First Day of School for Art Class

Are you nervous about starting the school year?  Or are you excited to get things going?  Even though this is my lucky 13th year teaching, I still get anxious to go back.  It’s a combo of nerves, excitement and anxiety about getting back into a different routine.  I still have dreams that the class is out of control, I forget that I am scheduled to teach or I oversleep.  Recently, I asked readers to share their top tips for starting the school year.  Read on to get a wide variety of ideas, tips and plans for the beginning of the year.

** There was some confusion and I think people thought I would recommend to spend a whole first class period on seating charts and rules.  No, I don’t think that would be a good idea.  It is art class after all, and you want the students to be excited about making art.  I always have the kids start some sort of art activity after a brief introduction of expectations and procedures.  Often I will read a book about what art is all about. ***

Christy Newhouse Branham:  Prepare early and organize!!!

Erika Ilona:  First day of school, have the kids do art!  Then, during their 2nd class discuss rules and expectations.

Darrah McCann Baden:  On the first day of school I let every student know they can’t make a mistake and the only limit in art is their own imagination!!

Christine Besack:   Seating charts and name tags to lay on the tables to begin to learn, ( or relearn) their names.

Candis Scholl-Christopher: I pre-plan projects for each element by grade level.  Doing so, I can spread out projects that require major prep time on my behalf and group projects that require similar supplies.  Since I am always cold in the fall and winter, running the kiln is an added bonus then.

Tricia Bevan Farr: Rules, expectations, and then a ‘free draw’ to see what they chose to draw and their ability level.

Patti Wright:First, do everything school-based that you are expected to have ready for opening day.  Then do your art prep.  Keep checking those emails frequently, because things change!  Take a moment of silence, then, take a long, deep breath and relax.  You are an Art teacher and you’ve got this!

Julia Morgenthau Smith Ruszkai: Keep it simple. Start with the basics.  During the first few weeks of school I have students begin to understand classroom expectations and goals.  They will all be part of a large all school project.  This helps get things seen in the hallways for open house.  Another mainstay is I have students start the year by drawing their self-portrait that I put in a time capsule.

Beth L Patts: Be firm but fun and fair.  Use patience and remember to act, don’t react.  Humor goes along way. Your first year of teaching will provide you with so many learning moments and moments that you will laugh about for many years.

Carmen Mitchell Jones: Make sure that your space is set up like you want to keep it.  In my experience, respect for your room and everything else that happens in the room, starts with students’ first impressions. If they feel respected and comfortable they will ensure that the room maintains that feeling.

Pam Laurie:  My students begin the year by making and designing their portfolios to keep their artwork in throughout the year.  They take great pride in this project and they love to have their classmates sign their portfolios at the end of the year before taking them home.

Trish:  I give my students paint brushes and paint on the first day of school!

Clara Crosby:  Make sure that students learn something and that they get to do some art on the first day!!  The first day is everything!

Hillary Hubacker:  I teach middle school and routine is everything, but we start the year by filling out an “about me worksheet” where I learn a little about them, make our “agreements” and all trace a hand on the same page, and then get creating! This year I think our first project will be “the If my life were a movie poster” project….

Vicky Siegel:  I always go over rules and expectations but then start our first project.  Last year I started with a DOT project for International Dot Day.  This way I had a quick project to hang up for the hallways!

Check out my “here.   And lots more here.

Amy Baker:  My students each create an All About Me puzzle piece and they get put together and hung in the hallway!

Sarah B.:  I always go over rules and procedures, and talk about what art is, and read the book “Art is..” and older kids decorate their art folder.

(Note from Marcia.. I love to read the book Art is… also.  It’s a great one!)

Emily:  The first day of school we paint. I go over the rules using memes.  Then the students get to paint.  It makes going over the rules fast because the students want to have enough time to paint.

Sarah Ackermann:  A great way to start the year off right is by diving into creation right away!  Students are excited to be in your room – put the tools in their hands and set expectations by doing!:)

Rebekah Cohen:  Rules and routines are the first things we go over, but even more important is practicing those routines.  I work in an urban school.  I also do a Dot Day project at the beginning of the school year

Mc Corsini:  I usually have the students participate in a school wide collaboration project….impressive for open house night a couple of weeks into the school year!

Check out these collaborative projects ideas.

Kathryn:  Think very carefully about your routines and procedures for you and for the kids.  Be sure you keep them easy to be consistent.

Laelja:  Smile first!  Rules and procedures next.  Then get right into materials and make some art!  I have kinder do an instructed self portrait to get a baseline of skills.  I save it to show growth at the end of the year.

Kim Amor:  A quick 5 minute reminder of Art room rules and we dig right in to creating Art. . . Usually something quick like a Zentangle or an optical illusion the kids love to create.

Aislinn Massia:  I started this year by introducing my rules and procedures with pictures of funny memes.  My middle schoolers loved it.

Shelly:  We discuss inspiration for art.  How some artists find it by looking at other art or around the world they live in or the emotions they are experiencing.  We talk about memories and reality versus dreams and creations that combine them.  I have my students recreate a memory from their summer to share that they are excited about or that they felt was special and unique and that could motivate them on tough days through a drawing project on their sketchbook cover.  The next day we create a place we think that would be fun to go that might combine parts of our favorite place, places we hope to go and things we love to do or would like to do at some point.  These follow the first as a back cover.  Students place their works next to one another and students do a gallery walk.  Students then discuss the works and we learn about constructive criticism and artist’s statements.  After the critique we write an artist statement for each.  The last day of the week, we talk aboutassessment.  I see my students for 5 days in a row, making this easier, but have done it with seeing students once every 4-8 days.  This hits many topics, vocabulary, and critique and assessment processes.  We use this information to begin the building of our sketchbooks