Last night of SUMMER!!!

well tonight is the last night of summer!! tomorrow is the first day for students.

Compared to the last two years.... i am so ready for tomorrow!! I have my handbooks printed and lesson plans done! Bring on the Students!

the last week we have been doing teacher trainings. we got new email and new gradebooks. and we have a new band teacher at my school. so while i have been getting my room ready i have been making sure he is settled in and answering all the questions i forgot people don't know at a new school.

So needless to say i am WAY excited to have students coming tomorrow morning.

tomorrow we have advisory for 120 min! then only 35 min in my regular classes!

So here is to a good school year!! I hope it all goes as planned! (fingers crossed)

A CLEAN SLATE

So I can't seem to stay on track! Today I went to school to print some stuff and to start setting up my room. I also bought a new book shelf that of course is assembly required. But does that mean that I got ANYTHING done? NO!!!! of course not!

I went to school and spent 3 hours talking to people! I know you have to get all the "How was your summer" conversations out of the way. School is only open till 3 so I went home and decided that I was going to clean. I thought that starting the school year with a clean apartment was a good idea. I am on a streak and decided to take a breather.

Now I cant decide weather I go into school tomorrow morning or stay and clean!! decisions decisions. Wish me luck with both!!!

6 days till teachers report
13 till STUDENTS!!!

Time to get ready for school

OK well today we closed "the Wizard of Oz"!! It was a great show and the kids did a FANTASTIC Job! I was so proud of the work they did in only 5 weeks of rehearsals. I am someone who takes my job very seriously, and I do believe that I am my biggest critic of my own work. So when people I look up to in the field and people who work in the business tell me that it is one of the best children's performance they have ever seen in carson.... I take that as a HUGE compliment.  NOW on to the next show!!!

So now I have one week before I have to report to school, then a week of meetings and kids come back the following week. This is when my brain starts buzzing with how much I DIDN'T get done over the summer. one major thing I planed to get done and didn't was my music library. I made a dent in it but not nearly as much as I wanted. I guess that means I have to continue it into my school year. =( So here is what I am doing and why.... 

I have been teaching at my current school for two years. My first year I got the position a week before school started. So music selection was pretty much what I could find that sounded ok. The next year I got to spend some more time looking through music and found that I actually had quite a bit of decent music, BUT it was not organized at all. The music wasn't written down at all and some of it wasn't even in alphabetical order or was in the wrong cabinet (suppose to be in christmas SA and is in secular SSA). Lets just say it was a headache to fine anything. 

So here is what I am doing with it...... 

First i am bringing home milk cartons full of music folders.  

I then Number each piece of music, stamp it with a CMS Music stamp (which includes the school address) and a Music Library number (which corresponds to an excel worksheet). 

 

Students will get a packet that has all the same number in them. This number will then match a music folder where they can keep all of their music and handouts for class. 

The Stamp i had custom made from Office Depot. This is great if you lend music out to other schools. 

Th Number stamp is just a 6 digit number stamp from office depot. I put a 1 at the begining of Choral music, 2 for Handbells, 3 Strings (which i am not teaching this year). 

The number, name and part split gets put on the folder. For example in this picture: 

Title - One Candle Lights the Way

Number - 100094

Part - SA 

I then put the last time it was performed on the outside cover. This is for me to gage when we should do it again. Because my school is 6th, 7th, 8th graders I want to try to not do the same pieces till after the 6th graders are 9th graders (3 years). 

Last I then enter information into an excel document (sorry no picture). I have the following tittles/ categories. 

Number/title/composer/voice part/season/ instrumentation/ publisher/ Publish #/Last performed. 

Example (not real entry): 

100096/ One Voice/ Arr. john Smith/ 2 part-SA/Secular/ Piano & Flute/ Alfred/ NS003/ Nov-2012

Ideally i should be able to sort by season , then by voice part, and then by alphabetically. I then can re organize my cabinets to know where each folder is. Then if someone asks for a song or i need to find something quickly i can search the Library spreadsheet and find exactly where it is. Thats the idea at least.

well i guess i will have to tell you if it actually works how i want it to when i finish. for now i am still entering into the database! 

Oh and i also am teaching a new music appreciation/ history class. more to come on that! 

How about a Music Quote to end my rambling 

We're off to see the Wizard!!!

well opening weekend is over and it was a great weekend. It was stressful as it always is, but to see those 40 kids up on that stage smiling and having a good time, it makes it all worth it.