Classroom Photos

It has been a while since I posted some photos of the music room. Here are some fresh photos!

Start of the 2016-2017 School Year!

We are off to another great school year!

Our Winter Concert will be on Thursday, December 8th this year for grades K-3.

We have some exciting new instruments in the music room such as lollipop drums, a Chinese gong, and some longer and lower boomwhackers!

"Get in Gear for a Musical Year!" Bulletin Board in the music hallway.

We are lucky to have a new interactive board in the music room!

Some new longer and lower boomwhackers and our Chinese gong.

Orff barred instrument repair

When I first started at Mitchell school in September and was teaching the orff barred instruments (such as xylophones) to the 3rd graders, I noticed how poor shape the instruments were in! They hadn't been played in many years, so they buzzed, bars fell off or were missing, the tubing was all cracked, and pins were bent and broken. How sad!

Below are some pictures I took before fixing the instruments. Most of them show the instruments after I took the bars off. You can tell they need some work and cleaning!

I asked the PTA for grant funding to fix the instruments and ordered lots of necessary supplies such as murphy's oil soap, wood glue, etc. First I took all the bars off and vacuumed the instruments out. Then I cleaned all the boxes and bars with Murphy's oil soap and shined them with murphey's lemon oil.

Next I took out all the old metal pins and tubing and replaced it with new tubing and pins. Our instruments are now all in working order, sound beautiful again, and I can't wait to teach students with our nice and practically new orff instruments! Thank you Mitchell School PTA!

Nice new black tubing and pins!

One completed bass xylophone and one without it's pins or tubing. 

Nice new tubing and pins!

All instruments fixed before putting the bars back on.

All the finished instruments with their bars!

Ukulele wall complete!

The ukes are in! That means our ukulele wall is complete and 3rd graders will start learning ukulele next week! Yay!!

Thank you again to The Fabulous Find in Kittery and the Mitchell School PTA for the grants to purchase the ukuleles!

3rd graders play barred instruments

3rd graders have started learning the barred instruments. Here is our music rug set up with xylophones, glockenspiels, and rainbow bells. 

This week students will be learning the basics of how to hold their mallets and play the instruments, then playing a rhythm on note "C" to the book "Commotion in the Ocean".

Classroom Setup!

The music room is decorated and ready for students to arrive tomorrow! Here are some pictures of the room:

I decorated my stool and music stand!

We are fortunate to have a SMARTboard in the music room. 

Music room expectations: 

Make good choices

Use kind words

Show respect

Involve yourself

Care for our room and instruments

The whiteboard with "dynamics" above and musical time periods below.

Barred instruments and exit rhythms and songs.

The bulletin board in the music hallway. "Welcome Rockstars"! Each star says a verb having to do with music, such as "play", "sing", and "create".

Our new ukulele wall waiting to be filled! We hope to have ukuleles later this school year and are very excited to have some ukuleles already in the music room.

Lots of boomwhackers!

Sound opposites bulletin board in the music room.

Wonderful shelves to store musical instruments and supplies. I like using colorful bins with labels.

Lots of books to incorporate music into, stuffed animals, and tissue paper flowers!

The instruments of the orchestra grouped into families.

Tempo posters (how fast or slow the music is).

This is a movement circle made from masking tape! It's SO helpful to have the class make a quick circle, play circle games, and do lots of movement activites.

A resting spot for when a student needs a rest or some space from the activity, while still being able to watch and engage in the lesson.

The "line up" line.

View of the music room when walking in the door.

Another view of the music room.