Treat them as little adults, not as little "teen-Mass" types. You're not prepping them for Mass anyway, but what I mean is this: cultivate their sense of wonder, their ability to listen and sing; don't do high-sugar stuff.

If the school can afford it, ask them to send you to the Benedict XVI Institute's upcoming workshop on how to lead a chant camp.

I'm going, Kathy. You coming up?

Well, having divested myself of all duties a year ago, I've decided to go back and resume my K-8 duties as my successor's gone onto FT employment. (Tim, I'm thinking about what to share with you of my 14 years of parochial school experience.) The push to enhance music literacy was a fairly didactic enterprise last year. So, I'm oriented towards music literacy through the distinctive enterprise of chant/notation. In parish experience I know that square notes is far more intuitive and legible than standard; why shouldn't that be a prelude for kids' acquisition of both? And we know what miracles MACW hath wrought.

There are standards which specify what should be learned at each grade level. They are a bit dry to read, but I found them helpful. Associations of music teachers can also clue you in to available resources.

I spent most of my teaching career teaching first grade in a parochial school, however, my last year teaching I taught music classes for 3 year olds to 8th graders. Although I did not have a music degree I often had more musical knowledge than the person hired as a music teacher when I taught first grade. Most parochial schools don't spend money on the music program so, unless you are very blessed, you will find little to nothing to work with. Many schools introduce recorder as an instrument and teach simple music reading to 3rd or 4th graders. If you do this, parents are usually expected to buy a recorder for their child and send it to school. Charles is correct that there will be a set of standards (curriculum) for each grade level. Your principal should provide it to you or direct you to a website. Be careful about being assigned extra coverage such as lunch duty or recess duty which may be part of your day.

One way to plan is to divide the 40 minutes into chunks. One chunk could be listening to and learning about classical composers. One chunk could be learning songs for the Christmas or spring concert. That will take longer than you think because the weeks go by quickly and with days off and special trips or assemblies there isn't that much time to prepare for a concert.

Classroom management styles tend to vary by age. Try to give positive attention to behaviors you want (catch kids being good) and correct negative behaviors calmly and with consistency. Treat your students with respect and they will usually treat you that way. Be collaborative with the older students when possible because then they will "buy in" to what you want them to do. Be yourself as much as possible, kids can spot a phony a mile away. Set up routines and realistic expectations at the beginning and follow through. Use the classroom teachers as a resource if you see they are talented teachers.

If you like what you are doing this year, and are disappointed with the way the classroom is equipped, I wrote grant a with a music teacher and was able to get $600 worth of REMO drums. You may find a similar way to get more instruments, etc. The internet has so much for free, if you know how to use it. Obviously be very wary of what you use off the internet.

Most of all, God bless you for stepping up! If music in your school is like music where I was, you will find so much left to teach your students.

The standards include pre-K students explaining "musical ideas."

Of course. But they can also sing like angels. That's not in the standards.

I was thrown into a K-8 music position also. The school had General Music textbooks (teacher's edition only - no books for the kids). I think it was Silver-Burdett "Making Music" or something like that, from the 90s so I'm sure it's obsolete. Luckily it included cds with the text book for most grades. See if you can find something like that. Also - make a lesson plan for each class. Mine were 40" also, and I divided it into practicing music for school Masses, general music from the textbooks, and some solfege from the Ward Method books by Justine Ward. Also some fun stuff - almost all the age groups enjoyed that (especially around Halloween, Christmas, etc). I would insist that you have the teacher from K and possible 1st and 2nd also stay in the room with you because that age group is difficult to handle alone. Best of luck.

It is the verbage, but it's a dozen other things too. Why start with metrical music? Why start with polyphonic (accompanied) music? Is it possible to learn melody by immersion, and if so, wouldn't that be chant? Is it possible to learn singing by imitating the songs of nature? Does "children's music" have to be illiterate to be simple? Aren't there melody-only masterpieces? How can children discover their own voices? Is it possible to avoid that whole shout-singing phase altogether, even at Christmas pageants? Is it possible that every child can carry a tune, if you start young enough? Etc etc.

Yes, exactly. Follow the order of history--the order of discovery.

The above advice about asking the lower grade teachers to stay is probably not going to fly. Often regular classroom teachers contractually are entitled to a preparation period each day so they will not want to give that up unless they are staying in their own classroom anyway correcting papers, etc. If the classes have a teacher's aide she would usually stay with the class for "specials." Start by taking stock of what materials/instruments are on hand and what other resources you have access to. Classroom teachers love when the "specials" follow on a theme they are using in their class, e.g., a bug song when they are learning about bugs.

Best of luck to you Tim. Teaching can be hard (very hard), but it carries with it its own rewards and graces.

When I started teaching a veteran teacher said, "Don't let them see you smile until after Christmas." I understood what she was getting at. Let them get away with too much initially and you won't be able to call it back later in the year.

CharlesW is right, but also remember that teaching is not an adversarial relationship. Keep your expectations high, including the expectation that students will behave rightly and then nearly all of them will. Keep them busy, since it is true that idle hands are the devil's workshop. Always have something extra in abeyance so you can turn to it if your original plan doesn't work as you thought it would. Especially true if there is technology involved be sure to have a plan B.

One more thing- find out if you will be giving grades on the report card and if so what kind of grades. Plan your lessons with grading in mind. Some principals will allow grades to be based upon participation/effort and some will expect something based on content taught (usually based on grade level). If you are giving grades, be aware that some helicopter parent will probably question you about it at some point.

Since this is a parochial school, be sure to get your diocesan standards for the grades you will be teaching. Also, find out what textbooks (if any) they have for music and be sure to get teacher's editions of them. Some textbook publishers also include a test bank for testing and workbooks.

Me, too, but I had to do it music for K to 8th grade. At times, over my most recent tenure of 14 years in a parochial school, I also had to give percentage report card grades to first graders, and for a time even mid-terms and finals! That pendulum can really swing fast! At another time in a public school the "progress" report was a skills-based list where you had a choice of usually, often, or rarely. A colleague said she was very tempted to add "tartar" next to rarely.

Here's my trick should the question arise this year- prep time notwithstanding- the classroom teacher should attend each session whenever able, and make an ongoing assessment based upon a small number of criteria, not the least of which is the quality of participation. I have the same load as Tim as I return to the K-8 classroom this year, and I assure anyone, including parents, I'm not going to remember 200 urchins' names, much less subjectively assess skills according to unreasonable standards via 30-40" sessions once a week.
This is kind of what slays me about the ethos of curricular, general music: if each grade, each dedicated choir/bell choir can demonstrate absolute confidence in performance, isn't that really the bell weather of success? Sure, not all are created equal of ability, but unlike sports, and definitely unlike the sciences, everyone's on the team when performing. Try having a public algebra final in front the entire community.

Melo, I could probably handle the public algebra final, but then I'm a math and science nerd. I do differential and integral calculus for fun!