Amy M. Burns

Elementary Music Technology and Integration

Amy M. Burns has taught PreK-grade 4 general music for over 25 years at Far Hills Country Day School (FH) (https://www.fhcds.org/). She also teaches grade 5 instrument class, directs the FH Philharmonic, is the Performing Arts Department Manager, and teaches privately in the after-school conservatory after being the director for over 20 years. She has authored four books and numerous articles on how to integrate tech into the elementary music classroom. She has presented many sessions on the topic, including four keynote addresses in TX, IN, St. Maarten, and AU. She is the recipient of the 2005 Technology in Music Education (TI:ME) Teacher of the Year, the 2016 New Jersey Music Educators Association (NJMEA) Master Music Teacher, the 2016 Governor’s Leader in Arts Education, and the 2017 NJ Nonpublic School Teacher of the Year Awards. Her most recent publication, Using Technology with Elementary Music Approaches (2020), published by Oxford University Press (OUP) is available from OUP and Amazon. Burns is also the Community Coordinator for Midnight Music (MMC) at https://midnightmusic.com/, the General Music Chair for NJMEA Board of Directors, and the Elementary Music Consultant for MusicFirst (https://www.musicfirst.com/), a company built by music educators for music educators, dedicated to helping music teachers and their students make the most of technology in the classroom.

Mrs. Burns's 2nd Grade Music Classroom: Create, Compose, Assess, and PbL

January 31, 2022  /  Amy M. Burns

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Mrs. Burns's 2nd Grade Music Classroom: Create, Compose, Assess, and PbL
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Create: 2nd Grade Compose Melodies and Create Accompaniments
Create: 2nd Grade Compose Melodies and Create Accompaniments

The second graders have become composers during the winter trimester! They have been reading and performing notes on the treble clef staff. They used that knowledge to compose a four-measure melody using the notes C D E G and A, along with quarter and half notes.

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2nd Grade General Music: Sounds of the Globe Project
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Project-Based Learning: The 2nd Graders Learn About the von Trapp Family
Project-Based Learning: The 2nd Graders Learn About the von Trapp Family

In the spring, the 2nd graders accomplished numerous national music standards along with successfully completing a project-based learning project with 2nd grade social studies. The essential question was “What was it like to immigrate to America as a child?”

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Assessment: Using Book Creator to Assess a Composer’s Unit about Beethoven
Assessment: Using Book Creator to Assess a Composer’s Unit about Beethoven

During the winter trimester, the second graders studied the composer, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). We read the book Beethoven by Ann Rachlin, and listened and moved to several of his pieces. We then watched the movie Beethoven Lives Upstairs. Afterward, I grouped the students into four groups. The groups were labeled, “Beethoven’s Childhood,” “Beethoven’s Adulthood,” “Beethoven’s Music,” and “Beethoven Lives Upstairs.”

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