2024-2025 School Year!

Welcome to a new school year!  Not a lot has changed in my room. 

 I always tweak little things here and there. 

I've been in this classroom for over 20 years, and feel very blessed to have this space.  

 

Please feel free to ask any questions you might have as you look through

 my pictures (or any post on my blog).  

I have a nice big reading area.  I start every kindergarten class with a story.  I love children's books, and feel it is important for children to have people read to them.  I believe it truly helps to ignite creativity. 

Early Finishers? : AN ART ED BLOGGER'S NETWORK POST

This month the ART ED BLOGGER'S NETWORK is looking at Early Finishers.  Is this a problem that you have in your classroom?  If so, I'd encourage you to read my post & check out the other bloggers to see how they handle earlier finishers in their classrooms.

Do you struggle with early finishers in your art room? This is a problem that many art teachers wrestle with on a daily basis. So please...DON'T BEAT  YOURSELF UP OVER IT & DON'T GET TOO FRUSTRATED!!  You are in good company.   WHAT DO YOU DO WITH EARLY FINISHERS?!?!?!   Well...I'm not really going to address what to do with earlier finishers.  "WHAT?" Ha ha...I know, I know!  Hear me out!  I think that we can avoid early finishers 99% of the time with a well designed lesson & knowing our students!   One of the main issues student teachers/new teachers struggle with is pacing their lessons.  A poorly paced lesson will reap a crop of early finishers.  I believe in breaking down my class into "parts".  I know about how long it should take a majority of student to do each "part".  If students are rushing or poking along...I need to be monitoring them and addressing the issues that are arising.  If you are doing a new-to-you lesson....there is much room for error in pacing.  Give yourself grace and make the necessary adjustments for the next class.  There is no exact science to pacing, but it does improve with time!  I think of pacing as an "awareness" of material, project guidelines, and student!  The more  you teach....the better you'll get! There are always exceptions to the rules! However, as educators...we must know how to encourage, challenge, and push our students no matter if they are emerging, proficient, or advanced.  I think some will say....my emerging students will finish early....so I'll give them free draw paper.  In doing this...you are kind of doing a disservice to that student. I will often pull up a chair beside my emerging students and work along side them.  Sometimes they need the extra attention.  Sometimes they need someone to model for them.  Sometimes they need someone to hold them accountable to KEEP GOING!  I will also say that on the opposite end...some of my advanced students get so deep into details that they never finish their work.  They too might need you to pull up a chair beside them & encourage them to pick up the pace!  It is our job as art educators to meet our students where they are at.  Learning how to encourage and push them beyond...."I'M FINISHED/I'M DONE!"      I tell my kids... "You are not "done"...because you are not a cookie baking in an oven.  You are not "finished"...because we are not running a race.  You might be complete, but lets talk about it!"

This post is a part of The Art Ed Blogger's Network: Monthly Tips and Inspiration from Art Teacher Blogs. On the first Tuesday each month, each of these art teacher blogs will post their best ideas on the same topic.

Participating Art Teacher Blogs:

Artists That Inspire
Art Ed Guru
Art is Basic
Art Room Blog
Art with Mr. E
Artful Artsy Amy
Capitol of Creativity
Create Art with ME
MiniMatisse
Mr. Calvert's Art Room Happenings
Mrs. Boudreaux's Amazing Art Room
Mrs. T's Art Room
Party in the Art Room
shine brite zamorano
Tales from the Traveling Art Teacher
Mona Lisa Lives Here
Art Teacher Tales
Ms Nasser’s Art Studio
Arte a Scuola
There's a Dragon in my Art Room

MARKERS

Markers are probably my least favorite art supply.  Markers dry out, kids color with them anyways, they smudge and smear....I just don't care for them!  BUT KIDS LOVE THEM!!!!!!!  

So I keep them around to appease the masses. I have blue lid boxes for markers.  Each table get a box filled to the point of exploding!  We have to go over with EVER class about markers making a click sound to insure they are closed....not to color marker over marker...and...if it seems to be dry...LET MR. E KNOW!!!

 I separate my markers out based on color...so it is easier to replace bad markers & see what you have left in your reserves!  Simple clear plastic shoe boxes do the trick!! Most of the boxes have two colors in them....except one! 

Do you have this problem...WAY TOO MANY PURPLES?!?!  Where do they all come from? Why do I have so many?? Do kids not like using purple...so they don't get used up?  Do purple markers last longer than other colors?? WHAT'S THE DEAL?!?!?! 

What is your least favorite supply??

BASKET OF AWESOMENESS

Kindergarten is a wild ride! It is amazing to see their independence, understanding, and ability grow by leaps and bounds!  If you are new to teaching & struggle with kindergarten...just wait!  After Christmas break is when the magic really happens!! 

I will say though...it is a struggle at times to have students help with cleanup.  It seems to take longer to have them do it than if you did it all yourself.  HOWEVER...you need to give them those opportunities to be responsible & be a part of the FULL process in the art room(which includes clean up!).  One of the things that drives me crazy is watching them pick up papers.  They have not mastered the art of place one piece directly on top of another!! ha ha  Even after you have showed them(over...and over...and over again!).  

I recently was at Dollar Tree(if you don't have them in your area...I'm sorry...THEY ARE AWESOME).  I found these larger tray/container/basket things(in my fav. color too!!).  I thought of how that could help the process a bit for kindergarten clean up.  Now this may not be revolutionary to you...but it really has helped my classroom out a great deal!!!  I have two students walk around collecting art work...the students at their seat place the work into the trey.  It sometimes is still a little off....but works so much better than the helpers dropping the art 10x!!  

I ALSO USED THESE WITH STUDENTS WHO HAVE SPECIAL NEEDS!!  

It really allowed them to participate with clean up & feel successful! 

Supply Boxes

I am not here to support Wal-Mart.  I am here to support teachers!  That being said, if you are in need of supply boxes....Wal-Mart has their pencil boxes for 25 cents a piece.  Well...at least in our area they do.  Not sure how that works elsewhere.  Don't send me hate comments...if you think Wal-Mart is the devil...you are for sure welcome to your opinion.  However, I want to find the best deals for myself(and usually that is NOT at Wal-Mart)....and if I can save you some money too...awesome!  

I have one box per table.  Each supply has a different colored lid.  Crayons are green, Markers are blue, Colored Pencils are clear, Scissors are pink, and now....Construction Paper Crayons are black.

SWPBS...XYZ

Our school has adopted School Wide Positive Behavior Support (or something like that).  That means out with my old classroom management system....and in with SWPBS system. The classes are able to move up and down the scale...starting each day on green.  For recording what each class gets when they come, I used empty crayon boxes.  At the end of class, I place a stick that represents the color their class ended on.  At the end of the nine weeks, the class with the most blues/purples will receive a fun pencil(they are so excited).  

Chair "Footies"

I have had many e-mailing me from Pinterest & Art With Mr. E ...."WHAT IS ON THE BOTTOM OF YOUR CHAIRS?!?!"  So the best way to answer all of you who've asked...a blog post!! 

Felt is the material I use.  The pre-cut rectangles of felt sold at Wal-Mart or your local craft store works, but make sure you find a sale!!  You can also purchase felt by the yard...and it tends to be a bit of a thicker quality(not sure why...just does?!?!).  You will need a good pair of scissors & a thick rubber band.

Cut the felt into thirds. 

Fold it over once.

Center on the bottom of your chair leg.

Tie rubber band around felt in the groove where the "foot" of the chair meets the leg of the chair.  Hmm..guess that would be its ankle?

Keep looping it...over and over..until you can't loop it anymore.

There ya go!  No more tennis balls!!!!  

Usually my "footies" will stay on the chairs the whole year long if I've tied them on tight enough.  On average I have to replace about 5 individual footies during the school year, but there have been years I've only replaced 1(now that isn't a whole chair worth...just one leg!!!!!)  I like them because I can match my color theme for the year with no problem!!  They keep your floors looking new...and keep the chair from making horrible sounds!  At times a piece of lead or crayon will get caught & mark up your floor.  If you can't remove it from the felt...just take it off and flip it inside out...brand new!!!  

I LOVE MY LADIBUG!

I completely rearranged my room with the arrival of my Ladibug.  My reading area was in this corner, but my drop for my LCD projector...the major outlet in my room...and the internet connections(because our wi-fi is "iffy" at times).  I wanted to make this technology as user friendly & integrated into my teaching as possible.  So my "need" for order & sameness had to take a backseat as I totally rearranged my room.  

Here is an example of what it can do!(note the awesomeness of the turtle! ha ha)

If you have any questions about this...let me know.  I am still learning as I work with it...so I might have to get back to you on some questions.  

Here is the link to the Ladibug site if you want to learn more!

http://www.myladibug.com/index.php

Art Room Set Up 2011

 The view as you walk into my room.

 Other side of the room view.

 Supply Area

Reading Area(Kindergarten starts class with a story.)

Art Room Bulletin Boards & Displays 2011 : Part 2

This is a condensed version of the board I had up last year.  Under it I had an art criticism poster, but I'm going to switch it out...probably make an artists' birthday board.

Our students have been struggling with social studies(test scores were not good), I feel because of the focus on math & reading.  It doesn't leave a lot of time for social studies & science(not that the teachers want it that way, but they have to "focus" on what the district tells them to do)....so I'm going to do my part to bring in more of these missing pieces  from an art perspective.

This is my Word Wall.  The index cards have magnets on the back, and I can move the words over to my white board to go with the lessons I am teaching. It also works as a word bank when we are writing about art!

This is my HUGE bulletin board! 

I do a class behavior chart.  At the end of the 9 weeks...whoever has the most blue sticks in their pocket gets a sign outside their door saying that they were the best of that grade level for the 9 weeks. 

Not going to camp out on this much...you can go back & see the past years discussion! ha ha

HOW MANY TIMES MUST I TELL THEM TO WRITE THEIR NAME?!?!!?

This board is a half & half...I had a practicum student that did part of it in the spring.  It's not easy for me to let someone else do my bulletin boards...I'm a bit of a control freak!! HA HA(true!)

Another view!

Art Room Bulletin Boards & Displays 2011: PART 1

 

These are the displays outside my room. The "ART" display is made from fun foam(very bright & fade resistant).  I have my students create the art I have hanging on my slider bars the last week of school(knowing what theme I'm going to be using for the next school year).  This past spring I had them create monochromatic turtles using markers, crayons, and colored pencils.  They were instructed to create a design in the shell that would reflect something about them(3 &4) or to create an interesting pattern in the shell that is beyond circle square circle square(K-2).  They then glued them to a piece of paper that matched their turtle & began to cascade the turtles downward.  The results are not shaking the art world at its core...but they are fun.  PLUS...it is so nice to have kid made art in the hall way the first day of school!!!