Second round of bulletin boards 2015-2016

I really do enjoy putting up bulletin boards around the school - it's great for art advocacy, especially! I like it even more when I have the kids pieces of art to display!!! However, since I started the school year preparing the Square1 art fundraiser art with the kids, I haven't had anything to show off, so I've had to get creative with the bulletin boards in the hallways. Each of the bulletin boards below (except the very last one) had some kid-collaboration. I wish there was more time in the day! Please let me know if you have any specific questions about them - I'm always happy to help. 

Back to School Bulletin Boards 2015-2016

The new school year is off to a start and as I have done in years past, I will share my back-to-school bulletin boards below. I never would have thought I'd be displaying a board about "the selfie" but it was really fun to put together. I saw a few ideas I liked on Pinterest, but settled for a simple word bubble with a question for the kids to think about as they pass by it each day. It was a lot of fun to find these artist self-portraits (mesmerizing, actually) and I may keep this going throughout the year and just swap them out from time to time. 

 I have a really large board directly outside my classroom door and always like to put up a simple statement. I was sorta going somewhere else with this initially, but I'm pleased with the way it turned out. It's simple and has a positive meaning. To give you a size reference, I cut all the letters from 18x24 paper.

I love using the yellow paper for my boards outside and inside my room - it's bright and cheery (I think I use it every year). I made these posters several years ago and the kids really like them. We refer to them constantly.

And then a few views around the room......

I like to keep the rules simple: 1. Do your personal best  2. Make good choices. The golden rule: Take care of yourself. 

I use the construction paper (with clothespins attached) to display the projects we are working on per grade level. Sometimes I'll just hang up words for our projects instead of samples. For instance, sculpture, weaving, clay. I'm leaning towards the latter (nine times out of ten) so as to keep the kiddos from getting stuck in the weeds thinking their work needs to mimic mine. 

I hope you have a great year at your school too! 

2014-2015 here we come!!

Another school year is about to get underway! Just like you, I am caught up in a flurry of activity to prepare for the kids......and bulletin boards are one of those things that need attention, stat! I was so happy with the way this one turned out and the bold statement will surely get the kids off on the right track. It took a bit of time to cut the letters from paper, but it was totally worth it (in my opinion). Here's to a great school year! And thank you, Pinterest for the verbiage :) 

And here are two bulletin boards I pieced together from previous displays, just reconfigured.....

Have a WONDERFUL school year!!!

Winter Bulletin Board

I developed this bulletin board idea by combining a few images that I had seen out there....you know where...Pinterest, of course! The easiest part was making the word bubble from a piece of bulletin board paper and white paint. I had a very small group of my 4th graders make the snowflakes and while they worked on that, I made the hat and scarf for Mona using construction paper and then used painters tape to attach it to the print! Wa-lah! I love watching the kids giggle as they walk past the Mona decked out for winter. 

Enjoy!

Back to School Bulletin Boards

Bulletin boards, bulletin boards, bulletin boards!!! My, how they can be so overwhelming! 

As I did last year, I wanted to share some ideas with my fellow blog followers in hopes it might make your life a little easier. I am really trying hard not to reinvent the wheel each new school year, so I've taken bits and pieces from past boards (that I have saved) and tried to re-purpose them. Many of the quotes and lingo that you will see have been inspired by Pinterest finds. 

You may recognize the rainbow above from last years bulletin board, Paint Your Own Rainbow. I spent so much time painting it, I couldn't toss it out and I'm glad I didn't. I really try to cultivate a spirit of self-confidence in my room as you might have guessed! In Art: we try our best, we never give up, we encourage one another, we think positive! I'm happy that these little mottos also link back to and reflect our classroom rules. 

This quote was taken from a Pinterest find. I literally painted the words on large 18x24 manila paper "placemats" that we use to protect the tables. Glad I stumbled on those mats in a random drawer :)

The class motto we live by in my room: "there are no mistakes in art." Even the principal of my school knows this one! And so do the kids. I love it when I can hear them repeating this to one another in encouragement. This signage was kept from a bulletin board I created at least 4 years ago and I'm happy to reuse it.

An easy one to do if you have space to fill up.....SDC (insert school name or initials) students make the world a more colorful place! Reused from last year......I just relocated it from the display cases near my classroom to the ones in the main hallway. I don't think anyone noticed it's a repeat! 

This quote came from Pinterest. I cut letters from an old book, added a poster of children making art and included some signage I made in the past---Signs of a Great Artist: works slowly, uses the art materials carefully, never gives up, thinks originally and uses art supplies wisely.

A few bulletin boards

There is so much going on in the art room these days and not enough time to post as frequently as I would like. I have so much to share and just realized I never posted any projects from our school art show back in March on top of our current multicultural units. I will slowly start adding one project at a time. For now, I will share a few bulletin boards that have been a success.

The Vincent van Gogh Sunflower bulletin board was made by piecing together paintings created by Kindergarten. The kids loved this project, and I really enjoyed the simple supply list, but it entailed quite a bit of work on my end since I had each student paint their sunflower on really heavy, thick paper that became grueling to cut (it made me realize I can be such a glutton for pain sometimes). This was large paper too, about 18x24.

The next bulletin board is comprised of paintings made by 1st grade. I found this Matisse-inspired still-life project on Artsonia years ago and have used it quite a bit. The success rate is always high and it enforces warm and cool color families, plus printmaking. I get a kick out of the bird's eye view of the apples on the plate and the kids always love the professional look they can create just by adding the simple shadows. This year, I tried changing up the color palette for one class. In the background we used turquoise, green, yellow and brown. Forgive me, I didn't take pictures, but I was pleased with the results. The red apples really popped against this color combination!

Art Makes You Think!

In celebration of Youth Art Month, I used the large bulletin board outside my door to get my artist's attention and hopefully inspire them to think about art. The quote is taken from Frank Babb, a contemporary artist. I had a small group of 4th grade students help by painting the individual letters onto paper. I used oil pastel on top of the letters to add a little emphasis and then went to town hanging up lots of art prints. I love seeing the kids stop to look at the work......you can almost see the wheels turning in their heads!

Bulletin Board: Mugs with Spunk!

1st graders created larger-than-life mugs last week in the art room. This was a lot of fun and done with quite a bit of spontaneity. Students used pencil to draw out the basic shape for the mug onto 18 x 24 paper, then traced over it in brown paint. The primary colors (to encourage color mixing), plus white were used to add the spunky patterns!

Sharing a few bulletin boards

As November winds down, I am doing my best to share all the autumnal happenings from my classroom. I wanted to share the two bulletin boards that are located outside my classroom. They will be "winterized" very soon :)

 Leaf Abstractions - an absolute favorite!

Cool Color Leaves by Kindergarten

The Dot

My school has an early release day each month where teachers participate in various professional learning opportunities. The Specialist schedule still stays the same except we only see each class for 30 minutes. This can be a little overwhelming. For the first early release day, I decided to have my students watch the illustrated version of Peter Reynold's The Dot which I found on YouTube. Then I passed out 9x9 paper, watercolors and crayons. The directions were simple: make a mark and see where it takes you! I love all the variety from each individual. Many students asked me for help in drawing circles, so I really had to amplify one of our class motto's: There are no mistakes in art!!
I placed all the artwork on 12x12 golden yellow paper that I cut out to resemble the swirly gold frame from the book. It all turned out so well (in  my opinion) that I had to devote one of my bulletin boards to the creations!

Back to School Bulletin Boards, My Room and the Jitters!!

I thought I would take a moment to share some of the work I've been up to getting my classroom ready for the2012-2013 school year. While I'm (of course) very excited, it is also a very stressful time. After all these years, I still have anxiety about the first day of school and wonder how my year will go.......

Before summer vacation, I freshened up the top portion of the cabinets in my room with a cheery color called New Green. During our pre-planning this past week, I decided to paint the bottom in a darker color called Mint Sprig. I love the look of the two tones and I have to admit, I'm a fan of any & all paint color names!! It's so fun to read them and think about the feelings they invoke :)

Now on to bulletin boards.....let's see....I have six of them total, with two of them being in my room. Here are a few of them for you. Our school's theme this year is: Building the Future, hence the design you'll see here:

The idea for this hallway bulletin board just came to me one day.....and I'm so pleased with it! You can probably tell by now that I am a big fan of brown kraft paper. 

And last, but not least (for now), one of my classroom bulletin boards. I wish I could say I came up with this fancy idea, but I took inspiration from another teacher's work: 

And there you have it, just a little preview of what's happening inside the big green room!