Last day, "Your Art Room's a Mess!" $6 .pdf download on TeachersPayTeachers!

Today is the final day to get your own digital copy of "Your Art Room's a Mess!" for a mere $6.  If you are on the fence, peruse these free chapters and see if you find it useful.

Management Plan
Behavior Plan
Student Area
Teacher Storage Area
Pencils
Erasers
Scissors
Glue
Crayons

There are 24 more sections after this. 

If you like what you've read, this is your last day to get the complete book as a .pdf download from TeachersPayTeachers for only $6.00!  Whippee!  (or go ahead and download the iBooks version for 11.99)  The sale will ends today.  Thank you so much!

Your Art Room's A Mess! New reduced price for a limited time!

I hope you have been enjoying the free samples of my book, "Your Art Room's A Mess!"  

Here are the links to all the free chapters:

Management Plan
Behavior Plan
Student Area
Teacher Storage Area
Pencils
Erasers
Scissors
Glue
Crayons

Can you believe there are 24 more sections after this!? There are, and they are all beautifully illustrated.  

If you like what you've read, you can now get the complete book as a .pdf download from TeachersPayTeachers for only $6.00!  Whippee!  (or go ahead and download the iBooks version for 11.99)  The sale will end on 2/11/14.  Thank you so much!

Free chapter: Your Art Room's a Mess: Crayons

Here is an excerpt from  "Your Art Room's a Mess" available on ITunes.

Crayons

What is this used for?

• Drawing and coloring pictures.

How should this supply be stored?

• In their original boxes in a storage cabinet.
• And in bins, bags, caddies, or boxes in the Student Area.

How should this supply be distributed?

• Crayons from the teacher’s storage area should be distributed by the teacher after instructions.
• Crayons in the Student Area can be retrieved and distributed by table helpers or the teacher after instructions.

What is the student going to do with this supply?

• Break them.
• Peel off the label.
• Lose them.
• Carve into them with their scissors.
• Bite them.

Are there any special concerns with this supply?

• Kids like to use new special crayons better than old broken crayons.

• The sharpeners in the back of large crayon boxes should be removed or students will shove crayons into them and break them.

I love when my students color a picture with crayons.  I think they are beautiful and rich.  The colors are vibrant and I love the look so much more then markers.  But, students are not crayon fans.  They love paints and markers way more.  They get to use crayons all the time at home or in the regular classroom, so I do tend to limit their use in the art room. Even so, I do purchase a new box of 64 count crayons for each table every year.  

Kids like new boxes of crayons, and they like using them.  I keep the new boxes separate and only take them out for the projects we do together as a class.  I take the sharpeners out of the back before I give them to the students.  Most of the kids do not know how to use the sharpeners, or what they are for, and at a K-5 level a lot of your crayons will end up broken if they try to sharpen them.  

I have “old” crayons available at all times in my Student Area.  The “old” crayons are the previous years boxes of 64 count crayons dumped into bins (like old baby wipes containers.)  They are housed in the Student Area at all times for the kids to use for free draw time or during free art studio time.

Just like with any other supply, the student has to be taught how to treat the crayon respectfully and use it appropriately.  It may seem like something they should know since they have been using them since preschool, but little reminders go a long way.

If you like what you've read here, check out other free chapters:
Management Plan
Behavior Plan
Student Area
Teacher Storage Area
Pencils
Erasers
Scissors
Glue






Or download the whole book on iTunes or TeachersPayTeachers

Another free chapter of my ebook, Your Art Room's a Mess: Glue

Here is another excerpt from  "Your Art Room's a Mess" available on ITunes.

White Glue

What is this used for?

• Putting objects together.

How should this supply be stored?

• In the Student Area in color-coded cans, bins, or caddies.

How should this supply be distributed?

• Table helpers can retrieve or the teacher can pass it out after directions are given.

What is the student going to do with this supply?

• Not know how to open it.
• Not know how to unclog it.
• Put it on their palm to peel off after it dries.
• Use too much on their project (because it is fun to watch it pour out.)
• Use the correct amount, but then go back and add more.
• Thinking a bottle is empty when it is still half full.

Are there any special concerns with this supply?

• Teaching the students how to open and close their own glue bottle as well as how to unclog it is a great time saver.
• Students need to be taught how to use this supply appropriately in the art room.

Glue is what keeps projects together!  White glue works fantastic.  I have never found a glue stick I have been happy with.  They never seem to hold projects and the children’s fingers get too sticky.

Instead of keeping all the glue bottles together in one big bin or carryall, I divide it up in color-coded cans per table.  So, if there were six chairs at the “green” table, I would keep six bottles of glue in the green glue can.  I keep all of the cans in the student area.  This keeps students from digging around for the fullest bottle or one that is unclogged.

If the glue is not used very often or you travel to several schools it will undoubted have to be unclogged for every class, and for almost every kid.  Teaching the student how to open, close, and unclog his or her own bottle is important.  If a student has a bottle that isn’t working tell them to close the glue, pick off the little dry part on top, then open it back up.  This will unclog about ½ the bottles in the room.  Be mindful of the student who unscrews the whole white part off the bottle!  Also, be certain to remind students at clean up time to close their bottles and this will help with clogs.

For the other half that are still having trouble you can pull off the orange nib and poke out the dried glue with a bent paper clip or a blunt tapestry needle. I usually wipe the mess on my apron and keep the tapestry needle tied to my keys where it is always handy.

The other fun that white glue presents; like using too much, or using it in inappropriate places, are just behaviors that need to be taught to your students.  If you do not tell them what the expectations are like, “a dot is a lot!”  They are not going to know.

If you like what you've read here, check out other free chapters:
Management Plan
Behavior Plan
Student Area
Teacher Storage Area
Pencils
Erasers
Scissors





Or download the whole book on iTunes or TeachersPayTeachers

Your Art Room's A Mess: Scissors

Here is another excerpt from  "Your Art Room's a Mess" available on ITunes.

Scissors

What is this used for?

• Cutting paper, cardboard, yarn, felt…anything and everything in the art room!

How should this supply be stored?

• In color-coded cups, cans, or bins in the Student Area.  Only enough scissors should be in each cup for each child that sits at a table.

How should this supply be distributed?

• Table helpers can retrieve the cups, cans, or bins for their table or the teacher can pass them out after instructions are given.

What is the student going to do with this supply?

• If there is one pair that is different from the rest, every child will want that pair.  The color of the handle and the blades should match if possible.
• Teach the student how to use scissors appropriately.  Do not assume that a student knows better than to cut their shirt, their hair, or their classmates hair.  They need to be taught that this is not acceptable.

Are there any special concerns with this supply?

• It is worth it to buy more expensive student scissors and hold on to them longer.
• Old scissors can be used for specific media like plaster gauze, or metalworking.

Scissors are kept in the Student Area in color-coded cups.  If a table has six seats, they get six pairs of scissors.  One thing that makes things just a little bit easier is to make sure all six of those pairs have the same color handle.  Not necessarily the table color… just all the same color.  In fact, if you have 25 pairs of scissors with the same color handle, that is golden.  It may never happen, I am still working on it!  When you buy a class pack of scissors they come in an assortment of colors and even though you can finagle them as you pass them out to each table, or have them in each cup, it is still a point of contention!  I once had one old-fashioned metal pair of lefty scissors kicking around my Student Area.    Every child who came up to get scissors would try to get the rusty old metal pair with green handles.  The student was not left-handed and had no reason for needing that pair other than it being different.  It would cause arguments, which ultimately would end in a student finding out the scissors did not work for them anyway.  Modern children’s scissors work for lefties and righties. 

Scissors are worth the investment.  If you buy 25-30 pairs of cheap scissors, you will probably be buying 25-30 pairs of new ones the next year.  As I have replenished scissors over the years I keep my “old” scissors for use with other specific media.  For instance, I have a full set (about 25 pairs) to use only with plaster of Paris gauze.  A few pairs are used solely to cut aluminum.

If you like what you've read here, check out other free chapters:
Management Plan
Behavior Plan
Student Area
Teacher Storage Area
Pencils
Erasers




Or download the whole book on iTunes or TeachersPayTeachers

Your Art Room's a Mess: Erasers

Here is an excerpt from  "Your Art Room's a Mess" available on ITunes.

Erasers

What is this used for?

• To erase pencil marks.

How should this supply be stored?

• In a bowl, bin, or pencil case near the pencils and pencil sharpeners.

How should this supply be distributed?

• Students come and retrieve or they are passed out with pencils.

What is the student going to do with this supply?

• Use their pencil tip to poke holes in it, write their name on it, crack and break it into pieces.

Are there any special concerns with this supply?

• Erasers have the tendency to disappear.  Keep track of how many you have and teach your students how to properly use and care for the erasers so they last longer.

For younger students who are just learning the rules of sharing, I give each child their own eraser.  For the upper levels, I only give one eraser per table.  I only leave out the 6 erasers thus eliminating sticky fingers and the keeping track of too many.  If we only have 6 to look after, everyone takes pretty good care of them.  I mark which table they belong too with a permanent marker.

Students generally like to destroy erasers and this accounts for many disappearances.  It is important that they understand how to use them correctly.  It is also important to explain to students that if the erasers get ruined, the classroom just won’t have any left to use.  I implemented a system with my older students where they would have to buy a new eraser if their tables got ruined.  They used positive behavior tickets they received throughout school.  The system worked great!

If you like what you've read here, check out other free chapters:
Management Plan
Behavior Plan
Student Area
Teacher Storage Area
Pencils



Or download the whole book on iTunes or TeachersPayTeachers

Your Art Room's a Mess: Pencils.

Here is another excerpt from  "Your Art Room's a Mess" available on ITunes.

Pencils

What is this used for?

• Used almost every class period for writing names on papers or drawing.

How should this supply be stored?

• In a centrally accessible area, sharpened and ready for students at the beginning of class.

How should this supply be distributed?

• Students come and retrieve, or they are passed out after directions.

What is the student going to do with this supply?

• Tap on the table like a drumstick, roll across the table, blow it across the table or break the tip.

Are there any special concerns with this supply?

• Keep several sharpened pencils on hand so that if a pencil breaks, the student can just exchange it for a sharp one.
• Do not let students sharpen their pencils and keep sharpeners out of sight.

One supply your students will probably use every single week will be a pencil. Having students bringing them sounds like the most ideal.  Even having pencils on the tables as students enter, or passed out at the very top of class seems to make the most sense.  But, some students play with their pencils constantly at their table while you are giving directions.  Rolling it to the kid across from them, blowing it back and forth, tapping it like a drumstick, tossing it, biting it, this is why it is not a good idea to have students bring a pencil with them, or pass them out while you are trying to teach.  If it is one child being disruptive with the pencil, a hand on the shoulder or a look, or taking the pencil away for 5 minutes is a quick fix….when it got to be all 23 first graders tapping and rolling…I thought, “I need new strategy!”

I have a really good electric pencil sharpener that only I use.  I can usually sharpen about 40 pencils in 2 minutes.  I am in the habit of sharpening a whole pencil case full of pencils once per day.  If  I know I will not have time, I ask a student to sharpen them at the end of their class.  When it is time to write our names on our papers, I give each student a sharp pencil and their own pink eraser.  None of the pencils have erasers on them anymore, they’ve been quickly used up or broken off!  If in the course of the hour the student’s pencil breaks they bring it up to the pencil 

case and trade it for a sharp one.  I have tried cute things like a red cup for dull pencils, and a green cup for sharp ones which sometimes works.  No one is allowed to sharpen pencils.  My nice sharpeners are hidden from view.  They are covered with a decorative box.  There is already so much action and activity in the art room the pencil sharpener often became another distraction.  Even if a child didn’t need to sharpen their pencil a line would form and much time would be wasted.  I even tried telling the kids I would sharpen their pencils for them but then I was simply walking around sharpening pencils for an hour or exhaustedly telling them they didn’t need sharpening.  When we are using colored pencils for a project I open the pencil sharpeners and allow students to use them during studio time.  I lay down the guidelines and only have them open for short amounts of time.

If you like what you've read here, check out other free chapters:
Management Plan
Behavior Plan
Student Area
Teacher Storage Area


Or download the whole book on iTunes or TeachersPayTeachers

Your Art Room's a Mess: Teacher Storage Area

In July of 2013, "Your Art Room's a Mess" was published on iTunes.  It was written to help the new or disorganized art teacher get a handle on their room and supplies.  "Your Art Room's A Mess" teaches you:
•What an art supply is used for
•How it should be stored
•How it should be distributed
AND
•What your elementary student is going to do with it.
All this in a quick reference style accompanied by real experiences from the art room.  

I have decided to share some sections from "Your Art Room's A Mess" right here on my blog.  Enjoy!

Teacher Storage Area

Keeping students away from things they should not have their hands on, or rather—keeping these things out of their way during work time—is another way to successfully manage your classroom.  Supplies in the art room are everywhere and in a great abundance.  Most supplies should be kept away from students and be placed in the teacher’s storage area.  This would preferably be in drawers, cabinets, and closets.  However, many classrooms are not equipped with the type of storage necessary for an art room. The teacher’s storage areas may be a bookshelf with a curtain or a counter covered in a box.  They should be covered, draped, and kept separate as much as possible from the student area.  If students see supplies, their tendency is to want to use it.  Students should know which areas are off limits to them.  It is important to draw boundaries so that students do not take advantage of using extra supplies or taking supplies they were not supposed to.  It may not bother you if one student takes an extra sheet of 12” x 18” 80lb. drawing paper without asking, or even if 10 students do, but before you know it the ream will be gone and you will not have it when you need it. 

If you like what you've read here, check out other free chapters:
Management Plan
Behavior Plan
Student Area


Or download the whole book on iTunes or TeachersPayTeachers

Your Art Room's A Mess: Student Area

In July of 2013, "Your Art Room's a Mess" was published on iTunes.  It was written to help the new or disorganized art teacher get a handle on their room and supplies.  "Your Art Room's A Mess" teaches you:
•What an art supply is used for
•How it should be stored
•How it should be distributed
AND
•What your elementary student is going to do with it.
All this in a quick reference style accompanied by real experiences from the art room.  

I have decided to share some sections from "Your Art Room's A Mess" right here on my blog.  Enjoy!

Student Area

One successful strategy to use in a classroom management plan is the creation of a student area.  Each classroom should have a place where the students can be responsible for the supplies.  The student area is home to glue cans, scissor cups, and crayon bins.  During lessons, a table helper can be assigned to go retrieve these 

My Student Area is a repurposed bookshelf.

items from the student area.  My student areas have often been brightly colored bookshelves or a labeled place where the students know distinctly where to go.   The student area is also home to a couple of other student supplies.  A box of free draw paper, drawing books, coloring books, a box of scrap paper and a marker bin.  The students are in charge of keeping these boxes and supplies neat and tidy.  They are out all the time.  If a child finishes a project early or earns free art studio time they are allowed to use any of these supplies but they must make sure they get put away properly, or that privilege may be revoked.

If you like what you've read here, check out other free chapters:
Management Plan
Behavior Plan

Or download the whole book on iTunes or TeachersPayTeachers

Your Art Room's a Mess: Behavior Plan

In July of 2013, "Your Art Room's a Mess" was published on iTunes.  It was written to help the new or disorganized art teacher get a handle on their room and supplies.  "Your Art Room's A Mess" teaches you:
•What an art supply is used for
•How it should be stored
•How it should be distributed
AND
•What your elementary student is going to do with it.
All this in a quick reference style accompanied by real experiences from the art room.  

I have decided to share some sections from "Your Art Room's A Mess" right here on my blog.  Enjoy!

Behavior Plan: 

Art class gets a bad rap.  The non-traditional classroom set-up and unstructured work time is often perceived by others as crazy non-productive free time.  We know this not to be true, but the key is convincing others that you truly are the most important part of your students’ week and vital to their education.  As the art educator in your building you also have to be the art advocate.  Having a behavior plan and keeping the behaviors in check is essential.  Because of the non-traditional set-up and unstructured work time, elementary students can easily get carried away and it could easily turn into crazy non-productive free time!

Have a behavior plan.  Make sure you follow it.  Philosophies and school districts differ, but start the year with a behavior plan and stick with it.  Are you keeping points for clean and well-behaved tables?  Do you follow the school’s established rules?  Does the classroom teacher’s plan carry into your room?  It doesn’t matter what the plan is.  Have one and stick with it.  

Putting a poster on the bulletin board with a list of rules to follow is not a behavior plan.  Clearly and concisely put forth the consequences and rewards for behaviors in the art room.  If you can have the classroom teacher and administrators full support, the better.  Be sure the plan is visible and refer to it often.  

Some suggestions on behavior plans:

Have the students list the POSITIVE qualities of an art student and of an art teacher.  Make these the basis for the positive behaviors that should be happening at all times in the art room.  Make yourself accountable too.

Have students work together in small groups or together with their team to earn rewards for positive behaviors.  Use clipboards with seating charts or color-coded graphs to keep tallies.  If you start a system like this, keep it up.  Students will hold you accountable for rewards.

Intermediate students earn “Art Stars” and compete against the other classes.

Use tickets, bucks, or points to pit class against class in the race to good behavior.  Make a chart or poster showing which class is in the lead.  Make the winning class earn something small but valuable.

Possible art class rewards could be:

• A treasure box of toys, pencils, erasers, stickers, or sketchbooks.
• Free art studio time is a favorite, but only dole out limited minutes at a time.  Too much time with free draw paper, markers, and coloring can make students restless.
• Art games like Pictionary, Win-Lose-or Draw, or Art Memory are favorites too.  Students can earn time to play these games.
• An unplanned project with a fun media.  Fifth graders finger painting?  Fifteen minutes with modeling clay? 
• Art movies are also a great motivator.  Short cartoons about an artists life, a how to draw video with a fun host, or a video the class makes all together!

Working towards something fun will make it worth working towards.

If you like what you've read here, check out other free chapters:
Management Plan

Or download the whole book on iTunes or TeachersPayTeachers

Your Art Room's a Mess: Management Plan

In July of 2013, "Your Art Room's a Mess" was published on iTunes.  It was written to help the new or disorganized art teacher get a handle on their room and supplies.  "Your Art Room's A Mess" teaches you:
•What an art supply is used for
•How it should be stored
•How it should be distributed
AND
•What your elementary student is going to do with it.
All this in a quick reference style accompanied by real experiences from the art room.  

I have decided to share some sections from "Your Art Room's A Mess" right here on my blog.  Enjoy!

Management Plan

Before you even start to think about the projects your students are going to make and the curriculum that is going to fill an entire school year, think about how they are going to get to their seats and start class each week.

Without a plan for management many projects will be incomplete.  A management plan and behavior plan are very similar.  Think of the management plan as the routine you set up week after week to manage your student behaviors.  There are many different philosophies and routines that teachers like to follow.  Picture what you want your elementary art classroom to look like.

Will students enter and sit in their seats silently ready for instructions or discussion?

Will students get supplies first and work independently?

Will students begin in circle time sitting on the rug away from tables and supplies?

Whichever routine you choose—make sure your students learn it and adhere to it.  Teach it to them, and practice it each week.

When projects are ready to begin, supplies will always have to be distributed and students may need to be called up in small groups or by table.  Having the groups or tables distinguishable by a different color is an easy way to group students.  This is also an easy way to divide up supplies that are necessary for that group.  It is a time saver if the supplies are all divided and ready to go.  This is part of your management plan because it will keep only a few students out of their seats at a time retrieving or returning supplies.  It is never a good idea for an entire class to be out of their seats at once! 

Keeping supplies available for student use ready and accessible will save time and help manage behaviors.  Supplies that are not necessary for a particular project, expensive, or limited should be kept out of the students’ sight.  Streamline the classroom for what is happening that day.

What do you want your elementary art classroom to look like when the classroom teacher comes to pick up his or her students after art?

Everyone standing silently in line ready to go back to class?

Everyone running around with wet sponges, crawling on the floor picking up scraps, knocking over chairs, and chasing each other?

Your management plan along with your behavior plan will help paint a picture of the perfect classroom.

Art Classroom Organization: a work in progress and how I almost spent aweekend locked in a storage closet.

I literally wrote the book on art classroom organization and setting up and distributing supplies.  But, I still get thrown for a loop sometimes.

My classroom at my intermediate building is BEAUTIFUL.  It is big, it is freshly painted, I have a rug, I have a student computer, it is perfect.  I can't help but get happy when I walk in.

The problem is the lack of storage.  I have one row of tall cabinets, and a short metal cabinet.  There is some storage under the sink, and a small closet and storage space built in to the side.  Plus - the room is so big (boo hoo), it is kind of pain to have things on either end.  For a regular classroom, this would be plenty - for the art room it lacks a lot.

I have done well with using an old desk as counter space, makeshift bookshelves for paper storage, a table for my paper trimmer...etc.  It looks a little mish-mashed and garage saley, but it has been working.

Oh, did I neglect to mention the storage closet I have upstairs?  Yes, about 100 feet away and up 18 steps is my own special, locked storage room.  This has been a great place to dump EVERYTHING.  Someone gives me a bag of weird Styrofoam?  Throw it upstairs.  Four bags of fabric scrap?  Throw it upstairs.  Newspapers?  Curling ribbon?  You name it.  I would also store legitimate stuff up there too.  Extra construction paper, 18 x 24" anything, pastels, glue, and a ton of embellishments.  It's been a nuisance when I have to run up there in the middle of a class, but it has been a great catch-all.

This is when the storage room was filled to the brim!  I stored EVERYTHING in here when my room was being refurbished.

The art storage room has been in place for decades.I deduced this from what I have found in there.  It is dirty and weird with a small staircase and platform, and shelves on every wall.  One summer I returned to find the ceiling had caved in and rain and plaster had ruined a giant bag of fabric and reams and reams of manila paper.  Another time I was tiptoeing around the platform trying to retrieve the tapestry samples off of a top shelf.  I lost my balance and totally fell off of the odd staircase.  Kids fall off stuff all the time, but when a adult falls, man, that hurts. Ka-boom. I  laid on the filthy floor cursing and wanting to cry. As I writhed in pain in my little locked room, a thought dawned on me.  No one knows where I am.  My classes were done for the day.  no one is ever looking for me.  I was certain I would be stuck there all weekend crying and broken.  A minute or two later I got up and was okay.  I was just bruised. I alerted the other teachers to look for me there if they ever can't find me!

At the beginning of this school year my principal asked if I would be able to clear out my storage room so they could use it for something else.  I told her no.  I explained that I didn't have any other storage in my classroom left.  She assured me we could get new storage cabinets...and so the process began.

Once my cabinets arrived, I was charged with the task of filling them and emptying my storage room. This has made my classroom a complete mess. I am a little particular about having certain media together, easy access to things that are used a lot, and things out of the view of kids.  (Like I said, I literally wrote the book on this!) I have already spent a lot time moving things around from one place to another.  And you better believe it drives me crazy if things look like they have been shoved in the cabinet all weird.

I did throw away a bunch of stuff.  The 1970s Art Waxer, the ancient stinky dropclothes, the IKEA stool with bendy legs. It has helped.  However; I can't bring myself to throw away the bags and bags of fabric (even though we never use fabric for anything).  The 1950's linoleum squares (fifth grade cutting linoleum?)!  The finger paint (fifth grade finger painting?)!! I can't get rid of the rocks, shells, and sand either (used them once in 7 years).  The Styrofoam boards will one day be perfect for something!  And those Ukulele boxes - perfect for sarcophagi! AND all that mat board scrap! all that mat board scrap....

Now, I know why I wrote the book on art class organization - art teachers have a lot of weird stuff.  It might not be the lack of storage in my classroom, rather the crazy amount of supplies I hoard.  I fully intend to have a home for everything soon - and it will be handy, and it will be fabulous.

Stuff brought down from the storage closet.

Seven things of glitter.  Art teachers hate glitter.

Organizing class projects that are in-progress.

I am fortunate to teach at two schools that are grade-level centers. Therefore, I only need to have three grades prepped at a time- depending on what building I am in.  Even with only three lessons going at a time- my room was usually messy. Counter space is limited, and I was often frustrated that my lesson files, examples, and lesson specific supplies were in piles all over the room.

I started putting lesson supplies in grade level boxes to stack and store on my counter. I got a stack of fruit/veggie boxes from Costco and labeled them. Now, everything is handy for the next week.  When that class comes in I spread out their supplies on the counter, then return them to the box when I am done.  When a unit is finished, I empty the box and start again.

Easy way to organize your dry rack. Color coded place mats!

My students are all ready in the habit of bringing their small wet work of art up to the dry rack on a place mat.  Many of the projects my intermediate students create are smaller, and they fall through the rack causing mass chaos.  My dry racks only hold work up to 12" x 18".  For years I have reused 12" x 18" construction paper  to do the job.

I just figured out a way to keep the dry rack neat and make passing back artwork a breeze.  Color-coded place mats!  If you sit at the red table, you get a red placemat, if you sit at the green table, you get a green one.... when they bring them up to the rack, I can sort them immediately by table as I put them to dry - or older students just put them on by themselves.  When they are dry, I can easily discern what folder to put them in.

It is working great and saving loads of time passing back work!

Table and Classroom Signs with a Graffiti/Monuments of the World theme now available on Teachers Pay Teachers

My classroom theme for this year is "Monuments of the World" and I chose some graffiti fonts to kind of fit in with my new signs.  I spent a few hours downloading, cutting, and pasting in PhotoShop to make these new decorations.

This set includes 1 .pdf file with twenty-one 8.5 x 11 signs
The signs are:
Art
Art News
Goals
Warm Colors
Cool Colors
Neutral Colors
Complementary Colors

The color-coded/double sided signs for labeling classroom tables are:

Red, The Taj Mahal
Orange, The Eiffel Tower
Yellow, The Colosseum
Green, Big Ben
Blue, Christ the Redeemer
Violet, Statue of Liberty

and Bonus Black with Pink, The Sphinx

Once printed, these can be mounted on construction paper or tagboard and hang above your classroom tables.

Movin' on up.

I have had to pack up and move my art room a million times. This year was no exception.  In the spring I had to pack up everything in my first floor, main hallway art room so that everything can moved directly upstairs.

This is now my fourth room, in five years.  The two years I kept the same room, I still had to pack it up since it was getting refurbished! I would like to complain more about all the packing and unpacking and moving... but 6 & 7 years ago, I didn't have a room at all and schlepped around on a dinky cart.

As long as I have a room, I'd move every month.

Here is my room all packed up and ready to be moved.

And here is all my stuff ready to be unpacked in my new room!

It hasn't been too difficult unpacking just yet.  The rooms are nearly identical so things have been progressing fast.  One great thing about this room is the bright colors!  I love it!  I also kind of like not being in the main hallway anymore either (so crowded and noisy all the time!)- but my hallway art will not get as big of an audience.

AND, did you notice my brand new PROMETHEAN BOARD!  I have been begging for one of these for 2 years.  I am psyched.  I want to start writing some interactive activities right now. I got one in my intermediate building too!  I'll be sure to share!

"Your Art Room's a Mess!" Now available in .pdf

Not everyone has an iPad and is able to access my new eBook, and I don't want those people to be stuck with disorganized art rooms and rambunctious students!
I've made "Your Art Room's A Mess!" available in my TeachersPayTeachers store as a .pdf download. It's a little more expensive this way, 'cause TPT takes a big cut.  The .pdf version can be read on many devices and even printed!  All 107 pages.

Thanks for checking it out.