Opening Centers: Collage

First I want to apologize for the quality of the pictures in this weeks post. I have taken much better photos before with my iPad so I don't understand why these pictures look the way they do. Maybe cause I tried to zoom in on a few things... guess I will have to use my digital camera for that next time. 

About a week ago I opened the second center in the art studio: COLLAGE. A collage is an artwork made up of cut or torn paper, yarn, fabric and 3d objects pasted to a surface (for those of you who did not know). Usually the kids really like this type of creating because they can really come up with some new and freeing artwork. We will see if the same goes for this school year. 

I do not have as many posters on this centers board but I do plan to add to it over the course of the school year. 

An above is one of the photos that just isn't the best quality. This is a chart I created that explains the types of adhesives one can use in the collage center and what they are good for, how long it takes them to dry and the strength of the adhesive. So far it has proved handy for some and some tend to ignore it. 

I took the picture below during one of my classes, so please ignore the mess since the kids were being very creative that day. 

Till next time!

Opening Centers: Drawing

Between Monday and today I have opened our first art center of the year. The first center to be opened is the drawing center. In this center the students get to use various drawing materials from pencils to colored pastels to ink and calligraphy pens. 

I spent the first day of the drawing center opening explaining to the students what materials were there, what they can be used for and the rules for clean up. Since we are a 1:1 iPad 2 school, once the kids receive theirs there will be qr codes also on the board that will lead the students to various google docs and youtube videos that will help them or inspire them with their artwork.

Below are some of the posters that I have on display for the students in this particular center.

This poster I created to show the students what the materials look like on paper and I even blended some of them to show the students what the materials can do.

One thing my students love the create are 3D letters. Linear Perspective is something that my students have trouble with but they love the outcomes once they are finished with their artwork. 

This particular poster was created by the art teacher that was here before me but I really like it so I had to keep it. The students always want to draw people but tend to always draw stick figures and that is one of my NO NO Rules. 

This is my NO NO Board. These are all the drawing and painting techniques that the students tend to do however they are very elementary and since we are middle school art students, these are not allowed in my room. We spend about 10 minutes going over this so that the students really understand what I am expecting of them. This year I had to add the No Tracing rule to my board since students tend to do this more then anything. 

I hope you enjoyed our little journey through this years Drawing Center.

New Year -- New Colors

Today is the last day of the first week of school. It has been quite a week. New students getting lost, going to the wrong classes and returning students going into their old habits really fast. But hopefully things will get better.

The best part so far has to be the way my room looks this year. I spent a lot of time over the summer on pintrest looking at how other teachers have decorated their rooms in the past and I fell in love with the idea of Tourquoise and Chocolate. So all of my centers, table number, and other stuff are all in those colors. I did have to add in some white here and there because I couldnt find and brown craft paper to use to cover my boards.

The room feels very calming and relaxing. It is great! I will have more pictures up soon.

Decoration Crazy

This year I was very exited and lucky when I was able to get the back of my classroom back from the speech department! Now I have room to expand as well as display more stuff. 

Most of my permanent bulletin boards were derived from the Art with Mr. E blog (the one above and the no no board below). I really love the way they came out.

All of the student artwork is usually displayed outside the art room on hallway boards near the main office and cafeteria so it is very rare for me to have artwork in the art room. This year, however, I am using the yarn and laundry clips I found to display artwork around the room. I am hoping to change it often and hopefully create an environment of student pride in their work.

We are also required to create work walls for our lessons but because I teach three different grades (6,7, and 8) it was easier this year to create three boards -- one for each grade. However, instead of creating a board with just words I have added pictures to the board to help the students remember the art terms, styles, periods and technique.

This still life board is for the 8th grade. When I took the pic over a month ago, it was unfinished but I will be taking a newer photo soon to post.

"BEE" Art Smart

This year I have a bulletin board that I can actually use right away! I am in the old wood shop room (the building is from the late 50's) and there are no bulletin boards -- just white dry erase boards placed over old chalkboards.

In the middle of last school year however, one of my old chalkboards was replaced with an actual bulletin board!!!! I was soo happy! I have two more that will hopefully be replaced sometime this school year! (hopefully sooner then later)

This year at my middle school we are doing PBIS -- a school-wide Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support program. Pretty much we reward positive and good behavior. We do not ignore the bad behavior though -- the kids just dont get a reward.

As part of this program, each teacher is supposed to have a board with the school motto on it. Ours at CCMS is to be a Peaceful, Positive and Productive school.

I wanted to post images here for all to see. Maybe it will inspire you.