Studio Hacks: Free Drying Racks, Paint delivery, and more

-

 

Recycled nursery racks are free and make wonderful drying racks
for the days when I run out of space on the regular drying racks.
These racks store pretty flat when they aren't needed
and even kinders can handle them.


To handle about 800 art servings a week, my students are using a lot of markers, pencils, paper, and paint. Here are some of the hacks I've been using this year to manage markers and paint.







Four paint wheels fit on a microwave
plate from the dollar store.
Students sometimes use the plates
as palettes.  When the plates are stacked they keep leftover paint fresh overnight.



















Sharpie caps glued into a toner cap.
Those toner caps again.  This time Sharpie caps are hot glued into the sections.  I have only lost one sharpie all year. 
Mr. Sketch markers.  Caps are hot glued into the holes.  I drilled them into 2 x 2 redwood and it took me about an hour to make 6 trays like this.  The downside is that sometimes kids hold them upside down to pretend they are machine guns.   But I have lost very few markers this way.  I can see immediately what's missing and send the class out on a hunt for the missing markers. 
Paper clay holds these marker caps into a paper bowl.  Not very pretty but this was the prototype for the version using a recycled toner cap. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Starting Class on the Right Foot with Middle School Artists

-
Image
Someday I want to see a scan of the pre-teen brain during a class transition.  Want to bet it lights up like fireworks?  But whatever is going on in there, my bouncy kids need help to focus their bodies and minds after all the super exciting things that happen in the 3-minute walk from their classroom to my STEAM art room. I learned a new procedure for starting class in a PD last year and tried it super quick... darn if it didn't work better than anything I've done so far (like everything plus the kitchen sink).  Here are the ABCs of the procedure step by step.  (This sequence was created based on the work of Hyde and Charles, Sequoia Union High School District. 2016.) A)  S cout for Respectful Behaviors.  Invite 2 reliable students into the room to tally respectful behaviors they see as the class enters. They're the kids who can stand on the line with their arms down, their bodies calm, and their voices off modeling appropriate line behaviors and this gives me a chanc
Read more

How One Young Artist Found his Way (Or, The Trouble with TAB)

-
Image
This is about the transition of one young man from a "devoted goof-off" to an expressive artist through the power of the studio habits of mind.    Over the course of a year, this young artist learned to express complex and powerful ideas and emotions using art materials.  The goal is to show how kids learn through TAB exploration. The trouble with TAB is that it's a long road to results because the skills students develop are complex and subtle.  TAB teaches a way of thinking.  This boy's accomplishment represents a two-year journey. If you compare it to acquiring math skills, people already "know" the sequence for that development from year to year... (not that the existing sequence is all that useful for many kids) and without a sense for developmental stages for creative problem-solving administrators and parents tend to judge artwork from project to project.
Read more