Managing the Art Room

Motivation Needed

Its not easy to transition from one class to the next, switch from this project to that, motivate 28 students to return the art room to a presentable, organized state in five minutes or less AND make it fun and something the kids want to do.  

I want to share with you a couple of systems that I use in my art room.  One that I have been using for  the last 18 years and one that I just began this year.  Not this school year. This 2016 year, and I'm wondering why I didn't start it sooner because it works so well and the kids love it.  

Golden Broom (the old trick)

  At the end of each class period, after the students have lined up, I judge how well the class cleaned up, and if they did a good job I award them with a ticket or more to drop in a jar (I have one for each grade). They write their homeroom teacher's name on the ticket.  On Friday at the end of the day a ticket is drawn out of each jar and the winners are announced during announcements.  The winning classes keep a Golden Broom trophy (a small broom I spray painted gold) in their homeroom for the following week until the next winner is announced.  

Clean-Up Jobs (the new trick)

I would like to thank blogger, Cassie Stephens for giving me the inspiration for this idea.  The management method she demonstrates in her blog post gave me the idea for my system.

When students are finished with their project for the day, they go over to this poster and select a clip from the poster that has a job written on it.  

I made a clip for each job needed to clean up after any project we do. Different clips are put on the poster each day or class period depending on the project we are doing.  This gives the students more ownership for organizing and cleaning up the art room.  When students finish for the day they flock to the poster to choose a job and they love being in charge of what they choose to do.  My favorite is the "shelf keeper."  This works very well for 3-D projects.  The shelf keeper directs students where to put their projects and checks if the name and class code is written on it and anything else that needs to be checked.  For example if there is glaze on the bottom of a clay piece they either wipe it off or send it back and have the owner of the piece fix the problem.  It frees me to be able to continue to circulate around the room and assist students.  The clips are attached the students' clothing so I know who is doing what.  The students return the clips before they leave. This system is great for keeping those mobile kids busy!

Happy Chinese New Year

Peace and Good Luck!

Each year my 5th graders make a Chinese New Year hanging medallion.  

Here are the "I Can" statements that I post in the room for this project:

I can:

• Explore the art of Chinese calligraphy.
• Demonstrate carving in clay.
• Demonstrate good craftsmanship in constructing, carving and glazing.

We begin by talking about some Chinese New Year traditions and the differences and similarities of our New Year celebrations and those in China.  The students practice writing Chinese symbols on red paper.  I provide handouts of symbols of the animals in the Chinese Zodiac and some other chinese words for prosperity in the new year.  

Constructing a clay disk:

The students each receive a piece of clay that they shape into a ball.  The ball is then flattened by pushing it down with the palm of the hand onto the student's work mat (burlap).  The student smooths out the rough spots and when they are happy with their disk they copy a Chinese symbol onto the clay by lightly scratching it into the surface.  Then the symbol is carved using a clay wire tool over the lines that were scratched, making them deeper.  The students then create a design around the symbol with clay tools and other objects that can be used to push into the clay to create texture.  A hole is made at the top and the bottom and the student writes his or her name on the back and their class code.  

The students use red glaze because red is the color of the Chinese New Year and it is a symbol of good luck.  After the clay pieces are finished I show the students how to make a tassel with yarn and they tie it on the bottom.  

Make a tassel:

1.  Wrap yarn around a piece of 6" cardboard 15-20 times.  

2.  Tie a piece of yarn around all the strands on one side of the cardboard.  

3.  Turn the cardboard over and cut through all of the pieces of yarn.  

4.  You will have something that looks kind of like a mustache.  Make the mustache into a ghost by gathering all of the strands together.  Tie a string around the top part so it looks like the "ghost" has a head.  

5.  You are finished making your tassel!

Tribute to Paris

For Paris

The Berry 5th graders recently completed a watercolor/sillhouette project dedicated to the people of Paris, France in response to the November 13th terrorist attacks.  I wanted to allow the students to speak about this tragic event through their own visual art. It is difficult to understand why things like this happen and sometimes it is easier to make art about how we feel than it is to talk about it, and this can help us heal.  

This project idea came from the blog by wonderful art teacher and blogger extraordinaire,  Cassie Stephens.  Thanks, Cassie!  

We started out by learning some French words and wrote them on white paper.  I selected a list of words that surrounded the topic of surviving a tragedy and that were uplifting. The words were provided for the students to copy in French.  The students painted their backgrounds with liquid watercolors.  The colors of these paints are very vibrant, and the students were required to use either cool or warm colors.  We sprinkled salt on the wet paint and when it dried the salt crystalized, creating a beautiful effect.

The next step was to cut out our silhouettes.  There were three parts to this:  the Paris skyline, a monument and something in the sky.  I gave the students a choice between the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffle Tower. They also had a choice of what to make in the sky.  

The flag gives this one a feeling of majesty. 

I gave the students a demonstration for folding the paper and drawing half of the object and cutting it with the paper folded.  This way they get a symmetrical design.  This technique was used for the Eiffle Tower, Arc de Triomphe, the Paris skyline and the hot air balloon.  

I love the reflection here!  

           

Berry Art for The Ocean Cleanup

Hello and welcome to the 2015-16 school year!  It has been a great start to the year in the Berry Intermediate art room because we are kicking off with a fundraiser to benefit an organization called The Ocean Cleanup.

The Ocean Cleanup started out as a high school science project of a boy in the Netherlands.  He learned about the plastic pollution problem and couldn't stop thinking about it.  Later, in college he invented a method (there was not a good method before this) of removing plastic pollution from the ocean.  You can find out a lot more on The Ocean Cleanup website.

The reason we are doing this project is because I recently learned of the global plastic pollution problem and felt that I wanted to do my part as a piece of the solution instead of living a life that contributes to the problem.

I felt that the fact that I have almost one thousand growing minds in front of me each week gave me an opportunity to be a model of what we should be doing to counteract this problem.  I have explained to my students that there are two things we can do.

One thing we can do is this fundraiser that we are doing as a school where the students are making art work that will be sent to Art to Remember who will print their art work on gift items their parents can purchase.

The second thing we can do is make small changes in the way we do things at home, like using reusable shopping bags and reusable water bottles.

The 5th graders are doing a water color resist of sea turtles for their art work.  I will post post pictures when they are finished.  They are stunning!  The 6th graders are print-making sea creatures and fish.  The drawings that they are using for their prints are quite impressive!  I can't wait to post pictures of all the finished art work.  I am very excited about this project because it is teaching the students to be good to our planet and it will ultimately have a positive impact on our environment!


Here are some videos to explain further about the problem of plastic pollution in our oceans.  Another recommended documentary is Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.  This documentary can be found on Netflix.

The Dot

This project came from the blog Drip Drip Splatter Splash.  I wanted to do this in September for International Dot Day but we were busy back then.  I thought this would be a fun one day project with next week being the last week of school.  I read the students the book (even the 6th graders are quiet with awe), The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds, and then we paint our own dots!  I provided circle stencils for students to trace the dot and they painted with tempera cakes.  Too much fun!  

Torn Paper Op Art

This is a fun, simple project that the fifth and sixth graders completed in one or two class periods.  I found this idea on Pinterest.  I was not able to locate the blog that had this project so if anyone knows of it's origin, please let me know!  I would like to give proper credit for this idea! Thanks!

The students take a 2"x3" piece of construction paper in the color of their choice and carefully tear it into three pieces.  Then they arrange the pieces on a sheet of drawing paper and glue them down.  The students then begin to draw a line around one of the pieces, following its shape.  When the line reaches where it began there are two choices.  One is to close the shape and start again to make a new line and continue this process.  The other choice is to continue the one line and spiral around.  The student may start tracing around the other pieces at any time.  When the line is about to collide with another shape the student can either stop and start again on the other side of the shape or go around both of the shapes.  This process is repeated until the paper is full.

Art Show Selection

This week the 5th and 6th graders at Berry Intermediate are each choosing one piece of art work from their portfolios to be displayed in the district art show.  Our art show represents grades one through twelve and is held at our high school.  I really enjoy this part of getting ready for the art show because the students have been working so hard all year, their portfolios are full and they get to see the result of all of the hard work.  Some students have no trouble making a selection and quickly accomplish the task of filling out a name tag and turning in their piece.  Others ask for assistance of which I happily give by asking the student to lay out all of their projects, and one by one take away the projects they would not want to turn in.  This "whittling down" process makes it easy for them to choose the piece that will be turned in.  Below are  a few snap-shots of the last three days of art show selection.

 In the past I filled out the labels myself but this year I am having the students fill out their own labels and it saves me so much time.  I don't know why I didn't do this sooner!

The next couple of weeks will prove to be a marathon of art show preparation (mounting and labeling) all of the pieces that the students have chosen.  Luckily, I have the help of a few wonderful parent volunteers and my own two parents to help!  Parent volunteers rock!  And so do my Mom and Dad!