Classroom Tour 2013

Welcome back!  Let's take a virtual tour of the music room at GES.
This is the view from the back corner near the door.  I'm loving the new word wall and still love the awesome rug we got through Donors Choose.  Click the Donors Choose link to make a donation to our current project.

Fish Groups making music together. I've been looking for a good place to leave this up all year and I think I've found it.  Teachers: Get it HERE.

The reading workstation.  This is one of the students' favorite centers.  The books are rhyming books, books about instruments and composers, songs made into books, etc...  The posters are new this year.  They are music genre posters.  They come in a set of 8.  Teachers: Get them HERE.

The view from my desk area.  The vertical folders are labeled with the days of the week.  I'll put copies of worksheets, lyrics, notes to go home, etc... in those folders by day.  The wooden cabinet against the back wall is going to serve as a listening workstation once I find a fabulous headphone solution.

My desk area.  Can you tell that I like rainbows and black/white designs? :-)  The book shelf holds books that I use frequent, binders for various things, stickers and the goody box.  Between the file cabinets is a pile of stuff to take to my other school.

The file cabinets were part of my duct tape madness day last week.  I think they turned out fabulous and since then several teachers have duct taped their furniture too! :-)  I like turning them sideways and using the side as another way to organize the mountain of papers that come across my desk. I've added magnetic clips to hold folders of frequently used forms (PBS, nurse forms, etc..)

Props, games, manipulatives and lots of awesome things to work with in the music room.

I don't have the certificates copied for this year, but this is how I organize my Tiny Awards.  I give these out during regular class times to recognize awesome student behavior.

Music MOOOves Me bulletin board.  The pictures say things like ",,,to be more creative", "...to learn about other cultures." and "to get ready for the big game."  Teachers can find it HERE.

August's Song of the Month is the Star Spangled Banner.  I really enjoy starting the year off with patriotic music.  This bulletin board kit has students match up lyrics with song titles of famous patriotic tunes.  Teachers: This is an older version of THIS bulletin board.

The piano.  I've got a lot of black and white polka dots going on this year. :-)  The Music Burger is the first prototype for THIS bulletin board/writing kit.

I ♥ my SmartBoard.  Everything is easier. Trees don't have to die.  *sigh* So nice.  Below it is a black and white polka dot set of word wall words.  Above it are listen, play and sing rubrics.  I'll use these to help students critique their own listening, playing and singing.  The letter sized version of these posters can be found HERE.  I sent them to shortrunposters.com for VERY affordable printing. 

I decided not to do songs of the week this year and instead will do Songs of the Month.  This bulletin board is how I'll display those.  If you look reeeeally close you'll see that August's song, the "Star Spangled Banner" is already written on them.  They are laminated so I can use them for something else next year.

Rhythm instrument storage.  The boomwhackers and the instrument containers have polka dot labels.

Close up of our groovy instruments.

On the music room door.  I have a thing for plates.  I have two boxes of paper plates in all colors, sizes and lots ZooPal plates too. :-)

This is the writing station.  Here students can get their folders from the mailboxes (although not every grade gets folders), pencils, markers, paper, crayons, scissors, glue, etc...  Under the table there is a box of clipboards.  We use those when we write as there are no desks in the music room.  Love this setup.  Students learn quickly the routine for getting supplies and getting started on whatever creative endeavor we're embarking on.  The bulletin board above the shelf says "Musicians are Writers".
 
There aren't many new things in the music room this year.  More fabric, a slight change in setup to allow for easier movement between music workstations, a new word wall and some new posters.  Check out last year's tour to see some of the things in the classroom not discussed here.

10 comments:

  1. Mrs. King,

    I have been reading your blog for a while-I have been teaching privately for 23ish years, and I a just going back to school to teach at my son's Christian school in Lawrence, KS. The thing is, I have been admiring your ideas, and adding them to my own ideas, but somehow I missed until now that you are in
    GREENVILLE, MO!!!! I was born and raised in Poplar Bluff. I am so thrilled that such a creative and wonderful teacher is in Greenville-what a blessing for the community!!! Please write me back, as I would love to hear more about how you landed there, and of your story. Thanks,
    Lauri Bernet

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    1. Aw! Thanks Lauri! Actually I grew up in Marquand. Do you know where that is? I went to college in St. Louis and then lived in Farmington, MO for nearly 12 years. Many HUGE things happened in my life in the spring of )2011. I found out that eventhough I had been told it was not possible, I was pregnant. My son was 12 at the time (a teenager and a toddler! Oh my!) and the pregnancy and some other drama at the time brought about a move to Fredericktown, where my husband pastors. The elementary position at Greenville came open (the woman before me had been here for maybe 30 years or so). Geographically it was a shorter drive than I had been making, the parsonage was free and I would be closer to family to help when the baby came. VOILA! God blessed in every single step of this totally new world.

      I am so thankful to work with the amazing staff at Greenville. Genuinely NICE people. Seriously. They take care of each other and do things because "that's the way things should be done". They put kids first and have been SO supportive of my whacky music ways. I am very happy to be a part of this team!

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  2. Your room looks amazing yet again! Just wanted to let you know I included a link to your blog in my latest post about Bach Chickens! Hope all is well as you have started a new year at school!

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  3. Hey Mrs. King!
    Question about your seating arrangement. Do you assign seats or do most of your kids sit on the carpet? I have the same 30-seater carpet and 26 chairs in my room. I have them in 2 separate areas right now, but want to make it so my littles can see use the smartboard. (SO much easier than all the paper charts) but I'm not sure exactly how to do it so that the big kids aren't all congregated to the back of the room. (I hate all the sliding chairs!)

    Gwenn in Florida

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    1. I do both. For grades K-2 we sit on the carpet every time and have assigned squares. I arrange them so the tall kids are in the back or along the side. The chairs are set up in three rows (mostly). The front row is split so that some of the chairs are on three sides of the carpet. I have an aisle in the middle so I can get to anyone quickly if I need to. 3rd-6th sits in the chairs (unless we are doing activities that require us to be in the floor like playing instruments, movement or occasionally watching a video) and their seats are assigned as well. I like assigned seats because it really helps me learn names. I'm so bad with names! :-) So, the way it is set up both older and younger students are facing the Smartboard. I often push the chairs out of the way or stack them for my younger classes so we have more room to wiggle. Fortunately, my schedule is set up so that I have K-2 in the morning and 3-6 in the afternoon so I can complete change the set up if I need to.

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  4. Mrs. King,
    I love everything you do, and I know I am late asking this, but I wondered if you had made the cute owls for your Hoot Hoot Hooray, music of the month BB, and if so can I purchase them? I love them! I have been just using a section of one of my white boards, but want to change to a bulletin board and I would LOVE to use those!! I may be missing them, I looked on the BB for music teachers site, and could not see them.
    Thank you,
    Steph Givan

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    1. I did make them. I hadn't considered posting them to download though. I'll add them to my list. Thanks for stopping by!

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  5. Hi Mrs. King!

    I am so glad I came across your amazing blog... I too, love rainbows!
    Where did you get that amazing mailbox?!
    I teach 22 classes but only have special boxes for the older grades. I would love to have them for all the grades.. then the little ones can finally colour and take things home :)

    Oops - I'm not in Tainan, I'm not sure why my name says that haha.
    Heidi

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    1. LOVE those mailboxes. They are metal and sturdy and awesome. I have no idea where they came from. They are pretty old and were being cast away by another teacher. Sorry I can't be of more help!

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