The Plans I Have For You.

This is what you see as soon as you come in the door. Let's point out how massive this room is. I have tons of wall space, floor space, space to move and dance and get out instruments and teach!! They gave me chairs, but I liked the format of the place I student taught at - the kids sit on the carpet area when they need to be seated, but since I teach with tons of games and running and dancing and movement, I need a versatile floor space more than the chairs that they won't really be sitting in that long. 

I apparently can't rotate a picture... anyways, ignore the fact that this is blank for the time being! As the classes learn terms, they'll go on this wall. Yeah, it'll become a hodge-podge of beginning words and advanced words, but I can't make a separate board for each grade level. I might color-code the word cards which, by the way, are index cards. Easy. Every now and then, they'll be games and quizes based on this.

I saw this on Pinterest and thought that it was super duper adorable. 

This is my classroom management tool. It's akin to a strike system. The MUSIC letters are magnets, and every time that the class gets out of hand or what not, they lose a letter. If they're exceptional, they can earn letters back. If they have lost a letter by the end of class, they won't get their PBIS buck (I'm not sure what this school calls them, but Hyde called them Warrior Bucks). As long as they have at least one letter left, they get to move their class magnet piece forward one measure. When they get to the last measure, it's a free day for the next class period, pending where we are in a unit. Because it's five strikes, and they can earn them back, I can't be stingy with taking down the letters. 

The student supply corner!! The tub on the left are music stands for band. The tubs on the side shelves are for recorders, and the file boxes on the left shelf are for the music workbooks that the district has us use to a certain grade. Everything will be divided by class, so that the students can supply and organize themselves. The small drawers on top of the right shelf is full of yarn... erm... recorder karate belts!!! Then there are white boards, rags, markers, pencils - all divided up. The green box on top is the Turn It In box, so it's right there when they put stuff up. Behind the textbook shelf is a huge tub of posters. Nice and hidden. Oh, and boomwackers. I love boomwackers. They are almost decorations in themselves. I love how bright this corner is. 

Instrument bookshelf, Orff instrument bookshelf (these are going to be a big focus these next few years, the principal wants an Orff Ensemble), gathering drums, the world music map that will eventually be labeled to death as we explore countries. Moving on...

Another sideways picture! This is the instrument bookcase. It's organized how you would expect, everything in a separate tub. 

If you remember from the first picture, we are now at the back wall. This is my corner. The desk along the blue wall has to stay there because it's the "electronics desk" or something like that, so that dictated where my area became. I set up the keyboard on a shelf because I'm going to incorporate that a ton, but between that small desk and the keyboard shelf, I had no actual desk drawers, so I was given a real desk! 

This is one of three "boards" made out of one giant corkboard. This one is the seven musical elements, surrounded by terms that relate to them. I found while student teaching that, if a kid can just remember what a word is associated with, they can usually figure out what it means. So, I'm providing the associations - the different elements, right there for them to see.

The middle board! The blank side on the right is where I'm going to do my Instrument Of The Week!! Every week, I'll put up a picture of an instrument and a description of it, from trumpets to tabla drums. Kids are WAY too curious about this type of stuff to not constantly show them something new!! 

And... yeah! That's my room!