Why, howdy art teacherin' partners! I hope all y'all are having a relaxing weekend and bracing yourself as this coming week is FULL.MOON.WEEK. The one week a month that I believe we should have off. Call it mental health days. Call it "for the safety of the children" days...cuz the gone be a lil cray...and Ima hafta be a lil crazier. Which isn't all that hard to do, let's be honest. A couple of weeks ago, I shared with y'all a post titled Early Finishers, Part 1. This year, with my larger classes, I have noticed a huge difference between my students' work time. I've got some that finish in no time at all and do a fabulous job...and others that work at a snail's pace. I'm a snail's pace artist myself so I totally feel for those kiddos. I never want to rush them...but I also don't want my other students who are finished to simply have blocks, free draw or dry erase boards as their options. So I spent a LONG time thinking about this and crafting a system that I'm hoping works for me and my students. I'm also hoping this system allows for me to continue to teach the lessons and curriculum I do while allowing the kids time to explore other areas of art. Call it a directed art/choice-based art combo...or just call it doin' what works. Cuz that's what we do all day long. So, how does this work? Well, I created a video to explain it to my students. It's SUPER long-winded (there's so much to cover!) that I will definitely be sharing it in two parts. But, basically, the run down is all spelled out on the poster above (which I HAVE GOT to figure out how to make a downloadable PDF for y'all! I messed up on this post and need to fix it...and want to do the same for this poster. I'll try to have that done this coming week).
It's long...but I ALWAYS have so much to say (story of my LIFE!).
When kids are finished they are #1: NOT YELL OUT "I'M DONE!" Because me no likey. The first thing they have to do is clean their area. I've noticed that many times, when I make things available to the kids who finish early, they just stop, drop and go. Then I'm left being a naggy-nag callin' so-n-so back to their seat to clean their spot. No more. If you fail to clean then, sorry(not sorry), all options are removed and you are left with a dry erase board.
After their spot is cleaned, I'm requesting the kids write an exit slip...which we've only done a handful of times because I.SUCK. Seriously. I will sometimes do what you see above: quiz the kids as we are standing in line and jot down what they've learned. But now, I'm putting the ball back in their court. I'm simply asking for one sentence. That's not too much to ask...right?! (insert wink-y face emoji). By the way, if you wanna see what my room USED to look like before I went bonkers and tore everything off the walls this summer, check out this blog post.
If all of this is sounding vaguely familiar, that might be because I recently chatted about my early finishers in a podcast. BTW, did you know I have a podcast?! I DO! It's called Everyday Art Room and you can take a listen here.
SIDE NOTE: I got new flooring this week! YES, I'm so excited! When I shared the photo on my IG, many folks asked me where the flooring is from...right here. I also was asked how I was able to afford such flooring. Well, first of all, the flooring was about $120 so SUPER reasonable. Much cheaper and more sanitary than a rug. I do have some extra cash because of the fundraiser I do called Artome.
Okay, now that I've explained the first half of my poster, let's talk about the whole "check time and clips" dealio.
Okay...so my biggest struggle with early finishers is that there are some who literally have 2 minutes left of art class and will bust open the blocks, grab a piece of free draw and/or get a dry erase board only for me to be like: DUDE. YOU HAVE 2 MINUTES LEFT. They've got no concept of time based on my wall clock. But they do understand my timer...so I'm hoping this method of having the clocks on the bins works. An incentive for good behaviors is telling them how many clips they must have. I explained my clip system in this blog post and on this podcast. Fewer clips means fewer options.
I decided to limit the blocks/building area to 8 kids because the floor space doesn't comfortably allow for many more kids then that. I also decided to move the drawing supplies to the other side of this cabinet. This way, the kids who wanna draw, aren't stepping over the kids who are building. I'm fortunate that my art room used to be the school library: it's big and has wonderful shelving like this!
(Please try to ignore the bloodshed...I had a red paint bottle EXPLODE this summer and leave behind this mess. And, yeah, I've yet to clean it up. Raise your hand if you're surprised.) So now the kids have LOTS of drawing options: free draw, how to draw books, idea stick, Fashion Plates, stencils and observational stuff. For observation, I've got mannequins, blocks, dinosaurs, mirrors and vases with flowers.
Last option: the light table! My kids REALLY love this. Next up: I will share a follow up post to let you know how all this shakes out. I'm planning to add more: origami, fibers, collage...and maybe build in more time for these areas and not limit it to just early finishers. How do y'all handle those rascally early finishers?! I'd love to hear!
My second grade kiddos just finished up their Super Hero Selfies for their Artome art show! These 12" X 9" works of art were so much fun to make...and to see the finished result. I thought I'd share the process with y'all!
We began by chatting about Vincent van Gogh and looking at Starry Night. From there, we used our paper and my VERY favorite oil pastels (Sargent's florescent brand!) and created our skies. Because I have 30 minute art classes, that took one art class. The following art class, we added either all warm or all cool watercolor to our skies:
Y'all might have heard: I LOVE me some Crayola watercolor paint. I order the following and place them in each watercolor pan: magenta, red, red-orange, yellow, green, turquoise, blue-violet and violet. I place them in that order so the kiddos know what colors they can use as far as warm/cool colors go. The following day, I busted out the tiny brushes and India ink for some cityscape painting:
We started by painting simple rectangle shapes. Then we added shapes on top of those like triangles, rectangles and squares. From there, windows were added. They really rocked these!
Many of my students sketched their cities out on dry erase boards first. This really helped them get comfortable with their ideas before attacking their paper. It did mean that some kids took two 30 minute art classes to complete their cities...I was okay with that. I never mind the kids going slower if it means they do their best and are proud of their work.
Once the paintings were complete, we could start creating our Super Hero Selfie! The kids were given a circle template...simply so we didn't end up with tiny little folks. The template really helped them gauge size and get a jump start. I did a quick demo on how to create a body by using shapes like a rectangle for the torso. I showed them how to draw stick arms and legs and turn them into THICK arms and legs. Some of us are still pretty skinny tho, ha!
LOTS of kids wanted to add their pets or their siblings as their sidekick...how cute! After drawing with pencil, tracing with Sharpie, the kids added color with color pencils. In all, that process took about two art classes as well.
Then the CAREFUL cutting began. Not gonna lie: some of us may have cut off limbs. No biggie, we simply glued them back in when we glued ourselves onto the background.
When coloring, we did talk quite a bit about color schemes. We chatted about the colors of Superman and Spiderman, Wonder Woman and the rest...they have about three specific colors. The kids were tasked with picking out 2-4 colors for their hero.
Weapons were not approved but shields were, of course!
And capes!
And disguises!
One thing that really helped was giving the kids an About Me super hero sheet. They had to come up with a name for their hero, what their special power was and how they make the world a better place. On that same sheet, they had to create a sketch of themselves as well as a sidekick.
I'm really excited about these and cannot wait to see them at our art show!
I don't often repeat projects but this one was a winner with the kids and parents last year.
Last year, I had the kids paint a black silhouette of the city and add the windows with paper. I didn't love that as much...the paper didn't really stick well to the ink and the kids didn't really rock those windows. You can see it here.
I'm IN LOVE with the designs on her buildings. Second grade, y'all!
A couple of weeks ago, on my Facebook LIVE chat, I had my art teacher buddy Kaitlyn Edington. I "met" Kaitlyn via her IG account which is AMAZING. She's not only got a beautiful art room with some amazing project ideas but has INCREDIBLE classroom management. She's also fabulous at sharing her methods. I had her chat with us one night during LIVE (the chat is still archived here) where she shared her system. I loved her ideas...but, like y'all, I had to think of how I would make it work in my art teacherin' world. I'm a firm believer, just like Kaitlyn, that we are all different and should totally celebrate those differences. There is no "once size fits all" for art teacherin'...so the trick is finding out what works for YOU. After mulling over her system and imagining how it might work in my art room, I came up with this:
I rolled this out with my students a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving break and, I gotta say, it's been working out wonderfully! The kids are really responding well. My first grade has really taken to it well...the grade that I thought would not at all. I think they crave the structure the most out of all my classes this year so it's really worked for them. My second graders LOVELOVELOVE art (all my kiddos do, but these kids are IN.TO.IT.) so they hardly need reminders...although their enthusiasm can sometimes be their downfall. This system has really helped them focus.
My older students are loving this too...I have those big, doubled up classes so the noise level was a constant battle. I don't mind chatter...if it's work focused. A lot of times, with my third graders, it is not. So this has helped them quite a bit. However, with my older kiddos, I have them for an hour...I can't even stay quiet that long! So I usually move the brush to yellow about half way into their art class.
Okay...I just realized I've not explained this system to you at all! I just assumed you'd watched the video. But, if you can't stand the sound of my voice (you and me both), I'll give you the Cliff's notes.
I have these three paintings hanging in my art room. I've created FREE downloadable PDF's for you so you can simply print and laminate. You can find the red can here, yellow can here and the green can here. I added velcro dots to hold the paint brush...but a drawing of a paintbrush would work just as well.
So the deal is this: the cans let the kids know the expected noise level. Red is silent, yellow is whispering and green is indoor voices. I prefer my students to work quietly. I only see them for 60 minutes a week (if I'm lucky) and I want them to create as much as they can during our short time together. I usually keep the brush on red...except for midway through the classes of my older kiddos.
How does this expected behavior get monitored? Each table of four kiddos has a color coded table caddy. I found these caddies at Dollar Tree and simply spray painted them to match the tables. Then I placed red duct tape on one side of the caddy and green on the other. Each table begins with 5 clips on the green tape. I went with 5 because 1. That's what Kaitlyn suggested; 2. it makes it so the kids don't think of themselves as a clip...meaning "Joe had to move his clip!" It's not like that...the TABLE had to move a clip because of a teammates behavior and 3. Because it's a lot easier to count the scores by 5's! I remind the kids before I had them their table folder (which is also something new I'm trying and LOOOVING) what color the paintbrush is on. When they head to their seats, they are expected to pass out the artwork and get started quietly. This has really helped the kids settle in and get started. If I have to remind a table more than once, I ask them to move a clip. Clips are moved based on not following directions, chatting, not cleaning up...just general behaviors that need improvement. At the end of art class, I do a little shout out:
"Who still has all 5 clips? Please write a 5 on your folder and line up!" Then I go down the line with 4 and then 3. I just noticed that the green folder has an extra 5...we're still working on understanding this system. Obviously.
To monitor the amount of clips and scores, I taped these papers to their table folders. I have a couple things to add here: 1. WHERE HAVE TABLE FOLDERS BEEN MY WHOLE LIFE?! This has made passing out and collecting (dry!) artwork so stinkin' easy. 2. WHAT IF WORK IS ON THE DRYING RACK?! Well, a friend recently suggested to me that have the kids write their names on the back in the same color as their table. So it's on my To Do to place color coded color pencils on the tables. As for yellow, I'll ask the kids to circle their names in that color. 3. THE LABEL KEEPS THEM ACCOUNTABLE. Having that label where they keep their score instead of me works much better for me...I can't keep up with my life but I know they'll be able to stay on top of the scorecard.
I hope all that makes a little bit of sense...I'm so excited that this system as been working so well. My art room is more calm, I can spend more one on one time with my students and the craftsmanship has been much improved. Not to mention the teamwork! The kids have been working harder to get along and help each other. Thanks for letting me share!
I have been chompin' at the bit to share my Rainbow Tree from Treetopia with y'all...and today is the big day and big reveal...so here she is in all of her Roy G. Biv glory!
Y'all might recall that I received a Candy Corn tree from Treetopia last month that graced my dining room. I had an absolute blast creating dozens of ornaments to transform that tree into, what I dubbed, my Monster Mash Tree! When Treetopia reached out to me again for the holidays, I happily agreed...and eagerly requested The Rainbow Tree (cue angels singing...)
Because this tree is for the art room and will stay up all year, I am not calling it a Christmas tree. We have a rainbow (ahem) of beliefs at my school and I would never want anyone to feel excluded. Therefore, it's an all-inclusive art teacherin' tree that I've decorated with art supply ornaments!
I had the tree delivered to my school and it arrived in just under two days. The box, which was labeled RAINBOW TREE caused quite a stir in the front office. I had folks dropping by all day to see if I'd unboxed the tree yet. I waited until after school and had the help of my P.E. teacher buddy Ali to put the tree together. It went up in just under 15 minutes!
We got the tree up just under two weeks ago...looking at this photo, I can see just how much has changed in this area of my art room!
That's right, this tree pushed me over the decorating edge! It inspired me to spray paint my gong (which has now become such a wonderful color wheel teaching tool), tear down my jungle lounge paper'ed walls and paint my walls (more on that shortly) and wash off my window (with the help of some third grade kiddos). I'm so excited how this space is transforming! You can see more on what I've got in store for this space here.
Basically, this tree now has me viewing my life thru rainbow colored glasses...and I'm 100% cool with that.
When I settled on the idea of decorating the tree with art supplies, I decided to do some recycling. I have had those large palette shape trays forever. I think they were originally party serving trays as I think that circle may have been for the drink? I've had them in my art room for the last 15 years and I hardly ever use them. So I took them outside, flipped them over and spray painted them silver. On the front, I simply added blobs of paint. When those dried, I added brushes and a fabric bow. The crayons were actually just removed (temporarily) from this display. The smaller palettes I picked up in a pack at the Dollar Tree. I simply added some paint and allowed it to dry overnight. And the brush ornaments were created this way:
Now. Let's address what the tree had me doing to the rest of this space, shall we?
I couldn't very well keep the jungle theme going with this blazing bright baby of a tree, could I? So when Mitch suggested I paint the gong he gave me for our 10 year wedding anniversary, I went for it. Days of rain prevented me from getting that done in the timely manner I wanted...but it's complete and I couldn't be happier. It looks like art candy! I started by painting it completely white...with many layers of primer. Then I taped it off and went section by section with paint. It's such a happy surprise when you walk in the room. The kids are LOVING it painted!
Back in the day, I used to paint my window and decorate my surrounding wall. Here, let's take a peak:
I had a lot of fun doing this...and it really set the tone for the units we studied. You can catch more views of my Paris themed room here.
It's so interesting to see my room like this. While beautiful (according to me), I love that this area of my art room is taking on a new life...one that the kids can really utilize and explore. Also...seeing that Picasso painting STILL hanging in that very same place...I realize IT.HAS.GOT.TO.GO.
When I cleaned my windows, I fully intended to repaint them. And I might very well still do that. It gets SUPER hot in this area of my room and nearly half the class gets blinded by the daylight savings time sunshine that blasts thru in the afternoon. However, right now, I'm enjoying the light...so we'll see.
I'm telling you, I've been INSPIRED this year to make some big changes. I've heard feedback from folks that I need to rest, that I'm going a little overboard, that I need to chill...but I'm telling you, I'm excited! Inspired! And I don't wanna stop. I was going through a SERIOUS burnout at the start of the school year. I'm so over it. And I'm so glad. I don't mean to show out or show off...I'm just truly thrilled with this thing called art teacherin' and determined to be the best that I can be.
Sidenote: spray painting the daylights outta a very nice and very expensive gong WILL ruin the integrity of the sound. Le sigh. But it sure is pretty!
So, what's up next? A new floor, a possible window painting and more things added to this area for my early finishers. AND removing that Picasso painting. Puhlease.
As for the tree, it's not going anywhere...I LOVE it and it's staying up forever, according to me. I think it will be a super fun addition to the art room. We've already used it as a teaching tool...and already sweet kiddos are bringing in ornaments for it and drawing pictures of it's amazingness.
I see this tree getting a new theme every now and then....but until then, it's going to remain the art supply tree. Thank you so much Treetopia for this spectacular addition to the Johnson Elementary Art Room!
