Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Slowly Shifting into a Choice-Based Classroom

As we make the transition to a full Choice-Based Art Room we are taking little steps to get there.  Too many choices too fast could be overwhelming for some and the quality of students' artwork would might suffer.  Instead the classes are starting with just a few choices of materials and we will add more choices as time goes on.

Just before we left for break I started this idea, but didn't fully explain to students where we were heading in making our Art Room Choice-Based.  (I instead choose to share that with them after we came back from break.)  Even though we were just getting started on our journey I could see there were going to be great things to come.  Here are just a few of the stories that happened in art before Christmas Break.



This is a drawing by a 1st Grade boy.  He used one of the houses from our Idea Station to draw.  After working on the house for about 30 minutes this is what he created.  I was really impressed with how much improved this drawing was over his normal drawing level.  He was really proud of the results and so was I.  You can see his attempts of trying to understand perspective and he is only a 1st grader!




This snowman was painted by a 2nd Grade boy.  I love the personality that come through on the snowman's face.




A 2nd Grade girl came to show me her painting after she was finished.  I was really impressed when she told me how she had fixed her mistake.  (This is something I always encourage my students to try to do.  When they actually try this instead of turning it over they are always really proud of their hard work and they come up with the best solutions to fix their mistake.)  She had made a mistake behind the sleigh and she decided to turn it into a present with a parachute that Santa was sending to a child's house.  We both thought this might speed up Santa's deliveries!




This painting was also by a 2nd Grade boy depicting his football team.




Finally, one more painting by a 2nd Grade girl.  I love the color she chose for the background.  It really makes the snowman stand out.

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