YouTube Videos

How I use YouTube for all my expectations, procedures and lessons.

I've written about organization and set-up a few times because I'm a huge believer in having your room organized. One thing I've been doing since I started teaching is creating short videos, slideshows or use photos to show students expectations and procedures in the art room. 

• One reason I started this is because they really like watching a video better than listening to me talk. Keep it short and sweet.
• Second, as an art teacher you repeat things to a ton of different classes and this helps with the "broken record" phobia, lol. 
• Third, you can use the time during the video (while it's playing) to set things ups, hand out supplies, monitor students, etc... and keep the flow of the class going. 
• Lastly, the videos can be paused and replayed easily by you or your students. Great for using with students who need a refresher, who were absent and who need that extra time to see how something is done. 

Here's just one of my simplier videos that I use to help with "hand washing" because we know the sink area can be crazy without expectations and proedures in place. 

My YouTube channel is "private" for the most part. I hope to upload some videos soon of lessons that I've created and use in my art room. You can always check out the printed versions in my TPT Shoppe "Art is My Jam"! Enjoy :) 

Exciting News!

I'm Google Level 1 Certified

As an art teacher, I thought why should I get certified as a "Google Educator"? 

Well after doing a ton of research and checking out some BLOGS (which I will list below), I realized that it would be a great resource for me and something I'd like to integrate into my own teaching and classroom.

The source that really helped me was going through Kasey Bell's matrix that she posts for FREE. Here's the link to her site: https://shakeuplearning.com/blog/ 

I had never used Google Classroom and I soon fell in love with a  lot of aspects of it. I will be posting videos and more information as I document my process. You can also find how I used it previously in my "STEAM" classes under my labels titled STEAM & Google Classroom. 

Here are a few other sites that I've found that have some great resources, etc...

• https://sites.google.com/site/ipadmultimediatools/artists

Answering some questions...

How do you decide what supplies to order?

1. I always go through my classroom and take a fast inventory and make a list of what I have. I recently got the great idea to create a "cheat" check sheet to make things easier, lol. I also make sure to write colors of any paints, glazes, pastels, etc... that I need extra of. You know the "blue" pastels always seem to disappear faster.

Art Room Supply/Medium Checklist - Supply List...check it out in my TPT Shoppe.

2. After I have my inventory, I then highlight and mark the consumables I always need every year. To figure out quantity, I just base it off the number or students in the grave/school and how often they will be used. For example: clay is always a hard one to estimate but Ive found that this works really well. One box (50 lbs.) of clay usually can do 2 classes of 28 students. Having extra clay is never a bad thing as you can do small projects at the end of the year or use it for art clubs, teacher's nights, fundraising projects, etc... 

NOTE: I always place 2 orders during the school year. A big order at the beginning and a smaller order around February/March. 

3. During the summer I curriculum plan by creating a basic curriculum map so I can order the supplies I need. Here's an example of how mine looks - it's very basic and yes, it'll probably change, but not enough to cause issues with my supply order. I NEVER create the exact same artwork every year, I get bored, LOL! So I'm always creating new things. 

How do you keep from going through tons of markers, colored pencils, etc...?

I will admit I'm OCD to the core and I have procedures in place for everything. I found that the more supplies you put out at once the more that will be wasted and they will go through.

 -  I use cups and buckets for all my crayons, markers and colored pencils. Each table gets 1 bucket of each. Each bucket/cup has 2-3 packs of each item in them. For example: 3 packs of colored pencils per bucket is perfect and they won't fight over the colors. Also when markers run out, they tell me and we swap them out - I take the bad one and give them a new good one. I keep the buckets full and never do they have to borrow from others to find the colors they need. With crayons, each bucket has 2-24 pack of crayons in them since there are more per pack. 

  -  I also use cups or small bins for oil and chalk pastels. If I can, each student gets their own cup of oil pastels to use. If I can't have a cup for each student, then I have 2 sitting by each other share one cup. For chalks, I have them in little bins and we dump them out on a towel and they share per table. It's perfect. I'll discuss why I use towels in another post. 

  - For other things...
      • Sharpies - I have one closable clear bin that I put black sharpies in and I fill it with 30 to start. As they dry up, I replace them. 

     • Colored Sharpies - I have one clear bin that I fill with a variety of colors and I just kind of guess how many I start with depending on the pack sizes. Usually these aren't used as much so I don't have a huge system in place for them.
     • Watercolors - every 2 students shares one tray of the cake ones. If it's liquids, I have re-sealable trays that the tables share so I can put whatever colors needed in each tray. 
     • Paint/Glaze - I love using re-sealable cups/trays so they don't go to waste. Depending on the project, I might have students rotate tables to use the color at that table. It gets them moving and helps with waste. 

2019/2020 Room Set-up!

Although this a work in progress design,
I'm very happy with my new classroom design. 

I've written about organization and set-up a few times because I'm a huge believer in having your room organized. It makes it easier for you as a teacher and your students to find things. By having procedures and organizational ideas in place, you will also have less problems in your classroom. 

For the last week I've been working on my new classroom set-up, although I'm not finished, I'm excited about how it's coming together. 

My new posters for color familes

 I just finished creating these FUN posters and labels for "Color Families"...check them out in my TPT Shoppe.

2019/2020 Teacher Planner

Just finished creating my elementary/art teacher planner for the 2019/2020 school year and I'm "SUPER" excited about it!

This binder is perfect for both elementary and art teachers. Here's the link to my TPT Shoppe where you can find it. "Superhero Themed Planner/Binder"

I've also added a few new fun designs that go with my "HERO" theme! Check them out... These are my new vocabulary word wall pieces.

I've also created table signs, posters, job tags and much more. These are so cute:) I can't wait to use them this year in my own classroom. 

Free "Coding" Resources...

Borrowed this from another site, thank you!

Some great places to find FREE coding resources, lessons and ideas:

1. Code.org - In a different blog post, I briefly talked about this great resource and you can read it here. 

What I really liked about this program:

-  I teach over 600 students and I could create multiple classes and assign each student their course. What was really great is that if you have students who aren't grade level ready for there courses, you can assign them an appropriate course and no one knows but you. This allows for all students to feel and be successful in coding. 

-  I can monitor each students individual progress, view their lessons and cater their learning needs as needed. The teacher aspect is a great tool.

-  There are unplugged activities also. I really liked the cup stacking activity and so did my students. 

2. ScratchJr. - In a different blog post, I briefly talked about this great resource and you can read it here.

Image of one of my challenge sheets - link attached!

I used this resource with my Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd graders and they absolutely LOVED it. I created a variety of different tasks for students to create. Attached is a copy of one of their "Challenges". Just make sure if you teach multiple classes and grades and they share iPads, create a system so you can identify who has done what.

For example:
- Each of my iPads are a group color (ex: red, yellow, etc...)
- Each class saves their work with identifying codes. For example: M2ch1 (First Initial of teachers last name,grade level, challenge #). Because students get assigned a specific iPad color, I know who has done the work and this has made a hug difference in my grading ease. 
- I laminate and print all my challenges so they can be reused over and over without the worry of getting messed up. 

3. Scratch - Is the computer version for older students. This resource will allow you as an educator to create a FREE account. I think you have the ability to get 50 free student accounts when you sign up. So what I did is create this for only my 5th graders. Each class would have an account and when I was finished with one class I'd "suspend" the account and open the new class. This worked great but takes a little more planning. I do recommend creating tasks for your class so they don't play around. If you have a drama teacher...collaborating with him/her would be a perfect way to make the lesson fun.

I know there are many more FREE resources, but from an educators perspective, these really were my favorite. 

TPT Teacher Appreciation Sale

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