Ever-so-helpful Art on a Cart tips and tricks!

This year, like many art teachers across the land, I've been displaced due to Covid restrictions.  Once again I am forced to manage a days worth of art making onto four wheels.

Oh man, teaching art on a cart sucks.  I've written about that before, but I never really explored the actual tangibility and organization that goes into actually teaching on a cart here on the blog.  Here are my helpful tips and tricks from unfortunately many years of experience.

Things on my cart at all the time during Covid restrictions:

• Pencils (if they need one I let them keep it)
• Sharpies with two containers. They return them to the “used” container when they are done.  I usually wipe them with a wipe when I need them again.
• Tape
• White Glue (This is mostly for my demonstrations since I hate glue sticks)
• Glue sticks ( I have a million. I keep a box on the cart and if a kid doesn’t have glue I just let them keep it)
• Scissors  (I have adult scissors and an assortment of random kid scissors.  Again, I have a million, so depending on the kid, I just let them keep them.  So many times this year students will tell me they do not have glue and scissors.  This is rarely the case.  Usually their desks, backpacks, coats, and crates strapped to their desks are so full and such a mess that they don't want to look for them.  My response lately is, "I guess you just have to sit there then" and miraculously they find them.
• wipes/paper towels/Kleenex
• Magnets
• A few crayon boxes. (These are my plastic boxes of random crayons.  This time of year they are missing a lot of colors.  I will just give them the crayon to keep if they need it.)
• Sorted Oil Pastels with two containers - like if we are using white, I pass them out then have them return them to a “used” bin to quarantine for a few days
• A box of “Free Draw” paper. My kids have sketchbooks but since they have been with them all year in the classroom, they are mostly all filled up. I keep the shoebox of paper for early finishers.
• Regular 80lb paper and some construction paper for projects. (I try to bring what I need, but in case of emergency’s I have extra on the cart.
• Your computer, class rosters, water bottle.  These need a place on your cart, even though they probably go with you.  I got a water bottle with a pop up straw so I can just tuck it under my mask to drink!

I set up two carts at the school I'll be teaching at in April.  One for upstairs, one for downstairs.  Both of these carts are pretty small and not ideal, but we are hoping the situation is temporary!

Things in my apron

Over the summer I sewed an apron.  I edited the template a little and made big giant pockets.  It's been great, and now I realized I need another one for my other school beginning there art cart life... but I don't want to give up an entire day sewing another one.  So, I got this one off Amazon.  

• Pencil
• Notepad (for writing notes to teachers about stinkers, or more commonly writing words on if a kid needs to spell something 😂)
• Bandaids
• Sharpie
• Hand sanitizer/hand lotion
• White board marker ( I usually erase with a paper towel)
• Magnets
• Big rubber eraser. 
• Usually a pair of kid scissors too for easy access
• Keys or ID.
• My phone - my schedule is crazy.  I literally set recurring alarms for every class for when it is clean-up time.  Which, isn’t fun on a Monday when we don’t have school… But, it helps a lot. The kids know that means it is clean-up time and hopefully that gets me able to move to my next class in a timely fashion.  Although, it’s impossible to end one class at 11am, when the next one starts at 11am.  Especially when teachers are super slow coming back to the room.

Not to be a downer, because who knows how long this situation will last, but lots of people will try to convince you that art on a cart is fine.  It's not.  Delicately complain that your students are not getting a quality art program as often as you can.

Yes, kids can do amazing things while you are teaching off of a cart.  No, you shouldn't just sacrifice your skills and decide the projects are going to be crap all year.  However; you are going to make yourself crazy trying to do the same things you once did in your classroom off of a cart.  You will be disappointed and frustrated.  

Then you will get used to it.  Don't forget though, this is not how it should be.

More tips:

I still have access to my art room - which is great!  I do all my planning in there, eat my lunch, and use it as my home base throughout the day.  I have taught on a cart where I didn't have a "home base". I would shove my coat and purse in a storage closet or weird filing cabinet in the hallway.  That is definitely not ideal.

I use a plastic 10 x 13" sorting tray for each class to keep all of their project stuff in.  I have a little alcove of supplies where I park my cart.  If I’m not seeing that particular class, I will leave their bin in the alcove area.  I also put some milk crate things there that hold the other supplies we’ve needed more routinely like sorted cups of (like warm and cool colors), boxes of colored pencils (I have enough so they do not have to share). I also have a bin with watercolor stuff that I can pick up and take to a room.  It has my wc brushes, paint sets, a roll of paper towels, water cups, and a pitcher since we don’t have sinks in our rooms.  This is also a problem when a whole class has dirty hands from pastels.  I’ve been using the wipes and have them clean their hands then table with the wipes.  If I’m out of baby wipes or Wet Ones - I have given them the Clorox wipes and said they were for “Fingertips” and tables since they aren’t supposed to be used to wash up skin.  

If you do decide to water color paint - my best solution so far has been to pass everything out then walk around with the water pitcher to fill cups - like a waitress filling up drinks.  When they are done I have them “carry their painting like a pizza” and put it on the dry rack I have in the hall.  It is a small stand alone rack and I have it centrally located in the hallway outside the younger kids’ rooms.  I let the big kids just walk to it when they are done. Then I can clean up their stuff.  I dump all the dirty water back into the pitcher and stack the cups etc.  None of my classrooms have a sink.

Passing out other supplies, or letting kids choose things has become pretty much nonexistent.  I have spread papers out and try to call them up individually to pick a piece- but they touch everything. They can’t make up their mind, then they want to change it, etc…. With the little kids, if it’s random colors or something- I just past them out randomly.  I don’t even let it be known that they have a choice.  With the older kids I’ve walked around and made them tell me what they wanted and I gave it to them and tell them they can’t exchange it.  For a few construction paper projects I’ve actually divided papers and things into baggies or clipped them, and passed them out like that.  Then I know they all have the right sizes/colors.

Another not so flexible thing is if kids have been absent.  I have more unfinished projects than usual because I may not have the supplies with me they need and there isn’t extra time for them to finish.  My older kids who have had to quarantine have been good about doing their work at home since it’s on their google classroom anyway.

When I taught on a cart before, each classroom teacher had a box in their classroom for all of the projects we had been working on.  Like a large flat portfolio box.  This was nice because I could also keep resources and things in it and had a little more control with what was going on.  I didn’t want to be touching or passing stuff out this year at all so I got the kids these 11 x 17” folders to keep next to their desks.  They all have crates strapped to their desks to hold stuff since we are not using lockers.  The folder fits good between the crate and desk.  At the end of the year they will just take them home with all their stuff inside.

Because the desks are spread out you will probably not be able to wheel the cart into the room and you will probably not have any counter space, and everyone’s technology will be set up differently in every room.  

And one last thing...If you haven’t been with the kids too much when they are wearing masks, you might find that you do not know who is talking to you- like ever. I still hear a question and look directly at the wrong kid to answer it. 🤷‍♀️