Well, this is it. Tomorrow is the first day of school, and I'm running towards it full tilt boogie.
The last week and a half has been a whirlwind of classroom prep. I found out at the end of last term that I was going to be moving classrooms again and that I would be moving into the music teacher's room, as it has a sink. Okay. Student Minions, move my stuff!
The only problem? The music teacher was out for knee surgery and had no idea. Fast forward to now.
When I arrived at school a week and a half ago, it was depressingly obvious that the music teacher hadn't stepped foot inside her classroom since June. (On a side note, this wasn't her fault what with physical therapy and, later, a laid up vehicle to contend with.) So of course, I couldn't start setting up my classroom just yet. Once the Boss Lady determined where to put the music teacher, I hauled every last bit of her stuff to her new room--which, sadly, also had everything still in it, but that's another story all-together.
Finally, I was able to start working on my room. And boy, was there a lot to do. I worked late all week, about 9 hours yesterday, and a few hours today. It paid off, as I am basically ready for school to start (although I'm still waiting on the other half of my chairs). The only thing that didn't get done was laminating stuff, such as a few center signs and the numbers and such for the calendar mural I painted. Apparently the laminator's tension is messed up, and since I don't have clue one how to fix it, I'm gonna have to wait.
On the calendar mural:
One of the discoveries I made about my classroom this year involved a section of whiteboard near the window. Because this section was covered with paper, my first thought was that it was weird but kinda interesting to have a whiteboard and bulletin board sharing a frame. But when I took the paper off, it wasn't a bulletin board! For some reason, the whiteboard had been removed in that spot leaving the Masonite backing.
Why this was done, I have no clue. It seemed fairly useless. Now, since I had run out of bulletin board (I have a blank section, but this is intentional as I use it as a backdrop to photograph student artwork) and wall space in general, I had nowhere to hang my calendar. So I thought, I've got a ton of those little Velcro dots! I'll paint a calendar and use the Velcro to put up the numbers and month signs. And then, because that whiteboard is old, stained and just generally yucky to look at, I covered it with bright yellow paper and taped pictures to it.
Now back to your regularly scheduled programming...
Other Art Teacher and I got to sit down last week during PD and get some planning done for the first couple weeks. We're making a concentrated effort to align our curriculum this year, especially as we have plans to trade classrooms every so often to teach a lesson. For example, I would like Other Art Teacher to cover a lesson involving printmaking, whereas I might do something like clay or weaving. It should be fun, and I think the kids will enjoy it too.
So for week one of school, we plan to do a class activity wherein the kids get in groups and answer two questions: 1) What is an artist? 2)What would you like to create this year? We'll condense them onto one paper and hang 'em in the hall. Week two, we start on sketchbooks, which I will be storing in those brightly colored bins taking up three shelves of my bookcase.
Oh, and we also now get our kids for 60 minutes, so Other Art Teacher and I are very excited. Is anyone else starting tomorrow? Whether you are or not, here's hoping for a great first week!
A few pictures of my room for your viewing enjoyment:
The last week and a half has been a whirlwind of classroom prep. I found out at the end of last term that I was going to be moving classrooms again and that I would be moving into the music teacher's room, as it has a sink. Okay. Student Minions, move my stuff!
The only problem? The music teacher was out for knee surgery and had no idea. Fast forward to now.
When I arrived at school a week and a half ago, it was depressingly obvious that the music teacher hadn't stepped foot inside her classroom since June. (On a side note, this wasn't her fault what with physical therapy and, later, a laid up vehicle to contend with.) So of course, I couldn't start setting up my classroom just yet. Once the Boss Lady determined where to put the music teacher, I hauled every last bit of her stuff to her new room--which, sadly, also had everything still in it, but that's another story all-together.
Finally, I was able to start working on my room. And boy, was there a lot to do. I worked late all week, about 9 hours yesterday, and a few hours today. It paid off, as I am basically ready for school to start (although I'm still waiting on the other half of my chairs). The only thing that didn't get done was laminating stuff, such as a few center signs and the numbers and such for the calendar mural I painted. Apparently the laminator's tension is messed up, and since I don't have clue one how to fix it, I'm gonna have to wait.
On the calendar mural:
One of the discoveries I made about my classroom this year involved a section of whiteboard near the window. Because this section was covered with paper, my first thought was that it was weird but kinda interesting to have a whiteboard and bulletin board sharing a frame. But when I took the paper off, it wasn't a bulletin board! For some reason, the whiteboard had been removed in that spot leaving the Masonite backing.
Why this was done, I have no clue. It seemed fairly useless. Now, since I had run out of bulletin board (I have a blank section, but this is intentional as I use it as a backdrop to photograph student artwork) and wall space in general, I had nowhere to hang my calendar. So I thought, I've got a ton of those little Velcro dots! I'll paint a calendar and use the Velcro to put up the numbers and month signs. And then, because that whiteboard is old, stained and just generally yucky to look at, I covered it with bright yellow paper and taped pictures to it.
Now back to your regularly scheduled programming...
Other Art Teacher and I got to sit down last week during PD and get some planning done for the first couple weeks. We're making a concentrated effort to align our curriculum this year, especially as we have plans to trade classrooms every so often to teach a lesson. For example, I would like Other Art Teacher to cover a lesson involving printmaking, whereas I might do something like clay or weaving. It should be fun, and I think the kids will enjoy it too.
So for week one of school, we plan to do a class activity wherein the kids get in groups and answer two questions: 1) What is an artist? 2)What would you like to create this year? We'll condense them onto one paper and hang 'em in the hall. Week two, we start on sketchbooks, which I will be storing in those brightly colored bins taking up three shelves of my bookcase.
Oh, and we also now get our kids for 60 minutes, so Other Art Teacher and I are very excited. Is anyone else starting tomorrow? Whether you are or not, here's hoping for a great first week!
A few pictures of my room for your viewing enjoyment:
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| I've never tried painting realistic clouds before. It was fun and adds a little pizazz to that side of the room. |
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| The calendar mural. This was so much fun! I'm sad about the laminator; I wanna finish this thing! |
Nice job on getting your room together on such a short schedule. Your bulletin boards look wonderful. Have a great 1st week!
ReplyDeleteYour Aunt Pat loves the magic you did to create such a great room environment for your students.
ReplyDeleteHope the laminator is fixed by now, if not is there the one you can use at another school? An art store? I'm sending to you at schoolAug. 22 some more art books etc.