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.

Tech Tip Tuesday: MFE No Student Email Addresses Needed!

March 12, 2024  /  Amy M. Burns

Tune in every Tuesday for my quick tech tips on making the most of MusicFirst Elementary (MFE)! This week features how MFE does not require students to have email addresses to use the lessons and the creative tools. Watch below to see more!

What is MusicFirst Elementary?

MusicFirst Elementary Powered by Charanga is a cloud-based curriculum for elementary general music, grades K-5 (soon to be PreK through Grade 6) with 36 sequential lesson plans for each grade level. When you open MusicFirst Elementary, you will see an on-screen resource that functions almost like an interactive textbook, and then you’ll also see accompanying lesson plans, curriculum maps, and assessment tools for use as well. Originally a curriculum designed by Charanga for a variety of countries around the world, MusicFirst Elementary is fully aligned with the National Core Arts Standards. This involved a meticulous process to ensure that each standard was approached at every grade level. Essentially, we took a product that was working very well in the UK and rewrote it to fit with our education system here in the U.S.

Want to learn more? Try the 30-day free trial here: https://www.musicfirst.com/software/musicfirst-elementary

Need in-depth videos about MusicFirst Elementary? Click here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO2UG241-fB6Ghg2abkM1PvcB-j1TySq-

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