My 18th first day as a teacher

Yesterday was the first day of school for the 2015-2016 school year. It was my 18th first day as a teacher. Wow. I can't believe I've been doing this, this long!

Here we are before school.

Aren't they adorable!

Kylie is going into 1st grade.

Lexi is going into 5th and is off to the Intermediate school!

 And Maddie is a 10th grader!

And here is my classroom.  I LOVE getting things organized and ready each year. 

The view from my desk.

A couple of panoramic pictures. Yes, my classroom is HUGE! 

And here is my intro into my world that I showed my students. (there is supposed to be a video below..?)

My Classroom Reveal 2013!

I am so excited about my room this year! All of you non-teachers out there should be thrilled to know that while I may have started teaching in 1997 and teach high schoolers, I still get pumped about the first day of school and creating a "theme" for my room each year!

This year, it's about birds and trees. I LOVE the trees on my very, very boring cinder block walls. I'm not allowed to paint, but contact paper is ok! So I made trees out of contact paper!!

You might also notice, if you have seen my room in previous years, that I have continued my efforts at decluttering and have moved a lot of the OLD and DUSTY books off the shelves and made room for more interesting items.

And there you have it. My art room! I'm looking forward to a great year!

Be A Part Of It!! My 2012 Classroom is ready!!

I'm in love with my classroom. I guess it's a good thing since I spend most of my waking hours there! I'm starting my 5th year teaching art (15th overall) and I really feel like this is gonna be my year!  I don't have to be anything I'm not, I've proved that I can do the job, and do it well. Now, I'm gonna have fun!

So here is a sneak peak into my classroom! My theme this year is "Be A Part Of It" using the New York, New York song (Frank Sinatra singing..) and the New York skyline.

When students enter my classroom from the hall, this is what they see first. I have spent countless hours cleaning out years and years worth of accumulated stuff, so I love seeing my empty table and floor space. I still have a ways to go, but I feel like I'm on the downside finally.

As students move into the main classroom, here is what they see first.

The cabinets are on the left as you enter the room. I love the bright colors!! 

The view from my desk.

The view from the back right wall.

The white board and Mona Lisa.

A view of my desk area... eek.  I really need to do something with all of the cords!!

The Assignment Wall. This is the place where students who say, "you never told us...."  are sent!! Sketchbook assignments and project due dates are already posted!!

And a picture of my tables. It says this room is full of artists.. and it says to do your own work, keep your hands to yourself and so forth. And it reminds the students of Mona Lisa! (Mona Lisa is my reminder to students about expectations.. eyes on me, hands still, pleasant face..it's not my original idea, I stole it off an art teacher blog!)

And finally, here is a picture of my SMARTboard in action!! I LOVE that I can make interactive scrapbook pages to teach from! (okay, really it's called Notebook11 for the SMARTboard, but with it I can make a cute scrapbook style page...)

And there you have it.

In case you missed it in all the cuteness, yes, I teach high school art!!

And now I'm off, tomorrow is gonna get here quick!!

Well, Hello August. You sure do arrive quickly every year!

It's August 3rd and that means, I'm getting ready for another school year!

As I've probably mentioned before, I think I may be the only high school teacher that decorates my room in a theme each year.

Over the last few years I've had Safari, Underwater, Construction, Peace, and others that I can't remember!

This year, my theme is "Be A Part Of It" aka New York City.  And since I'm not allowed to paint the walls (boo hiss) I'm putting up skyline paper around a couple of walls. I keep the bulletin boards a simple black and have skyline border and New York city type cut outs to hang up. 

I'm going to hang some twinkle lights and clothesline from the ceiling.  Not sure yet how I'm going to plug in the twinkle lights as extension cords are against fire code... but I'll come up with something!!

Here are a couple of pictures of the room in progress.  My girls are ALWAYS so helpful... :)

I've got to get some muscly people to help me move everything back into position as I'm not supposed to drag things on the newly waxed floor. But man, the press has to weight a few hundred pounds!

Well, that's it for now.  I just love starting over each year! So many new ideas and new things to make!!

Ideas At Work: My 2011 Classroom Decor

And so the 2011-1012 year begins!

This year my room is

Under Construction: Ideas At Work!!

It got rave reviews today.

Notice the DANGER and CAUTION signs around my desk!

The student's thought that was funny, and true. 

So there it is!

My hope is that it will inspire students to be creative and allow

IDEAS AT WORK!

Classroom Under Construction

If you were lulled into the summer schedule and didn't realize that August 1st came and went.  It did.  As a teacher, August 1st is THAT DAY for me.  I really enjoy June and July at home.  I do a little school work and piddle around the house.  I love that time, but in the back of my head, the date, August 1st sits there and reminds me to not get too comfortable.

It really is kinda funny.  Last week (prior to August 1st) I was up at the school and it was me, one administrator and the cleaning crew.  It was DEAD!  Then August 1st, Monday, arrived and the school is a hive of activity.  Our students don't officially arrive for the first day of school until August 22nd, but the building is crawling with kids.  In fact, tomorrow the 4th, we have a full morning of freshmen as they get acclimated to the campus and our procedures.

I can't wait to show you my classroom!! I am the lone high school teacher probably in the world (or so it seems) that decorates my classroom.  I guess it's that artsy-elementary brain I have!  This year I am doing IDEAS AT WORK.  Complete with orange construction barrier stuff draped on my ceiling! 

Hopefully by next week I can show you the room!  It is going to be fun.  And a good thing.  30 art students in one classroom with one teacher is going to be NUTS and LOUD!  I've even bought myself a Yakker Tracker (sp?)  It's a stop light that will change from green to yellow to red depending on the noise level.  I think it fits my construction theme perfectly!

So that's what I am up to.  If you live in the area and feel the need to organize, label, sort or hang.. give me a call.  I can use all the hands I can get!