Getting Acquainted with the Music Room!

Here are a few of the bulletin boards around the music room that help students get acclimated to being in the music room.  I use the all of my boards to inform the students of things they need to remember to be successful in music class. 

WELCOME BACH! This month's composer of the month is Johann Sebastian Bach.  I use this particular board in my room to help the students remember something specific. This month we are trying to remember Bach's name. On the board are pictures of Johann Sebastian Bach's head on the body of a chicken! When the students were asked "What sound does a chicken make?"  they all answered "BACH!" They will never forget his name now! 

"Note"worthy News are the classroom rules! These are the keys to success in the music room.  Big, prominent reminders of the rules hang in the back of the classroom. It is the first thing you see when you enter the room.  

"Note"worth News REVIEW! This hangs on the back of the music room door.  At the end of class each class self-evaluates themselves to see how they did that day.  Without talking students give a thumbs up, if they did well in that area, or a thumbs down if they did not.  The gold smiley faces are for thumbs up, and the blue frown faces are for thumbs down.  This great idea came from the school's amazing Art teacher!

Composer Corner! Set up like a marquee there is a spotlight on a specific composer .  The composer changes once a month, the first composer this year is Johann Sebastian Bach.  Each class of  the students are given "snap shots" of information on that particular composer.  On the bottom of the board are the 4 main musical time periods that we will study in K-6th grade. The 4 musical time periods are Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary.  As we learn about the composer we also discuss the musical time period they belong to and what typical music was in that period.  

The Book Nook is aimed for 3rd-6th grade.  The shelves are filled with books and magazines about music, bands, making instruments, different songs, just about anything you can think of about music! Once a month the 3rd-6th graders do a Book Nook Review. The student will read one article in a magazine, or one chapter of a book and answer the following questions: 1.) What did you read about? 2.) What do you wonder after reading your book/magazine? 3.) What can you infer/predict from your reading? This gives the students the opportunity to read about music and critically think about what it is they are reading.  

The word wall!!! One new word will appear on the wall a week, that word is what we use for our daily lesson.  Students learn to define the word, and also use it in the music room setting.  From composing their own rhythm raps, to playing non-pitched percussion instruments in an antiphony style, these words are the foundation of the weeks lessons for all K-6th grade.