Art Room 2010-2011

I thought that since it is the beginning of school, and my room is nice and clean for the time being, I would share some photos!

This is the front white board in my room. The blue hanging pockets are for my art helpers. This year, we are going to chose them for every class. Last year, I changed them every month, and I ended up forgetting to do it. The chart next to that is for my "Art Stars". I took this from a fellow blogger. The students have to try to keep A-R-T up the entire class. If all the letters are there for three classes, they can chose their seats for the following class. If they are noisy and disruptive, they will lose letters. Lose the T and they have to talk in a whisper for the rest of class. Lose the R and they will have to have a silent art class for the rest of the time. Lose the A and the rest of class will be silent, as well as the following class. Hopefully this will motivate my students to stay on-task this year.

My Word Wall so far. I tried to organize it this year. Last year the cards were all over the place, and I couldn't find the words I was looking for! I am going to add more words during the next few weeks.

The best surprise of this week! I was talking with another teacher's husband, and he told me he had a light box that he used to use for negatives. I was so excited! I lose a bit of counter space, but that just means that I will have less space to leave random stuff!

Hopefully, my room will stay somewhat clean this year. I will try to add more photos as the year goes on!

Whoa, whoa, whoa!!!

Summer is quickly coming to an end, and I need to get myself together! I just realized that I took a bunch of photos for Artsonia and never put them online!!!!! I feel terrible! I will just have to update them later and make it an exhibit from previous year. Ugh. I don't know if I am completely ready for school to start back up. I am excited because my birthday is the very first day of school for my students this year! I'm a dork, I know, but I still love it! My goal for the rest of the summer is to get the first couple months of school planned out. I don't want to get to work and not be ready, or start to create brand new ideas when I don't know what I really want. That probably doesn't make sense, but it does in my head. lol. I am also going to try to post some of the art projects that I have done in the past on here so I can share what I have done. I know that people might not read it, but I feel like a mooch because I just gather information for myself and don't give anything back. We'll see how it goes! On an ending note, does anyone know a way to store portfolios in a limited amount of space? I am looking to have each of my students have a portfolio, but I don't know how to store them, HELP!!! Thanks :)

Assessment suggestions?!?!?!?!

So, I've begun my expedition into grad school. I'm a little nervous, but I'm very glad to get it started now. It isn't in the exact area I would like to study, but that's okay. I am determined to make what I am studying work for my classroom, and make me a more effective teacher and professional. I am working toward a degree in Curriculum and Instruction. I feel kind of like a failure in a sense because I should be doing something more artistic. On the other hand I think it is good to have this information to help me understand the other portions of teaching. I feel like art teachers get a little lost in the general education classes. Right now, I'm taking a class on assessment. I don't know much about assessment, and am looking for some ideas to help me. Does anyone have any good assessments that they use in their classes? I'm worried that it's going to be difficult to do assessments with the amount of students I see. With 500 students coming to art once a week, I'm nervous. HELP!!!

Artsonia!

For the past week, I've been taking photos for Artsonia! I love this site, but sometimes it takes forever for me to organize all of the art. My site is www.artsonia.com/jpryon1 for anyone who wants to check out my students' artwork. I'm planning on posting some lessons on here over the summer if I have any time. Enjoy!

Earth Day Art Contest!

My 5th grade students received a contest to design a ceiling tile for a local teacher/school store. The topic was Earth Day, and the winner would receive a $100 gift certificate for the store. The money didn't excite me much because I use art supplies more then regular things you would find at the teacher supply store. I was excited to use what I learned at the NAEA Conference to get my students to talk about ideas. The only thing I told them was to come up with a sketch of ideas that would help spread the meaning of Earth Day. I told them I was going to the conference and would be back to work on it with them. They all seemed excited! I came back the following Monday, ready to attack (since it was due that Tuesday!). The students were ready too. We had a sketch session where they all shared their ideas. I told them that we could use anything on the tile as long as they were permanently adhered to the tile. They kept bringing up recycling, and someone mentioned a recycling bin. We have them everywhere at school, and I'm always using recycled items for art and other things. They decided to create a recycling bin that was 3d on the background. But what to put in the background? One of the students brought me her sketch very quietly, she is always very timid about her artwork. Of course I shared it with the group, because it was sharing time! Everyone loved it! She drew two images. One of the world if we recycled, and one showing a world that threw trash everywhere. The students really pulled together to get the project finished in time, and I was so proud of the quality! Sometimes when we rush, we tend to get a little sloppy. But I just let them go, and they corrected themselves! I am so proud of the work they did even before we turned it in! I'm sad that I didn't get a photo of it. But the good news is...it will be up for a while because WE WON!!!!! When I found out, I almost cried! I was so excited for those students to see what they did! And they did it on their own! What a proud day, who cares about the money!!!!

Here's the plan....for now :)

So, right now I am super busy at school. Need to order my supplies (stress), family art studios (more stress), Art Show (even more stress), and cleaning my classroom (ahhhhh!) So here's my plan. I am going to resist doing anything on here until all these things are finished. Hopefully, I don't lose my mind!

After that, I am going to attempt to put a lesson up a day. Like I said...this is the plan FOR NOW. We'll see how it goes!

Great Ideas!

I feel like I have so many ideas in my head! I don't know what to do with all of them. Hopefully I can get them all in order before the next school year. Right now I am driven, we'll see if it continues. Here's how the list goes right now...

1. make portfolios for all of my students

2. make a shelf to hold all of the portfolios

3. have a full school art show so everyone's artwork is seen

4. have the students write about ALL of their artwork (I am going to make it happen this year. My students need to understand that they are artists, and they make choices about their art)

5. new method to indicate noise level in the classroom

6. a way for the students to earn their clay as a class

7. a full year schedule before the year starts, that way I don't have to worry about missing days and having to plan at the last minute.

8. stations that have meaning, like weaving and other things

9. a better way for the students to clean up

10. a warm-up for each day, to organize students' thoughts and ideas

The list keeps on growing. Hopefully I can get most of it done!