Our school is bursting at the seams this year and I had to give up my art room. My new room used to be a teacher's lounge, so it is a bit cozy. Our class schedules are also bursting at the seams. But........c'est la vie.
I have a question for you. If you are a teacher, how much art do your kindergarten students get in a week?
This year, I will have kindergarten classes for 55 minutes each. My experience tells me that you can keep 5 year olds on task for only 30 or so minutes if you are lucky, so we will have quite a bit of time remaining at the end of classes. ( I think we have 9 kindergarten classes this year.) In my old room, if we had time left over, my students had blocks, reading, and drawing stations. I'm not sure what to do with that extra time this year. Suggestions?
6 comments:
hi,
i just found your blog thru a link. i see my ks for 42 minutes....55 minutes is way too long to keep on task...maybe you can read a story to tie in with the lesson at the start and/or end of class...also incorporate some movement at the end when you have time to kill. i woudl love to have 55 minues with my older students. good luck!
carolyn
I taught kindergarten art for the last three years. This year I have 1st, 3rd-5th.
I had K for 60 min once a week. The trick is breaking up the time. I'll start with a story, explain the lesson, discuss/ask questions/react to book- that's about 15 min.
We work for about 35-40 min (it's not too long, they step up!) and usually have about 10-15 min for 'free choice' or a second super simply activity that builds on the first.
I end the class with assigned roles for clean up and carpet time to wrap it up and bring closure to the class. Sometimes we share our art, sometimes we share stories from our art experience.
Also Google 'Responsive classroom' and set up a 'morning meeting' type system for the beginning of class.
Hope that helps!!
I see my K's for 40 minutes but this year we are trying 45. I go to their classrooms so if they finish early most teachers have them read on the rug. I have had k's for 50 minutes and felt that was too long. I would try and start with a book. You could try "Museum Walks" around the class to look at each others art and then take comments. I do love the K's but they can be a challenge.
I'm so sorry you lost the art room! Been there, bought the t-shirt..I have my kinders for 30 minutes and have to say, it's like herding cats! They just aren't ready for me I guess. I've only had Kinders for 2 years and the disrict still doesn't have a curriculum for that level so it's basically blitz ball every week. I start with a story, do a lot of guided drawing activities, use texture plates with crayons, and put an emphasis on different types of lines and patterns. I think we used watercolor paint once last year and I'm sure I got more gray hair that day. I wish I only had 4th graders!
About 15 minutes before class is over you could allow them time to work on a big wall project like I had in elementary school one time. We all loved it so much...it was a huge paper that ran all across one back wall, and the teacher somehow controlled the scenery somehow...but I remember we would all go up and fill in with colored challk or pastels (or something...)...and we had areas where it was daytime, and areas where it was night...city scenes and country scenes! Animals and people, trees...it was such an undertaking...but if you had that for them to do in the last minutes...they would love it.
I schedule Ks for 45 minutes. If there is time at the end they look at books on the rug or I read a story with them. I like it when we can have a little time together before they go back to class:)
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