Setting Up A Multi-Grade Level Classroom
Music teachers have a unique challenge when it comes to setting up our classrooms—the room has to work for 6+ grade levels! A kindergarten music class looks very different from a 5th grade music class. We usually have zero transition time between classes, so there isn’t time to change our setup for each grade. Here are some things to consider when setting up your music room:
Seating
I’ve tried SO many seating options over the years—risers, carpet squares, sit spots, chairs, and even tables during covid. The size of your room makes a big difference in what options are available to you. Some teachers love risers because they don’t take up as much space, but I really dislike them as our main seating option. The kids treated them like a jungle gym and I wasn’t able to put as much physical distance between each kid as I wanted to. At this point, we only use the risers in the music room right before a performance.
Carpet squares seem like a good idea because each kid gets a defined space. They’re also really easy to move around. I stopped using them after my first few years because the students picked at them and argued over who got which color.
My current setup is Wenger chairs in three rows towards the back of the classroom, then three rows of sit spots in the front of the classroom. When we need more space to do folk dances or other movement activities, we push the chairs into a big pile in the back. At the beginning of the year, I teach students how to put the chairs back in rows. How do they know where to put them? Floor tape.
Before the school year starts, I put small squares of floor tape in the spots where I want chairs to go. Then I tape one leg of the chair (always the back right leg, but it doesn’t matter as long as they’re all the same). The leg with the tape is the leg that goes on the floor tape. Grades 2-5 can put the chairs back in about 1 minute with this method.
The sit spots are mostly used to help students space themselves out during independent movement, but we also sit on them to watch videos occasionally.
Supply Storage
How do you store 500 folders, enough crayons/pencils, and clipboards to write on?! We have one basket of pencils that are a class set. I make sure to buy pencils with music notes and symbols on them so that they are less likely to leave the room. When kids find them around the building, they bring them back to me because they know they’re mine! Crayons and markers go in plastic pencil boxes and the kids have to share when we need them. All of the pencil boxes go in a bigger bin which we can easily move around the room. Clipboards are the same—class set kept in a crate that we move around the room.
Since each student has their own folder, I had to come up with a way to store those. I used to have a crate for each grade level, but the classes got mixed up all the time. Last year, I gave each class a plastic magazine holder, which worked perfectly. We stored the folders longways in the holder, and it was labeled with their classroom teacher’s name, so they could easily access their folders without my help.
Instruments
This is the biggest challenge for me. How do I make instruments easily accessible without being too tempting to play when they shouldn’t be? I try to separate instrument storage areas from the rest of the classroom. I have built-in shelves in the back corner, which is where a lot of my xylophones and smaller instruments are. Some people hang a curtain over their shelves to create visual separation. Since I have to store the risers in my room and we don’t use them, I put a couple risers in front of the shelves. I can pull them away and access the instruments when I need them, then put the risers back when we’re finished.
The exception to this is our guitars. Those are in the front of the classroom on Hercules 5-guitar racks. Every year I have to teach the younger students that the guitars are off-limits to them. To do this, I first set out just the stand racks. I mention to the kindergarteners that pretty soon, we will have guitars on the stands, but they cannot touch them. I also tape off the area with floor tape. Eventually, I will set out one guitar to see how they react. We again go over the rules that the guitars are for 5th grade only. By the time all the guitars are on the stand racks, most students are used to the area being off-limits. There have been years where I’ve had to cover the racks with a big piece of fabric if there are students who just can’t resist touching!
Trial and Error
In the end, each classroom is so different that you really just have to go for it and try what you think will work. Have a system in mind and stick to it, then adjust next year based on how it goes. Every year I change something about my classroom setup. You will find what works for you and your students faster than you think!
