I Love My Room, Part 2

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I finished. It was really difficult, because I wanted to include ALL the Pinterest ideas I had viewed the last year while on my academic leave at one time, but time (and Open House) doesn’t wait forever…. So, here are the end results….

Welcome to my room! The little sign by my name says “Take responsibility for the energy you bring into this place”, a quote by Jill Bolte Taylor. I hope it’s a reminder to my kids that energy is OK, if channeled well.

This board gets pretty busy during the year! I have my Whole Brain Scoreboard. The teacher names are on laminated paper with magnets glued to the back to make it easy to change out when a new class comes in. I love using the “I Notice, I Wonder, I Value”, something I learned from my Orff levels from Brian Burnett. Mr. Potato Head will come in handy as classroom management motivation for the younger kids (I make him dance when we get a smiley tally and do our “Oh, Yeah”). The seal looks weird, but he’s a puppet on a puppet stand! (The SmartBoard is on not for any academic reason, but because I was watching Dr. Who on Netflix while working!) The sign with the orange tape is one of my silent classroom management tools I will just hold up. I’m using the following memes:

I just taped copies of these memes on the backs of older wooden rulers and plan to use them with grades 4-6. No words, just a picture, a chuckle, and we move on!

My room was made to be a classroom, so the coat racks come in handy. The things on the top? Magazine racks with music note duct tape. At the beginning of the year, each child receives a large piece of construction paper they decorate and fold into a “folder”. I put puzzle pages and worksheets in the folders by grade (massive copying at the beginning of the year, but it’s worth it). These are quick emergency sub plans. They also make great “the teacher is her own sub” plans for sore throat days or days when certain classes are ahead of other classes of their grade.

I add word wall cards as they learn them. The ones I have up now are on current class targets. The Tone Reminders poster is for singing and recorder.

My room isn’t the world’s biggest, and I have a lot of STUFF, but one of these days, this is going to be organized clutter! I have my dreams. The cookie sheets, of course, are cookie sheet staves. The handballs are used for beat and meter activities. The Thirty-One container on the table holds my Recorder Karate yarn. 

 The words hanging are non-locomotor movement cards. I wanted to come up with something to keep the kids in line, literally, while waiting for their teacher. When I substituted, I worked in a classroom where the teacher had stars in line on the ceiling that the kids used as guidelines. Since the end of my lines come close to my piano (and since kids like to play with the stuff on my piano!), I thought about the non-locomotor cards. A designated student can call out words from the cards and the kids can perform the movements while in line, keeping their hands occupied and hopefully off of any instruments still out or off of each other!

Orff Rhythmic Building block cards for 2/4 and 3/4.

The Thirty-One fold ‘n files are going to hold Recorder Karate music, one for each grade. The other Thirty-One bag holds the school’s non-soprano recorders: sopraninos, altos, and tenors. The bass is stored in the metal cabinet. I was so lucky to receive a local educational foundation grant to purchase those recorders so I can offer consorts at school.

I painted that at a Paintin’ party! 🙂

This shelving originally held my TV while I was staying at an apartment in Lawrence, Kansas during my academic leave. Now it holds my DVD player, resource books, and document camera.

Whew! I came home at 5:00, worn out from all this (and it took about 2 weeks’ worth of setting up because I had so many personal items I used at school I had stored in my garage during my leave), but I am really excited. I’ve been in this classroom for 9 years, and I’m still excited to have it, after having taught in shared rooms, a gym, a cafeteria, and on a cart. 

School starts next Tuesday for me. Open House is tomorrow night, and I think I’m ready! Here’s wishing a great start of the year for all of you!

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Hi there!

I am an elementary music teacher and adjunct professor from Missouri and have completed my Ph.D. in music education through the University of Kansas.

I am an elementary music teacher and adjunct professor from Missouri and have just completed my Ph.D. in music education through the University of Kansas.

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