Melanie+McCain+Website+Reviews

Melanie McCain Websites [|**Sphinxkids.com**] Elementary School Music Interactive I would use this program in my elementary school music classroom as a supplement to my teaching about instruments of the orchestra and composers, as well as a few basic theory concepts. This program has a lot of fun and interactive games, activities, and videos, where students can listen to instruments and watch how they are played, and learn about composers and hear their songs. They can also test their knowledge by playing matching games after they have gone through the informational content.
 * http://www.sphinxkids.org/index.html**

[|OYUNLAR1Games] http://www.oyunlar1.com/games.php?flash=751 Elementary School or Middle School Music Interactive I like this particular game because it allows the students to practice their note-reading on the staff, both bass and treble clef, as well as being able to identify the notes on the piano and their pitches as high and low. This is a huge skill in music because the piano teaches the basics of music reading and identification. I would use it as a test of their knowledge, and a reward game during free time, or as stations of a few students at a time.

[|DSO Kids] http://www.dsokids.com/games/default.aspx Elementary School or Middle School Music Interactive This program is great because it has games that will really interest the kids. There are games about composer information and this is a huge part of learning about music history. I would use this more for middle school students who are a little older, because some of the facts are too hard for much younger children to remember. But it is good that it is geared toward older children so they are not bored. I would use this game as a station or a reward.

[|New York Philharmonic Kidzone] http://www.nyphilkids.org/main.phtml? Elementary School or Middle School Students Interactive This website has a huge variety of information for young music students. There are instruments, theory, composers, composition, and games. I would definitely use this site during my class time to let the students explore all the different sides of music. I would even use this as a lesson plan if I could get the time in the computer lab.

[|K-12 Resources for Music Educators] http://www.hickorytech.net/~cshirk/k-12music/ Kindergarten to 12 Grade Music Teacher Resource This web site has endless resources for music teachers. It has hundreds of links to other resources that can help music teachers, as well as its own lesson ideas and help topics. They have divided the site up into band, orchestra, choir, general music, and specialized music to make it easy to find what you are looking for. I would definitely use this to get ideas for lesson plans, or find other resources.

[|Music Education Links] http://www.tarleton.edu/Faculty/boucher/Elementary%20Music%20Resources.htm Elementary School Music Teacher Resource This site is designed to help a lot of beginning music teachers. It has areas to find a job, how to get through your first year and get your foot in the door. Sometimes the hardest part of being a teacher is just getting started and getting into it. It also has a lot of lesson ideas, how to plan lessons on a budget for those schools with shrinking funding. I think this site is excellent for new teachers and experienced ones as well.

[|Susan Paradis' Piano Teacher Resources] http://www.susanparadis.com/ Any Grade Level Piano - Music Teacher Resource This website was designed by a private piano teacher who creates all of her own material to teach piano with. She decided to share her material with other teachers and offers them free of charge on her website as long as they are not reproduced for resale. She listed her credentials as having a master's degree in music education and having studied with many respected piano teachers. I like this idea because teaching piano in a classroom setting is difficult and these resources help to conquer this problem. I would most likely use it for older students, like middle school, because they have more self discipline and can work on piano work in the classroom.

[|SFS Kids] http://www.sfskids.org/templates/musicLabF.asp?pageid=23 Middle School Music Informational This website has a lot of easy explanations for music theory and the language of music. I would use this resource for middle school children when they begin to understand music a little better, and now can begin working on the concept of music as another language. There aren't quite as many fun games that would interest elementary school students, and the concepts are too hard for them anyway. I would use this resource in my classroom to let students explore what music is to them, and how to begin communicating using written music.

[|FunTrivia] http://www.funtrivia.com/en/ForChildren/Music-for-Kids-5681.html High School Music Informational This website offers interesting facts about many topics, one of which being music. There are many facts about history, composers and piano. I would use this to allow much older students to do research on topics in music that interest them. Particularly the piano trivia was really interesting to me. It also had trivia about music theory, vocabulary. I might also use this site as a competitive game for the class about random music facts. This could be a reward or extra activity for high school music students.

[|The Mighty Maestro] http://www.themightymaestro.com/ All Grade Levels Music Informational This website has a somewhat interactive feel, but the lessons are not really games. For example, students will hear traditional music from around the world by clicking on areas of a world map. I think this is a really great idea for music exploration, because most classes focus only on western music. Students also can learn western music theory and learn about instruments from western music as well as other cultures. This website offers traditional music learning and a little bit different approach as well. I would use this as a supplement to a lesson about world music, and would give the kids a couple days in the lab to explore and then learn about them in the class as well.