New Art Centers

Every year when I order the following years supplies, I always try to order a handful of new items that I think would be good to add to my center repertoire. Over the past 3 years of trial and error, I've found a few guidelines are helpful when thinking about whether a center item will be successful or not.  Here's what I've come up with: 

1.  Can the children easily set it up and put it away?  Things that require a lot of directions, steps, or guidance from me are a NO GO. The whole point of centers is self-directed, open ended exploration...if they need me every 5 seconds, it's not a successful center. Tied into this, is the level of mess it makes.  If there's an opportunity for the children to get really dirty, chances are it will be fun, but chances also are that you'll have to watch that group like a hawk for misbehavior or a little too much "exploration".  Again, if it doesn't run smoothly and with minimal teacher interruption, I'd say skip it.

2 Is it open-ended and exploratory?  If the activity is too structured and the product-based, chances are, the kids won't have time to complete it, and will be bored in the process. Also, if there are too many "right" or "wrong" steps they're guaranteed to get confused and discouraged (see also, # 1). 

3. Would it work for grades k-5, or at least grades k-2 or 3-5?  If the activity is too centered on one specific age or ability level it won't work in the majority of situations.  Flexibility and adaptability are the name of the game in center activities, so if it doesn't suit a broad grade range, skip it.  

4. Does it keep the children engaged for a decent amount of time?  In a typical 40 minute are period I usually have the class switch centers 1 time.  The breakdown goes something like this: Five minute for reviewing center rules. Five minutes for setup,  transitions, and cleanup, and 30 minutes for center time. So, any more than 2 switches and the kids really don't have the time to explore the center. This means it's got to keep them engaged for at least 15 minutes. 

5.  Is it individual based or does it have opportunities for collaboration?  I will try a center activity that is based on solo work, but I particularly like the activities that give the kids the opportunity to create something as a group if they so choose.  Most of what I do, and from what I've seen, other art teachers do, is individual work, and so it's nice if the children get the chance to work together on something.

6. Will the materials hold up?  Delicate, quickly used, and/or easily breakable materials may make for a fun activity but if you have hundreds of students like I do (almost 600 to be exact) the materials aren't going to be worth the investment if they don't make it through a school year. Granted, I don't do centers that often, but I still want things to last, preferably for a few years.  So anything flimsy might prove to be a short-live budget buster. 

7. Lastly, and most important.  Are the students flexing their creative muscles?  For instance, kids love color by numbers, picture searches, word searches etc.  But you have to ask yourself, is this activity even worth it?  Now, some may argue the educational value of centers in and of themselves.  If you do a center day once in a while don't expect that the kids are going to learn a wealth of knowledge from a 15 minute session of exploratory play. But in my opinion, a little open-ended exploration and creativity is a great thing, especially in this day and age.  That being said, if the activity doesn't foster some modicum of creativity, leave it out.  Busy work has no place in center time!

Here are a few new center ideas I've tried this year: 

Dry Erase Boards with Dry Erase Crayons

I've found the early childhood grades smash the perfectly new marker tips into oblivion, so I figured I'd try crayons.  
Final Verdict: They're so-so.  They draw well, but are really hard to erase! The typical dry erasers don't really work on them. You need the rags that come with the crayon, and even then, the crayons are particularly persnickety to wipe away.


Magnetic Architecture Boards

A magnetic set comprised of a variety of pieces to create difference "buildings". 
Final Verdict: Great for grades 2-5.  The pieces are tiny and may be too small and difficult for kinders and first graders to manipulate. One set has enough magnets for 4 kids but you need to buy 3 extra magnetic white boards to go with the center because the original set only comes with one magnetic board.  I got mine from school specialty. Wonderboard also makes a magnetic bug makers set I'm going to try next year. 

Project Bricks 

 I think I thought these had a variety of shapes when I purchased them, but they only have the rectangle shapes unless they are cut. 
Final Verdict:  Underwhelming at first but surprisingly creative when given a chance.  My second graders took one look at these and gave a unanimous sigh of "underwhelmingness", but once they worked together and started to build with them, they got surprisingly into it. Something like this would be light years better if it came in color.  (Although, they would make a pretty good sculpture material for a real project) 


If you are still interested in my explorations into the land of art centers, click on 'Centers and Games' on the link to the right or  use the direct links below to  read previous center posts I've written: 

Art Centers

Art Centers-Take 1 

Art Centers-Take 2 

Art Centers-Take 3

Roll a Monster-A Halloween Activity

 

Three of my classes had finished their projects early and had a little extra time.  Being that it was Halloween, I thought it would be nice to do something easy and fun.  I used the template above that I had found online and borrowed some dice from our schools math teacher.  The kids really liked the activity, but I noticed, as they played that the heads of the monsters were drawn on roll 4, which was silly because the eyes, and mouths were supposed to be drawn on the rolls before.  If I do this activity again, I'll probably make my own handout, but nonetheless, it was a cute 15 minute time filler for Halloween.

Art Centers

I've been experimenting with art centers for 2 years now and I never had quite the success with them that I had hoped for.  Upon some serious reflection, and numerous semi-successful attempts, I realized that my centers weren't really succeeding for 4 main reasons: 
1. I never spent an adequate amount of time clearly and explicitly teaching students what center time is about, why we were having it in art, and expectations and procedures for using each center.
2. I hadn't come up with centers complex enough to hold students attention while simultaneously being easy enough for them to understand and work at independently.
3.  I didn't quite have the supplies I would have liked when I first began in my school to create centers.
4. I never had enough time really develop numbers 1-3!

This year 3 of my classes have double art periods every other week and so I see those 3 classes almost twice as much as my other classes (which I see on a 6 day cycle). so I decided to develop, teach, and experiment with centers in those classes.  It's been working fabulously thus far.  I explain to each of my 3 extra classes that they are my 'testers' and should use the centers and give me feedback on what they liked and what they think could use some improvement. 

Here are the center ideas I've been using so far and the kids, in grades 3, 4, and 5, love them!

The materials for each of the centers is placed in a different colored basket.  Each basket has a laminated instructions sheet with the title of the center, directions for using the materials, and the steps for clean-up.  The directions/clean-up are very concise and clear containing no more that three bulleted sentences apiece. '
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Sketch Center- 4  5"x7" sketchbooks, a package of 25 colored pencils, pencils, erasers, and 'How to Draw' books.

Block Center- the basket is filled with small primary and secondary colored blocks that I bought as a set from Michael s craft store for about $ 20.

Clay Center- I have both Model Magic and Polymer clay in this center, although the polymer clay is very stiff and a bit hard for the students to manipulate.  I recommend just using white Model Magic.  The clay is put into a plastic container with a lid on the top to keep the clay fresh.
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I Spy Station-  I have a GREAT 'I Spy' go-fish card game that used pictures instead of regular playing cards.  It's fantastic for ESL students to as it helps to reinforce some basic words, colors, etc.

 

Wacky Sentence Center- I typed up and  laminated parts of sentences that describe a person or animal, a place, and an action.  For instance "A sleepy alligator....is eating ice cream....on the subway".  Each part of the sentence is on a different color strip so students take one pink, one yellow, and one green piece and create a wacky sentence to illustrate.  It's a good way to get kids imagination going.  Some students think it's silly and in those cases I'll have them just choose 1 part of a sentence and then write and illustrate their own

 

 Stencil Station- I have a set of plastic Picasso-esque face stencils.  Students can trace the stencils and then embellish them with neon markers.

 

Centers...Take three

Today was the first day I integrated centers into the classroom. I used the 3 centers I made for a second grade and fifth grade class. Each of which with very different results. The three centers I introduced were titled:

The Creation Station- Model magic (white) with these colored toothpick like sticks I had in my storage closet.
The Scrap Paper Creation Station- Scraps of construction and textured papers, glue, and scissors.
The Who What Where Game- Laminated strips of pink, green, and yellow sentence chunks that each had a who, what, or where statement that the students would combine, write, and then draw on white drawing paper.

Now let me preface this before I keep going. I had a very strong suspicion that Who What Where game would not go over too well with the 5th grade before I tried it, but I figured I'd would see how the response was nevertheless...

The second graders loved it! I had the students rotate between 2 of the three centers at 15 minute intervals, which worked out well because it left students with 1 center that they hadn't done for next time. I encouraged them to take their time and leave their work for the next time so they could keep developing it. The did a beautiful job, transitioned between centers well, and really positively responded to having the freedom to work on their own ideas for a bit. The creation station I structured a little differently, having students work in pairs to create a 3D form, which at the end of their time at that center, they would have to disassemble. At the suggestion of another teacher, I gave the students the opportunity to photograph their 3D creation so as to be able to print it and have them keep that as a copy of their work.

The fifth grade class I tried the centers out on went all wrong. They were disorganized, and everyone rushed to the 3D station, no one wanted to go near the scrap paper station and when I gave them the chance to try out the sentence game everyone ended up just 'free-drawing' with the boys trying to sneak draw pictures of guns, and inappropriate school pictures. I'm definitely going to have to go back to the proverbial drawing board with my upper grade center ideas. Oy, I can't stand it when things don't go well!

Art Centers...Take two

I compiled a list of various center activities, after reading some different sites the amount of information and ideas I got was dizzying! So I wrote up a list in Word to help organize some of the new info I was acquiring. I'm going to post it on my blog so all of you can read it. I'll keep you posted on how center time actually goes!

1.‘Practice Draw’ – Laminate stock photos of things and have the students chose from the box of images what they can copy and draw from.
2.‘Practice Draw 2’ – Instead of photo’s use real objects like shells, baby shoes, dollar store stuff, etc.
3.‘How to Draw Books’ – Have on hand different how to draw books based on animals, cartoons, well-known characters, etc.
4.‘Draw Starts’ – First, I demonstrate on the white board, 1 person makes a random mark then another student makes something out of it (i.e. an animal, face, etc.). If the students can’t make the marks, the teacher can pre-make a bunch. They must elaborate and no snakes, worms or letters. (Good for k-2)
5.‘To Do List’ – Things that the teacher may need help doing things around the room.
6.‘Who, What, Where Game’ - Which is a box filled with cards of three colors. The pink ones are people, animals, or things(nouns or subjects) the green ones are action or verbs, and the purple ones are places or locations. So, if they draw a card of each color, they get a wacky idea to illustrate, such as "A hula dancer (pink) on a subway (purple) telling fortunes (green), or a polka dotted penguin, square dancing with a hippo, in a submarine.
a. You can add adjectives to your noun choices, you can add details to any of your choices to make it more fun.
i. So, a list of pink choices might be:
A lazy lizard, A wild-eyed elephant, An affectionate alligator, A sleeping frog, etc. A list of my green cards or strips might be: waltzing with a whippet, standing on his head, shaking off drops of water, eating a triple decker ice cream cone, etc.A list of purple choices might be: on a cruise ship, At a baseball game, in a toy store, on a beach at sunset, in your bedroom, at a summer camp, on a diving board, etc.

7.‘Scrap Monsters’ - Where they use scraps off the scrap cart, pretty much in the shapes they find them, to build monsters or animals or people. Some kids like to build with paper, but NO WEAPONS or airplanes.
8.‘Origami Box’ - With instructional books in it and paper. Students may trade me for true origami paper after they have demonstrated mastery.
9.‘Art Games’- various pre-bought packaged games that can include:
a.Pictionary
b.Squirt
c.Tangoes by Rex Games (make the shape seen in the picture)
d.Thinkfuns: Izzi, Brick by Brick, or Block by Block
e.‘Modern Art’ - In Modern Art, players compete to gain the most money by buying and selling paintings at auctions and reselling them for profit.
f.‘Art Memo Game’ - Try your hand at a memory game with a twist. Art Memo has 72 cards depicting 36 different pictures. All 36 of the pictures are fine art from museums around the world. Made in Austria by Piatnik.
g.Prof. Noggin's History of Art - The History of Art card game, from Professor Noggin's series of educational games, encourages kids to learn interesting facts about art, one of their favorite subjects! Each of the thirty game cards features a great work of art from Michelangelo, Hokusai, Leonardo Da Vinci, and more of history's famous painters
h.Masterpiece, The Art Auction Game - For years families have thrilled to the excitement and fun of the MASTERPIECE game. Now you can join the tradition and make your mark in the high-stakes world of an international art auction, where the excitement is in the bidding

10.‘Calligraphy Bin’- With pens in it.
11.‘Sculpturades – Use of modeling clay or play dough where students need to guess the objects the person in creating (based on index cards with objects or pictures of objects)
12.‘Stamping Center’- Contains an ink pad and several different stamps. Some are from cheap children's kits found at the dollar store, some are higher quality. 4 1/2x6" paper is included in box.
13.‘Collage Center’ - Various types paper, stickers, sequins, ribbons, etc. 1 1/4 oz. glue bottle and 4 1/2x6" white paper included in box.
14.‘Coloring Center’- Variety of coloring sheets such as Optical Illusions, Famous Artworks, etc.
15.‘Rubbing Center’ - Various textures for rubbing including sandpaper, screen, mesh, texture rubbing plates. 4 1/2x6" paper included
16.‘Exquisite Corpse’- Round Robin style drawings, I would need to make the booklet.
17.‘Art Puzzles & Patterns’ – Various puzzles either hand made or pre-bought which can include:
a. Squizzle Puzzles (from Mindware)
b. Busy Beetles and Batty Lizards
c. Pattern Play (from Mindware)
d. Busy Beetles and Batty Lizards
e. Art Print Puzzles-can be handmade
f. Sudoku using colors (from the teaching palette, it has a link to printable sheets)

18.‘Manipulatives’ – Either hand-made or store bought for building, or connecting things which includes:
a. Toobers and Zots
b. Tanagram sets
c. Connectograms
d. Crystal Productions: ‘Wonderboard’-magnetic architecture set


I apologize for any misspelling and for the weird formatting (I copied and pasted this off word). Feel free to add any of your own center ideas. I'd love to add to my resources! :)

Art Centers...Take 1

I'm going to try and incorporate art centers into my teaching. It's going to be a gradual process and so I'm beginning by using centers as a reward for excellent class behavior. I use a red, yellow, and green 'stoplight' for my classes, and the goal, after reviewing the rules with them, is for them to always try for a 'green' day. If they succeed in having 3 green days in a row, they have earned a free choice day, which will be structured into art centers. Currently I'm trying to put together some center ideas that will be productive and engaging for all the grades but its a bit more work than I anticipated (isn't it always though? lol). So I have a feeling this will be a work in progress. Anyways, I found a great article on the teaching palette blog site entitled "Proven learning Centers for the Art Room" Here's the link, its definitely worth a look. I especially like the color sudoku and the Picasso center ideas.

http://theteachingpalette.com/2010/07/28/proven-learning-centers-for-the-art-room/

4th grade rose windows

In 4th grade at some point in the year students study the Medieval Ages. In accordance with that, I did a lesson on stained glass 'rose' windows. To begin with, we brainstormed as a class all the things we knew about the Medieval Ages, then I introduced the vocabulary that went along with the lesson including transparent, opaque, radial symmetry, symmetry. pattern, design, and the use of stained glass during medieval times. I gave each student a 14 x 14" square of white paper and a pre-made 'slice' to trace to create their circles. I would have used a compass, but the classes didn't have them. After their circle was made we discussed ideas for designs which they then drew on their slice and traced over it on both sides with a black marker. They then flipped and traced their designs till their circle was complete. Lastly we added watercolor paints and outlined the design with a mixture of tempera and glue (home-made puffy paint) to create the leaded outline effect of stained glass windows. The lesson was very challenging for the 4th grade but was worth it!