This guide will help first year elementary music teachers start strong without the overwhelm. If you’re just starting your journey as a new elementary music teacher, welcome! We’ll create a first year elementary music teacher checklist of the essentials.
Whether you’ve trained for this or landed here unexpectedly, one thing’s for sure.
Your first year can feel like a whirlwind. It’s absolutely normal.
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Table of Contents
🎯 And hey — don’t miss the free checklist I made for you.
It’s a one-page survival guide you can print or keep online. Grab it below and take a deep breath. You’ve got this.
🎯 If you’re a more experienced teacher moving to a new school, here’s a quick list for you!
New Elementary Music Teacher-The Basics
You have a finite amount of time before the students’ day one. Setting up your space (NOT decorating), having an accurate calendar of concerts and events from your administration, and connecting to some key staff members are essential.
Set Up Your Space
🟢 Do NOW
- Decide how you want students to sit-rows, circle, or something flexible.
- Where is the Smartboard and your tech space? (computer, other connections) Think about how they will be able to view projected learning and your access to it.
- Organize instruments and other resources so that using them will be efficient for you and the students. Give it your best guess and you can change later.
- Think about where students will line up to leave and try to keep your desk away from that area. Kids love to touch everything!
🟠 Do LATER
- Do NOT decorate your Pinterest Dream room! Trust me.
Would you rather spend your available time putting together a super cute bulletin board or writing out what you’re going to do with 400 students the first two weeks of school?
Related Posts:
Teacher Supplies
You’ll be organizing whatever supplies are in your new room so here’s my Amazon Storefront of teacher FAVORITES!
Calendars & Personnel
Calendars
Before school starts, meet with your admin and go over your calendar. Many new teachers are caught off guard by concerts they didn’t know about but were assumed to be happening.
Ask about
-scheduled performances
-expected traditions (like a Veterans Day or Winter Concert)
-other outside-of-class responsibilities
It’s much easier to clarify now than to be surprised later.
Personnel
It’s often said that the front office people and custodians run the building. It’s true!
Get to know these people.
Front office loves a heads up if parents will likely be calling in about something. (e.g. concert attire, start time, etc.)
Help out your custodial staff by keeping your room as clean as possible. Talk to them about expectations for concerts, stage, riser setup, etc.
If you bring in snacks for your team, get some for the front office and custodians too. They appreciate being included.
Classroom Management Essentials
You’ll learn what you need as time goes on but it’s essential to have some routines & procedures in place as well as a basic classroom management plan in mind.
Teach Routines & Procedures from Day One
The Basics
🟢 Do NOW
Figure out some basic routines & procedures!
- How to enter and exit the room-I always had assigned seats and students entered and went straight to that seat. To exit, I called by rows, “Row 3, walk to the door (or to line up).
- How to sit-I used criss cross applesauce but would let older kids have one leg out or both legs curled to the side and similar, especially if we were sitting for an extended period.
- Quiet Signal-This is for transition times when students have some informal talking/instrument play going on and you need to get everyone quiet and refocused on you. Teachers use the “clap, clap, clapclap, clap” pattern that students echo, or T: Class, S: Yes, or art teachers: Mona, student: Lisa. Most kids know the clapping routine so you could always start with that and see if you need something different.
- Class Starters-I used Body Shapes (a slide deck of focus movements) or immediately began an opening routine of singing/signing a major scale. Some teachers start with a welcome song. (I found this too hard on my voice and a time suck as far as figuring out the songs for different grade levels, rotation, etc.)
- Procedures-for instrument time, game, movement time, etc.-If you play a game on day 1, you teach a routine/procedure or two along with it. (e.g. how to make a circle, how to sit/stand in the circle)
- Student Requests-Raising hands to be called on is the norm. Some classes need to stick with that and others can have more open conversational classes.
Restroom Rules
Should you let students go to the restroom during music? “We don’t use the restroom during music.” was my mantra and I explained to them that it was a very short period of time.
Exceptions: Kindergarten at the beginning of the year is brutal and I’d let them go 1 at a time. If 1 had to go, 15 will need to go so… Also, older kids would want to go and say it was an emergency and so I’d let them. If I noticed a problem with asking too frequently over the course of a couple of weeks, I’d start the next music class and ask, “How many emergency bathroom visits do you think someone could possibly need in a year DURING music?”
🟠 Do LATER
- Tweak Your Rules-A routine/procedure isn’t working so you need to adjust and re-teach/practice.
- Classroom Management Incentives, Games, Competitions-These might come into play later if you see that basic routines and procedures need some power behind them.
- Instrument Use/Partner or Group Activities/Centers-Unless you do these the first couple of weeks of school, these will probably happen a little later but you’ll need to know in your head how you want this to look and have specific procedures in place.
Related Posts:
Classroom Management Guidelines for a First Year Elementary Music Teacher
Some schools have school-wide behavior programs but many leave management up to the teachers. Some admins will look for Essential Agreements posted in your room. If you don’t learn about these in your beginning of the year meetings, ask your team teachers (PE, Art, etc.).
🟢 Do NOW
Have a plan for assigned seating and how you’ll handle classroom management.
- Assign seats on day 1 (for all seating-rows, circles, etc.)
- Begin learning names immediately. Name Games are great for you and the students.
- Get to Know Your Students-Give them some info about you and then through culturally responsive teaching, get to know them.
- Choose some basic rules such as
- Stay in your assigned seat
- Raise your hand to speak
- Be kind and helpful
- Be safe
- Consequences-Here are some common consequences.
- Talk privately to the student about the expectation or reminding to follow the expectation.
- Send to a time-out spot-Give it a name such as Rest Area, Cool Down Corner, Think It Spot, Reset Zone, etc. You do NOT need to decorate it and provide fidgets, flexible seating, etc. I had a stool along a wall behind the other students that my kids loved. They were away from the group but could see everything going on and didn’t have to participate. Pressure was off.
- If they are respectful in the time-out area, let them come back. If not, call home.
- Talk privately to the student about the expectation or reminding to follow the expectation.
- Lastly, do not be afraid to stop and re-practice a procedure. It shows you have a standard and it’s important.
🟠 Do LATER
- As mentioned above, if needed, put deeper management pieces in place: incentives, class rewards, competitions, etc.
- Re-Teach & Tweak routines and procedures as you see them start to be forgotten or lose effectiveness. This goes on throughout the year. It’s never one and done.
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Lesson Planning for a First Year Elementary Music Teacher
Strive for activities that are fun, culturally responsive, and musically enriching the first few weeks. Then you need a long-range plan.
Want help with that planning?
The Oodles of Music Newsletter is full of the latest
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-seasonal tips
-classic and new elementary music resources
and drops in your email every Monday morning.
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Embed Routines & Procedures Into Your Plans
Embed routines and procedures into ALL of it.
Think about WHAT you’ll teach and then think about HOW you want students to behave in the process.
In the beginning, you might not know the answer to all the routines and procedures you need, but you’ll know when you see something that is NOT acceptable. That’s how you learn.
Some common problems
-students interacting negatively with each other (touching, pushing, speaking inappropriately)
-students not respecting the space (touching items in the room, handling instruments in an unsafe manner)
-students talking and not listening (to each other, to you)
-safety (running, pushing)
Fun, Get-to-Know You Music Activities
Fun Activities-games, songs, video activities, challenges
Get to Know Your Students Activities-Use Culturally Responsive activities. This is NOT about diversifying repertoire. It’s about providing activities that let kids draw on their personal backgrounds.
Students then feel connected and engaged.
Activities that show personality might include:
–Name Games
-Would You Rather? games
-Four Corner games
-Improv on drum (they’ll often play rhythms that they are used to hearing)
-Freeze Dances (free dancing before the freeze)
-Human Game Board
-Love It or Leave It
–Thumball
Music Specific Activities-rhythms, singing, moving, creating, and instruments like drums and rhythm sticks work great at the start of the year.
Here are a couple of lesson plans for day 1 with the minutes for each activity and routines/procedures underlined.
K-2 Lesson Plan (35 minutes)
- Enter-sit in front of screen, random order. (1 min)
- Introduce myself (short slide show) and practice saying my name. (my last name is difficult) (5 min)
- Essential Agreements & safety in the music room(3 min)
- Assign seats in columns/rows (8 min) They will forget but after a couple of weeks they’ll have it. Criss cross applesauce
- Make a circle (eventually this will be an assigned circle)(2 min)
- Play Seven Jumps (5 min)
- Stepping-step around the room to a drum beat that stops and changes tempo. Before playing, T walks around the room pointing out instruments, resources, etc. and asks “Is it ok to touch this?” Don’t touch anybody. Don’t touch any thing. (6 min)
- Back to assigned seats-Have them sit after the stepping activity, and to help them remember their assigned seat, read their names by row. (3 min)
- Dismiss (2 min)
More K-2 activities or the beginning of the year.
- 4 Voices
- Teddy Bear
- No More Pie
- Eric Chappelle’s Song- All In One
- Freddie the Frog Steady Beat
- Charlie Over the Ocean
Grade 3-5 Lesson Plan (35 minutes)
- Enter-sit randomly in front of room. (1 min)
- Slide Show-Introduce myself, hobbies, etc. (4 min)
- Assign Seats–This is for columns and rows. (If you are seating your students differently, figure out how to do it efficiently with little down time.) The back of the room should be empty so begin calling out assigned seats for the back row, then work your way to the front. (5 min)
- Essential Agreements–I read down my list and after each one ask students to raise their hands if they agree. If they don’t, I ask why, address it and thank them for sharing. You’ll get a majority on most all and boom we’re done. (5 min)
- Head & Shoulders Baby–Make an assigned seat circle. Mine was in ABC order so I just quickly called the names. Echo the song and motions. Play the game. This involves partners so we got into tapping a partner’s hands on day 1. (15 min)
- Would You Rather Game– (5 min)
More Grades 3-5 activities or the beginning of the year.
What about plans for the rest of the year?
You need to have a long-range plan.
Long-range plans give you a roadmap to what you’ll be doing the entire year.
If you continue to write plans week-to-week without a long-range plan, you begin to look for random activities to fill the time.
Combine grade levels your first year.
K-1, 2-3, and 4-5 is a nice grouping or you can do K-2 and 3-5. Instead of writing 6 grade level plans, you’re writing 2 or 3. Then the next year you can diversify. (or not) This process takes time.
Learning Goals & Songs
Jot down just a few learning goals for each grouping-rhythm and pitch mainly.
Then take take a calendar monthly format (Google Sheet, Word, written in a notebook) and put in your concerts and the learning goals.
Add in heritage months and special events you want to highlight. Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month, Veterans Day, Valentine’s Day, etc.
Then begin to look for songs and activities that you can use the first few months.
Now you can write specific weekly plans from that general framework that you’ve created.
FREE Planning Template for Elementary Music
Let me guide you through the process with more detail. Check out the blog post: How to Guides for Teacher Planners
It also includes a FREE monthly Google Sheet template.
Lean on Resources That Work
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. There are tons of ideas out there, but start with just a few trusted places so you don’t get overwhelmed. Choose a couple of songs, games, or routines and really get to know them. Then teach them confidently.
Here on Oodles of Music, you can find answers to most all of your questions.
In the sidebar at the top, use the SEARCH feature or the CATEGORY dropdown menu.
Experienced Teachers-Quick List for a New School
For those of you who are going to a new school and are more experienced, these suggestions are what I found helpful whenever I moved.
I taught in 9 different schools over the course of about 40 years. Half were moves because of my husband being a college football coach and we moved around a bit and half were me choosing to switch with one being a school closing.
- Get to know the staff as quickly as possible.
- I’m assuming you’ll have meetings with your team but if not, make it a point to get to know them quickly.
- Eat lunch in the teacher’s lounge. You and other teachers can more quickly get to know each other.
- If you don’t have a morning duty, hang out in the halls occasionally and chat with teachers as they welcome their students.
- Grab doughnuts for the front office and custodial staff and chat with them a bit. It’s a chance to connect.
- Ask Questions About the School Community
- Know about your PTO/PTSA, parent liaison, etc.
- Ask about past programs/events (not necessarily music) that are traditional or well-loved.
- Make Music Decisions
- Following a much-loved teacher can be challenging.
- Decide how you’ll approach, “Ms. B didn’t make us do that” and similar.
- Concert extravaganzas from the former teacher but you like more of an Informance style. Making drastic switches in that direction are something to consider carefully.
- Following a much-loved teacher can be challenging.
I followed a much-loved teacher only one time and it was HARD! My mistake was trying to steer the boat in a different direction too quickly. I should have taken the first year and eased it slowly to my style and kept some of her style in there. But I was relatively young and inexperienced.
Final Thoughts + Free Checklist
It’s the norm for a first year music teacher to feel unprepared. You’ll learn by doing, adjusting, and asking for help when you need it. Be patient and give yourself grace.
FREE Checklist
Ready to take a shortcut? Download the free checklist and get guidance on how to start your journey as a new elementary music teacher!
It’s got the essentials you need to start strong and feel a little more confident each day.
