Back to school time!

Well, it's back to school time here in Nashville.  I went back on July 29th, and kids came back for a half day on August 1st.  Tomorrow, the 5th is the kids first full day, and my first day for classes. I decided to keep my eclectic monster/alien theme for my classroom this year, and just tweaked a few things. I expanded my word wall (it used to be on the back of the door) and also created a whole board focused on the rubric that I use to grade the student's artwork.  I do reference the rubric when I explain the projects that I expect the students to create. Above the marker board, I have the visual standards posted, and plan on hanging the objectives for the various lessons on this board as well.

                                      

The door was fun to decorate. I don't typically buy too many store bought decorations, but I found a cute monster set (the monsters above the marker board that are holding the standards) online. It came with something like 24' of border, but when I got it, the border was a solid sheet, and was not easily torn apart, even though it was perforated. So I used it in my cricut and cut out the letters for the creativity part of the door. I also put the pink alien on the door, because pink is my absolute least favorite color, and I wouldn't be able to see it with the door closed. Lol!

                                                        

I collect Crayola items, and had to have my little stuffed buddies out on a shelf.

                                                           

This is my paper cupboard, with the elements and principles on it.

                                        

Big Bertha is back again, although she is starting to fade a little, I think that a makeover is in her near future.

                                                   

This year, my school is focusing on three main rules, which are be respectful, be responsible, and be safe. My rule area says "Out of this world artists are respectful, responsible and safe. They..." And then under each of the main headings are more defined rules, such as follow all directions, use inside voices, etc

                                                      

I consolidated all of my books, both teacher and children's books into one area. I didn't realize that I had that many books!

                                       

Back to school!

Metro schools have already gone back to school. The teachers had to come back July 27 and the students came back Aug. 1. I have been crazy busy setting up my room this year. All of the tiles in my room were removed due to asbestos, so my entire room had to be packed up as if I were moving rooms. As well as new tiles, my room was re-painted. They matched to colors of my room, and did a much better job than I did last summer, probably because I am so short that even standing on the ladder, I had to use a paintbrush taped to the end of the broom handle (lol!). Anyways, I just realized that I forgot to take pictures of my room until today.the black and blue quote board is in the hallway, and the inspiration comes from Painted Paper's blog. The other bulletin boards are in my room. One of the boards has my "kid friendly" standards on it. These are the TN standards re-written in language that the students understand. Our new teacher evaluation requires that we post the standards and objectives in the room, and this is how I have chosen to display them. The large monster was a gift from my friend Ted (Mr. E) last year. My students have named her big Bertha, and she sits on top of the student storage area, reminding everyone to put their names on their paper.

Bulletin Boards

On one wall in my classroom, I have a long bulletin board that I have split into smaller boards. The first picture is of the entire board. On one end, I have used part of the Crystal Production elements of art and principles of design card. On the other end, I used the rest of them. In between, I have my No-no board, which lists the things that I don't want to see in my students artwork. The Artists in Action board is blank for right now. I plan on taking pictures of my students at work, and post them on the board.

Above the board, I have made "shape monsters/aliens". I cut out large shapes, and added eyes and mouths. Then I cut the letters of the words out and laminated them.

Above the cubbies that are attached to the original chalkboard in the room is a markerboard that is kind of silly. It is above the cubbies, and I would have to stand on a chair or step stool to reach it, so I have turned it into my rule board. It says: Out of this world artists... are kind, put their name on their paper, use inside voices, follow all directions, use supplies carefully, stay in their seat and raise their hand. Do You???" On my paper cabinet I have put my behavior board which says "Spacing out?" There are 28 pockets that correspond to the 28 seats in my classroom. Whenever a student misbehaves, I pull one of their cards. They start on green, and can move to blue, yellow, red and no card with appropriate consequences for each.

Outside of the art room, I have put up some displays. On my door, I have used black paper to cover the door, and used my cricut to cut out the words "Please excuse the mess. The children are making MASTERPIECES!" It is simple, but I like it a lot. There is a bulletin board outside the room that I have been put in charge of. While searching Pinterest, I came across a great bulletin board that I decided to recreate.

And finally, Ted (Mr. E) also gave me the words and stars from his art show last year, so I put them on another wall, which gives me 4 walls to use as display space.

I'm totally cheating!!!!

So, I have a confession to make... I love to create bulletin boards, but I hate cutting out letters for my boards, and refuse to spend money to buy punch out letters that I may use once. My school has an Ellison machine which punches out letters, but it is in another part of the building, and is sometimes a pain to get to, and we only have 2 font options to choose from, and they are each 4 inches big. Once in a while I can talk my friend Ted into cutting out letters for me, but not all of the time. So what did I do? I used some fundraiser money to buy a Cricut machine on clearance at Walmart. What is a Cricut machine? It is a handy machine that was created for scrapbooking.

With the purchase of a variety of cartridges you can cut out thousands of shapes and letters. Now the cartridges can be pretty expensive, but if you look for clearance sales or on ebay, you can get them pretty cheap.

I use the Cricut for bulletin boards and other signs that are needed around school. I can change the size of whatever I am cutting out from 1/4 of an inch to 5 1/2 inches. I have the smallest Cricut, but with the largest one, you can make pieces up to 23 1/2 inches. Here are some of the things I have created with the Cricut for the art show and bulletin board outside of my room. I used the snowflakes to make the border for the bulleting board.

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.

Back to school!

Well, it's that time of year again, and school has started back up. I decided to keep the theme of jungle for my classroom, but I have included more lizards this year, as well as the monkeys from last year. Here are a few of my bulletin boards. The first one is my behavior board. I have assigned a number to each of the seats, and have a corresponding pocket on the board with four pieces of colored construction paper in the pockets. As a child chooses to misbehave, their "cards" are pulled, and there are consequences given. This board is right by the door, so as the classroom teachers arrive to pick up their students, they can easily see if a child misbehaved.

The next board is the one outside of my classroom. We have new teachers this year, and with two art teachers (one outside in a portable) I wanted to make sure that they could find my room.

I have quite a few bulletin boards in my classroom, but they are not in the most convenient areas of the room. One of the boards has to be covered up by the shelf that I use to hold the children's artwork, so I decided to "split" up the remaining board.

Now let's talk storage. I mentioned the shelf that I use for storing my students artwork. Storage is a huge issue for art teachers, and unless you are in a room designed for art, you need to get very creative. I was very lucky to have a kindergarten teacher who decided that she didn't need this piece of furniture anymore. I offered to give it a home. I have little labels with the teacher's names on them stapled to the sides of the shelves. The artwork can be stored flat (unless, as you can see, I let one of the little ones put the artwork in instead of me doing it)

I also have two little wooden shelves that hold plastic bins along one of my wall. I have not finished putting all of the art supplies out yet, but I like using these bins because then I can grab the whole bin to pass out supplies.

I also have a wooden shelf with the glue on it, and a set of drawers with things like brushes, beads, scissors, etc.The drawers are nice because they slide all the way out for distribution.