Game On...

Now that my summer has slowed down tremendously, and I'm not hopping from one city (or state... or country in some cases) to another, I'm back just in time for school to begin!  I'm getting ready and excited as I talk to many of my music-teacher-friends about the new year, our new ideas, new curriculum plans, what we want to organize, etc. (it's like a drug to some of us out there...we're addicted).   

Moving forward though, I spent a good two hours of my day back in my classroom.  You should all be proud that I made it this long!  I feel behind in the fact that I still haven't quite determined my "theme" for this year (since we do not have a school-wide one), but last year's SPACE theme went over well!  Composer Crater, Inter-Galactic Instruments, a Tech Crew... I'll need some new ideas, so bring them on please!  But I digress...  Back to the point of the story.

During those two hours at school today, I was able to EMPTY six of the seven wall closets!  Yes, I am extremely lucky in the fact that I have some serious storage space along that entire West wall, but last year was so busy, I had NO TIME to go through any of them!  And the former teacher of that room had them PACKED.  She recently retired, but I can't imagine what my room will look like after teaching for almost 30 years.  (Surely, you're getting an idea of what kind of cleaning and organizing I'm working with here people.)

Not to worry.  I happened to be pulling out box after box and lining them up in the middle of my classroom to go through, when I got a call from my homegirl, Katie over at Crafy Compositions.  Pretty sure she's so awesome that she's going to come to my classroom with me tomorrow to go through each and every one, and then go tub shopping!  (To answer the question you're probably thinking... Yes.  The tubs all have to match with a label marking what is inside.  Duh.) 

Before and After pictures will be coming soon, but I can tell you that without her... I just don't know that this project would be possible.  It'll take some serious work.  You down with OCD?  Yeah, you know me!

Organizing - Best Day of My Life!

After being a Melisa Bauer's workshop yesterday that was organized by OKE, I'm completely inspired. I took some serious notes and felt like I still could've listened to more ideas! Like her, I'm absolutely obsessed with notebooks. (It's a bit scary... Color-coordinated and everything.)

Here's what I'm thinking for my notebooks:

1. Index Binder - This one was started last summer after Phyllis King brought her "List of Lists" to OU, and I need to update it. Since I changed schools, I customized a gift for myself - my own personalized notebook from zazzle.com. :) In case of fire, this is the binder I grab!

I have tabs for my schedule (weekly, monthly, and yearly), a tab for each grade level (that has my monthly/yearly goals that I set to teach and any other important work divided up by grade), and then also tabs for certain subjects. These last ones are what needs updated. Under my "Melody" tab, I have list the solfege in order of teaching (color-coded, of course) and after that I list the songs I know that practice them. I have the same thing for my other tabs, Rhythm, Listening, Music Elements, Games, Holidays, and then finally the National Standards for music and our state's PASS Skills.

2. Notebook #2 is up next. I liked her idea of having Monthly Classroom Zones. (I'm thinking each "zone" represented one week in the month, if I remember correctly.) But Zone 1 is for her to get bulletin boards changed and other decorations put out/away. Zone 2 is more for cleaning. Zone 3 is a more of a monthly sort. Papers that need to be filed or others that need to be thrown away get done this week. Zone 4 is Planning Power! I have an idea of where I want to be at the end of each month, but it would be nice if I wrote it out and made it more concrete... To Do List! :)

3. Song Anthology. Enough said.

Another thing that I hope to get started over my summer (or possibly Spring Break... I may not be able to wait) is sorting through my things and organizing some by tubs and/or units. Each tub would contain materials for a specific unit or month. Melisa brought a couple of hers to our workshop that we could glance through, and I think it would be completely relevant to my classroom. She has a tub labeled for each month that has more of her decorations or "Frills & Flapadoodles" and other tubs for her units. (LOVED her!!) Each thing would have its own spot and I'd know exactly where to look for it. (Instrument sorting may be the first place I start... I inherited a closet full of small percussion instruments that are all over 4 different shelves. I'm getting overwhelmed just thinking about it!) Spring Break!

Final thing on my list is to incorporate Whole Brain Teaching. Done and done. I'm sold! Have to present a break-out session tomorrow on Class Dojo - wish me luck! I may or may not be back until after my program Thursday... Hope everyone has a great week!