Real talk for a minute here: the last days of school are INSANE. With schedule changes, field days, assemblies, field trips, art shows, awards days and all the rest, there is lil teachin'/learnin' taking place. The kids are hot, tired and ready to go and the teachers are right there, ready to hold the door open for them as they run off into the sunset of summer. So, instead of fighting that Last Days of School beast, why not embrace it? Ditch the tables and chairs, pull out the blocks, games, drawing books and more, crank up the Alvin and the Chipmunks album (it's what we've been rockin' out to) and HAVE FUN. Here's how I set it up in my art room:
I started by pulling out all of my Early Finish centers. I've accumulated a TON of items for my early finish centers over the years...but the big hits are always the following: blocks (with dinosaurs!), Fashion Plates, spirographs, stitching cards, origami and my how to draw books and drawing prompts. If you click on this link, I'll walk you thru those centers.
A couple years ago, I created a little video explaining this end of the year set up, which you can watch right here:
In the past, I relied on the kids to read the small labels on the bins to know how many young artists could work at a center. Those little labels are hard to read...and not all the bins are labeled. I used these plastic picture frames from the Dollar Tree for our Field Day activities that worked so well, I decided to use them again here:
I loved fashion plates as a kid and my students use the set that I once had! I also have a couple more sets that have been gifted or found at the thrift store. Amazon sells a great Super Hero rubbing set that has both boy and girl super hero characters for the kids to create.
When I picked up a set of Spirographs from the Dollar Tree last year, I wasn't sure how great they'd be...or how well my younger students like first grade would work with them. But check out that amazing design by a firstie! I usually have to give a hand over hand tutorial for the kids because there is a learning curve. I also allow them to use mechanical pencils as they are the only ones with lead that is long and lean enough to fit into the holes of the wheel.
In this blog post, I share with you how I set up my drawing books for early finishers. I got so tired of the kids just randomly placing the books where ever...so I spray painted the binding of each book to make it easier for them to clean up. Also...I limit them to one paper per artist.
If you are a new teacher with few centers, just know that I don't have a ton either. To be honest, with 30 minute art classes, it's a RARE occasion that my students are able to visit these centers. That's why I love having them available these last days of school. It's fun for me to see what they gravitate toward...and gives me ideas for the new school year. If you have limited resources, keep in mind that the following are free and/or cheap: * Origami printouts! * How to Draw printouts! * Blocks borrowed from a kindergarten classroom! * Random objects around the art room for observation drawing! * Pictionary! You don't even have to have the game. Just a dry erase board and a group of kids that can come up with an idea of what to draw on their own as the kids attempt to guess.
My favorite places to find early finisher/end of school year activities are Target Dollar Spot (where these stitching cards are from), the thrift store, yard sales, end-of-the-year email to teachers asking them to send old games/toys your way and the Dollar Tree.
When my older students came in, I busted out the dry erase boards and my Pictionary game. I found it at the thrift store and, really, all you need are the cards with the drawing prompts. We sat in a circle of kids (the ones who opted to play) and had a great time playing. One of my favorite things about these days is that I join the kids on the floor! I chat with them, play games and build.
I do tell the kids that after 10 minutes of exploring, they will be given the opportunity to change centers. They can either opt to stay or go, AFTER they've tidied their spot. During clean up, I simply ask that they tidy which ever spot they were working at and then stand silently beside their area. To encourage a quick, calm and quiet clean up, I silently walk around and just place a couple of stickers on the kiddos who rocked their clean up. I learned this trick from my P.E. teacher buddy. She doesn't announce that she's giving stickers, she just places them on the kids who are on task. She only gave out a few and if the kids asked for a sticker, they didn't get one. It worked SO WELL in her gym that I had to try it on the last day in art...it was MAGIC.
Do y'all do something similar on your last days of art? I'd love to know what you and your kiddos are up to!
This past Monday was our school's field day. There was a 90% chance of rain and thunderstorms for the occasion (of course!). I was in charge of the Art Station which was a new thing last year. In the past, I'd always been in charge of the Face Painting Station with parent and student volunteers. Last year, some changes were made and I was given a box of sidewalk chalk and told that was my station. Y'all...I don't know if you've ever sat outside all day in the blazing sun while kids rotate every 15 minutes only to write words like "fart" on the sidewalk and then ask when they can go to the next station but I can easily testify that it is NO BUENO. I decided to do something different this year...
And this was NOT it. My grand idea would have involved being outside (I'm keeping it a secret in hopes that I can make it happen next year!) and Mutha Nature was given me a big fat "no" with those impending storms. So I arrived at school at 6:30 am to start plotting what my Art Station might look like. I created a video to kinda walk you through what we did:
I already have several "stations" or centers in my art room that the kids are familiar with as they are my Early Finisher Centers. In addition to those centers, I also created two painting stations for the kids to explore. This HUGE banner was one of them and what we created on canvas I will share in an upcoming blog post.
These banners are about 18' long. I simply rolled out huge pieces of bulletin board paper, laid it across three tables and went to town with my good ole bingo dauber. I'm about read to retire this set as we've used them a lot this year and the tops have lost their fuzzy marker-ish-ness. But they work so well for big posters!
As soon as the kids walked in my room from their outside activities (I have an exterior door making it easy for them to come in), I invited them to take a seat on the floor. I was concerned the kids would be bummed that they were inside (cuz, y'all, IT NEVER DID RAIN!) but they actually loved it. 15 minutes in air conditioning with a chance to go to the restroom if needed ended up being a good thing. I told their teachers, who were rotating with them, to take a little break and come back in 15. It was a good moment to relax for everyone.
Once everyone was seated, I reminded them of their centers choices and talked to them briefly about the banner. Then I released them.
I told the kids that they could rotate to a new center if they wanted but first had to leave the old one as they found it...or even better.
Painting friends were reminded to slap on an apron as leaning over the giant banner could get paint on clothes.
I gave no instructions when it came to painting other than be sure and clean your brush between colors. To clean it up a bit, I painted over the whole thing with my black outline and added pops of white once it was dry.
And now we have two huge banners to decorate the halls when we come back to school in August! I'm so excited as our hallways are usually so sad when we return.
Have you ever done anything like this? Love to know what you did in your art teacherin' world!
