Since I have such limited time with my students, I want to make the most of any opportunity to create a musical experience for them. One such opportunity presents itself when students stop in the orchestra room before school to drop off their instruments and again at the end of the day when students pick them up to take home. I try to always have music playing during these times to expose students to music of different composers and styles. On the CD player cabinet, I have a magnetic sign that says "Now playing music by" along with the composer's name so students have an idea of what they're hearing as they walk by. I tend to stick with the same composer for a week or two before switching it up. This would also work for a composer-of-the-month theme or as a way to indicate what is being played as background music during in-class writing activities.
I had been using taped-on, hand-written labels, but this summer I had a lot of fun playing around with different fonts and color combinations with my mom's Cricut for these signs:
Looking forward to trying these out in the fall!
