New I Can display for the art room....

I laminated paper strips, used an xacto knife to make slits for the paper clips :-) the artists loved it! No more clothespins popping off 

Who would have thought....large index cards!

I only see my artists for 45 minutes a week, and I'm always cutting paper in 1/2 so the project paper is smaller and students are more likely to fill in the page.

At my PD today, we used an index card for our doodle desig. And mounted on a construction paper. 

Quick, easy and cheap for nice card stock canvas. 

Art Door :-) update

I finally had time to re-vamp my art door!  I moved over my paintbrush, but I think it needs to be bigger... 

Click here for the free "Art is" statements.

Great tip!!! Keep your door locked and just place a magnet between the frame and door....Fire drill...Move your magnet and let the door close...no more "which way does the key go to make it lock?"  easy and quick for all drills

Without it's paintbrush...it needs something...maybe the Mona Lisa 

An idea for hanging artwork

Teaching 600+ artists is a lot of paper. In trying to conserve, I think this may be my solution. My new school is missing sprinklers, so we have to limit the amount of paper per wall ratio. 

The laminated black paper will stay on the wall to frame the ever changeable artwork per every month. 

Thoughts? Or any better ideas?  I enjoy framing the art when hanging but not the use of the amount of paper per week. 

Week 2!

I'm so excited about what my students have made this week. I was able to place a 'real' supply order this week compared to the past 5 years. I was ale to get everything from clay to looms. I just hope I don't run out of pencils! 

Beginning the new year...

This first week, with 45 minute classes, we have covered rules, made warm up contour drawings, created a sketchbook as well as a portfolio. Students also filled out what "Art is" to them. 

Starting off the Year!

Click HERE to see my Store

It's great to have a word wall, portfolio covers, I CAN statements :0) Enjoy mine! 

Click HERE to see my Store

2013 Art Year

New school!!! It's great when you really enjoy what you're doing 2 years in a row. I miss people but I've met so many new friends that I feel life can't get any better at this moment. 

Going into my sixth year, it's been 6 years wow! To think, I almost quit my first middle school position because of gang fights and being completing unaware of urban settings/lifestyles. (I wish I would have kept my journals, but I just wanted to forget but looking back...it made me a strong teacher. ) 

All the hard work and great people I've met along the way has made me appreciate the job I have this year. If you are having a rough year, hang in there because every experience will make you stronger if you stay positive.   

The classroom: 

Welcome! 

Get to know me! 

Color coded grade levels. 

Organization. 

Food is a must have! 

Ways of handling things. 

Codes and noise level chart. 

Hallway 

Funding for the Art Room

My Donors Choose projects seem to always be funded by wonderful people and companies and I have started to branch out into Teachers Pay Teachers...

Take a look

Click HERE

Prepping Clay - Oh Yeah!

This morning I was looking forward to the clay projects but ...yes.....really...I planned them back to back! How?!? What happened? Oh...well it happened. Okay, I wanted to prep for both I started cutting and cutting but I needed to separate them for ease of passing them out ...here's what I came up with

Organizing Reproductions for student use

I hope students will be able to look through the prints to gather ideas and I will be able to pull prints with ease.

Behaviors in Art Class

My goal is to be more communicative with parents. I created a creative news note to go home with awesome artists and borrowed the idea of the oooopps your child had a hard day in art.

So how to keep track of if you send a note home to be signed? I'm going to make a post-it note chart next to the door. If I send a behavior note home, I will write the student's name on a post-it on the sent side and when the note is returned...I will move the post-it over.

Is this a good idea? bad idea? have you tried it idea?

With only seeing the students one a week it's hard to remember if they returned a note...or who I sent a note home with.

Art Centers for Elementary Art

Here are centers that I use for when classes earn 5 palettes for great behavior I put 6 out depending on the grade level.