Painting with elementary students

I love to paint with my elementary students, but I know that there are a lot of art teachers out there who have problems with paint. Paint is very messy, and I think that the more organized that you are, and the more you teach that organization to the students, the better the student's artwork will be, and the cleanup will be much easier as well. I thought that I would share my painting organization with anyone who need help with this.

I start by spending a few minutes with each class, teaching them (or reminding if it is an older class) about the way we do and do not use the brush. I teach them the vocabulary of the brush parts (bristles, ferrule, handle) and remind them that we only paint with the end of the bristles and therefore, I should not see paint on the ferrule, or on the handle. I also talk to them about not "scrubbing" with their brush, so the brush should never look sloppy. (This is a great time to show the video "Young Sloppy Brush" that is found on http://www.teachertube.com/. After this, I pass out the paper and the paints.





For tempera paint, I like to use the "poster paint" containers. You can buy the empty containers from most art supply stores. They hold 6 colors. I use one for the primary and secondaries, and another for the other colors. I like this method of passing out paint because I feel like we waste less paint this way. There are lids that close, and if you need to clean out one color, you can just open that one well, and clean it out. Also, at the end of class, I do not have 20 different palettes to clean laying in the sink. We just put the lids on and go on our way. The containers last a long time, the ones in the pictures are a couple of years old.

I also use "cafeteria" style trays. I place the square brush basins (a must for the classroom in my opinion) in the middle of the tray, and then 2 of the paint containers, on opposite sides of the basin. Next, I place paper towels and brushes (a couple per student.) The great thing about this method of organization is that since the bowls are stable, I am able to stack up 4-5 of the trays on the counter. I can get them ready for the next day. It also makes it much easier to pass out supplies, I can pass everything out in one trip (well, other than their paper), and since the students are not out of their seats, there is less chance of spilling paint or water.

Because I take the time to talk about how to use the brush and paint correctly, and because there is the tray underneath the supplies, there is very little drips and splatters on the table, but if there is, the students have a paper towel in order to clean up the mess right away. I also do not let the students tap their brush on the brush basin to get rid of extra water from their brush. I make them wipe the brush on the side of the bowl.

I use the same set-up for watercolor painting as well.

With kindergartners, I do not let them use watercolors right away. I like to let them use tempera cakes first. I do this because it is the same concept for both types of paint in that they have cakes of color that they have to add water to. The tempera cakes are larger and harder than the watercolor, so the students can learn not to "dig" their brush into the paint, but to add more water. I find that if I have the kindergartners paint with the tempera cakes a couple of times, my watercolors last a lot longer when I finally let the students use them.

Cleanup is very easy, since everything is on the trays. The students place the brushes on the trays, and as I am picking up the trays from their tables, the students are putting their papers on the drying rack. I simply stack the trays up, and clean the supplies when I have a few moments.

Funny Story Time!!!!!

A student said the funniest thing in my classroom the other day. I had fourth graders in my room at the time, and we were discussing how an artist could draw a self-portrait without drawing a picture of themselves, but by drawing symbols that represent them. I was giving some examples of symbols (such as signs on bathroom doors, etc.) and when I was confident that they had an understanding of symbols, I drew five symbols on the board that represented me. I drew a cat, a book, a music note, a crayon, and a video game controller. I asked the children what they could figure out about me from these symbols. One student said that I liked cats, another said I liked to read, I liked to listen to music, and I like to draw. But the one that just about made me pee myself was when I pointed to the video game controller and asked what it said about me, and a boy without thinking or raising his hand, yelled out "You're my kind of woman!" Now, this is a child that never talks, this seriously was the first time I had heard anything other than "here" when I took attendance. The class started laughing, the look on the boy's face as he realized what he said, and I lost it. I had to stand outside my door for a minute to compose myself. I love moments like this!

Art Room Bulletin Boards

Here are just a couple of my bulletin boards. The one that says "Watch Out..." is actually outside my classroom, while the others are inside. The leopard print letters are made out of felt, while the rest of the letters are made out of cardstock, and the border is made of construction paper. There are also a couple of scrapbooking stickers (the monkeys). I always use fabric to cover my boards. It lasts a lot longer than paper, and keeps it's color longer too.

This one is my behavior board. Each of the seats in my room are labeled with a number that corresponds with a numbered pocket on the board. Inside the pocket are colored pieces of paper- green, blue, yellow, and red. Every child starts out with their color in green, no matter what kind of day they have had in their classroom. After receiving a verbal warning for any infraction to a rule, I will change their color to blue. This a visual reminder that they have not had a perfect day in my room. If there is another incident during the same class time, their card will be changed to yellow. The classroom teachers at my school all have a similar system, so if the students get on yellow in my room, they know that they have to change a card in their classroom as well. If I have to change their card to red, they must go over to my phone and call their parents at work, and explain why they are in trouble (of course I make sure that they are really telling why they are in trouble, and talk to the parents as well). Anything that happens after this is an office visit.

This is my No-No Board. These are things that I do not want to see in my students artwork. These are things like no stick people, clouds are not blue, no floating people, the sun does not smile, the sky goes all the way to the ground, no scribbling, and their name does not go across the top of their paper, plus a few others. I find it helpful to have this posted so that the students are reminded, and can remind the other students at their table.