Ready for a NEW YEAR!

I am very excited for the start of a new school year in just a few short weeks. It's very bittersweet for me because it means the end of my "maternity leave" with my new baby. It's been a wonderful summer full of lazy days enjoying one another! My desk will be full of pictures of my baby boy and his dad!

Unpacking my classroom and organizing new supplies is such an exciting time. Here are a few pictures of the finished product. There's always more to do, but I think it's a good start!

The picture above is where the children gather when they come in to hear stories, talk about art, see demonstrations, and share their work. My "Share Chair" is a big deal to the kids-they all want the chance to sit there and have a captive audience! As you can see, I love using literature in the classroom. My library is much larger than this, but I like to keep my favorite books close at hand!

Music is a MUST in my Art class. I love to play music while the kids are working and they remind me to put it on if I happen to forget! They are so much calmer when music fills the air. I also found a large map to display because we often talk about cultures and different places around the world.

We have lots of wires for artwork criss-crossing our room. This year I took scrapbook paper and folded it to make a line of patterned flags. I also used patterns on my bulletin boards. I covered them with fabric instead of bulletin board paper and used painted paper scraps from last year for the borders.

This bulletin board has wide, glittery ribbon for the border. Needless to say, I was once again the "glitter queen" after this board was put up! And of course, we have to have lots of drying racks ready to be filled.

New to the art room this year is a smartboard. I am very excited, yet very nervous at the same time. I really could use some advice from any other teachers with smartboards, especially art teachers. How do you use them in your classrooms?

Class sizes for Art are large-most classes have 30-32, even Kindergarten! Hopefully the kiddos will be as excited about the Art room as I am!