In the Art Room... #22-Back To School!!

I'm alive over here! I just  wrapped up the first 4 days of the school year. 

Here's a peek at what I've been up to and what my room looks like this year. I've been wearing dresses all week so I'm without pockets which means I'm without a camera. I will work on this next week!

Every teachers's thoughts on Labor Day! 

A shirt I made for our Superintendent's Day. I'm not a fan of hugs to begin with so belly rubs are definitely out. The message was well received and unwanted belly rubs were avoided. 

 

A few shots of the art room! It's huge, amazing and full of storage. 

We're continuing with the same job routine as last year. I reviewed jobs on the first day of art by making a rainbow kickoff project (pics coming soon!) 

Monthly jobs, printed, glued to construction paper and laminated. I use overhead markers to write the jobs on them. Dry erase are a huge pain to get off! You can get your own set of job charts, chair shapes and bin posters (below) over at my TeacherPayTeacher site. 

Supply bins are kept on the counter. No matter what I do and try these bins are distraction on the tables. Well, anything on the tables is a distraction really. 

Gave the bins another coat this summer. Spray painted pencils and a few scissors so everything coordinates now!

Front and backs of all the chairs are have a shape sticker. It's how I assign students to pick up and cleanup.

I moved my "I can" chart from the chalk board to a window. I can print statements or write with a dry erase marker now.

A sample of what we did this week. We are spending the first day of art making a piece for the school wide rainbow project. Every table is assigned a color, every grade a mini project. 4th graders worked collaboratively on a "pipe" project with table mates. I loved seeing them work together on this! And every student in grades 2-6 filled out a student info form on the iPads. This saves me countless hours of typing students names for my grade book and checklists (learn how to make your own form here).  I'll type the kindergarten and first grade names in. I use this kickoff project to review rules and jobs. You can get your own copy of my rules for free at teacherspayteachers.com!

Spent Labor Day upgrading seating charts and checking out my class lists. I use the Staples brand flags. They are super sticky and last from year to year. Plus they are colorful. It makes seating charts a little more exciting. Read more on why seating charts work and how to make your own here.

First day of school and there was NEW construction happening! Traffic was backed up quite a bit. Ugh. 

This book was in a giveaway pile for students. I couldn't help but laugh, email our faculty and contemplate a book study. 

Even though we had insane humidity I managed to walk the dog and squeeze in a run/walk (at 22 weeks pregnant) on Wednesday! My feet were killing me afterwards but I slept like a log. Hoping to get a run/walk in a few days a week for as long as I can. 

So there it is! The start to my tenth year of teaching!!! How did your week go?

In the Art Room...#5- Sick Days, Snow Days and No Days

Well, this is going to be a short and sweet post. I got sick this week and that threw a wrench into my plans. And then we had a no day and a snow day... more on that in a minute...but I promised a weekly recap so let's try it anyways!

Monday was good. I was feeling a cold coming on, but nothing that I thought some sleep and tea wouldn't fix. I thought I had time to take some pictures for the week. That day's group worked on their portraits(6th), finished their whistles(5th), finished heart weavings (1st see that project here), and worked on slab boxes (2nd).

Birthday Weekend!

Yes!!! It's my birthday weekend! I do celebrate my birthday for as long as possible.
 1- Because winter birthdays suck.
2-It is too close to the Christmas and New Year's
3- The weather is unpredictable and I need several back up days just in case.
4- It was on a Saturday! I didn't have to go back to school on my birthday!

Halloween Shenanigans Inspired by Pop Art

Well the longest week for teachers came and went. A holiday centered around costumes, candy and a building full of 4 through 11 year olds can turn dreadfully awful for teachers if not handled properly.

Yeah, you might have a few hyped up kids of your own after Friday night, but we had 350 of them. And no one is absent on Halloween! 

New Bad Morning Coffee Mugs!

School has been back in session for about 2 months and I am battling with the teacher/artist balance. I have been finding a few hours here and there to make mugs and custom orders have been keeping me busy. I have a new batch of  bad morning mugs that I have put in the Etsy shop, are guaranteed to get a laugh and make any coffee drinker really happy.

Up in the studio

Lots of mugs getting glazed!

Final Products! 

One of Those Days...

It was one of those days...

My lovely new markers that I have fell in love with (Papermate Flair for the pen nerds out there) are not waterproof. I tested these out and put some water on them and they didn't bleed. 

But after labeling 40 coffee filters which accidentally got wet on the trip to the Pre-K room I found out they weren't. 

In my pockets...

Yes, I think this will be a regular feature.  At the end of the day I pulled all of this out of one pocket. Let's not talk about my apron or what comes out of my washer and dryer when I forget to check the pockets.

Yes, that is a needle tool/glue booger picker.