So, yeah, I'm really proud of all of the work that I've done on my room. Organization is not my best area, so this has been my goal for this school year. I have pored over art teacher blogs and pinterest (ah, pinterest.) And, I feel a little bit like a crazy, color coordinated lady. I've always organized my tables by color, but now kids MUST get the bucket that belongs with their table, and put their sketchbooks in their color , and follow the behavior chart by their color, AND get PLACEMATS (good grief, I made color-coordinated placemats) for their table color, AND put art in their tables' folder, AND put art on the drying rack WITH their colored placemat so that I can keep art from their table together. MAYBE I'm going a bit overboard, but I am just SO determined to be organized. Somehow this is supposed to make my job easier (I hope!) Of course, since I'm doing all of this color stuff, I'm decorating with color stuff, too. I LOOOOVE bunting, and have made it before for my children's birthday parties. I decided that we needed some colorful bunting in the classroom, too. I also made a rainbow curtain to hide the junk that is in the storage area. I'm trying to be organized but I don't have anywhere else for all of my boxes of clay, and ugly rack to go. All this is hidden by a gray curtain with rainbow down the center.
I feel very fortunate to have a sink, kiln, and smartboard, but, boy does my room feel tiny, especially with larger classes. I haven't made them yet, but I am planning to keep student work in portfolios this year. For the most part, it has just driven me crazy in the past when I see students fold up art to take home, or seen teachers trash it before giving it to students (I so wish that I was kidding.) I like the idea that students will take all of their art home in a special way, and will be able to see their progress throughout the year. I also like that students can go back and rework art that they don't love. However, and this is the reason that I haven't yet made portfolios, where do you store all of those things? I have nearly 600 students. The portfolios will all be made from bulletin board paper (I know posterboard would be better, but I don't have the budget to order something new. I'm going with what I have.)
I have rows of cubbies that you can see here. We are using them for "sketchbook" storage (folders with loose paper in them.) And, the folders barely fit.
Behind the cubbies, is my main flat file storage. This is where I am planning on keeping our current projects, but, as you can see, there won't be room for every student's portfolio in each small drawer.
I do have a large rolling rack (that I am assuming is meant for clay? maybe.) I could potentially stand some of the portfolios in there, but I'm not sure that it will work. Plus, it is where all prints are kept right now. I don't have many and could deal with it, but then, where do portfolios go when we are doing clay? I thought about a large box per class, but then, these would just have to be lined up on the floor somewhere. Any thoughts that any of you have on portfolio storage in a fairly small classroom, please let me know.
