Keepin' It Kool In KinderLand: Rockstar Room

As we all know, the beginning of the year is one CRAZY time. I'm not sure how everything gets done, but it always does! This year was a particularly close call.

Picture This:

It is Friday evening, the custodians are literally standing by my door kicking me out, and my classroom looks like this:

Note that there is ~~crap~~ stuff absolutely EVERYWHERE! My school happens to be closed on the weekend and we only had 2 hours to work in our rooms on Monday until open house. EEK! Imagine the horror I was feeling. I have never felt that stressed in my entire life. (I actually had a panic attack while unsuccessfully attempting to remove sticky residue off the wall with Goo-Gone. "Why won't it come off? Why does the world hate me? Somebody kill me!" cry, cry, cry. Overly dramatic? Yes. But my fellow teachers, you, too, understand the stress of an unprepared room.) Even if I worked every second of that 2 hours on Monday, I knew it would never be ready. I called my lovely principal, who is amazing BTW, and begged her to let me into the school on Saturday. This is how the conversation went:
Me: "Oh my gosh, Mrs. P I am so sorry to bother you on a Friday night. I am feeling a bit stressed about my room. Is there anyway possible that I could work in my room for just a few hours tomorrow?"
Mrs. P: "Khrys, does your room look like it did when I saw it earlier this afternoon?"
Me: (completely embarrassed) "Well, I got a few things on the walls, but basically."
Mrs. P: "Good grief. Well the problem is that there is no one to let you in. The custodians won't be there."
Me: (feeling as if every organ in my body stopped working) "Oh, ok, I completely understand. Just thought I would try! Don't worry though (hiding shaking voice), it will definitly be ready on Monday! I'll just have to work quickly (faster than the speed of light to be accurate)! Thank you!"

*CLICK*...... *SCREAM* *SIGH* *CRY*

What on earth was I going to do? 2 minutes into my emotional spiral, I hear: "HEY, I JUST MET YOU! AND THIS IS CRAZY!" (my ringtone - pathetic, I know) and guess who it is?!?! MRS. P! I tried to bury the small seed of hope that was growing inside me.

Mrs. P: "Hey Khrys! I spoke with Mr. AP (our assistant principal) and he said that he would not mind unlocking the doors for you to work for a few hours tomorrow. Would you be able to go in around 10am? "
Me: (jumping in circles, holding the phone away from my ear, silent screaming "HALLELUJAH!") "I can be there! 10 am is perfect! Thank you so much! You are my hero!"

And so it went.... 9:30am rolled around, I grabbed my trusty hibiscus Tervis Tumbler, filled it with my favorite Passion Iced Tea from Starbucks (which you can buy in teabags for only $4 and it makes like 6 pitchers!), tucked my 4 mile long to-do list into my bag, and headed out the door! I worked SO fast and really made a lot of progress. By the time Open House rolled around on Monday, I was actually prepared and ready to go. Can you believe it? Me neither! So here is how the room came out this year. It is much different than last year. I didn't necessarily have a 'theme' last year, my room was just extremely colorful. I guess you could say it was rainbow themed (or as a fellow teacher told me - seizure themed because of the color overload - I resented that comment just slightly) I got SO many fabulous ideas for my Rockstar Themed classroom from Abby Mullins over at http://theinspiredapple.blogspot.com/. If you haven't seen her blog yet (which I'm sure you have!), you must check it out! She is amazing! I also found some great ideas on Pinterest. Here it is:

Outside of Our Rockin' Room

My adorable new sign for outside our room!! SO cute!

Morning Check-In Area: Notice the morning steps on the wall. These REALLY helped my students at the beginning of the year and continues to help my *forgetful* students! During check-in students start by doing their sound check and move their guitar pick onto the guitar, put their binders & RED Folders on the shelf, sign their name, and take their morning work from the basket.


The clocks at the top are to keep us on schedule and remind students of important times. Some of them really rely on them! The white board is to write little reminders on (transportation changes, etc.). The Rockin' Walkin' Work bags are for my 'take home' volunteer projects. At the beginning of the year I have students sign up to be 'in-room' or 'at-home' volunteers. I often send home things like cutting out laminate or organizing projects with the kids!