Last post for today-promise!

 This is my sink area.  I had planned to paint the cupboard all black due to the fact that it had so many paint splatters and splotches, but my girls, being the creative artists that they are, suggested that I let them just add more splatters. So, voila, a colorful and lovely cupboard/sink area for my students to use. Later on, we added some artsy knobs that we found at a local craft store. The buckets are full of art supplies that I "raffled off" at our open house.  It was a great way to introduce myself to the families and meet my new students!  And so ends my blogs of today introducing you to my new jobs.  I love being an art teacher in my two wonderful schools!

Above the board

 My take on the painting scenarios of Paris. Lol!

Meghan's art for Mom

 We found this great big huge frame when we were cleaning and sorting so we decided to hang it in the reading nook. Meggie painted a restful scene on the wall behind it to add some beauty to an otherwise large blank wall.

My Reading Nook

 After being a reading teacher for so many years, I just can't seem to lose the need for a little reading area.  I use this a lot with my smaller kiddos.  They love to sit here for a great book before we start our hands-on work.

The back wall

 This room is about four/five times larger than my first room. Can you tell?  This is a view of the back wall.  Not my quote, but thanks so much to a pin on pinterest. (I get lots of great inspiration there).

So, Room one-Medieval Castle/Room two-Oo la la-Paris, France

 The previous art teacher had written a grant to make her room into a fabulous French cafe style room.  The wallpaper mural was beautiful so I decided to leave it and go with the theme. Again, I am in the middle section of what once used to be the auditorium and is now divided into four rooms-still in charge of the heat/air in three of those rooms.  What a responsibility! The open door leads to my friend's music room-the stage of the auditorium.

And now for room two

 Well, after about eight days of painting, cleaning, organizing, and designing room one,  it was on to room two.  Like a dummy, I didn't make any before pictures so this is what my second room looked like after it was completed.

This is where we started...............

 Okay, so here we are with a fresh coat of paint and the castle in place. I have to admit that at this point I put my head down and cried because this was four days into room one and I had not even been to room two except for a quick peek. Thanks to my awesome family we made it.  They gave me so much moral support and help through my humongous task.

The dungeon door

 This is another door that we painted to look like a dungeon.  It goes into my friend's office/room.  Our room was actually a very large space that was eventually divided into three rooms. I'm in the middle and get to regulate the lights and heat/air. Yikes-sometimes we are on way different levels of hotness/coolness! One of us is expecting ( not me) and several of us are in the latter stages of womanhood-lol! Notice the dungeon key which was actually created by my son as a prop for another of our theater productions. I have since had to remove some of my dried naturals and candles due to the fact that they were severely frowned upon by the fire marshall. Bummer!

My beautiful dragon painted by my daughter, Meghan

 I didn't want him to look too scary for my babies (kindergarteners) so Meg tried to make him look friendly. 

Trying to get organized

 It seemed like it took forever to sort through a room full of "regular" teacher stuff and figure out what could be used in my art room. Many thanks to my hubbie's precious mom and grandmom for all of their donations! It's beginning to look like it might actually come together. Later on, we added dig store frames that we painted black and hung up on this wall to use for the kids' masterpieces. Maybe a picture later......

A new look for my new room

 We set up the castle in the corner of the room (instant closet)-yay!  This room is very small so storing my treasures behind the "castle wall" seemed like a logical idea.

An Old Dog Trying New Tricks

Well, here I am trying something new even though I'm twenty-two years into my career as an elementary teacher.

Our beloved elementary art teacher moved to a new position this year which left the art teacher position open at two buildings in my county.  I have really enjoyed being a reading teacher, but I love to paint, draw, create, and doodle.  I have always incorporated art into my lessons, so I jumped at the chance to widen my horizons and use art all of the time, each and every day.  

So this summer my family helped me sort, discard, and organize through not one, but TWO classrooms.  We spent over 120 hours getting everything ready.  My daughters helped paint one of my rooms and my oldest daughter added a cool dragon mural in the corner of my medieval classroom. We cleaned, sorted, and doodled our hearts away-well, maybe a little overboard for them, but it was great for me! My son even helped with his muscle power and used a little elbow grease in a couple of areas. Thanks kiddos!

I thought it would be fun to show you what my new rooms look like. It was kind of overwhelming to get two rooms ready, but I love my new job and am thrilled about spending time with over 1,100 kids each week. Whew-that's a lot of kids!!!


   

Molly designs my new door

 My room theme of "Medieval Castle" sprang from the fact that a castle I had designed and painted for our local theater group was being taken to the recycling bin.  I begged to take it and use it in my new art room.  Tada-wish granted! Thanks to my daughter for her great paint job on the stained glass door.