It Stuck!

After school on Friday I was putting up a display in the hallway when one of the fourth grade teachers approached me and said that after art her class returned to her room and excitedly told her that she "is value!" She didn't understand, and asked "You mean I have value? I am valued?" Eventually they got her to understand that they had learned about value in art that day, and the sweater she was wearing showed value because it was dark blue on the bottom and light blue on the top. She was impressed that they taught her something she didn't know. I'm so proud :)

Organization

In my opinion, organization is the key to a successful elementary art program. I have taken ideas from many other art teachers and formed my own way of keeping everything organized. First, my tables are labeled by color, and each table has a folded piece of paper of the same color that I refer to as their "table folder." Secondly, each class has a "class folder," where we put all of the class' table folders. The class folders are then stored on a shelf designated for the class.

An example of "table folders."

"Class folders" simply have the grade and teacher's name on the outside of the folder.

I also like to have a spot for everything, and everything in it's spot. I am constantly reminding students to put things exactly where they belong, or we won't be able to find them when we need them later. I have labeled every cabinet, drawer, and container with photo labels so even the children that don't read yet can figure out where to put whatever supply they have.

I also have a helper table each class period. We work on a six day cycle, so I change the color of a piece of paper on my white board every Day 1. The paper represents which table is my helper table.

I have magnetic letters that spell "ART" on my whiteboard as well. When a class is off task, I will move a letter to the other side of the board. If all three letters are moved, they must be silent for the rest of that art period.

For every letter that remains in it's original spot for the whole art class, I color a square on my chart. When the colored blocks reach the dark line the students get a treat. Last year I let them sit wherever they wanted for a class, which is a great treat for them but completely messes up my organization! This year I have a bucket of candy, plastic rings, and pencil grips.

For better or worse, there is a Yakker Trakker in my room. I like the concept, but find that they settings are either too sensitive or not sensitive enough. If the light goes to red an alarm goes off and a magnetic letter is automatically moved. I make it clear, however that a letter can be moved without the alarm going off too.

Art Room Laugh

While reviewing warm and cool colors with my 5th graders, a girl rose her hand. Upon being called on she asked "If I take a blue crayon and light it on fire, melting it-would it be a warm color?"

Jackson Pollock

Last year I started feeling like I really wanted to work with our special needs children in small groups. As I was developing these ideas and thoughts, one of the Special Ed teachers approached me and asked if I would be willing to take her class as a small group for specialized art classes. Hum, too much of a coincidence! Must be meant to be! We approached the principal, who was in full support of our ideas. As a result, I get to teach two classes of Autistic children every day 1. Yesterday was hands down the most rewarding day of teaching I can remember. We started by looking at painting by Jackson Pollock and doing marble painting in aluminum pans with primary colors. The kids did great. Even the lower level children were smiling and wiggling the pans.

Once they mastered the marbles in pans we started working bigger. Another teacher donated a hard plastic pool and I brought in some tennis balls to create the same effect on a larger scale. Throughout the course of the art class, students worked on both fine and gross motor skills.

I brought salad tongs for the kids to work their dexterity while taking the balls out of the paint to put in the pool, and spoons to roll the balls in the paint.

The younger kids worked in small groups to tilt the pool and create their masterpieces.

The older kids worked with a teacher and had a bit more control over their creations.

More of my Classroom

I have one bulletin board in my classroom (and one just outside of it). I use this board for the projects that all grades are working on. I find that the younger kids love looking forward to the projects the older kids are working on, and the older kids recall skills and terms that they learned previously when they see the younger kids working on them. This year I added my "Learning Tagets" near each project. Although not all of the kids can read them, it will also remind me to touch on those concepts during our discussions and assess learning on those items.

Learning Targets are written using "I Can" statements, which I find really easy to write, and the kids find easy to evaluate.

Here is the outside of my classroom door. My room was the stage when the school was a high school, so it has a frosted plexiglass window that I covered with the large poster.

This is the bulletin board outside of my room, which I am using as an "Artist of the Month" board. Our first artist is Fred Babb. I love his style and delcarations about art.

My Classroom

I have been enjoying other art teachers' blog that are showing their classrooms as we are all spending to much time getting them clean and organized for our students so I decided to show a few pictures of my classroom. This is my room at my home school, as my other classroom isn't as inspiring. I share that room with the music program, and we are both very careful not to overtake the other person's program.

From this picture, the main entrance of the room is on the right. My classroom is very unique, just like my school. The school was once the high school, then it was remodeled into a middle school and elementary school. Finally, it was remodeled into the elementary school it is now. Needless to say, we have some features that most elementary school do not have. Like an auditorium. My classroom used to be the stage. They put a wall where the curtains were and added sinks and shelving. In this entryway, I hope to create a mosaic out of recycled things with my kids above the sink. I also usually have paper feet taped to the floor in green, yellow, and red to help them not get too close to each other when waiting their turn for the sink.

From the first picture, if you take a left you would enter the main classroom area. I have five tables, which I have labeled with colors. Last year I tried just colored paper taped to the table and they were ruined by Christmas. I replaced them with drawn crayons on colored paper and they were ripped up by spring. This year I made paper mache crayons out of packing tubes, plastic cups, and the lid to the tube. I used roll paper instead of construction paper, hoping that it would take longer to fade (and the color is nicer). I found precut vinyl letters in a filing cabinet and used those to label each color and hung them from fishing line.

Above the shelves on both sides of the room I have a sheer black fabric with silver sparkles which really makes the room cozier. I added art that I created, mostly from college, samples of 3D projects, and miscellaneous items that could be used for still life work. I usually keep two of the shelves in the above photo empty for 3D storage, but got a HUGE donation of house paint and didn't have anywhere else to put it.

A closeup of one of the crayons above the student work tables.

In the front of the room I posted the Elements and Principles of Design. The yellow bulletin board is used to display the samples of projects each grade is currently working on. Every grade likes to see what the others are working on, and then the samples are always where I can refer to them if needed. The small pieces of colored paper in a binder clip on the white board are changed at the beginning of each day cycle (we work on a 6 day cycle) to represent which table is my helper table. They pass out the supplies for me. The magnetic letters spelling ART are my discipline program. When they are not focused I move a letter. Their goal is to keep as many letters as possible. For every letter they keep, they get a square colored on my chart (not pictured, I haven't made this year's yet!) and when they reach certain points on the chart they get a prize. Last year the prize was getting to sit wherever they want for one class period. I haven't decided if that will be the prize this year or not. If they loose all of their letters, they have to be silent for the rest of the class period.

I have picture labels on all of my supplies~well, the large containers. Then I have smaller containers of the same supply for each table which are stored next to the larger ones. Under the clock is the Willow River pledge and the district's learner qualities. We focus on one quality each month to reinforce positive attribute that students can show. September is "Caring," and I am going to help out with the first all-school meeting, introducing caring through the Pinwheels for Peace program!

I found this article on Whole Brain Teaching on The Teaching Palette last year, and I am still thinking about it! Must be a good idea if it's still resonating with me. I have revamped my rules (which I think were a little too much for the kids) to reflect the rules in the video and I'm going to give it a shot this year. I haven't decided if I'll be quite so active with the older kids or not, but I think K-3 will love it~and remember it!


The Teaching Palette is also hosting a showcase of art classroom organization. If you are interested in loading your classroom photos to their Flikr group click here before Sept. 25.

Blog Award

My blogfriend over at B Art Z has given me a blog award. Thanks so much! I am so glad to know that my blog has been useful to you. Now it's time to share the love:

1. Thank the person giving the award
Check out B Art Z for lots of great inspiration! Thanks for the award!

2. Share 7 things about yourself
1. I have been married for seven years, but we have been together for 13 years. How often do you hear of a couple dating for five years, and still being engaged for a full year before the big day? We're a little different than the norm.
2. I have two beautiful little girls. Gracie is 2 1/2 and Brianna is 10 months.
3. I also have a personal blog where I show Gracie and Brianna's adventures. It includes art projects that I have found on the web for preschoolers if you're interested in that.
4. I am starting my sixth full year of teaching elementary art, but it's only my second year at my current district.
5. I am starting a Grad School Cohort next weekend and am excitedscaredanxious about it.
6. I get to start teaching our CID students in small groups this year. Although it was my idea, and I really WANT to do it I am also excitedscaredanxious about this because I really want to make a great positive impact on these children.
7. Since graduating from college in December 2001 I have often wondered if I made the right choice in becoming an art teacher. Since coming to the Hudson School District I know I made the right decision. HSD's support and encouragement is amazing, and I love my district and my job very much.

3. Pass the award on to 15 deserving bloggers
This is the hard one, and honestly, the reason I've been kind of putting off this post! Not all of these will be art education blogs, as I also get inspiration from homeschooling blogs, preschool blogs, and creative parents. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. ARTolazzi
2. Billie Monster
3. Childhood Magic
4. Confessions of a Homeschooler
5. Crafterhours
6. draw, paint, and cut
7. Fabulous on a Teacher's Salary
8. Kids Artists
9. laughpaintcreate
10. Mini Matisse
11. Mod Podge Rocks!
12. Modern Art 4 Kids
13. Painted Paper
14. TeachKidsArt
15. That Artist Woman

Well, that wasn't that hard. There's actually several more I'd like to list! I hope that my list gave you some new places on the 'net to find ideas. Thanks to everyone that shares their ideas. You are an inspiration to me, and my students!

Prezi

Because it is my second year at my district, I was required to attend inservice this past week. We all start this coming week. While waiting with one of my principals for our meeting to start, he asked me if I've heard of Prezi. I hadn't, so he showed me the site. It's great! It's a presentation site that flows better than most~it's not linear. I watched the video tutorials on the site and created this Prezi on Laurel Burch. I figured since I already had info on her, it would be an easy place to start. I'm not sure that it's complete~it doesn't have much info on her life, just the YouTube video and lots of images, but you will get the idea of what Prezi is like, and if you'd like to explore it for use in your classroom.

Here's my Prezi, as is. To see it, click on the play icon, then float your mouse over where it says "More" and click on "Autoplay."

Marbeling with Shaving Cream

Check out my personal blog or Art with Miss Rachel to see a simple way to use shaving cream to make marbeled papers.