Sub in the Art Room? I try to make it not so scary!

February 13-14, 2014

Yesterday, I had my first sub at my new school.  I am usually very thorough with my lessons for a sub as the art room can be a scary place--especially if you aren't an artsy person!  I know the subs at this school have been here forever.  They know the kids all by name.  They know the schedule, the good, the bad and the ugly and every thing in between!  BUT, I still did my lessons the same.  As an art teacher, I want for people to know where things are.  I describe, in detail, how to do things.... how to turn the projector on and off, where the sketchbooks are located, etc.... very detailed.
This time I included photos since I have a new room and all new lovely things.  I made that part generic and plan on laminating it in my folder so it can always be used.  But, in case you are looking for photos and ideas on what you can leave for your substitute... meet my art room and my sub descriptions!
Dear Substitute:

Here is the daily class schedule.  And also the way I color code my grade levels.  Located right next to the front door.

Here's my document camera.  It has a button on the back that lights up when it's on.  Anything you want to project, you have to place it backwards from the way you are looking at it.  See Paintbrush report card above.

To turn on the projector, hit the red button one time.  To turn it off, press twice.
The projector remote is located at the top right corner of my bulletin board and is velcro'd there.

My behavior brushes.  If a class is great for you, leave it golden.  If you have problems, please remind them about behavior.  If you continue to have problems, the brush can be turned over to silver, or tarnished.

All supplies needed for the day will be in buckets.  It is all color coded (please excuse the yellow lid on the box.  It should be on the yellow table!)  The tape on the table shows table color.  The glue is labeled with a red tag and the scissors are red as well.  Markers are face down in the buckets so the ink stays at the tips.

You shouldn't be doing clay while I am not here!  I wouldn't do that to a substitute!  But... this cabinet houses all the stilts for the kiln and the clay tools.  It also holds the shelves for the kiln as well as other needed item for clay.

Glazes, Clay, molds, slab roller, extruder, and potters wheel are located on this side of the kiln room.  The glaze is for clay only.  Not for paper.

Free Draw paper, scrap construction paper, and floor clipboards/wipe off boards are kept in this area near the beige carpet and brown book cases.  There are also books if you run into a bind and need to read the kids a story!
The bottom crates are full of laminated images from calendars.  They are welcome to use those for reference materials!

This cabinet between the windows houses the daily projects.  Each drawer, labeled, is for a different day.
Inside, you will find folders for each grade level you see that day.

The folders are labeled with a grade number and a letter of the week.  So, this drawer shows Wednesday classes.  Each stack has a folder that corresponds to the tables.  That way you don't have to waste time passing out papers.  Just set the folders on the correct corresponding tables.  They can turn their papers in at the end of the period.

Posterboard cabinet.  Crayons show colors of posterboard inside.

This cabinet, between the sinks, is where the construction paper is housed.  Again, the colors on the outside tell you what colors are in each drawer.  Towards the bottom, are some various colors (brights).

Sinks:  For the Red and Yellow table student's to use.  Below towels, are cleaning supplies.

Sinks:  For the Green and Blue table student's to use.  Below towels, are cleaning supplies.

"Office"/Closet space.  Pardon the mess.  The hanging organizers have folders kept in there for student paperwork per grade.

Bookcases in the "office".  My "Screamer" named Violet on top.  I made her when I was in High School art class!  She's a little banged up, missing her teeth and fingernails, but she's made it this far, I think I'll keep her!  :)

"Office space"/closet space again.  Please excuse the mess.

After school duty:  Go out this side door and head to the front of the school. You'll monitor bike rack duty until kids get their bikes and head home.  (also, the drying rack is placed here.  Just don't open the door when it's windy and have projects fly away!

Before school duty:  In the cafeteria, you'll stand by these doors and greet kids as they get off the bus!  Don't get locked out!!

SO!  Who is ready to sub in the art room!?

Visual Arts Scholastic Event 2014 in Cypress, Texas

Saturday, January 8th--

I LOVE VASE.  I have worked the VASE art contest for the last 8 or 9 years, I would guess.  It is a magical place where thousands of kids bring the most amazing artworks to be judged by art judges who are equally impressed with the talent of these young high school kids!
Amazing I tell ya!  I usually work what is called "tabulations" which means I enter the scores from all the jury sheets for each piece of art.  Thousands of them!  Hoping that we can account for each one at the end.  I get to spend the day with the most wonderful people as well.
Loren and I have taught art since 2002 together and are the best of friends.  We share art ideas and know that the other is probably still awake at 3am.  Usually because I am just going to bed and he's just getting up!  He switched schools two years ago to be closer to home, so this is one of two events we count on to see each other again!
Crystal joined our district several years ago and hosted VASE at her campus where I got involved with it, maybe for the first time.  That year, I did qualifications--making sure all the art was following the rules before allowing it to go be judged.  Crystal is beyond amazing and such a hard worker (and has an adorable munchkin to boot!).  If she tells you it will be done, it will.  She's a great friend and one you want on your side!
Suzy retired last year.  She is an inspiration.  She has SO much energy.  She isn't going to give up on the art stuff either!  She actually started teaching at the previous school I worked at.  This year, she is TAEA President Elect, which means she oversees all the fabulous art teachers in Texas.  I'm so glad she worked in our district and that I can keep up with her.  She's got great ideas and tried and true ideas!  Just ask about using orange go-jo as hand soap in the art room!!!  :)

Love these guys!!!

VASE is the high school level art contest.  It allows students to bring in artwork and stand before a judge and explain the process, techniques, reasoning, and meaning of their artworks.  It's amazing to see.  Truly amazing artworks.  Jr. VASE is the middle school contest containing the same rules and process and TEAM is the elementary art contest.  Not only is it cool to see what the kids have created, but to see different lessons that art teachers teach.  A wealth of information and ideas all in one room.  I'll leave you with some images from the event.... Be prepared to drool!

Raku maybe?

Cloth Mache dragon

Ceramic Balls in bowl

Bleeded background with ink

This car was drawn on a map

Printmaking

Self Portrait done on cardboard

Paint on black.

Drawing.... yes, really.

Oil pastel

Asian inspired pottery.

The glazing on this is STUNNING!!!!

Monster Cloth Mache'

Made of cardboard

Mixed media vase with rope.  The flowers were beautiful!

Skittle portrait

This is done on slat board flooring!

Cool vase done in glaze and acrylic

Detail.  Wow!

This vase is HUGE!

COLLAGE!

This is canvas with shattered mirror on it.  The entire thing sags in the middle.  It was neat!

"One Piece" Collaborative School Wide Art Project

February 6th...

Thursday February 6th, I stayed late at school to install my first art project in the school.  A school wide mural including 700+ projects with every kiddo in the school represented by a single piece of art.
Let me start by saying, "WHAT WAS I THINKING!?"  :)  I taught the same lesson, 30 TIMES!!!  Oh my goodness!!!!  After day 2 and 10 classes, I thought.... wow.... what was I thinking!
I did this project with my middle school kids after listening to our district's superintendent, Dr. Klussmann,  gave a speech two years ago before school started.  He had a TED Talk which actually struck my fancy and struck a chord with what I do as a teacher.  The video features Erik Whitaker  and his Virtual Choir 2.0.  The concept was that Erik, a conductor, had people send in a youtube video of themselves singing a song that he had composed, with no music in their background.  He then took all the videos and had them edited into one glorious piece called "SLEEP".  He states early in the video, about him joining choir in college, "It was then that I realized I was a part of something so much more than myself."  That single sentence led me in the direction I wanted to teach my kids that year.  Giving back to the community, making your art something special, and being "a part" of something so much more than oneself.  The link to the video is here.  I encourage you to watch it and be inspired.

So, I decided I needed a project that would allow each student to "be a part of something" and for them to instantly be able to see that their contribution was worth it!  Here is what the middle school version looked like.  Each student had a 4 inch square they were responsible for--1/4 of a circle.  I was so proud of how it turned out, even if two people who said they were going to add to it, didn't give me their pieces back!  I think it looked great in that small bulletin board.  It stayed up all year.  And I think it should.  It's a great reminder as those walked through the door.

Here is what the elementary version looks like.  Well, half of it!  The other half will be us soon!

 So, here are the steps as I have had numerous people ask about creating their own version.  For elementary, I xeroxed the basic worksheet.  The squares were 8x8 and the rainbow lines were randomly spaced.  No rhyme or reason.  Next time, I would probably do 6x6 squares.

 1.  Each grade level has a class color.  We started by talking about elements of art and space.  We are filling the space with color and designs.  The space is already filled with lines for them.  Then we talked about Value.  The class color was used in the outside triangular part, simply so I could tell which grade did what.  We practiced on the right hand side in pencil and then in crayon before we put it in the "real space".  We called it a Value Tornado in our practice ones.  Then we practiced Line and Patterns in the extra practice area as well as our names.  We used only capital, upper-case, big letters that touch the top and bottom of our rainbows, creating new spaces.

 2.  Once we practiced, we picked our favorites and pt our name in one of the rainbow sections, and then started to draw our patterns lightly in pencil.

 3.  We traced our name and the rainbow lines in the fat marker.  It was done this way so those important parts, and the things that tied the project together could be easily seen.

 4.  We traced the detail lines (our patterns and shapes) with the thin marker.

 5.  Then, we colored.  I gave them the choice of crayons or pencil colors, or both.  Most of them figured out how to add value on their own into the spaces.  (The images above are my board samples), the ones below are all student

The incredible moving graphic is by Mrs. Natalie Waggenspack from SmArt Class!  She is an incredible teacher, and I am honored to work with her in my district.  Thanks Natalie!

The centerpiece of our mural was done by 4, 5th grade girls.  We have made it into a t-shirt and notecards, and magnets, and...and...and... ordered it from Vistaprint.  :)  Can't wait to get them in!

Even my husband asked if I would buy him one!

 

 

Unveiling at First Friday morning at my campus.  It was awesome!  And, only half of them are up!!!  Just wait until the rest are all there!!!

Until then.......