In the Art Room: Setting Up Your Art Room

So I had NO INTENTION of talkin' y'all's ear off in Episode 18: Setting Up Your Art Room but, yous guyz. I HAD SO MUCH TO SAY! So I hope you'll forgive me a little and take a listen. You can do so right here or on whatever your fave place to download podcasts may be. Just a reminder, I no longer chat over on Everyday Art Room. My podcast is called Cassie Stephens because I'm super clever with names. Here's Episode 18!

After I set up my art room, I thought I'd do a little tour. I try to do an art room tour each year...and this one might not be that different of a tour than last year as my room has not changed much. AND it would appear that my tour went as long as my podcast...it was such a long video, I decided to break it up into two parts. So here is my first installment:

Just about everything you see in my art room was made by me. That was a decision I made a couple of years ago. It really helps me find a creative outlet. You can find just about every DIY from my art room in this blog post!

 Just about everything I reference in the podcast can be seen both in my room tours or in the these photos...but if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Here's the second half of my room tour:

After revamping my art room a couple of years ago, it has remained pretty much the same. It is definitely a much happier place than it once was. And it's more easy to maintain since I don't redecorate the entire space with a new theme as I once did. 

PLEASE keep in mind that I've been in this room for 15 years, teaching for 20...and spent an entire school year in 2017-2018 completely revamping this space. I was in my room on weekends. I was working on new ideas and decor nonstop. I loved every minute of it...it really helped me declutter, decorate to educate and CREATE. It was what my art teacherin' soul needed. 

THAT BEING SAID...I know this space can look overwhelming to some art teachers. Just know...you should DO YOU. Do what you have time to do, do what you feel compelled to do, do what YOU need to do do and create that special environment that you wish for your students. BUT do not beat yourself up. Do not be hard on yourself. All good things take time. Spend time deciding what you want for your students. Take a deep breath. Go from there. 

 That's what I had to do. I had to really reflect on my space. When I see those BEFORE photos in that before and after post, I just see all that visual noise. Granted, this right here may seem pretty noisy to some but for me...I love it. And I think my students do too. 

 I hope you enjoy the podcast...and I hope it proves to be helpful to you as you begin to bring in this new and amazing school year. And if my room does make you feel a little, I dunno, intimidated...just know that behind every beautifully decorated art room (well, mine anyway) there is a storage closet that looks like THIS:

 That arrow is pointing to the one thing I need...which I had to climb over the junk to get to. I hate organizing!! It's exhausting and, obviously, I am no good at maintaining it! Feel better? You should! 

Have a wonderful and colorful day, y'all!

In the Art Room: Teacher Fill-In-The-Blank for your PD!

For fun, I created these Teacher Fill in the Blank forms for our first day of professional development (I know, my nerd status just got elevated to Uber Nerd). It started with one I created after getting the idea. I ran it past my admin and she suggested I make a couple more for our opening meeting. I ended up creating these three. They were such a hit today that I thought I'd make them available for you! 

Feel free to download and use! Here they are...credit to yours truly would be greatly appreciated!

To kick off the meeting, I placed just the fill in the sheets on the tables, not the story. I did this so that the teachers would be more random in their word choices and thereby making the story more funny. The teachers worked in groups at their tables to compile their lists. After about 5-7 minutes, I passed out the paragraphs and the teachers dropped in their words in the order that they'd written them on their first sheet.

Table by table, one teacher would pop up and read their paragraph. Y'all...they were HILARIOUS! We were dying laughing and it was just about the most perfect way to start our school PD...says me. I love a good belly laugh with friends in the morning. 

If your school, or just the folks at your table during a PD, are looking for a fun time, this is it. Let me know if you do it, I'd love to hear what you think. Have fun and WELCOME BACK!

In the Art Room: The Easiest (and Maybe the Only!) Classroom Management Tool You'll Ever Use!

I've got three new podcast episodes for you this week that I think you'll enjoy...at least I hope! I've been TRYING to jump start my art teacherin' brain these last couple weeks because, GULP, I go back to school tomorrow, y'all. That's MAN-AN-A (where my tilda at, blogger?!). In case you missed, I've been chatting up all things art teacherin' over on my podcast, Cassie Stephens (available for download here, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or simply click on the link!). This week, I covered why our kids are misbehavin', what my three consequences are and...the easiest classroom management tool EVER! 

Take a listen to to that one right here:

This is also THE CHEAPEST classroom management tool you'll ever use...as all you need is a dry erase board, a marker and a happy/sad face. Shoot man, just draw a happy and a sad face on your board and you are set. Now, if you are like me and you need a visual to go with the podcast, here's a video I made a couple years ago:

In my podcast episode how I started using this board...making it way too complicated. These days, it's super easy and super effective. I think you'll love it. Take a look at this vintage photo below. My art room has changed so much over the last couple of years. You wanna know what's not changed? Me using this board! My desk still sits in this same spot, it's just rotated outward, toward the kids. But the Happy/Sad Board still remains. It works with all of my students, kindergarten through fourth. 

Below is what my art room looks like now. Look how much crapola I used to have...EVERYWHERE. I was a big believer in more-is-more. I guess I still am but now I'm a bigger believer in decorating to educate. Which is what I hope I do!

What's missing from this photo? MY HAPPY/SAD BOARD! At the end of the school year, the little easel it sat on broke. I've since ordered me a dry erase board stand that I plan to place front and center. 

One thing I failed to mention in my podcast is what I do with the board when the kids go to their seats to work. Usually the kids are merrily making and need very few reminders. However, when we do, I will sometimes assign a student to be in charge of the board. They'll take it to their seat and mark lines under the happy or the sad as they see fit. Does that mean we sometimes end up with 3452 happy face tallies? YES. But usually the kids do well with it. Every so often, when the class gets a little too chatty or off task, I'll say, "Hey, T, how many happy/sads to we have?" and that will usually get everyone to fall in line. Easy right?

If you wanted to extend this, you could totally use it to keep a class tally of behaviors, if that's your thing. Personally, I cannot keep up with class parties, table tallies, behavior charts, stickers, clips or popsicle sticks. But you COULD use this system at the end of class to determine if the class has had a successful day and deserves to work toward some reward. For me, I'm much too crazy to keep up with any of that stuff...and just racking up the happies seems to work for my students. AND THAT'S THE KEY... you do what works for yourSELF, your STUDENTS, your SET UP and your SITUATION and you'll be amazing. Happy New Year!

In the Art Room: First Day of Art Projects!

BIG NEWS! My podcast is now available on Apple Podcasts! I'm so excited. If you want to keep up with me, be sure and subscribe. Also, a rating and a review would be super duper. Thank you, friends!

I have been talking A LOT here lately, both here and on my podcast, about heading back to school. It's right around the corner for me (next week, ACK!) so it's all I've been thinking (and nightmaring) about. In case you've missed it, I've been sharing about my rules and routines for my art room. Next week, I'll be talking about the three consequences I use in my art room, why students might misbehave in our room and the one classroom management tool I use like crazy. But today...I thought I'd share my very favorite art projects to do on the very first day (follow this link for videos and more)!

FULL DISCLOSURE: I try VERY HARD on those first days to do the SAME project with ALL of my grade level kids. Why? For my sanity, y'all! I gotta work up that stamina again. AND because my focus is rules and routines. Doing the same and simple lesson with my students allows me to focus on the rules and routines...while they are creating. So what I'm sharing with you here today are projects that can be done with 1st-4th (and sometimes kindergarten too but I usually start here for them). The exception to this is when I've done Dot Day projects at the start of the year, where each grade does something different. You can find my fave Dot Day lessons below.

Last year, this lesson I created was a HUGE hit, both with my students and fellow art teachers. I know the link for the sheets has been broken forever but GUESS WHO FIXED IT! That's right...finally. Follow this link for both FREE downloadable PDFs. You and your kids will love this first day activity!

While storage was a little tricky, once these guys were finished and up they made for quite the beautiful display. You can see how we displayed them here. 

Who's to say kids can't paint in art class on the very first day?! I created these Welcome Back banners for my students to paint at the END of last year...so I could hang next week. But you could make them now, let the kids paint them and hang them up for Open House or just to brighten the halls. More details on how these were created here and here (with video!). 

I'm a big fan of having my students create collaborative pieces at the start of the school year. Why? Because they can help establish a culture of community! And they are so pretty. We created this piece a couple of years ago and it was so well received that we have since painted a bunch more for our school library. More details here and here!

Of course, you cannot go wrong starting off your school year with The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. I have done a BAZILLION different Dot Day projects, many complete with instructional video. I put 'em all into one big blog post right here. So, need some Dot Day? I got you covered!

This here is an oldie that I've brought back a couple of times now...three times to be exact! I've created a popular video that you are welcome to share in your art room. You can find the lesson details and video here. 

Having done this lesson a couple of times, I've found different ways to display them. Here's one and then here's one where we took our faces and created a world!

This lesson has been a HUGE hit on my blog with so many folks bringing wings into their school. It's a super way to start the year. I've got a video just for you (that's free!) right here. 

Big ole collaborative murals are my fave thing for my kids to create! This one really sends home a message that I want my kids to receive.

And this big ole beast, inspired by the author Todd Parr, makes me so happy that I've yet to take it down!

There are truly so many ways to start your school year...but I would encourage you to START SIMPLE. I know these projects may not seem to be simple. That's because you are just seeing the final results. On that first day, it should be RULES AND ROUTINE city, okay? With some creating mixed in. If you do the same lesson with everyone, then you are making your life a little easier. And when your life is a little easier, then you can focus on rules, routines and getting to know your kiddos (my favorite part). So find what works, have fun, enjoy those first few days by keeping your life easy. Remember, a happy person makes for a happy art teacher. Go easy on yourself and have a wonderful start to your school year. 

More details on these trees here!

In the Art Room: ART ROOM RULES!

I've been chatting alot with y'all lately about routines for the art room...and it seems kinda crazy to address that before talking about rules, doesn't it?! For the longest time...like, I'm talking YEARS, I did not understand the difference between rules and routines. There were times when I would list my rules and they'd be a mile long because they were actually procedures I wanted my kids to follow, not rules. It can all be a little confusing so let me share an analogy with you...

Your art room is the magical masterpiece of a place you wish to create for you and your students. Your RULES are the broad brush stokes of that masterpiece. The solid foundation you wish to create. Your ROUTINES are the small brush strokes, the dabs of color and light that bring your entire work of art together. With rules and routines, your art room are room has the potential to becoming everything you and your students need to create, grow and thrive. 

Now...when those rules and routines are disregarded, which can happen for any number of reasons, then there are consequences. I'll be talking more about that next week. For now, let's focus on rules. Here's mine:

Each one of these is a downloadable PDF which you can find here. In fact, you can read more about my rules by following this link.

For many years, I just came up with rules. I copied rules that other classroom or art teachers used without putting much thought into it. I hate to even admit it, but it's true. In fact, I talk a lot about it in one of this week's podcast episodes. But, incase you missed the prequel, you might wanna listen to the one on routines first. And here's my podcast episode on rules:

Before you even start thinking about your RULES and ROUTINES, shouldn't you know your WHY? I wish I had. For years I was just blindly going thru my rules, the ones I'd robbed from other folks, without giving it much thought. It was the thing I thought I had to do, get outta the way and off my To Do. Sadly, what I didn't know, is that your WHY sheds light on the tone and climate you wish to create for your art room. Starting there allows you to then shape and form your RULES and your ROUTINES. 

If you've not yet created your WHY, don't worry about it. I walk you through the process in this working podcast. I have LOVED seeing your pie charts and your WHYs...thank you so much for sharing them with me here. 

Painting my WHY was so much fun. It now hangs happily in my Command Center, right where all of my students and I can see it everyday. I talk about my WHY with my students on the very first days of art. And I ask them WHY they want to be in art...WHAT do they hope to learn, do and know. Knowing their stake in their education and owning it, gives them power. 

My rules embrace my WHY and help to bring it to life. What are your art room rules? What tone and/or climate do you hope they help your masterpiece of an art room become?