I use MuseScore to write all my arrangements. It’s a simple program to use and it is non-techy teacher friendly. Sometimes other score writing programs can be very daunting and for our purposes MuseScore works great. You may have to substitute an instrument here and there, but it ultimately gets the job done. I love that MuseScore contains Orff instrument options (Glockenspiel, Xylophone, and Metallophone) plus a wide variety of world percussion instruments. You can view my YouTube video on MuseScore HERE.
2. Google Classroom and Google Keep
I use Google Classroom and Google Keep to store my arrangements and musical “thoughts” if you will. I make my plan in Google Keep and create files for the children to have access to at home that I can control who enters the classroom for copyright purposes. This has saved me a great deal of heartache when attempting to navigate copyright issues and getting children access to recordings and videos of me teaching.
I cannot say enough great things about SeeSaw. It really and truly is like Facebook for school. You can upload media rather quickly and efficiently and it is super kid friendly. I use SeeSaw during rehearsal to record impromptu creating sessions, improvisation sessions and compositions to upload and keep for future rehearsals or for the children to watch and comment on. We try to do this during rehearsal, but we don’t always have time. SeeSaw allows for us to “meet” outside of rehearsal time and get some vital feedback nailed down and ideas decided on before coming back to rehearsal. It is absolutely amazing. I can also send emails to parents and keep it all separate from my everyday emails!