art on a cart

…… the flaws of doing “art on a cart”

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

I do “art on a cart”. I don’t have my own classroom to hold my art classes. So I load up a cart with all the supplies that I need for each class.

Today was no exception except that the cart had to go outside and travel to the portable at the far end of the colas area. This isn’t the first time I’ve done this but for some reason I had one disaster after another today.

I had loaded the cart with bins filled with pots of tempera paint, paint boxes and brushes. It also held containers for holding water and cleaning brushes, a tray filled with hand made stamps glued to blocks of foam, paper for the next project and the unfinished projects from last week. I also carry a bin filled with markers, scissors and examples of art and books that I use for the lesson.

On top of that I also have to carry water to the class. As the bell rang one of my colleagues needed me to open the computer for the library so that her class could exchange books. She volunteered a few of her students to transport my art supplies to the portable while I set up the computer for her.

The students eagerly pushed the cart towards the outside doors. From the library I could hear the brushes fall to the floor. I wasn’t too worried, they were only brushes after all but when I got outside the students were only half way to the portable. The bin with the pots of tempera paint had fallen off the cart and the jars were rolling about on the pavement. I’m sure one of them broke because there was paint on the outside of one of the jars.

As we got closer to the portable the papers started to flutter in the wind and I grabbed them before they took off. The waiting class rushed into the classroom as soon as I opened the door and left me and the supplies outside. Normally they’re very helpful but today I had to go into the class and recruit help to bring all the supplies inside.

The next problem occurred when I tried to find surfaces in the classroom to put all the supplies. The table I had been using was filled with light experiments. So now I’m placing bins of supplies wherever I find a modicum of space.

Once the lesson started I was fine but I did have some difficulty finding things because my bins were spread out around the classroom. The worst part of the day was yet to happen.

As I was loading up the cart to bring things back into the school a huge gust of wind came up and my foam blocks literally flew out of the tray and immediately tumbled over the playground in all directions. My students quickly took up the challenge trying to retrieve them. I think I’ll be finding stray little blocks for days to come.

I carried the papers and the projects to keep them from suffering the same fate while a group of students pushed the cart. I was slightly ahead of the cart when I heard a crash. The bin with the paint boxes fell and they were strewn over the pavement. Again the kids scurried to pick them up but in their haste they weren’t properly stacked and when they resumed pushing the cart the bin fell out once again.

When I finally got inside I was ready to pull out my hair. Some the staff couldn’t help but laugh when I described my afternoon. The OA immediately got out the catalogues looking for a new cart that had bins that are securely fastened to the cart. However that won’t help me tomorrow when I have to do this all over again in the other portable that I deliver art to.

What about the art you say? Well that’s what makes all this worthwhile. I’ll share some of the new work in tomorrow’s post.

Loading this up, keeping it stocked and pushing it back and forth from the library to the class I teach is a bit of a challenge, especially when I have to go to the portables and lug buckets of water with me.

….doing this everyday will help keep my weight down

Loading this up, keeping it stocked and pushing it back and forth from the library to the class I teach is a bit of a challenge, especially when I have to go outside to the portables and lug buckets of water with me. Should be interesting in the winter.

I love teaching art but this year it’s been a bit of a challenge because I don’t have my own space to teach in and I have to transport all my supplies to the students. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to store some of the supplies in teachers’ classrooms so I’ll have less to move around everyday. In the meantime it’s “art on a cart” and because I’m in other people’s classrooms I have no place to sit so I’m on my feet most of the time going back and forth assisting students. I forgot how tiring art can be but it’s a good kind of tired.

The portables are doubly challenging because they have no water so when we’re painting I’m also lugging water buckets to the classroom and using the caretaker’s room to wash out paint buckets and palettes. Luckily I always have a few students who volunteer to help with the clean-up but I work through the entire recess to leave teachers’ classrooms neat and tidy.

The portable classrooms don’t have wall space to hang art work so I have a gallery wall outside the library where I can display work from all five classrooms. Last spring I hung rope from the ceiling for our Forest of Reading display and it’s come in handy for hanging up art work.

Gallery Wall outside the Library

The first project I did with the students this year is one I call “I’m a star because….” or in French, “Je suis une etoile parce que….”. I ask the students to think of one thing that they are especially good at and then pose for a picture doing something that relates to their skill.

Everyone writes why they’re a star in the middle of a star that I’ve provided and then they decorate it with lots of colour. In the second class, after their photos have been printed the students cut out their bodies and glue them and their stars onto a piece of card stock. The final step is to draw a scene behind the photo demonstrating what they’re good at.

The students love this project. Students who don’t have me for art are asking their teachers when they’re going to do the same project. I’ve posted a couple pictures where the student isn’t recognizable or their name is absent.