I know it's been awhile, but I've been saving my posting for when I could really take the time to tell you and show you the new, fantastically large music room! At the end of the year last year, I was packing instruments like a crazy person, putting every music room belonging in a box to go into storage for the summer. You see, the portables that used to exist at my school were demolished and replaced with a fancy new building over the summer. It was a big game of "shuffle the classroom boxes" at the end of the school year for 7 classrooms. Then it was a waiting game. And was it ever painful. I am the type of person who likes to be proactive about things when it comes to work. I'm extremely anal retentive when it comes to organizing things at work and I like things to be done well in advance. Classroom set up however, was not an option this summer. So the music room possessions sat in their new big classroom in conjunction with Reading Lab's possessions that were to be moved into the fancy new building ALL SUMMER. When I say all summer, I don't mean like a month and a half of summer and then I had 3 weeks to get myself ready for school. I literally mean ALL SUMMER. The Friday before school started, was moving day, and the weekend was spent scrambling to put it together for students. After 5 long days in my room and lots and lots of help from friends and maintenance workers I managed to assemble the best music room I have ever had the pleasure of working in. 900 square feet makes a huge difference when it comes to making music with little ones, and I am absolutely in love with it. Here are some pictures of the space:
I was so lucky to have custom built instrument shelves from the first music room I taught in that now house the instruments in the new room. It really keeps the instruments organized and so much safer than stacking them on the floor. I used to be so against them, until I realized how nice they would look in an appropriate sized space! The upper cabinets were amazing storage too! They were already in the room, and I was so excited to get them! In the most recent music room, I had a giant closet that housed extra instruments, my filing cabinets and props for grade level performances. It was a little tricky finding places for these things in the new room without a closet, but I made it work, and I love having all of my things more accessible. Plus, this room has so many more opportunities for student friendly spaces!
I spent a couple weeks with the room like this. I loved it already, but the carpet was a little worn and in need of replacing which made it difficult for me to be okay with students sitting on the floor. Fortunately, my most recent Donor's Choose project (a classroom rug!) had been funded, so I was just waiting on it arriving for things to get better. It came in this last week early on- and it was seriously exactly what I needed that day to make it so much better! I love when little things like that make my day. Here is what the rug looks like:
It's beautiful and colorful and it makes a huge difference when you're trying to hide worn carpet underneath. It doesn't take up the whole space, and it's actually a little smaller than I was anticipating- but it works wonders. My Kinders, 1st and 2nd graders can all sit fairly comfortably in the colored squares, and I adapted my seating chart so that my big kids can sit on the rug too. The coolest part about this room is what I experienced this week with the rug in 1st grade.
My 1st graders were working on high versus low sounds. I had them sitting on the rug in their assigned seats to start. In the back of the room I had a bass bar and a glockenspiel set up. After their warm-up, I had them leave the rug and make a circle around the set up instruments. The circle and the rug didn't even touch! I was amazed! And SO EXCITED! I can't wait to do parachute activities and folk dancing in this room. It was never a possibility in the old music rooms. There just wasn't enough space. Every music room should be this big. Seriously, with the curriculum and standards that we have, it's a necessity.
I mentioned that Donors Choose funded my rug. It is really a great non profit organization that is so supportive of teachers. This was my first project, and I am so grateful to everyone who donated for it. And I didn't have only family and friends that donated. There were an equal number of strangers that donated- simply because they wanted to help. It was an amazing experience. Because of that, I've started a new Donors Choose project. This one is for iPads for the music room. There are so many apps and programs out there that can help my students learn how to read music, compose music, etc., and I want to share them with my students. This room is now really big enough to do centers, and how cool would it be to have an iPad center where my students can do a note reading game, or a note value game or a composition activity?! If you are moved to help out, you can click on the link at the bottom of the page. If you click on the link before August 26, you can enter the word INSPIRE on the payment page and have your donation doubled. It's just so easy!
There is so much more I could tell you about the first few weeks of school. Things got busy so fast, and there just isn't enough time in the day to accomplish everything I want to. I will do my best to update once a week with something exciting about the music room. There's so much I could share!!
Until next time,
Sam
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