2014 Classroom Tour

I know it's well after the school year has started, but my oh my has it been one busy year already! Now that I'm in my groove, I finally have time to show off some updates to my room!  I'm LOVING what I've done.

I started my TeachersPayTeachers store this summer and these will be some products that I will have up and posted for sale. My Word Wall Headers are already there. You should check it out if you can!

I went with a Rainbow Chalkboard theme and it really turned out great! I will have Recorder Posters, solfege hand sign posters, MUSIC room rules, and for those who teach in an IB school, I will also have my Profiles, Key Concepts, and Attitudes posters available as well.

Take a look and leave a comment if you have any questions about what you see!

Aren't the colorful pom-poms a nice touch?! I love them!!!

A view from my chair.

View from the door.

A view for some students. Notice my Boomwhacker storage using a big black bin that I found at good ol' Walmart this summer. And Black to go with my theme. Awesome-sauce.

Another perspective.

This was a great idea of my student teacher last year. With being an International Baccalaureate school, I wanted to incorporate a more global perspective. So he came up with the idea of doing a Passport to... and then change it each trimester and do music or listen to music from that country.

These posters will be available on my TpT store soon!

Recorder Center: The storage unit on the left is where I keep the string belts to go on recorders and the trays are all the songs organized by belt level.

View of my desk area.

Even all my binders are celebrating the rainbow!

1/2 of my word wall (the other half is on the other side of the room) The Letters are available on my TpT store.

These are the Attitudes from being an International Baccalaureate school, or a PYP school.

Lots to see here, Key Concepts on cabinets (IB stuff again), keyboard behavior clip chart, mailbox to turn in assignments, reusable exit tickets, I Took Action forms.

MUSIC Room Expectations. I modeled them after Lindsey Jervis from Lindsey's Kodaly Inspired Classroom. I've had them spell MUSIC for years, but I like the simplicity of how she worded them better and added my personal touch to them.

The view for the students. Solfege chart, anchor charts, Smart Board, and learning goals by grade on the left.

A closer look at the solfege ladder.

Classroom instrument storage and book bins.

View from my keyboard.

Isle of Rest (much like a "Take A Break" chair), but I have a 2 minute sand timer for kids so they know when they can return.

Another view from my keyboard.

Making a Student Teacher Feel Special

I love my job.  And really, I see job as a bad word and I don't really feel like I have a job, I have career that I love to do.  I also love sharing how I teach and how I do things, hence my blog!  But I wanted more!  So I decided that I wanted to start having student teachers.  Mr. Resley comes from University of Northwestern-St. Paul, my alma mater.  I've been wanting to have them send me student teachers for a little while, so I emailed an old professor of mine last year to let them know I was interested in having my school be a placement for them.  She replied back wanting to send Mr. Resley to me to do 28 hours with me.  Hooray!  I finally could give back!  Because Northwestern did such a wonderful job of preparing me for the classroom and I wanted to give back to them in some way by helping raise the next generation of teachers.

So, this year is my first year having a student teacher! I'm SO excited. After Mr. Resley did some methods hours with me last year and requested to do his full-time student teaching with me this year. I was ecstatic. When he did his methods hours with me, he taught a lesson or two and I was incredibly impressed. I felt like I could turn over my classroom to him right then and there. He has a natural gift. 

Over the summer I tried to figure out what  I wanted to do to make his time here enjoyable.  I remember when I was student teaching at my elementary placement that my cooperating teacher had a special desk area for me that made me feel like I had more ownership there.  I felt like a real teacher.  I wanted Mr. Resley to feel the same way.

 

 

So I redid my counter space and made it a special desk area for him.  Over the summer I made a name sign with some scrapbooking materials and a picture frame.  This is a gift to him that he can take with him when his experience here is finished to perhaps someday hang in his own classroom.  I also provided a magnetic whiteboard, a pegboard, a tray to hold papers of any sort, a pencil cup, small set of drawers to hold post-its, paper  clips, etc.  I also have a picture frame with scrapbook paper in the background that I am going to write inspirational quotes on.  The first quote (Found through Pinterest of course) is: "The best thing about being a teacher is that it matters.  The hardest thing about being a teacher is that it matters every day!"--Todd Whitaker