One of the Best Elementary Music Education Apps

As an elementary music teacher, you’re probably constantly looking for the best elementary music curriculum.  Not only that, you’re wanting awesome music education apps to use with your students.  Well, I’ve found a site that has both and can’t wait to tell you more about “My Singing Monsters.” 

I would recommend this app to any elementary music teacher.  It’s a great piece of technology to use in your classroom that your students will love!  I had the opportunity to use the app before writing this review, and I was blown away at how easy to use and how much fun it is!

 

Elementary Music Curriculum

With so much elementary music curriculum out there, it’s hard to know what to choose.  There are many great options, and you may have your favorite curriculum or use a combination of different ones.  Whatever you choose, it’s always fun to learn about what’s new so you can change things up in your classroom from time to time.

A great online curriculum for grades 1-3 is “My Singing Monsters.”  This site has great teaching guides for grades 1-3.  Each grade level has 5-6 lessons that teach different music objectives in each one.  The lesson plans are super easy to follow along and give so many great ideas your students will love.

The free lesson plans include a:

• lesson overview
• learning objectives
• core concepts
• prior knowledge
• materials
• instruction
• and even what’s to come in the next lesson.

The lesson plans are designed with different sections.  This makes is easy to find what you need.  Not only that, there’s a different monster that’s on each lesson plan that your students will love seeing.  You could even put different monsters on posters to use as visual aids as you teach the lessons.  That monster could move higher for singing high, lower for singing low, or jump in place to the steady beat.  You can find a sample of a lesson plan here. 

 

 

Music Education App

After you’ve taught the lesson from the lesson plan, you get to use technology.  The best part about these elementary music lessons, is there’s an app to go right along with them.  The same monster that is on each lesson plan gets to come alive and makes music on this app.  Not only that, you can get to the lesson plan page from the app in one click.

Big Blue Bubble has created a few different “My Singing Monsters” apps throughout the years.  But this newest My Singing Monsters app has lesson plans to go right along with it.

There are over 20 fun monsters that can perform rhythms, steady beat, and hum different melodies.  Not only that, there’s a time machine that can warp as well as ambiance that you can turn on or off.

The lesson plan will tell you which monster or monsters to use and will give you instructions for how to use this monster.  Beware… your students will DEFINITELY have fun using all of these silly monsters and will move right along with them.

When you open the app, click on a monster.  We’ll use Noggin as an example.  After I click on Noggin, a description comes up telling me all about who Noggin is and what he does.  It also tells me what his role is with all the other monsters.

Noggin has been selected, and now it’s time to place him where I want him on the grid.  Once he’s there, he’ll start keeping a rhythm by patting his head.  Then, I can mute or unmute him as needed, move him to a different spot, and move on to the next monster.

 

 

Best Teaching Practices

So how do you use the lesson plans and the music education app hand in hand?

Here are my suggestions:

1. If you’re teaching rhythm to your second graders using the curriculum and resources you already have available to you, then use the  My Singing Monsters app as an extension of the lesson.
2. After teaching a My Singing Monsters lesson, open the app on your smart board or let students explore on your classroom tablets.
3. Come back the next class period to let students explore the monsters more so they’re aware of what each one does.
4. Use the app as a class project with your upper elementary students and let them create their own rhythms or melodies.
5. As with any other curriculum, teach students first, then let them explore the technology.  Remember, technology will never replace a teacher.

 

With the students of today, technology is a huge part of learning.  They’re surrounded every day with TV, video games, ipads, iphones, and computers.  Although technology will never replace a solid curriculum and a great teacher, when it’s used in conjunction with what you’re teaching, it can be so beneficial.

Are you already using technology in your classroom?   Do you notice using music education apps helps engage your students in the music classroom?  I’d love for you to tell me all about it in the comments below.

 

This educational app was developed by music teachers, to help students learn musical theories and skills in an interactive new way.  With downloadable step-by-step lesson plans, fun characters, and a colorful world, students will love learning music fundamentals with the Singing Monsters. 

To find out more about this app and to purchase it today, head to the itunes app store and download The Singing Monsters today!

You can follow My Singing Monsters on social media here:

Facebook
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*Full disclosure: I was given free access to The Singing Monsters app and was paid to write this review. I only review products I’m proud of and would use myself.   If you’d like me to review your app, course, or product, check out my work with me page.