My classroom

When I left work today the ActivBoard installation was still in progress. Hopefully it'll be ready to go when I arrive tomorrow but somehow I doubt it! Before the installer arrived I snapped some quick photos of my classroom to share. I'm surprised that my classroom does not look messier than it does as I did not straighen up before I took them!

If you are having a hard time seeing the photos, click on them to make them BIGGER!
This is the part of my classroom that I teach from. Notice the tiny useless chalkboard- this is where my new much larger ActivBoard will be! I will still be able to hook up my blue demonstration camera (hard to see against the chalkboard but it's there on top of the blue box) but now on the much bigger board. And I can check the super big space hogging TV back into the library. Check out my super cool color wheel clock! I knew those plain school issue clocks could be cool with a little help from the art teacher!

This photo shows the "Enter" door where classes enter the classroom. Paint shirts are conveniently located here so that they can grab one on their way in. The door with all of the pictures on it leads to the kiln room where we have a nice electric kiln and some shelf space. What are the big brown boxes you ask? Oh, that is my drying new rack. Unfortunately it has been sitting there for 9 weeks waiting to be put together. I think maybe this Friday someone is coming to help with that!

This is Sink 1 along with painting supplies storage. We have two nice windows that lead out to the main hall and let in some great light. I use every ounce of space in my classroom and have transformed the cabinets with doors into our Word Wall. We record all of our "good art words" here so that we can remember them later.

Yet another door... this one is the "Exit" door where we line up to leave at the end of class. While we are waiting for the classroom teacher we can review our "good art words" or the list of artists we have studied. I also record class behavior on the chart on the bulletin board. We have to make sure we can listen and follow directions, use supplies correctly, and clean up our messes before we can do certain projects like clay. Next to the bulletin board (hidden in the picture) is our Refocus Desk. We use this desk when we need to take time out to redirect certain behaviors.

You can see both sink 2 and sink 3 in this photo. We usually stay away from sink 3 because it is very splashy and messy! You can see the yarn and glaze storage on the shelves above sink 2. And on the back table is our (Envision) box of artwork all packed up and ready to be shipped to Original Works. 752 artworks completed, labeled, organized and counted. Feels good to have it done! This fundraiser brings money into PTA every year and is partially how I convinced them to get the ActivBoard for my classroom.

Here is our supply shelf. Most supplies we use day to day are on this shelf so that the table helpers can get them and pass them out. We also keep our sketchbooks here for easy access. Above the shelf are a few of my art teacher mottos and to the right is our door that leads to a concrete patio.

Just out of view on the right side of this photo is a really nice big window and my desk. The shelf is full of teacher books and magazines that I use for teaching. We also have 2 computers for student use. I wish there was more time for this during class but we normally only use the computers for art when we go to the computer lab as a class.

Oooh... check out the ceiling! You just can't look around this classroom without learning something!