My Mind is Blown!

I have to be honest - I feel like my head might explode, in a good way.

So yesterday I read the book "The Artistic Edge" which is aimed at talking about 7 skills kids can learn through the arts to be successful in life.  While this book isn't exactly what I thought it was going to be - it brought me to "Artful Thinking" which then took me to "Visual Thinking" - something my Principal has introduced to my Elementary School of the Arts.

I feel like singing "it's a small world after all".  I have decided that no only have I not given enough effort into understanding 'Visual Thinking' - but that I may have found something that will truly impact my teaching and hopefully my students.

I am personally sick of having the word 'assessment' shoved in my face.  I agree that we need to always assess things:  How is this lesson going? Are the kids understanding? Are they making connections? Did I give them too much information/not enough? Did a create a lesson that has higher level thinking?  Who is confused?  Who has it?  -- These are all assessments that happen while I am teaching a lesson and conferencing with kids as I walk around.  I really despise having to write stuff like this down or create less open assignments so that they can fit into an 'assessment' to show growth.  Kids don't 'show' growth in a concrete way in art -- which is EXACTLY what Visual Thinking, Artful Thinking, and The Artistic Edge talk about in kind of a round about fashion.

These programs/studies/books all STRESS that kids learn HOW to think, not WHAT to think when they are involved in the Arts.  I have been saying for years on this site and to anyone that will listen that my job is not just finger painting and paper gluing -- kids actually learn VALUABLE skills when they come to my room. They learn how to problem solve, critically think, reflect, ask for help, preserver - and so much more.

I am super excited about these programs/books, because I had no idea they were even out there.  Where have these been all my years of teaching?  I wrote a post a few months back how I felt stuck in my own learning - that any type of conference was too expensive and out of my budget -- but this, this I can do.   My building is learning it on a smaller scale and I am so excited to learn more about it that I can barely decide where to start!  I am overwhelmed with the information and studies and such that are out there!  WHO KNEW?!

It is also nice to see actual studies, papers, programs that are aimed at what I have always believed to be true - that yes, academics (math, reading, writing) are super important but it is also valuable to know HOW to think - just not WHAT to think.  Most kids in math learn what to think in math (a few who really get it and love it ask "how") - they learn the equations and plug in numbers.  In good art programs kids are given parameters and told to create something original. 

In The Artistic Edge - there is a section devoted to kids that have low self-esteem when it comes to academics.  It is easier to refuse to do math, than to try and ALWAYS be wrong - because there is a right and wrong answer.  I tried to be that kid, my mom and tutor wouldn't let me off the hook -- bless them.  In art the only 'right' and 'wrong' are if you followed the parameters -- otherwise every answer is correct.  It is easier and 'safer' for kids with low academic-esteem to try in art classes because there is a HUGE grey area where they can succeed and grow with their confidence.

AH!  I have so many more things running through my brain - like how arts help kids communicate (talked about in The Artistic Edge) how the arts can save kids (a stories in The Element, The Artistic Edge - and seen in a few of my own students) how the arts can teach life lessons - like asking for help.

So much information!  So much to learn!  My brain is going to get stretched here soon and it may not always feel great, but soon enough I will have some new ways to help my students grow as THINKERS!

Check out this List of Project Zero's Research Projects.
Making Thinking Visual - The Book


** I should state that it is the COMBINATION of these things that make me super excited.  The book "The Artistic Edge" is interesting, but I found nothing ground breaking it in.  I had hoped for more examples of how the arts help students learn the skills she talks about, but instead there is a lot of talk and then just - kids learn this in the arts, with little examples and of the examples given are mostly Theatre based.  I agree with her points and her message, but I was hoping for more of a book I could hand skeptics and say, "read this" - but it doesn't have that kind of 'aha' factor -- at least it didn't for me.

5th Grade - Sphere Sculptures (Decorative Paper)

Pinterest strikes again!  I saw these:

http://myplumpudding.blogspot.com/2009/04/cereal-box-globes-for-earth-day.html

I wasn't exactly sure how these were going to get woven into my curriculum this year - but I was sure they would fit somewhere.  I decided these would fit with 3D, values, hues, personal choices, recycling/upcycling - and so much more!

So, the students haven't actually made these yet - today I had them decorate cardboard that has about the same thickness as cereal boxes.  The wonderful ladies in the lunch room collect the cardboard for me from boxes of fruit!  I have HUGE stacks of the stuff and I always get excited when I have a way to use large quantities of it.  I love that it is easy to cut, but yet holds up pretty well to copious amounts of tempra paint.

Today, I had students decorate the cardboard in an Eric Carle type style.  They started with a base color, chose another color to add a design, then add another color and yet another design - then students could leave it or use a decorative comb to add designs by scraping paint around in a pattern.  I told students that I would pick the colors for their tables - but not to worry they will get to pick papers from ALL the tables when it comes time to make their spheres.  I explained that I pick their colors because it gives us more usable colors - if I just let them go, we would get a BUNCH of brown and blue.  I generally give each table their table color in paint - so blue table got blue paint, red table got red paint (keeps down the arguing and whining).  Each table got a variety of tints/shades of their color to make these stand out, for example green table got:  green, bright green (green + yellow), mixed green (yellow + blue), and a thing of white (ends up being light green).

At first students were being very careful and clean about this process - which I some what appreciated, but we needed papers that were free, open, full of motion and color - students needed to be a little more - organized chaos.  I told many of them they were being too nice and needed to give a little more 'umpf' to it.  Soon it was a controlled whirl wind!  Paint, cardboard, brushes, students were everywhere - in a good way.  I was busy filling paint as it ran out while keeping the cardboard stack well supplied.  It was awesome.

I had MANY students today exclaim, "This is the best day of art EVER!"  There is something beautiful, freeing even of letting loose - not 'making' anything in particular.  We weren't making dogs, cats, perspective drawings -- students got to just create.  It was BEAUTIFUL.

It is going to take me some time to cut all these papers for students to make their spheres - but they will be amazing - I am SUPER excited.

5th Grade -- Layered Pumpkin Compositions

So, while 5th graders at one building were preparing for their 5th Grade Production of Treasure Island, my 5th graders at my other school were having art class as normal.

I LOVE doing pumpkin projects.  I do believe it has to do with the fact that my grandparents grew pumpkins for years and I spent my early childhood in the Pumpkin Hut during pumpkin season.  I don't remember much of harvest time, being so young I was mostly entertained and kept out of the way.  I do remember kitties, community, LOTS of pumpkins and AWESOME decorations on the farm.  Most of the city I grew up in bought their pumpkins at the Novak Pumpkin Patch.  In fact, people still stop by from time to time and knock on my Grandma's door asking about the pumpkin patch.  Being so far from family, pumpkins always make me feel close to them - so I try and do pumpkin projects with all my grade levels.  (A plus with doing pumpkins and NOT Halloween is that ALL students can participate!)

http://insightsandbellylaughs.com/

Back to the project.  So this started out as a piece of artwork that I saw on Pinterest (love that site).  I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it, but I knew at some point it would be inspiration for a great project.  (I also love this artist's site - lots of great, bold, colorful papers: http://insightsandbellylaughs.com/)

I was trying to figure out a project for my 5th graders that would be engaging and more than just drawing a pumpkin.  Then BAM it hit me.  We will do a colorful background, then draw a pumpkin from a zoomed-in, unique angle on a piece of transparency!!!  PERFECT!

Off I went designing a lesson and guiding my students.  So, first we started with the background.  I didn't tell them what they were going to be used for because I didn't want them to try and plan an orange pumpkin section.  I wanted them to be free and full of color.  I really wanted to use tempra paint, but my order wasn't in yet - so we used oil pastels, chalk pastels, and water color.

I had the students divide their paper with different types of lines using oil pastel.  Then they colored in sections of their paper with chalk pastel.  Last, but not least, students used either plain water or water color and 'painted' over their chalk.  Students that used watercolor over their chalk had beautiful BOLD, BRIGHT colors.  Students that used plain water were still beautiful, but less bright.

After their background was done we talked about using view finders (two "L" shaped papers to make a frame that is adjustable).  I had about six pictures of pumpkins from different angles - I had students use their view finders to find a unique composition on one of the pumpkins.  Now, I realize that using REAL pumpkins would have been better - but pumpkins are expensive and I would have needed at least 8 - wasn't in the budget.  Any how, so students drew their compositions on a piece of printer paper.  I showed them how to draw as simple line drawing - looking on their pumpkin and where it starts in the frames, find that spot on the paper, then crawl along the line like an ant and draw as you go.  I told them their eyes should be always moving - it will look weird to start.  I showed them to occasionally stop and make sure they are in the right spot on their paper as they are in their frame.  Next, add the stem - I tried to stress to draw what they see NOT what they know.  Many students came to me with beautiful drawings and these really odd stems in strange places.  Quite often these students would look at me and say, "I don't like it.  It looks weird."  I would take them to their picture and show them that their brain knows the stem is at the top of the pumpkin but in your picture the stem actually is in the middle of your pumpkin and just the tip of the stem pokes out off the top.  Most of the kids you could hear the light bulb go on and they totally understood, a few still had trouble seeing instead of 'knowing'.

When students were happy with their pencil drawing I handed them a clear transparency and a sharpie. Students traced their work - dark lines are thick and light lines are thin.  Some students chose to add simple lines in the background to help their pumpkin stand out.

My Example

These are really remarkable - the pictures don't do these justice as it flattens them out way too much - also it was hard to get a picture without a terrible glare.  So, you might have to do a little of imagining what they truly look like.

Kindergarten - 3D lines

So, in the beginning of the year kinders and I spend A LOT of time on lines and shapes.  I do this because it helps the students learn routines and expectations without overwhelming me or them with complex projects.  Simple but meaty projects like these also show me simple things like - problem solving skills, skills they already have, ability to follow directions, fine motor skills - etc.  I learn a lot in the beginning of the year about where my kinders are at developmentally.


After a few projects that consist mostly of different flat lines and shapes - I take the kids 3D.  We briefly talk about what 3-D and 2-D means, some kids get it, some don't.I show students a variety of ways to make a flap stip of paper stick up in space.  We bend, we fold, we twirl around our fingers, we add pieces to other pieces and build build build!  I also stress as much as I can that glue sticks when it DRIES - if you use A LOT of glue then it takes a LONG time to DRY - a little bit of glue - stick faster!  The students get really excited by the time I am done with my demonstration.

I turn the kiddos loose and tell them they have to build till it is time to clean up!!!  I walk around help students that struggle with concepts they want to try, offer positive feedback to students.  After about half way through class I will walk around with my iPad and record students that struggle with building 3D and using an appropriate amount of glue.

I like to let these rest/dry for a few hours and hang in the hall.

They are impressive when all posted together on a board!

2nd Grade - Mock Batik

This is the project I did at the very beginning of the school year, with second grade.  As I have posted before I like to do name projects as our first projects, because it refreshes my memory and they can all write their own names - thus everyone succeeds!! Hooray!

First day we practice bubble letters - both normal bubble letters then FUNKY bubble letters.  Funky bubble letters are the same as normal bubble letters, only you use fun lines like zig-zag, castle top, curly, etc.

The next class students got a final paper in which they wrote their name - normal, funky, or a combination.  Then they traced their name with a black oil pastel and added 5 lines that started on one edge and went off a different edge.  (A few students needed to add a few more lines to break up the space).

Next, I explained what a batik was (I tried to find a good video, but found nothing - if you have one let me know!).  I told them that other countries mainly used batik to decorate fabric.  The artist/worker would take hot wax and draw pictures onto a piece of fabric, then dye the fabric a color -- wherever there was the wax no dye would stain.  This process would continue till everything was dyed as desired.  In the end the wax was washed off with hot water and a beautiful piece of fabric was ready to be used.  I showed students some batik cloth.

I explained that we wouldn't be adding hot wax to fabric, but instead we would use colored wax to color our pictures.  I asked students if they knew what crayons were made out of - WAX!  I instructed them to color their pictures by pressing SUPER HARD and coloring each section a different color.  (They could repeat colors, just not next to each other.)

After their WHOLE pictured was colored, and I was pretty picky about having very little white space.  I had students crumple their papers into really SMALL balls 3 times - flattening it out each time.

Next, students took their wrinkled, but flattened paper to the sink where there was a cup with watered down temp paint (I did some classes with black - some with blue).  Students painted over their whole papers with the paint - then rinsed off the paint with a gentle stream of water.

What was left was nothing short of magic - their papers had beautiful colored wax, and the paint stuck to all the creases they made when they crumpled it.

Students oooo-ed and ahhhh-ed and showed their friends!

 I even had a student bring in a batik stamp from a trip they went on!

5th Grade Production is a PRODUCTION

Wow - where to start?  I didn't mean to take a break from this blog - it just kind of happened.  October was full of teaching my normal classes, 5th Grade production (it is a production in every sense of the word), collecting and organizing 5th grade production T-shirts (this included a crash course in Adobe Illustrator), finalizing and organizing a Spirit Wear order for the school, contacted a really awesome artist for a future visit, class collaboration art masterpieces for a district auction, grades, and I tried to squeeze in another fundraiser - Young Masters - this ended up having to be postponed...

So, I guess what I am trying to say - is that it has been, well, a bit busy!

Wool Pirate Hair

Let's start with 5th Grade Production.  I love 5th grade production in every single sense of the whole event - well maybe not the extra talking from students during rehearsals or loosing prep time on Tuesdays - okay... so I love mostly everything about production.  Production is hard to describe in words - production is a PRODUCTION.  Organizing 4 teacher visions for a show, with 84 5th graders --- it couldn't be anything less than a production.

Pirate Costume Party

I really enjoy that the students have a voice in our show, they share ideas and we try to incorporate as much of it as we can.  I had four students arrange one of their songs into a rap - we recorded it (thanks iPad).  I think it is super special that the students apply/try out for what they want to do: actor, musician, dancer, set design/chorus.  We are lucky to have a drama and dance teacher at this Elementary school - and they rock.

So, normally production starts in 4th grade with a gathering of ideas and characters.  Then the ARTs (dance, music, drama and myself) and 5th grade teachers mull over the student ideas to try and make a story/plot.  Last year our drama teacher wrote the script - it was AMAZING.  This year there was not time - so we bought a script based on the interest of our students.

Luckily the script stated we could alter the story, add songs, take things out - it was perfect.  We added some songs, took out others, let the musicians re-create some.  Students drew out ideas for backdrops in my room -- I took ideas from multiple papers to create the 3 backdrops for this show, which the students mostly painted.  Dancers created original movements and dances for songs.  Musicians composed original songs and sound effects for the show.  Actors memorized lines and blocking!


Our show this year was Treasure Island - so most of the kids would need some kind of pirate outfit.  I wasn't sure how to get kids to make a pirate-ish shirt, how to collect objects, how to deal them out.... Then, our Dance teacher had a brilliant idea - a costume party.  So, one day instead of having normal 'specials' during our 5th grade time - students went into a creative, surprisingly controlled costume making frenzy.  Students added paint, sparkle glue, buttons, leaves - they cut, sewed, and added bits and pieces to make their costumes all their own.  My favorite part was this awesome wool I happened upon on a donation to the high school - it looked just like dreads.  I cut and glued chunks together for 'pirate hair' - it was wickedly cool.

For the next 8 weeks, once a week for about 30 minutes students split up into their assigned jobs and we created a show.  We had 3 after school rehearsals to mesh all the acting, dancing, musicians and such together.  Then we had a full day TECH rehearsal so my kids could learn when to change the set, spots knew who to follow - what lines were sound cues for music.

Front of their T-shirt - 100% kid designed

Now, while production was happening on Tuesday mornings - during normal 5th grade art time students became Graphic Designers and designed their Production T-shirt.  In the end, the students voted it down to 3.  I combined those 3 ideas because the votes were so close.

It is a SHORT LONG 8 weeks.  In many ways the 8 weeks drags on, but then it never feels like enough time.

Somehow, no matter how far behind we feel, or how crunched for time - it all pulls together for an amazing show.

I am SUPER proud of my 5th graders for all their hard work.

3rd Grade Reflection Names

This project has gone through a few changes - I started it a couple of years ago and was never really happy with how it turned out, until now.

Most years I have the kids decorate their letters instead of the background - but their letters often ended up narrow and small leaving LARGE open, untouched, white spaces.  This year I opted to have them leave their letters white - AMAZING difference.

Here is how we did them.
1) Fold 9 x 12 paper in half hot dog style.
2) Leave folded and draw name in BIG bubble letters -- normal or funky (using different kinds of lines)
3) Sharpie trace name.
4) Go to window/light table and place NAME on surface so the blank side is facing you.
5) Trace name through paper using a pencil - name will be backwards - it's okay, it should be. (this is the hardest part for students to do - it is hard for them to do it backwards)
6) Sharpie backwards name.  (you could skip the pencil on the backwards name, but 3rd graders tend to sneeze or bump each other and want to start over.)
7) Pick ONE side of paper and use a black oil pastel to draw SIMPLE designs.
8) Fold paper backwards so that the names touch each other.
9) RUB paper while folded - rub hard.
10) Open.  The oil pastel will transfer lightly to the other side - trace these marks with black oil pastel.
11) Time to color.  I tell the student to turn their paper vertical/portrait style.  It tricks their brain into see the patterns they drew instead of their names.  Then I tell them to start at the fold and work their way out.  Whatever they do to one side of the fold needs to be done to the other side.
12) Continue till finished!

These took use about 3 50 minutes classes.  We talked a lot about reflections -what they are, where we see them, how they work - why when we look in the mirror the words on our shirt look backwards - etc.

The kids had to trust the instructions on this proceses, as many of them couldn't visualize where it was headed.  When it was done or close to be done they were mesmerized and thrilled at the results (I was too).



This project is great at the beginning of the year because it helps me to re-learn names, see how they have grown over the summer, and how our year will go.

Organized Chaos has joined Facebook!

I have been trying to figure out different ways to share more student work with all of you and my parents.  I tried a website - too much to keep up.  I thought about a Facebook page for my classroom - but having two classrooms to do and keep up on - too time consuming.

Alas, I decided I would just take my blog to Facebook.  I will post when there are new entries on the blog, LOTS of student work, and other tidbits I find interesting in the art world.

Come check out Organized Chaos on Facebook and 'Like' it if you want to see updates in your newsfeed.

https://www.facebook.com/msnovakorganizedchaos

See you there.

Not Enough

I absolutely love my job.  I feel blessed and excited to come to 'work' each day.  I try and do my best each and everyday to reach out to my students, to provide them with opportunity to grow, take chances, problem solve, deal with frustration, and ask for help.  Most days I go home feeling like my day was worth something, that I made some kind of small difference.......

But then there are some days that I don't feel I'm doing enough - that my classroom is not as engaging as it should be, that I am not the teacher I should be.  Am I doing all I should for my students?  What could I do differently to pack as much as I can into 50 minutes of class once a week?  How much am I helping my school environment help keep the focus directly on the students and not on the multiple standardized tests the district/nation likes to call "assessment". 

I sit and wonder and wish for all the classes I could take to challenge my thinking - or the conferences I could go to for inspiration and new skills -- and then I look at the cost.  I really hate the fact that I haven't taken any graduate classes or gone to any type of conference and my only excuse is that I can't afford it.  I am putting less money in my pocket today than when I started teaching 4 years ago - granted my income says I am making more, but less is making it to me.  bah!  I digress - money is not the real focus of this post.

I hunger to be a better teacher, to embrace the exuberance of my students - to move them in such ways that they think more in depth and make choices with purpose.  I want to be the teacher that my high school Humanities teacher was to me.  He was passionate, he questioned us, he asked us to think instead of being told what to think.

I want to be more than 'just' an art teacher to my students.  I want to be someone that opened their eyes to a world they didn't see before.  I want to give them enough courage to take chances and ask questions.

Perhaps I am doing some of these things - on a smaller scale maybe.  I have such high hopes and dreams for my students - for my art program.  I know my room makes a difference for students, but I want art (and music) to be more than a "special" - to be valued more than a prep time for grade level teachers.

What I really want is to reform education in a way that is drastic and beautiful.  I want to change the whole way our nation thinks about education.  I want kids to love school.  I want teachers that have teaching in their blood - that are crazy passionate about not only their students, but teaching them.  I want an education system that celebrates the diversity of our students and our teachers - instead of punishing/rewarding on standardized tests.  I want an education system that rewards innovation and creativity - and terminates teachers that do the bare minimum.

I dream of a time when people who are making choices about education actually listen to the teachers -- not to the union reps or to the teachers who yell the loudest -- but to teachers, the humble, the eager, the devoted.  I dream of a time when we fixed education by looking where we want to go instead of trying to fix a broken system.

I say and dream all these things - I know what I want it to look like in the end, but I currently have no idea how to get there.  I can see the future, and it looks so bright -- yet I have no idea how to get there, let alone how to convince other people it will work.

I feel the need to stretch my teaching, to be more than who I am now.  Perhaps some books, save some money for some interesting classes....... dive more into my dream of education and figure out a path.

Chicago Teacher Strike - a different perspective

I got this from a friend in Chicago Public Schools and it sheds a very different light than what the National News is portraying.

I didn't post this to create any hostility or debates - but rather as a way to see it from another perspective - from the teacher perspective.  It doesn't matter what side you stand on - but it is important to listen and understand the other side.

"They are saying all sorts of things on the national news, but there is a lot of misinformation and confusion. We are not striking over pay and we aren't demanding 19%. That figure comes from the independent arbitrators report that was released in June. Our mayor has extended our school day and year by 11%. The arbitrator said we should be compensated for our time. Last year, the final year of our previous contract, Rham said the school system couldn't afford the 4% raise that was in our contract so we didn't get anything. That money was then used to hire consultants making six figures, pay bribes/bonuses to schools and principals that didn't follow the contract, and some was transferred to the police department. The arbitrator said we should get that 4%. Finally, he recommended a 1% COLA raise for 4 years. That is where the 19% figure came from as far as I know.

The main issues for teachers are evaluations and teacher recall. I'll try to be brief on both, they are implicated issues. The board is proposing an evaluation system where 40% of our ratings will be based on test scores. For non classroom teachers part of this is a subject specific test and part is school wide literacy scores. I was on the team that designed the music assessments and after we finished them they were changed significantly. A listening exam about instrument families was changed to examples of individual instruments for example. As for the literacy scores, if the entire building doesn't go up, our ratings are lowered. My school is at 93% meets and exceeds with 18% special needs students. If our scores don't go up, we are considered unsatisfactory and subject to being fired. For classroom observation, the other portion of the proposed evaluation system they are using a distorted form of Charlotte Danielson's work. She has said it is not ment o be used this way, but they don't care. We have already been told hardly anyone will qualify for the top category, you have to be a perfect teacher in all four dementions. They did want to tie this to merit pay, but have dropped that as they couldn't formulate a plan as to how it would be implemented.

Another issue in CPS is that they are using testing scores to put schools into turnaround. This means they fire the staff and give the school to a charter company. The charters do not have to hire all certified teachers, and they can turn away students with disabilities and behavior problems. Veteran teachers, some NBCT's are displaced and have trouble finding new jobs due to the stigma of turnaround. Principals are hiring first year and TFA teachers because they are cheaper. Some schools have huge teacher turnover each year, but they won't hire experienced educators who want to stay in the system. We are asking for a recall process where principals would have to interview veteran teachers for positions, but principals would still have final choice over who they hire.

There are other issues that we can't strike over: class size, most are 30-45, building conditions, air conditioning, materials, we often don't have them, sick day accumulation, a punitive wellness policy and much more. We want better schools for our students and teachers, not education on the cheap. Outside groups are putting a lot of money towards "school choice", but none of that money makes it to the schools. None of the board members or high ranking people from downtown are educators, most haven't been into a CPS school for anything but a press conference or photo op. They have no idea what our schools are dealing with and blaming teachers is the party line. That's why we are striking and will continue until we have a fair contract.

Over 140 CPS schools don't have libraries. My request for screens on my second floor classroom windows was denied. 101* in my classroom on the first day of school. Today we moved our rally from downtown to three schools in the poorest areas of the city. As we marched through the neighborhood past the hosing projects and boarded up buildings the kids swarmed out to join us. There was 100% support from the parents, ministers and businesses. I know they are saying horrible things about us in the national media, but we are receiving a lot of support from our communities."

Ahhh. Almost time

I really have enjoyed seeing different art rooms across the country get ready for a year of organized chaos - rooms that are organized and ready for paint spills, lost marker caps, pencil shavings, and broken crayons.

I took a few pictures last week to show how I prepare for a year of 500ish students in 3 days time at one of the buildings I teach at.  

I got new marker cups - so I took new pictures and taped them down where they go!  Makes clean up easier for me and students!

I take the pictures I tape down - print out one extra, laminate, stick a magnet on the back and use on the whiteboard to help show instructions.

My computer station for when kiddos are finished!  The STOP signs remind them to check and see if their hands are clean!

Here is my done, or rather - "Finished" area.  Students may pick from:

• Drawing Center (Free draw, silly picture sticks, picture reference cards)
• Art Games (Art Memory/Go Fish, Puzzles, Eye Spy, Tangrams/Tangoes
• Computer Art (KidPix)
• Sculpture Center (Modeling Clay, surprise scrap bucket - string, paper, wire... )
• Ask for a job (cleaning paint brushes, returning books to library, organizing papers, taking projects off of bulletin boards... etc) 

Okay - whoever came up with this BRILLIANT idea for a yarn center - you are my HERO!  I don't remember if I saw this on Pinterest or a blog first - but seriously genius!!!  I first tried to drill the holes in the plastic - bad idea, it cracked.  I then got smart and heated up a high heat glue gun.  Duh - melt the holes!  I got these bins for 1.00 each at a dollar tree near my school.  I have put two cones of yarn in each one -- I don't know if they are going to tangle as they get used, but it has to be easier to deal with than normal string tangle messes!

And last, but not least, my new Art Rubric!  I made this to help remind me to be more clear with students about how they are doing in art.  I made this based on how our report cards are, so that parents and students can easily see and understand how art is 'graded'.  I don't grade based on if I like it or not or even give everyone a perfect score.  There are lessons to be learned in art while still being creative.

1=Met all project expectations and student had wonderful craftsmanship.  2=Met most of the expectations and their craftsmanship is okay, but could use a little work.  3=Missed most or all expectations and little to no effort was put into the crafting of the project.

I used words and pictures to help showcase what each level looks like.  The trick in art is that there are so many options that it is sometimes hard to decide one or a two.  For example a student may meet ALL the expectations but has only so-so craftsmanship --  I have even had students that have great craftsmanship, but don't always follow directions.... or then there are the kids that work super hard so they NEVER finish a single project.  It is difficult and sometimes frustrating to 'grade' art -- but this system seems to give me enough wiggle room to really let the kids make creative choices about their projects.  I could make it more specific - but I feel that limits the students choices and really doesn't teach them what I want them to learn.