New year, new room!

School has started here in Nashville, and I have been very busy in the art room, getting it ready. I'm in a new room, which was a very bland navajo white color. I painted the room two different blues (seen in an earlier post). Then I had to wait...and wait...and wait some more for the custodians to clean my room and wax the floors (it's a new room and I was a little anxious, ok!?!?) Once I got into the room, the the unpacking ensued. This room has way less storage built in, with only one little sink and cabinet in the corner, and a set of open cubbies

that someone had bolted to the original chalkboard.

These cubbies are great, but open to the room, so not the best thing for storing supplies that you don't want the children getting into. So I have used this as my classroom library area. To solve the storage issue, I have 2 large 2-door cabinets, one for paint and printmaking supplies (I have a lot of paint, I admit that I am a hoarder in this area, I unpacked 84 trays of watercolors, not all of them useful, but I hate to throw them away!), the other cabinet for paper and other supplies. Since there is only one bulletin board in my room (albeit a really long board!) I have used the doors of the cabinets as more board space. On my paper cabinet, I have placed my behavior board, and on the paint cabinet, I have attached my scissor storage. The scissor storage is magnetized tool racks found at Home Depot for $12. The scissors hang on the racks until needed, and are high enough that the kindergartners can't reach them.

I found this idea on Pinterest, with someone using knife storage bars from Ikea, but since Nashville doesn't have an Ikea, I improvised. In this classroom I have a door that goes outside, and a window. By the door, I laced my word wall, and by the window, my reading area. Between the door and the window is my long bulletin board, which I have split up into smaller boards, and will post better pictures of later.

I have used the theme of outer space this year, and if you are aware of the blog http://artwithmre.blogspot.com/, you might recognize the big mama alien hiding behind my door. Ted (Mr. E) is one of my friends, in fact, more like family, and when he found out I was going with an outer space theme, he offered me the alien and other things that he had make for his art show last year. I jumped at the offer, and Big Bertha (as I now call her) is now part of our classroom. She will have a sign that says "is your name on your paper?" around her neck, since she is setting beside the artwork storage cabinet. Continuing with my theme, the tables have been numbered with aliens, one at each corner, the numbers of which correspond with the pockets on my behavior board. On each table is a basket that has crayons, markers, pencils, erasers, and pencil sharpeners. This cuts down on time passing out supplies. On the bottom of the chairs, I have rubberbanded 2 layers of felt to cut down on the scraping of chairs on the floor. This keeps the classroom quieter, and save the wax on the floor longer.

My next post will be better pictures of my bulletin boards and hallway displays.

Guess What!

So last month I had the same dream for three nights in a row. In the dream, I was busy going through all of the stuff that I have accumulated in my art room, sorting, organizing and packing. In the dream, my principal had told me that I was going to have to move classrooms. I woke up with to-do lists in my head, plans for what to pack first, what supplies are not needed for the rest of the year, what furniture I am taking, and what I am leaving, etc. I told my principal about my dream, and she laughed, saying that she would never have me move, after all, my room is an obnoxious lime green (painted that way so that no one else would want the room). I told one of my best friends about this, and she just laughed saying it was just a weird dream. I kept mentioning it over the month, and I think she started to get a little upset with me. She told me to STOP WORRYING!!!!! Yesterday, I walked into my principal's office to ask her a question and she said that she had been looking for me and that we needed to talk. Needless to say, she needs me to move classrooms, which means packing, sorting, and painting of new room. It will be interesting, as the new room is in one of the pods, and is a pentagon of sorts. Of course, I will take pictures of the new room when finished.

Substitute lesson plans for the art room....

I was just working on my sub folder for the art room, and thought that I would share what my sub folder entails with everyone. Located within my sub folder are of course all of my class lists and seating charts. On each class list, I highlight any helpful students, as well as any students that may pose a problem. A map of the school and emergency procedures is also helpful. On the map, I point out the adult restrooms, cafeteria, teacher's lounge, etc. A copy of my discipline plan is a necessity as well. After that, I place my lesson plans.

I personally do not like to have the subs that are in my room continue with whatever lessons that I am working on with my students. I have had many projects ruined because a sub thought that they knew what they were doing. Instead, I have some generic lessons that any grade level could draw. These are the ones that are in my sub folder this year:

1. Pretend that you have been shipwrecked on a deserted island. Draw a picture of what the island looks like, what animals and plants are on the island, and how you are going to survive until help arrives.
2. Imagine that you are an explorer, tracking a never before seen animal through the jungle. What does the animal look like? Add lots of details, such as where the animal lives (in the trees, on the ground, cave, etc.)
3. Design a new shoe for a famous shoe company. Feel free to include some high-tech gadgets.
4. Be like Phineas and Ferb, and invent a really cool contraption. What will it do? How will it do it? Why do we need it?
5. You are a world famous astronaut, and your space shuttle has crash landed on a planet that no one has ever seen before. Draw a picture of what the planet looks like, as well as any inhabitants (aliens) that may come to greet you. What do they look like, as well as what do they eat and where do they live?
6. Create a flag that represents Lakeview Design Center. Remember that the school mascot is the lion.
7. Create a drawing of your favorite meal. It can be anything that you want, just make sure to add lots of details.
8. Become a video game designer and brainstorm a new idea for a video game. Draw out the characters, settings, etc. Add lots of details!
9. Your family has won the lottery, and you get to design your new house. What will it look like? How many rooms will it have? Draw it out for everyone to see!

Please feel free to use any of this information in your sub plans if you would like. Please know that you should always have a sub folder ready in case you are out unexpectedly. It is a pet peeve of teachers around the world to have to find plans for a sub in the room next door because the teacher didn't leave any.

Bulletin Board Time!

It's back to school time, and I have been very busy in the art room. This year, I decided to change my class theme to a garden and bug theme, so the following two boards were born. The first board is my behavior board. Each pocket corresponds with a seat in my classroom. In the pockets are card that can be pulled based on the behavior or each individual student. It is located next to the door, so as each classroom teacher comes to pick up their class, they can easily see if any students have misbehaved.

The second board is located outside my classroom door. I decided to add quotes about art, in hopes that it would give classes something to discuss and think about while waiting in the hallway.

I am currently working on two more boards, one of which is a No-No board and the other is about the elements of art and principles of design. I will post pictures when finished.

Great Website!!!!

I have found a great website for teachers. It is called Teacher Tubes, and it is a site of educational videos created by students and their teachers. Being an art teacher, I go to this site, http://www.teachertube.com/, and search for art related keywords. I found some amazing stuff, but the funniest things have been posted by a teacher named Mrs. Fuglestad. Try searching for the keywords eraser and sloppy brush. The eraser video is about being nice to your erasers, not to draw on them, crack them or stab them with your pencil, or they will turn evil and erase everything in the art room. The sloppy brush video is about a young, handsome, promising brush who because if his neat camel hair bristles paints precise lines, but then tells the story of what happens to the brush when a careless artist gets a hold of him. I show the eraser video to my students when I see someone not taking care of their erasers, and the brush video when we are about to paint. The children love it and always ask to see them again.

My Art Room

Here are some pictures of my art room. Originally it was a off white color, but I like to decorate my classroom in a theme, and I choose to make it a jungle. The cupboards were this horrible pinky, mauvy color (I hate pink!), so with the help of some contact paper, they now look much better. There was also some construction that went on in my room over the summer, after I had painted the room, and the construction workers repainted one section white. I chose to add some leaves on the wall instead of repainting (again).