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Lesson Plans


Re: Structured Classroom

From: ARTNSOUL12
Date: Sat Feb 12 2000 - 13:03:14 PST

  • Next message: Rick: "Re: mars millenium project"

    I teach K-5 and find that it's extremely important to keep a routine and be
    consistant. Here are my top 10 examples of what I do in my artroom during
    each 40 min. class that work for me:
        1. I have a rug in the front of my room which I call my "Magic Carpet".
    As each class quietly files in each child takes a place sitting
    "pretzel-style" on this rug. We begin each class with a discussion related
    to their day's art activity. (5 min.)
        2. When I need to provide a demonstration we move on to my demonstration
    table located in the middle of the back of my room. Everyone stands around
    the table and "chants" Hands by side and one step back. Freeze please. This
    eliminates pushing and shoving! The kids say it automatically.
        3. I have 6 long tables in my room with approximately 4 children at
    each. There are 3 tables on one side of the demo table and 3 tables on the
    other side. The tables are number 1-6 with a red side, green, yellow and
    blue side on each; I painted the rim of each side with a color. Everyone has
    an assigned seat and therefore is Red-Table 1 or Blue- Table 2, for examples.
     I give a lot of thought to designing this, by placing the needy children
    with the more capable ones as catalysts and the potential behavior problems
    with the "angelic" ones.
       4. On a bulletin board in the front of my room I have 4 jobs listed, such
    as Paint Person who gives out paint supplies and Name Monitor who checks
    his/her table to see if everyone has a name on his/her paper. (Does this
    drive anyone else besides me crazy when kids don't include their names?!!?)
    Next to each job I have put a square of color by using velco. The colors
    correspond to the 4 colors at each table. Each week I move the colored
    squares to correspond with a job, so that every week the children have a
    different job at their table. No one has to ask "can I do this?"- they just
    look at their job for the week and automatically do it.
       5. I have a bell- the one thing I highly recommend is a signal that means
    complete silence- I need your immediate attention. When I ring this bell
    (the kind you find at the cleaners or hotel bellhop desk) everyone stops
    what they are doing and sits with folded hands. Sometimes I say after the
    bell, "You may continue to work while I speak to you, however, your ears are
    frozen to the sounds of my voice and your mouths are frozen shut." I never
    continue until everyone is following these directions.
       6. Clean up is 5 min.,(Clean-up Monitor for each table) with my
    announcements that reds can wash at the sinks, the blues next, etc. I find
    that it works well to have the cleaned- up ones sit back on the rug when they
    are clean. This avoids going back to a table that's in the middle of being
    washed and getting dirty all over agaain.
        7.Once they are re-assembled on the rug, if I have time I might recap the
    lesson or do one of my "famous" magic tricks or bring out Pigcasso, Georgia
    O'Calf, Vincent van Goat- a few of the artroom puppets and stuffed animals.
       8. I always expect the kids to line up in orderly fashion to leave. For
    my k-1 I might say, if you are wearing blue you may line up, red, etc. I line
    up my older kids by tables only after all the tables/room is clean and they
    are quiet.
        9. I do not allow them to visit friends at other tables or get out of
    their seats to ask me a question. They must first ask their table mates the
    question and 9 out of 10 times this anwers the question. I constantly move
    around and answer to the raised hands. I think it is important to allow my
    students to talk while working so that the atmosphere is a relaxed one.
        10. To balance all this structure I try to mantain a sense of humor!
    But, I think the kids still know I mean business. Recently a student told me
    that I'm not strict, I'm fair...whatever that means, it's working, I guess.
    I let them know that I respect them and that I love what I do. In turn, I
    hope to get that respect and love of art back from them!
    Sorry to go on and on... there's always more, but I'll leave space for
    others to share....
    Susan from Long Island 

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