week eleven.

Firsts:
Opened Painting to firsts again this week, so we did a mini-review lesson on taking care of our painting materials. They did well. I reminded them that this was their chance to show me that they are responsible with their materials and will take care of them to have the choice to continue to use them. We looked at the counter when we started, and they did a very good job of cleaning up at the end. I still had a couple students who I had individual meetings with and we got that finished up. Even with painting opened again, there were a few students who still chose drawing and collage.

Fifths:
Fifths were a little hectic this week. Many students were working on what they needed to be doing, but there was one student in particular who did not have a plan when he came in, and tried to get in on other people’s projects. I had the feeling that those people didn’t really want him to be helping, but couldn’t find a polite way to tell him that. He was a catalyst all class for disrupting others, until I directly told him he had one minute to find something to do or he would be leaving the studio.

My flag making group was getting a little frustrated because a stripe on their flag accidentally got painted the wrong color. I hope next time I see them, I can talk with them about how those are the juicy bits. Where you can see the artist’s hand. Where there is the human touch. If I wanted a perfect flag, I could just go buy one. The one that is made is much more special.
For our mini lesson, we talked about landscaped and foreground, middle ground and background. I explained how I often see students leaving a large blank space in the middle of their paper, and what should actually happen there- what does that look like? I need to talk with firsts about finishing work and "Artist Statements" which they will dictate to me at first, but ultimately, I'd like to have them be able to write one sentence about their work on their own.

Other: I hope to talk with some of my fifth grade students today about helping me explain choice to the second grade class that I will be beginning choice with next week. I have a few more group lessons planned, but after that, I will gradually be phasing in choice. I have discovered that I need to be keeping track of the younger students’ choices, because they don’t really understand the chart thing. As I start to phase in the other grades, I think I will keep track of K-2, and have 3-6 track their own.