Sm'ART'ists: Sketchbooks and Start of the Year Goals

One of my goals this year is for each student 1st through 5th grade to have a sketchbook of their own in art. This is a huge goal for a few reasons.

I had to buy around 650 composition notebooks from Walmart, get them to school, and find a good way to store them so that the kids can easily access them. 650 books=32 boxes! That's a lot of boxes, and there is one little me. The possibilities were endless!

Below you can see, it was an even bigger challenge than anticipated loading the boxes into three shopping carts by myself and hauling them across Springdale in my little car to Sonora and unloading again. (The boxes did not revolt, however.)

We will be using our sketchbooks to draw preliminary drawings for projects, sketch and brainstorm ideas, practice the elements and principles of art, and write artist statements and art observations. I am excited about being able to implement literacy into the art room! I believe every subject, from art to PE, can be cross curricular and serve to move students forward in their education.

Yes, I only see the kids once a week for 40 minutes, but it is worth it for them to be expressive through their writing as well as their art. That is part of being an artist!

Getting the sketchbooks organized by class- I am BIG on organization!!

Students will be able to find their sketchbook organized by teacher in a shelf system marked with their teacher name.

Another new edition to the art room this year is Arkansas Art Common Core Curriculum. The Springdale elementary art teachers met over the summer at a seminar at Crystal Bridges to refine the vocabulary and come up with a power standards sheet for each grade level. We are really excited about this, because we know exactly what our students will be learning ON ONE SHEET! I have