Brand New School Year

A new school year is about to begin and I am just putting the finishing touches on my room.  We have Meet the Teacher this afternoon and then the children come back on Monday!

Here are a few photos of my room this year. I have made a few changes- thanks to the wonderful posters on Pinterest- and thanks to my amazing student teacher, we have been able to update and redo a few of the visuals.

This is my organizational board. On the far left is a flip chart for all of my classes. It is divided by tables (each table is labeled with an artist) and each table receives points during class time: working quietly, cleaning, helping each other, etc. At the end of 9 weeks, the table with the most points get to choose reward coupons from the pink basket (below the flip chart). These are rewards such as: sit in the teacher chair for the day, sharpen all of the pencils, sit by your friend, Tech Time, pick a prize from the box, etc. Most of the rewards are FREE and require little to no time.

Next to the flip chart is my job board. I have 4 jobs: Distributor/Collector (passes out and collects materials), Polisher/Dryer (cleans and dries table), Expert (listens extra hard, so they can help anyone at their table who needs it), Tree Hugger (empties the trash bins on the tables and sweeps the floors under the table)

The yellow paper is a list of choices that the students have when they are finished working: work on any incomplete projects, choose a project from the file box (I have a file box full of simple projects that they can work on independently), go to my classroom blog, work on a research project, answer artprint questions (I have an artprint posted  with 3 questions that require research. They write their answers and then I draw a winner to receive a prize from the Art Awards), projects for Ms. Mary (I always have odd jobs for the students to work on (sorting crayons, making art passes, etc).


Each table corresponds with an artist on the point chart.

I have also place a piece of colored tape on each leg of the table. The students will be responsible for the job that corresponds to that color.








Steps for getting ready to paint are posted next to the paint shirts.

The Mona Lisa Rules:
Hands in your lap
Ears listening
Lips quiet
Eyes on the teacher








My student teacher made the shape and texture posters for the room.











Color- color wheels, color schemes, color value.

I have a large box of donated crayons that the students will begin sorting by color when they finish early. Then when they are looking for a particular color, they will be able to find it quickly.

I am going to do the same with the markers that have been donated.




My drying rack is separated by grade level. That way, I do not have to stand there and show the students where to put their papers. They find their grade level, put their paper up to dry and then I can pull them out when they are dry and put them into their class folders.

I have also color coded each grade level and put poster board on the shelves, so the students can see the colors.

 I have 3 sinks in my room. I know, I am extremely lucky!!!! I purchased dollar store dish drainers and they children put their brushes, cups, palettes into the drainers when they are finished washing them. At the end of the day, I pull them out and sort them.








Each table has a basket with scissors, glue, crayons and a drawing book. The drawing book has pages on the Elements of Art and the Principles of Design. This is a quick resource for the children to use in their projects.

Each table also has a trash bin which the Tree Hugger will empty out at the end of class.

  Each table also has wet towels so the Polisher/Dryer can clean at the end of class.

This is my counter by the door. The paint can has passes for the students. The students sign out on the cookie sheet, as they are leaving (in case of fire drills).

When they come back, they erase their name.

My student teacher made all of the passes.











My faculty is very generous when I ask for donations. I have set up bins outside of my room so that they can drop off anything that they are bringing to the artroom.

They children have learned that when they are doing projects, they are welcome to check the bins for any materials that might fit their needs.

Even teachers have come and used materials for their lessons.

 An easel that I have outside of my room with my daily objectives written.

I learned quickly that it needed to be covered. Little fingers love dry erase boards! I bought clear shower curtains and cut them to fit and then used Velcro dots to attach it to the easel.






I know all of you receive artwork that the children have done at home. I never have a place to display this artwork, so this year, I created a bulletin board, just for that special artwork that the children take time to create at home.

 Projects from last year that I saved for displaying this year: African drums and Australian didgeridoos.

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