Welcome to My {NEW} Classroom!

Welcome back NY!  Today was officially my sixth day back with students...we had two days of staff development on Thursday and Friday before Labor Day, and then students on Tuesday.  I can tell already that I am going to absolutely LOVE this school year!

First, have a look at my new darkroom!  Well, it's not new...not at all...but this is the first time in AT LEAST four years that you can actually walk into this room and see the counters!  Don't even ask me about the mess of chemicals I found spilled inside of those cabinets from incorrect storage methods... ;)  Hopefully I'll be good to go with dark room photography for a few years!  The chemicals are all pretty much expired, but the stop bath all seems fine, and I have powder developer and fixer in there, so hopefully that will all work.  More on my first adventure in the dark room in my next blog post!

Here's a look at my room...before children arrived!  I was allowed to purchase new stools, so I picked out these awesome art benches.  They are a bit low and I was nervous my taller students would hate them, but everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, loves them!  The students can't get over how comfortable they are AND no one is tipping over in them or pinching fingers off!  Seriously!  Those stools you see stacked up in the top right photo were all splitting in the seats and I had a kid pinch off the pad of his finger last year!  We are now going to turn those stools into an art club project. ;)

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In my elementary room, the shelving behind my chalkboards was for storing class projects.  Each teacher had an individual box.  In this room, I'm blessed to be able to use these shelves for resources.  I even had TONS of fabulous art books donated to my room by my past superintendent! My goal this year is to make students use books more for research and inspiration than the internet.  If the last three years have taught me anything about high school, it's that they think if it's on the internet, it's fair game for copying!

My side wall bulletin boards have now been split into six classes instead of 3 or 4...because I officially teacher six different classes this year! (Well, actually I teach 8, but I'll get to that in a minute...)  I am using the bins as Visual Journal storage so that the students don't have to drag sketchbooks back and forth.  So far, they seem pretty excited about their homework assignments for their classes and the bins haven't been too full after each class, but it is only the second week of school! 

I used to have exit slip posters hanging on this cupboard next to the door.  Last year, I kind of got lazy and didn't really use the exit slip, so I nixed those.  Now, homework will be listed here, as well as on the Google Classroom.  Each student in our district has a Gmail account.  As I have learned, high school students don't like to write things down in planners to remember them, and they tend to be glued to their technology, so I'm going to hone in on that this year and utilize the digital classroom.  So far, everyone has been very receptive to it and I think it's going to be successful!

Let's get down to the nitty gritty.  Here is my schedule.  I am sooooo happy with it!  Not only am I down from 13 different preps to 8, but for once, I'm not overloaded every day!  In my union, the contract specifies that teachers will have 6 teaching preps daily, one duty (study hall or ISS duty), one planning period, and one lunch...UNLESS they are a special area teacher or a teacher who has a lab that connects to their class (a.k.a. science and math).  So, in the past, I've always had 7 teaching preps a day, a prep period, ISS duty, and a lunch.  Now, I only have 7 classes two days a week, and the rest are all 6, and GASP!  One day with 5!

My new cohort in my district is K-6 and special education.  She sees Pre-K - 6th grade once a cycle still, and then works in the resource room for parts of her day.  I still receive two classes from the elementary, both of which are the upper elementary special education classes.  Generally, the students are anywhere from 3rd-6th grade in those two classes, and they are some of my favorite students!!  

Other exciting news?  I actually have a common lunch period with other teachers FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 7 YEARS...and I actually have the common study hall time this year too!

I've already got my next two post, well, actually three posts, planned, so be on the look out!  My fashion design class is jumping right into making our own mannequins for sewing and pinning clothes to, and my Studio, Art 7, and Drawing & Painting classes are ALL loving the visual journal assignments that they have received as homework assignments.  Yes, that's right.  They are ENJOYING homework!  More on that to come!

Here Goes! Bring it on 2013-2014!

Alrighty...today's the first day back with the kiddos!  Yesterday, as I finished everything on my original to-do list, I kept finding more to add to it!  I was at school until almost 5:00...but finished everything that was pertinent to finish for today!  Here's one last look at my two classrooms, both of which are cleaned and organized!

High school door and art room...the walls are still a little bare for my liking, but I'm sure that will change in the next couple of weeks or so!

 Elementary door and classroom...most everything has been kept the same since last year, just because I knew I was taking on the second classroom.  This room is a little unorganized over at the counter sinks, but that will be rectified at the end of the day today!

 I always like to do a first day project with the kids.  Now that the elementary students have had me for three years and art room procedures haven't changed much since last year, we'll have more time to do a mini mini art project on the first day.  My 2nd and 3rd graders will be doing oil pastel flowers to add to the VanGogh vase!  (Project idea found on Pinterest at Becker Middle School's blog.)  To make this a quick project, I printed off four different flowers and the students will get to choose one or two to color during class.  This will be like a review for my 2nd graders because they were in 1st grade last year and did oil pastel pumpkins and oil pastel snowmen!

This board is another direct "borrow" from We Heart Art.  Granted, I don't have the really cool zebra print paper for my bulletin board... ;)  I LOVED the idea to do Post-It notes to fill the board...I'm going to do this with 4th, 5th and 6th graders.  They will have to do an "Art Is" and an "Art Isn't" post-it note to stick out on the board.  Then, they will have to illustrate "Art Is" and fill in the blank with one word.  I'll pick some of those to put up in the black areas.  Can't wait!

And here is my Artist of the Month board.  This isn't an actual bulletin board...I stuck a piece of fade-less art paper on the wall with packaging tape, and then used paint splatter duct tape around the edges for further hold.  I did this last year as well and the duct tape stuck ALL year long and didn't leave any residue when I pulled it down!  

I have two paint cans for every grade level and each month I will pick two students who deserve to become Artist of the Month based on behavior, creativeness, helpfulness, etc.

Christmas in August!

I always say, when I get to open up my requisition boxes, it's always a huge surprise...just like Christmas!  The custodians finished waxing the floors in my room last week on Thursday so now it's finally time to get everything rearranged to where I want it.  Yesterday, my hubby came and and helped me move around the tables and helped to unpack some of the heavier supplies.  I'm getting so excited to get back to teaching high school art!

My back shelves are all organized...canvas panels up top and we went through and sorted out all the stained glass pieces.  Those boxes on the bottom right are unopened and 1/2 sheets of stained glass.  I have two bins of random glass stored in the dark room...I'm thinking of doing mosaics with the elective class.

Back corner...moved the two manual pottery wheels back there because they take up so much space.

Those three random cabinets have been removed...ah, space!

Another view of the back corner.  The counter on the left, right behind that front cabinet, will be getting three computers with Photoshop!  I'm so excited!  The tech guy will be ordering the newest Photoshop for me!

The two black rolling carts will be leaving the room eventually...right now they are going to be stocked with the old artwork that I don't want from this classroom and then will be put out in the hallway come the beginning of the year for students and teachers to take.  I have asked the custodians to bring down the three electric pottery wheels I have in the elementary room and place them in front of the radiator in this room since I'll be more likely to use them in class with high school.  I have two other carts that are a lot nicer in this room I'll be keeping.

Yup, hubby and the pups came into school to help me out!

Front corner of the room where my desk is.  Keeping a second smaller desk there in case I get a student teacher in the future, and also for a separate area for someone who may need to be separated from the crowd in class.  I currently have a roll of dry-erase board paper being shipped to my house...the top chalkboard will be turned into a dry-erase board for easier handling of objectives, and so I can get rid of the huge whiteboard easel that takes up a lot of room.

Table set-up I'm going for...and some of my supplies I have left to put away.

Yup, we emptied all those boxes in about an hour!  I love my hubby...he's such a helper!

Here are my Post-It note exit slip posters...I'm going to cut out "Exit Slips" on my Cricket to label this section, probably in the empty space on the left cabinet.

Yup, he was ready to go by this point.  I'll be going in Wednesday for a half-day training on Diabetes and I'll finish sorting then!

High School Room Progress...

I've probably spent about a total of 12 hours organizing this room so far, and I am happy to say progress has been made!  I probably have half of the cabinets organized and consolidated, or at least emptied out to store other stuff.  I wish I would have remembered my camera or phone yesterday when I worked in there because you wouldn't believe the amount of construction paper I unloaded from the tall double cabinet and four short cabinets...it seemed unbelievable to me!  I don't use that amount of construction paper in my elementary room!  Either way, I kept some paper supplies and donated the rest to the school overflow room.  I have cleaned out and gotten rid of all of the extra furniture that I don't want and hopefully by the end of the week, the custodians will have the floor stripped and waxed.  I plan on moving my pottery wheels from the elementary room down to the high school room to create a pottery nook.

As I'm organizing, I'm thinking about maternity leave in November/December/January and all of these supplies that my substitute is going to have to deal with.  I am thinking of locking cabinets during my leave and only leaving ones open that she/he will need access to for supplies...which brings me to a question...do you label your cupboards on the outside?  I'm thinking about putting labels on the cupboards so it will be easier for the sub to navigate, but I don't want to make it easier for other teachers to convince the sub while I'm gone that they need supplies.  The only reason I worry about this is because teachers have been trying to scavenge supplies out of this room since the end of the school year when they found out the other teacher was retiring (as if they had to worry...I feel like I'm giving up and donating plenty of supplies!)  My other option I thought about was drawing a little diagram of the room cabinets and labeling everything in the diagram in my sub binder, but it seems more work intensive.  

This cabinet was full of yarn, yarn and more yarn!  I gave two boxes away, put there boxes down in the overflow room, and kept half a shelf and the boxed yarn that is new.  This is going to be my fiber crafts cabinet (and cellophane...lol).  I'm not too into fiber crafts but the time may come that I would want to do some basking weaving or something with the students, so I'm keeping this small stash of supplies.

This cabinet was FULL of construction paper.  I have turned it into the paper supply cabinet.  The top shelf has a small assortment of multi-colored construction paper and black construction paper (for framing artwork in case I run out of mat board).  The second shelf has white, manila and colored tag board.  The third shelf has tracing paper, manila drawing paper and the half used sketchbooks that will be used to supply white drawing paper when needed.  Fourth shelf contains watercolor paper, block printing paper, graph paper and art paper.  Bottom two shelves have the large drawing paper/tagboard/construction paper, watercolor paper and then some random packages of other art paper.  I have labeled each shelf with a piece of masking tape.

These two shelves also contained construction paper.  Now, the cupboard on the left is the sketchbook overflow cabinet and the cabinet on the right will hold art games and activities.

Again, this shelf had construction paper...now it houses the art VHS tapes and reference/resource books.

You can see the four cabinets that were in the room are cleaned out and gone!

The back nooks have been organized...The top middle one will hold the glaze that I ordered for this year.  Bottom right is for stained glass and the top right will be for all the canvas boards I ordered.  Middle right contains linoblocks.  Middle and top left contain 1/2 gallons of acrylic.  Bottom left contains Masonite board and the middle bottom has lots of clay boards.  The rest of the cabinets in the back of the room haven't been touched yet...

Aside from the cupboards I pointed out, there were four other short cabinets that had shelves full of construction paper...I kid you now, when I stacked everything that I didn't want on the tables, it was probably a 5'x5'x5' stack!

I've got the keys...!

...to my 2nd art room!  Hmmm, does this mean I need to come up with a new name for my blog since I will now be teaching out of art room 104 and 309??? ;)   Here's a glimpse and a little history about what I am now dealing with cleaning up in my new room...

The previous teacher had been in this room for at least 20 years.  Before that, she taught at a different district, but it was combined with another, and that's when she ended up in this classroom.  So, needless to say there is about 35 years of collecting in this room!  The previous teacher also had a COMPLETELY different organizational technique than me...meaning complete opposite...so I have my work ahead of me if I want to keep myself sane this school year!  What works for one person doesn't always work for another...

I received the keys to the room yesterday and my hubby came in for an hour and a half with me yesterday to help me do some heavy moving and lifting.  Today I spent about two and half hours sorting and cleaning as well.  There are A LOT of extra cabinets and furniture in this room that make it feel very cluttered, so my goal is to get things sorted and consolidated so that I can get rid of that extra furniture.

There is also some lower grade paints that I will be donating to our new school supply room (a catch-all for unwanted supplies...teachers can come and give and take as needed), which will hopefully keep teachers from borrowing supplies from the art room!  Unfortunately, there is also a lot of paint that I will be tossing because it is completely separated and will not mix back together.  Same with about half the glazes.  They are either VERY watery or completely dried out.  Luckily, all of my elective requisitions were put through this year and I will get everything I ordered for the high school room, all of which will end up replacing a lot of the old stuff I plan on getting rid of.

Once the cleaners get the room cleaned and the floors waxed, I plan on having them move the three pottery wheels from my elementary room into the high school room so that I can have a ceramic nook, which has me really excited!

This is the door to the classroom.  The divider and brown cabinet has been cleaned out and removed from the room (extra furniture!).

When you enter the classroom, this is what you see on the right side.  All the tables and stools are pushed up against the cabinets because the custodians are currently working to clean the room as well.  The door way in the back is the dark room.

Inside the dark room, left and right respectively.  I plan to keep the enlargers for now, until those supplies are used up.  Ideally, I would love to turn this into a mini computer lab with Macs!

This is the front of the room, when you enter the door to the left.  Computer is under the sheet, storage behind the chalkboards much like my other room.

Corner of the room where the dark room is.  There are two sinks and plenty of counter space.  There is a grey metal cabinet that held lots of glazes and old paint that I cleaned out today for removal.  The other open cabinet has lots of basking weaving and yarn in it.  That will also be cleaned out, materials consolidated and that cabinet removed as well (I just got rid of the boxes upon boxes of yarn I had in my elementary room...there are THREE (yes 3!) cabinets full of yarn.  Some of it will have to go!

View from the corner where the sinks are to the opposite corner of the room.  The dark blue, low bookshelf will be gone, as well as the other two dividers in the corner and two of the three file cabinets that are behind the dividers.  Also, the tall cabinets and three short cabinets behind those dividers are FULL of construction paper!  Those will definitively be consolidated and donated to the supply room...There is more construction paper in this room than I have and use in the elementary room!  Construction paper is also another one of those items that teachers want to borrow from the art room, so I'm hoping if I give a lot of it up that I know I won't use, they'll leave me alone...(I know, wishful thinking right?).

And finally, the back of the room.  This is a small area that is adjacent to where the dark room is.  The kiln is back there, as well as more counter space, another sink (to the right) and more storage.  I have so far removed the curtains and consolidated the materials on those shelves.  All the paint and glazes I am keeping have been moved onto those empty shelves I created when I moved things around.

The extra counter space...kiln is to the right, outside the picture.  Sink and curtained shelves are behind me in this picture.

Stay tuned for more pictures as I share how I'm organizing this room to fit my needs and personality!