Congratulations! You kept the program together, and are returning to a second year, with one year behind you!  Be sure to make your own list of what worked well for you and keep track of those things, too!   

Choral singers who have not had an instrumental background learn to read music in choir.  Alfred has both workbooks and online beginning reading/theory help, and the Althouse mentioned by Mike above can get you started with warm-ups.    Some of my current favorite warm-ups are copied from the first 1/2 hour rehearsals at All-State Choir, and I once did an independent study on warm-ups so I know hundreds, but finding a variety that will teach as well as warm-up are crucial.  Decide what your choir needs most, and design a warm-up to teach that skill, and combine familiar, oft-repeated warm-ups with new ones that require thought and careful listening.   

Begin your repertoire search with the resources closest at hand:  your own choral library, and nearby choral directors.  Ask colleagues for their 10 favorite pieces that worked well w/high school in the last couple of years.  State music conventions also have reading sessions, as will your state ACDA meeting.  Works by Z. Randall Stroope and John Leavitt are well written for choirs, and for the beginning choir, Althouse can get them singing in parts.  A well-chosen Bach Chorale (without words initially) can be perfect for introducing  that basic nature of singing an Alto, Tenor, Bass line, and can also introduce solfegge and singing w/o piano. Research shows that most choral singers who have not had an instrumental background will need solfegge to sight-read.    Also read the article written for ChoralNet entitled

Tyler, I have 42 years of successful teaching in which my choirs have performed for state legislators, governors, the US Dept. of Ed. and the US Secretary of Ed., St. Patrick's Cathedral (NYC) for 7 consecutive years, and a world premiere with orchestra at Carnegie Hall in NYC. I taught public middle school.

1.   Always construct a year-long plan on a spreadsheet. Across the top of the spreadsheet, in a single row, write the ten (approx.) goals (plans) you have for the coming year.

2.   Under each of these ten items (approx.), write your main goals in achieving these year-long goals.

3.   Now, as your look at your spreadsheet, you are able to see the first of the year-long goals and, under it, the major goals needed in achieving that particular year-long goal.

4.   Now re-position those major goals in a single row under their respective year-long goal. This will likely require you to also re-position those year-long goals in their row in order to keep everything aligned.

5.   Re-look at those major goals. Re-position each group of major goals into a logical sequential order with the first goal placed to the left.

6.   Divide those major goals under each year-long goal into four groups (assuming your year year is divided into four grading periods of which each is comprised of 9 weeks). These are your quarterly plans.

7.   Now, under each of these major goals, write the nine sub-goals you would need to accomplish in order to accomplish the major goal. These will be your weekly plans.

8.   How you divide these weekly goals, or weekly lesson plans, depends upon how many times you see your choir in one week. If you see them daily, you divide them into 5 daily plans. If you see three times a week, you divide them into 3 daily plans. However, if you see them 5 times over the

      course of two weeks (2 or 3 times a week alternatively), you may need to blend two goals together and divide them by five to achieve 5 daily plans to be taught over a two week span.

9.   What you view now are 10 major goals, how you plan to achieve them on a quarterly basis, how you plan to achieve them on a weekly basis, and how you plan to achieve them on a "daily" basis. That is, you will now see that you have plans to teach approximately ten items in each plan.

10. You know how many minutes are in your class period. Divide that time by (again, approximately) ten. This informs you of how much time you can afford to spend on each item.

11. You have now discovered that you far too much to teach "daily," weekly, quarterly, annually. OH....!

12. How many years do you see these students? Do not concern yourself with those who enter your program late, leave early, etc. Look at the large picture. If yours is a four-year school, divide those annual goals into four years. Start the breakdown process anew. That makes the job easier.

     You will also discover other ways of grouping goals, or teaching all goals annually but increasing the depth annually. You may have a lesson plan guide provided to you by your superiors. This certainly is a major help, but it will not replace what I am describing for you.

13. How do you know which approximate 10 annual goals to select? Teacher Guides from your superiors will dictate that to you. Other resources are provided to you by others in this forum.

14. "Everyone" wants my warm-ups. They work for all age levels, all choirs, and all settings. There are five exercises in total. They will help with all your repertoire, your ear training, and theory. They train a choir to perform a cappella with confidence no matter the choir's size, from 2 up to "200."

      Write to me on your personal email and I will send them to you as an attachment using pdf and/or Sibelius.

15.  Repertoire.  Your state may have choral lists from which you must choose.  Whether from one of these lists or not, ALWAYS select music of quality, select music that has a record of continuance, not a score that is here today and gone in three years.  Always select one number that is achievable but

       is also stretching them musically.  Lean always to the classics.  NEVER EVER use pre-recorded accompaniments.

16. Always raise the bar that you ask your choir and its individual students to leap over successfully. Teach them to be successful, to not be afraid of success whatsoever.  Raise the bar some more.  Do the same for yourself. .......Raise the bar some more again.  Can you imagine performing Randall

     Thompson's Alleluia on the middle school level, or Faure's Cantique de Jean Racine, or Lo, how a Rose e'er blooming, madrigals in their original language and settings.  I have done these.  You can too!  Best of luck! Hope to hear from you! -Jack-