Art Room Management








A few tricks I use to keep the classroom organized. This year I am using a portfolio for every class (fancy words for poster board folded in half) At one of my schools I keep them on a shelf designated for that grade. At two of my schools I have nice drawers that I label for each grade level. 
I am trying to Google the name of the teacher who shared the Whole Brain Thinking idea of the five rules of the art room, no luck. If you know please send it to me.
I also use a bucket for my younger grades.  Most of the schools are aware of "Bucket Filling." The idea of filling another person's bucket with kindness instead of being a "Bucket Dipper."  My younger students LOVE that I draw a bucket on the board and if they come in very quietly I am known to add a surfer to the water. 
I also pick different artists each year to hang from the center of every table. It's a great way for the students to be exposed to various artists. I hang the prior years artist by the window. I love when the students say, "Oh last year I sat at the VanGogh table."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Twitter

Image
Thanks to mesmrswhitesclass.blogspot.com  who gave me the idea for this bulletin board. When our district kicked off the new school year, teachers spent time "Tweeting" each other as part of our break out session. While I lOVE lots of technology I am still a bit old school and like paper and pencil in hand. My oldest son is a SUPER senior in architecture and I remember him telling me how some students struggled with perspective drawing because they had learned only in a computer program unlike Jeff who learned the way I did over 25 years ago. Just today I had a teacher ask me advice about her son's college direction and I always say, "Tons of kids want to be game designers or graphic designers, do them a favor and make them take a ceramics or sculpture class, they need to experience 3D, hands on." Okay, off my soapbox. This was just a fun idea and by 2:00 the board was FULL of ideas on how "Awesome" a teacher is or how a grade level "Rocks!"
Read more

Plaster Plaques An oldie but a goodie

Image
Start by having the students draw an image on the inside of a styrofoam tray.  It's a good idea to have them draw an idea first on paper. Make sure to tell them NOT to push to far into the foam that they poke a hole Then mix up a large amount of plaster and pour into trays. I used a scoop to pour from a 5 gallon bucket. I did the pouring after school and it took about 35 minutes to do one class.  About 5-10 minutes after you pour and the plaster starts to set up, drop an opened paper clip on the back so later the students can hang their artwork. Make sure you put the trays in the "Up" position because you wont' be able to see the artwork to know which way is up.  These are unfinished because we ran out of time during camp, but you can use any type of paint to color.   Last fall one of my 3rd grade classes studied Shakespeare so the students drew an image from Romeo and Juliet.  Another good prompt is to have them draw their favorite book character.
Read more

Lines with Kinders

Image
In past years I have usually done a two day lesson on Mondrian. We paint large black lines across our body and then paint in primary colors the next lesson. This year I have a young (er) group of students and since it's only week 3 they are still learning procedures in the art room. I decided instead to discuss line in a different way. On top of that some wonderful staff member put a HUGE stack of precut strips of colored paper on my desk. I HAVE AN IDEA!   We discussed how lines can bend and fold and go over and under.  The students were so excited. I also tried out plastic containers with sponges soaked in glue.  Much less messy but make sure the sponges are just barely moist as water and glue make an adhesive that may not stick as well.  An update on the master's research...10 more weeks and I won't know what to do with the 20+ hours I will have to, oh I don't know, create ART!
Read more