Creation Station

Have you ever wondered how to implement more art into your classroom?

Today's guest blogger, Mrs. Coe will show you how.

Hello Friends,

My name is Mrs. Coe from the blogs Little Miss Kindergarten and Little Miss Hypothesis. I was so excited to be asked to guest post for Mrs. Parker. When I first started blogging Mrs. Parker was one of the first blogs that I followed and I now have followed her for over two years. I am delighted to be able to blog here and share a little bit of my world with you.

Last year when I was setting up my classroom for school I made a little corner of my room that I called my Creation Station. It was very small. I wanted to be able to use this area as an extension of my writing center but at the time I was not quite sure exactly how I was going to accomplish that at all. Nonetheless, I set the station up and played with different ideas throughout the year. I also spent a fair amount of time just observing and listening to what went on in that little space in my own room. This is a picture of my Creation Station on the last week of school.

Throughout the year what I learned was that just like any other work space this has to have a proper introduction and time has to be devoted to that so that expectations are met and materials are used properly. Just like every other teacher, I struggled with time to devote to this. At times my wonderful intentions got lost to the pressures of the other subjects... However, I kept trying different things and learning along the way. What I learned was that with each guided project, the children became more comfortable with experimenting with materials independently. And with more experimentation, a lot of excitement grew for art. And this became a pretty hot spot in my classroom. And I have to say we did have some pretty impressive art come from such a little space in the classroom.

This kindergarten picture really inspired me. I remember who did it. I remember the conversation behind it and I remember the lesson that was given in order to achieve this...masterpiece. As I walked away from my classroom and headed towards summer break, I snapped some pictures to help me keep to my goal of creating a Creation Station that was fully integrated into my Kindergarten day. I knew the only way I was going to feel comfortable doing this is that if it were objective based and integrated fully with other subjects. And with all of those thoughts and wishes in my head I created...

This was created to help me answer the questions of "what" is going in the Creation Station and "how" I am going to fully integrate it! As a writing or word work choice it will be open during our literacy block and in the afternoon it will be open for free exploration of art materials! And the best part is that I can now honestly say that the art objectives will be taught through integrated lessons! But I still needed this center to be open even when a big project was not in the works so I came up with a few more options.

And I knew I needed books to go along with different lessons and art topics so I gathered my favorites and put them on my wish list so that I could order them as I needed them.

These are my all time favorites! And I knew I needed to supply my Creation Station with materials to use for the projects that we will do. So I made a list of the things I wanted and I am shopping around to collect what I need or want.

So many of these supplies are always on sale for Back to School.

Markers Bold and Bright and Pastels

Crayons

Glue

Map Pencils

Construction Paper

Watercolors

Play Doh

Oil Pastels are my new favorite. I LOVE them for Kindergarten. These are not messy like you think. They outline everything and make a picture looked polished. My other new favorite are Watercolor Pencils. What is not to love here?