to help others. Beautiful illustrations depict diverse families coming together to make their urban neighborhood cleaner, friendlier, and safer for everyone. Along with audio and visual animation, the book includes team-building and community activities, suggestions of ways to make a difference in your community, and conversation topics. “The More We Get Together” is a great addition to your classroom or home library!
The Music Educator’s Guide to Grant Writing
By Ashleigh Lore
This is a much-needed resource for music educators of all experience levels. The Music Educator’s Guide to Grant Writing provides educators with valuable insight and strategies into the grant writing process. This guide simplifies preliminary steps that define terms and common cultural expectations in the grant world, provides drafting and editing solutions, clarifies expectations upon submission of a proposal, and suggests steps to take post-submission. What makes this book so valuable is the wealth of examples provided for budgets, letters, statements, and more. It’s perfect blend of maximum information without being too wordy. Consider it an easy investment in the future funding of your music program!
The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night
By John Feierabend
The latest songtale in the First Steps series is here! “The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night” is an enduring children’s folk song with roots dating back to England around 500 years ago. It has been recorded by Peter, Paul, and Mary, Harry Belafonte, Pete Seeger, Burl Ives, and many more. Beautiful illustrations depict a wily fox as he roams a sleepy New England town in search of a meal for his family. The tones and textures are so vivid you can almost hear the rustle of leaves and see the shimmer of moonlight over the meadow. Children will love the opportunities for sound exploration – ready for quacking ducks and horn blows? With a repetitive and easy to learn melody, singers of all ages will feel encouraged to join in.
Beginners at the Bars
By Katie Grace Miller
Katie Grace Miller brings us another great elementary resource! These 18 expertly crafted lessons introduce the basics of barred percussion technique with age-appropriate structure for beginners. Even Kindergartners can grasp these concepts – seriously! Each song includes teacher tips, onstage performance options, and backstage learning opportunities. The digital download pack includes bar diagrams, posters, assessment tools and other helpful printables. This book is truly designed for those younger students, giving them the basics they need to find success right away. Whether you are a first-year teacher or a pro, you can find some great new ideas in “Beginners at the Bars”!
Teach Like it’s Music: An Artful Approach to Education
By Doug Goodkin
Experienced music educator Doug Goodkin guides us to making music classes more memorable, magical, and musical. This book offers both pedagogical reflection and practical ideas for the music classroom and beyond. The ideas presented here will inspire all teachers to teach with more playfulness, passion and purpose. From teacher to teacher, Goodkin speaks from real experience and helps to create classes that give children what they need. This book is an inspiring and useful addition to your teacher library.
First Steps in Music with Orff Schulwerk: Sing, Say, Dance, Play
By Joani Brandon, Betsy Greene, Rachel Grimsby, Craig Knapp, and Chris Tranberg
Whether you are a teacher using the Orff approach who is looking to augment your teaching or if you are a First Steps in Music teacher wishing to connect to the best of Orff, this book is for you! This classroom-ready collection of activities links the Orff Schulwerk approach to John Feierabend’s First Steps in Music Methodology. Each section begins with a brief narrative describing the integration of First Steps in Music and the Orff approach and then gives a variety of lessons and activities. The set of complete lesson plans mean you can use this book as soon as it arrives!
Let’s Celebrate! Special Days Around the World
by Kate Depalma
Rhyming text and vibrant illustrations bring this book alive! Kate DePalma takes us on a journey through 13 special holidays from cultures around the world. The story is perfect for beginning readers, while educational notes at the end brim with facts about each celebration for older readers to explore. This book features holidays you might not find in other children’s books, like Spring Festival, Inti Raymi, Eid al-Fitr, Dâia de Muertos, and the New Yam Festival. It’s a fun and informative companion to holiday exploration for classrooms or home libraries.
Lullabies to Circle Games: An Early Childhood Music & Movement Curriculum
By Jo Kirk
This curriculum, designed for parents, early childhood specialist and music & movement educators, is jammed packed with joy-filled time-tested music and movement experiences for children, birth through Pre-K and early elementary school. Jo Kirk offers teaching tips, approaches for leading songs, methods for teaching by rote, “greeting” songs, and more! This book is truly created for parent, caregiver, or teacher success. The recording of all the song material available with the book is designed as a tool for the non-music reader to learn the song. Game directions and teaching suggestions provided with every song, rhyme, and activity make this resource a great addition to any early childhood music curriculum!
Jessica Palmer is the Director of National Sales. Prior to joining the West Music team, she taught preschool and elementary music programs in both the general music classroom and beyond. She is an active musical director for community theater working with both children and adults. Jessica loves helping teachers find the right resources for their classroom and making sure they feel supported through every step of their musical journey.
