My room isn’t going on Pinterest but I’m still very proud of it!  Today I have the privilege of linking up with Mrs. Aileen Miracle to talk about setting up your elementary music classroom so that it works the best for you and your students!

I see all these rooms other music ed bloggers are doing and I am impressed! They have cute graphics, organized bins, and even new paint on the walls!  I have permission to paint my walls, but just haven’t found the time.  Plus I have 20 ft ceilings. Oh my.  I taught in a trailer for 7 years so I think I’m still getting used to the “big room.”

I already blogged about my hallway.  Here is my room pretty much done for better or worse:

And for the tour.  This is my guitar and ukulele wall.  Plus I have Orff instruments in a strip below.  I hot glue the carpets to the floor to keep them down and put electrical tape as a guide to place instruments.  My husband made my fabulous pegboard holders.

To the right is my desk.  This is where I create all sorts of magic, eat lunch, data track, practice my instruments, etc.  I wish I could say it looked much neater most of the time, but really, it just doesn’t. The kids know to stay out of my corner of the room.  By the way, do you like the old trashcan I spray painted Red?  If you have looked into Pitch Hill you know I’m into color coding!

My EQ board and Brighlink projector.

My table of chords, hidden under some fun fabric!  My precious Activotes!

Still moving to the right is my shelf of instruments.  I don’t think there are many instruments I DON’T have, though I would like to have more drums at some point.  Drumming is not my strong suite but is something I would like to incorporate more in the future.

This is my question corner.  The black poster says “Question Corner” and the labels under it say “Composer” and “Other.”  This is a place students can post questions (on post-it notes) about me, about music, or whatever.  These are questions we don’t have time to answer in class.  Also notice the yellow trashcan 🙂

Moving on around is my massive closet, Composer of the Month board, and small group area.  In addition, my Summit Hill Idolists perform here with the microphone.  (Sorry I forgot to close my closet door!)

We are required to post our standards in a manner students can see.  I have them posted outside my room in the hallway for anyone to stop and read.  However, they are overwhelming for students to read and understand as the language can be a bit wordy.  Therefore I condensed the standards into the 10 main concepts and posted them on the wall.  I now have the standards on TpT!  Even updated with cute clipart!

My amazingly huge closet!

I have suffered this year for not setting up my room before we officially come back to work.  I miss working on it quietly and then having the rest of pre-planning to actually plan.  This year has been full of meetings and it is crazy!.  By next year I will have the crazy intense Pinterest worthy rooms, but until then, my room is more than functional, colorful, warm, and inviting!  Thanks for looking around!

Wrapping Things Up

My final advice? When in doubt, bake cookies! (Pillsbury makes an excellent pull apart cookie dough, I must say). A dozen cookies on someone’s desk can make them feel warm and gooey inside (pun intended). This strategy has been around since the beginning of time and is a tried and true method.

If you are new at school and looking for lessons for the first day, you might also enjoy this post on first day lesson plans! 

Who did I miss? Any other key people in school we should add?

Musically,

Shelley