Packing Up for the Summer

Oh my goodness!  Where has the time gone? I feel like I was somewhere back in April and had just come off a Spring Break.  Don't get wrong.  I am all for Summer.  I'm just feeling a bit dazed with how fast the time flies along with stressed out that I need to close up shop and get things packed away for the school year.

During the Summers our custodial staff strips the floors and polishes them up nice and shiny.  The polish they use is very sticky and stains whatever it touches, so I like to make sure I am thorough when putting things away.

This is also a great time to purge and reorganize for the coming year so that you're not overwhelmed in the Fall.  I call this "loving my future self".  And it is truly a gift to yourself when you've got the end-of-Summer blues!

So what to keep and what to get rid of is always on my mind. Here are some pointers I try to keep in mind when sifting through items:

1. Can I get this item again and can I get it easily?  If I have bags upon bags of unused paper towel rolls I might go ahead and share them with the local Summer camp.

2. Will this items survive in its current state over the Summer?  I have a lot of small paint cups filled with various colors of tempera paint.  Towards May, I stop filling these cups up and encourage students to get creative and mix colors if they can't find what they need.  I don't like to be stingy when it comes to creating art, but I know if we continue at the pace we are going in May in terms of filling up paint cups - I'll end up with a lot of "exposed paint" (paint that is no longer stored in its original jug, has been mixed with other colors, and has had exposure to hundreds of little fingers).  You may laugh when reading the "exposed paint" descriptor, but by the time the end of Summer rolls round, crazy wild things have grown in these cups that make you wonder if they're related to the items at the back of the refrigerator in the staff lounge.  When not becoming a petri dish of some new antibiotic, the paint sometimes goes pasty or dries like it vacationed in the Mojave Desert.

3. Have I used this item (teacher resource or art supply) in the past 3 years?  If the answer's no - just get rid of it.  If you have teacher-waste guilt, place the item in the teacher's lounge for someone else to pick up and use.

4. Will the school replenish the supply?  My school always provides a new set of crayons, color pencils, markers, and paint.  When crayons and markers are on their last leg, I make small sandwich baggies of take-home goodies for students to enjoy over the Summer.  Usually they come back with really creative ways they have used up the left overs.  It's a win-win for you: you have more space, you've encouraged creativity, and you did not throw away anything! Hooray!

Other questions I contemplate in terms of how I clean and store items is to separate the expensive and personal items that need to be locked up so that they don't grow feet and walk away.  Other items are placed inside of boxes with other similar materials and labeled with numbers.  I keep a spread sheet of what each numbered box is for my reference and it also deters hands from reaching in and taking items because they don't know what materials are in what boxes.  It's sad to have to think that way, but I'd rather have my supplies waiting for me when the kids and I get back - so better to be safe than sorry.

As for cleaning I'm a real stickler and believe students are responsible for their classroom environment and materials.  We spend one day out of each advisory cleaning up and putting away items so they know the routine will be similar at the end of the year.  They help me sort through dried up markers and glue sticks, sharpen pencils for next year, was stubborn paint spots off tables and stools, and wash out water cups.  It's a team effort and I appreciate their help.  Most of the students are happy to help with cleaning and many hands make like the work.

How do you close out your school year?  Share your ideas! I'm always looking for more to help smooth the transition into Summer!

The Classroom Blog

Howdy folks!  Are we ready for Spring yet?  If you're on the East Coast like I am, I'll bet you have been ready since January.  This time of year is always a time when I feel energized enough to do a little spring cleaning around my classroom as well as on my classroom blog: https://murchartroom.wordpress.com.

The blog was created a few years ago as a tool to communicate with the school community about the happenings in "The Art Room" and so far - I think it's been pretty successful.

After having looked about many other fantastic blogs created by art teachers and elementary school teachers alike, I decided to take various qualities I enjoyed and consolidated into one blog.

You've got your home page - where I usually make quick announcements and direct viewers where to go.  It also is where I like to post my philosophy on arts education. A picture here and a picture there and it's done.  Pretty simple I know, but I'm saving the good stuff for the pages that are organized by grade level.  

On grade level pages I give a quick run down of what students are learning about and exploring and provide pictures of students in action.  By organizing pages by grade level, my hope is that it provides parents easy access to finding what their kiddo is up to rather than having to scroll on one endless blog page.  There's a resource page with a list of great books, exploration and activity workbooks, and websites that have been a hit with my students.  And lastly, there's an "About the Teacher" page.  I'm not big on shining my own light on me, but I do think it's important that parents can put a face with a name and know what my background in art is.

So with that, I invite you to check out my page and leave a comment or suggestion.  I am always looking for new ways to improve.  If you have a blog you think is worthwhile - please send that my way too!

All the best!

What's on the Art Supply List?

Maybe it's a bit early to be thinking about next year's supply list?  It's true, it is early, but I'm always working on lists of supplies - keeping inventories of what I have and am low on so that I order wisely for the year to come.  Because supply lists need to be submitted by late Spring to admin so that notices can be sent home with parents to work on over the summer, I NEED to start thinking about it now.

So let's face it, cash flow in education is a thing of the past now days and school is so much different than it was when we (I) went to school.  I remember the school paid for things like pencils, paper, folders to keep our homework in, art supplies, and more.

Now days the money we get to fund the art program (if there is one) needs to be squeezed and stretched to the limits just to make ends meet.

This means relying on the families of the students you teach to help pitch in where they can.  I thank my lucky stars that I work for a school whose community strives to fill in the financial gaps so that we can have what we, the teachers, need in our classrooms to be successful.

At the start of each academic year I put out a list of basic needs that are "must haves" for each student to bring to class.  For other more specialized items such as tin foil, hand soap, paper towels, & Q-tips, I post those on a monthly wish list and hope that a family is willing to donate an item or two off the list.

Here is a list that I have tweaked over the past few years and have found to be very helpful in starting the year out right.  Feel free to use it and make it your own to fit your needs!  Also - if you have anything you put on your list - let me know! I need new ideas too!

Student Art Supply List

Pre K & K:

        1.    1 packet of disinfectant wipes (any brand)

        2.    1 packet of baby wipes (any brand)

Grades 1-5:

1. A hardcover artist’s journal OR composition notebook with 50 or more bound pages. (Any type/brand of journal or notebook purchased is fine so long as it is no larger than 9 by 12 inches so that it can be properly stored. Returning students should bring their old art journal from last year and do not need to purchase a new journal.)
2. Large t-shirt to serve as art smock clearly labeled on front and back with student’s first and last name.
3. 1 pack of disinfectant wipes (any brand)
4. 1 pack of baby wipes (any brand)

No Sink? No Problem!

When I first became an art teacher, my room was in a small portable located next to some basketball courts (Three cheers for basketballs hitting my classroom walls all afternoon! Yippee!)  The upside was that it had tiled floors, which of course, was great for clean up of spills and the like.  The downside is that it had no sinks.  Throughout the year I tried a variety of different things and finally came to a routine that worked:

1. Disinfectant Wipes & Baby Wipes:  Don't be afraid to make a supply list that is sent out to parents with a list of things you need to get the year started right.  When you make a list of "must-haves" make sure wipes are on there.  I make every single student bring in one container of disinfectant wipes and one container of baby wipes.  It's a lot to store, but they go quickly if you're wiping up after each session and makes it a breeze to have students help clean up.  The bonus for you is that your room gets sanitized at the end of each class keeping you and the kiddos happy and healthy AND cleaning dirty hands is a breeze - just send each kid out the door with a baby wipe for their hands and have them deposit it in the next trash can they see.

2. Heavy Duty Construction Buckets:  Create a water station! These are pretty cheap and can be found at your local hardware store. Purchase five or more buckets if you can. Locate your closest water tap that can fit a bucket and recruit 4 big kids (usually fifth graders) to dump and refill the water buckets for you at the end of each day so that it's ready to go in the morning.  Two buckets should be filled with clean water and plastic pitcher for pouring into cups, one with clean water and soap for a quick rinse, and one or two buckets for the "slop" buckets, where you dump old water from the day's lessons.  Training the kiddos is the most important aspect of this process.  Make sure you are explicit in expectations and model to them how and what should be done.  Have them practice supervised a few times and you are ready to go.  If you can find a heavy-duty door mat (another cheap find at the hardware store) place it under the buckets to capture the water drips.  Placing the "water station" close to the exit is a good idea too - that way splashing is at a minimum when taking away and bringing back the buckets.

3. Portable Sinks: I know these guys are expensive, but if you can get your principal on board or the PTA to sponsor you - they are another great way to go.  Portable sinks can be purchased on line and delivered already put together.  They just need to be emptied and filled with water each day.  If you shop around for one or two - make sure you get the largest gallon size you can.  Some sinks only hold 5 gallons of water which can go in a snap.  Try to find 10 gallon tanks or more if you can afford it.  When I had portable sinks, I made sure students knew that it was for project water supply only.  Hand washing was still done using baby wipes.  To empty and refill the tanks, our janitor (aka - my best bud) would come by each afternoon to help.  Can't get the janitor?  Ask a parent or two if they could take a few days a week to help.  Can't get money to purchase the sinks?  Think about Donors Choose at donorschoose.org or about contacting a portable sink maker to see if they can donate one.  I've also found them on Craigslist so you do have options so long as you're willing to be creative about pick up.