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Pandora Stations for the middle school classroom

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I like to use music to teach in my classroom (if you know me, this is obvious). 

However, I also like to use it just for fun during independent time (Or quite group time)

I decided to share with you guys some of my favorite Pandora radio stations. 

Unless it is holiday music I like to try to keep it to mostly instrumental arraignments. 

 Instrumental Versions of Popular Songs
These stations are GREAT.  They are all instrumental arguments of songs that are currently playing on most radios. Prepare yourself to hear your students singing along. So far, I don't have any future world renowned singers...but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. 

  • The Vitamin String Quartet 
  • The Piano Guys
  • Simply Three


 Instrumental-out of the box

  • Instrumental Hip Hop
    • At some schools my students would exclusively request this station, at others they wanted nothing to do with it. However, I always think that it is nice change of pace. 
  • Reggae Instrumental
    • Same as above...this is nice to play on cold and rainy days!
  • Film Scores
    • This station is a LOT of fun. How can students not feel inspired with The Pirates of the Caribbean theme song playing? Although I must admit that from here on out whenever I hear this song I will think of this:


    Soothing
    I feel like this category is pretty self explanatory

    • Instrumentals" Vol.2 (2)
    • Solo Piano
    • Jack Johnson (Children's)
    • George Winston

    Nature Sounds with music

    How can your room not be a calming environment with babbling brooks and raindrops mixed with instrumentals? I would like to find a straight up nature sounds only Pandora station, but alas, I cannot.  
    • Nature Sounds with Music
    • Nature Radio
    • Ocean Waves for Deep Sleep

    Holiday


    These are the holiday stations that I used in my classroom during the Christmas season last year. These seemed to stick to the classics. 
    • Vince Guaraldi Trio
    • Christmas 
    • Michael Buble' (Holiday)

    Teacher Tip:

    If you go into your Pandora account under "Settings" you can filter out the explicit content and you can protect it with a PIN # which is great too!

    Are there any stations that you guys use that I didn't mention?




    My music related products on TPT
    Comparing Music and Poetry (Paired passages)
    Identifying literary symbolism in music and literature
    Identifying Figurative Language in Music Activity
    Tone and Mood in Songs with answer key and intro PP
    Making Inferences in Popular Songs with Suggested Answer Key
    Figurative Language in Popular Songs with Suggested Answer Key
    Literary Elements in Songs (59 songs!)
    Point of view in Songs with answer key
    Figurative Language in Popular Songs with Answer Key
    Book/Movie Scene Soundtrack
    Identifying Literary Theme in Popular Song Lyrics
    Identify Elements of Plot Diagram in Songs with answer Key
    Identifying Foreshadowing in Songs with answer key

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