Movin' with Music Go Rounds

If you have been reading my blog for long, you know that I a big fan of workstations  and I love new goodies for my music room!  I've posted a few times about Music Go Round from Music in Motion.  They are so fun to touch and lend themselves to a variety of activities.  You can read about using them for singing practice HERE and reading about using them with rhythm work HERE.

Today I'm going to explain how I've used them to build a creative movement workstation.  In preparation, I created a 16 block grid on my dry erase board with colored masking tape.  I tried drawing it on the board with the first class and it was a much bigger hassle.  I had to re-draw the grid after each group.  The masking tape worked really well and lasted all week.

I laid the Music Go Rounds that I needed on a stand near the board.  For this workstation I used Music Go Rounds: Hands and Feet and the quarter notes and barred eighth notes from THIS set.  

Students were instructed to choose a hand or foot piece and a rhythm piece.  Within their group they decided what each hand or foot piece represented.  Some groups used clapping or snapping for hands and stomping, sliding or hopping for the feet.  They composed and performed their piece together.

After performing their piece, some groups made some edits to make it easier or more interesting and then performed it again.  I loved watching their creative process and hearing their conversations about what would improve their pieces.

This was a great activity to add to our center rotations.  Student got practice with rhythm, but also engaged in composing and creating choreography too.  Having a workstation that let students be physically active wasn't too noisy or crazy (much to my great delight!) and I can definitely recommend it for inclusion in your classroom.

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Farmhouse Music Room Tour

I am so excited to share my classroom with you!  I went with a farmhouse theme and incorporated multiple wooden backgrounds, farm animals on posters, fruit and veggie cushions and lots of metal accents.  As an ambassador for Creative Teaching Press, I've also used TONS of products from the bold and bright series.  Black and white patterns mixed with rainbow themes have always been my favorite!  I'll link to as many things as I can if you would like to replicate any of the looks in your classroom!

On the outside of my classroom door I used some paper plates that had a wood finish.  I picked them up at Walmart last year as they were closing out some of their fall merchandise.  I used these letters and attached them to the plates with tape.  I taped the plates to a long piece of ribbon before hanging it on my door.  The burlap canvas below contains a greeting for all of my students.

Classroom View- The Front 

 I created some large paper flowers using various tutorials that I found on YouTube.  The front of the room is what the students will see the majority of their time so I want it to be bright, colorful and inviting.  Music Gives You Skills to Crow About bulletin board can be downloaded HERE.  I've dressed it up with this black and white border and this rainbow scalloped border.

I store small instruments, scarves, tennis balls, flashlights and other movement props at the front of the room.  I do this so that they are accessible but they are not easy for students to walk by and touch. 

Yep.  That's my sub tub!  I'll try to talk about it in another post.

This bulletin board features the cool wooden backdrop paper (available at Michael's) and metal file holders and letters (Hobby Lobby).  The big clip is from a set of Bold and Bright Clip It cut outs from Creative Teaching Press.  The black polka dot border and the colorful spots border are also from CTP.  I'll use this space to post flyers, pictures and other reminders and mementos from the year.

I was fortunate to grab some storage containers (Target) and a rolling cart (Michael's) on sale and have organized some of the things I kept in or on my desk in them.  The rolling cart has paper, file folders, sheet protectors, etc... and the other containers have some books and resources that I use often.  The metal contain at the bottom has markers sorted by color.  We don't use markers that often in class, but I like how pretty they look when they are organized.

These are flower pots that I painted years ago.  They still kind of go with my classroom theme so they are out again this year.  I used a paint pen to create the keyboard design around the top.

Classroom View-The Side Walls

This rainbow scalloped border is the same as I used on the front bulletin board as is the black and white striped border.  The posters are the Music Symbols Farmhouse Theme available in my TpT store.  They come in several colors, but I chose white because I have a LOT going on in my room already.

The canvas pictures above were created by my daughter and I.  You can see how we did it in THIS blogpost.  The Listen, Sing, Play posters are from a set that I have in my store.  You can download it HERE.  I also have one for "Move" but I've found that I don't refer to it very often so I left it out this year.

The piano has been glammed up a little this year.  In the background you can see my steady beat swords.  Find out how I use them in this blog post: Steady Beat Swords.  The black poofy flowers were from Dollar Tree.  Although I like the way they look, they were quite a pain to poof!  The flat flowers are BW Designer Flower Cut Outs.

I use my cabinet doors as display areas too.  I use packing tape to secure them and group posters by topic.  The tempo posters and ensemble posters are included in my Farmhouse Music Decor Bundle and are also available individually.  I love the pop of color and interest they give to a plain, ole cabinet door.

I usually don't put up instrument posters as my 3rd graders spend a good portion of the year learning their names, characteristics and instrument families and we take frequent quizzes on them.  I designed this set to look like a word wall and I love that it doesn't take up too much space.  You can download it HERE.

Classroom View-The Back Wall

This is the part of my classroom that I look at the most.  It also houses some instruments and is where we line up to head into the hall.

I've sectioned off one large bulletin board to create three smaller area to post displays.  Let's Read MOOsic is one that will be up most of the year.  The treble staff display was designed to coordinate with the rest of my farmhouse style music decor but could really work with many different themes.

I'm so excited to start teaching ukulele this year!  I created an inexpensive storage area for this with an expandable shoe rack.  I padded the bars with pool noodles and added sticker numbers on each of the ukes.  I used Bold and Bright Student Numbers to label the shelves so that students will know exactly where to return their ukuleles.

This reminder is displayed around my clock.  I always want my classroom to be a joyful place and love having this to look at all day!  You can download this freebie HERE and post a reminder in your classroom too.

We are required to have students sign out of our classroom if they leave to go to the restroom, office or nurse.  This year I have set up the sign out area near the door with a cute chalkboard, a metal bucket filled with chalk and a few metal accents (Hobby Lobby).  I love the way it turned out!

During workstation rotations, I've been implementing various seating options.  This year students can choose from these cool cushions and pillows.  The log pillows are from Five Below and the fruit and vegetable cushions are from various sellers on Amazon.

More poofs.  Did I mention what a pain they were?   On the right side of the picture you can see my magnetic set of Note Knacks.  They are AWESOME!  You can order these bad boys from Rhythm Band Instruments here:  Note Knacks Magnet Set

Do you know David Row from Make Moments Matter?  Well, he's amazing and I absolutely LOVE this character ed bulletin board designed for the music classroom.  It's called Moral Focus in Famous Musicians and is available in his store.  It's a huge set (I'm only displaying part of it) and could be used in a smaller space and changed every month to match your character word of the month.  The cool thumbtack borders can be purchased HERE.

I LOVE my Song of the Month display this year!  I used the month signs from the CTP Bold and Bright Calendar set.  Then I used letters and letter stickers from the same line to create the title.  The sticky note border and sticky note cut outs tie it all together.  Each month I will write the song of the month on the sticky note cut out.  You can read more about how I do songs of the month in my classroom in this blog post:  Songs of the Month.

The little buckets on the shelf hold pencils and erasers.  The wooden container on the shelf holds my crayon boxes.  I use travel soap boxes for this.  You can see a closer view of them in THIS blog post.

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