Elementary Etudes: My Music Room Set-Up

I'm linking up with Mrs. Miracle's Room and other fellow music education bloggers to show my elementary music classroom! I have been working for the past few years to turn the room into what I feel is beneficial to me as an educator and to my student's learning. Also, I completed a lot of DIY Pinterest projects to spice up my room. Finally, I GOT CARPET! Check back a few posts for the "bare bones" picture - it's so exciting!

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the tour of my room. I'll try to include links, products or materials of where I found all my ideas. Let's get started!

Here are the two entrances to my classroom. Both doors are kind of boring, so I always try to spice them up a bit so no one misses them!

Also, here's the handicap ramp. We did have students that used it in the past, but right now it is kind of empty. I tried to decorate it a bit this year with wonderful musician quotes by David Row. It's a nice way to tie in some of the student's favorite musicians with advocacy!

Here's the sound cabinet. It's a great cabinet, but it's bolted to the floor. It is also awkwardly placed when you're trying to teach students from the projector. Still, it keeps everything in one spot, which is awesome! I also put together a guide and attached it to the door for staff, subs, etc. It has pictures and information for anyone wishing to use the technology in the room. Here's hoping it comes in handy! I also put up a concert calendar on one of my bulletin boards. It makes it easier to point then to say concert dates a hundred times a year - ha!

New carpet - whoot whoot! I have chairs, but I wanted to try Sit Spots this year. They are pieces of velcro (lots of shapes to choose from) and adhere to the carpet. So far, they work awesome!

I don't really use my whiteboard for much writing. I use it more to display things, check behavior and write notes to the different grade levels. Since it's the beginning of the year, it's completely full of new information! The right white board is small and usually covered by the projector screen. Because of this, I decided to display my Little Thinkers puppets and composer dolls. I also put up my Sing-a-ma-jigs. I really want to incorporate more dolls, models and puppets into music. I'm a visual learner and these are a great help to me, for sure!

Here's some wall decor and another bulletin board. The windows have group posters (solo, duet, etc.). I really like displaying the solfege houses and handsigns in as many places as possible for the students. I also put up my bulletin board for the first few weeks with a beach theme. The intermediate theme was "Dive Into Learning." You'll also see my stacked chairs. I really dislike the chairs, especially for the younger students, so they stay stacked most weeks. There are 2 spots labeled "Rest Area" for those students that need to take a break and think about better choices.

Here are some storage spots. I love my moving cart for the classroom instruments! I also love my huge metal racks in the back of the room. They stink when it decides to flood, but otherwise, they store lots of things easily. My mom fitted a curtain to go over it so the students would stop investigating while we were learning. You'll also see my noodle ponies! Can't wait to use these in a few weeks!

And we finish the tour back at the primary door. I have books, but we rarely use them. The dots on the floor are rubber dancing markers. I taped them down to show the students where to stand in line. There is also a wooden black treble clef attached to the stair rail. I'm not sure which blog I found it on, but another wonderful teacher used this as a teachable moment! The treble clef is at the beginning of music, so it shows the beginning of the line. Great connections!

That's about it. Oh, wait - I forgot the most important space.....MY AREA! Haha - I'm just kidding. It is probably one of the least important areas. Anyways, here's my desk, bookshelves, etc. I love fabric bins so those are everywhere in my room. There's also another bolted cabinet for storage.

Now, this really completes the tour - I promise! I do, though, have a lot of amazing things in my room from other teachers. If you're interested in anything in these pictures, I've compiled a list below for you to check out on TeachersPayTeachers. If there's something I missed, please let me know. I always want to give credit where credit is due. I'd be nowhere without the help from some wonderful music educators.