One of my favorite things in the art room is this poster that I made earlier in the year. It reads: "Are your words True? Kind? Necessary?"
I am glad to report that I do not have to refer to it frequently but on the days where a student says to me with hurt feelings "Mrs. Johnson, so and so said such and such" I can refer to the poster with "so and so" and they realize quickly and easily that they did not choose the best words. An apology to the student with hurt feelings follows.
I have noticed students really looking at and thinking about the words on this poster throughout the year. What posters or sayings do you have in your art room that you feel are particularly helpful and meaningful?
Today, at clean-up with my 4th graders who had major paint stuff to clean, I, out of the blue, assigned each of my three table "islands" their own sink. The helpers dealing with cleaning up all of the water containers received rights to the low sink. WOW! It was awesome. No traffic jams, no impatient hands washing hands over hands. And all three sinks were being utilized. I've always joked that it's funny how certain parts of a classroom (and our homes) are more lived in and it's tough to utilize all of the wonderful spaces, today was a success in that sense! mumble, mumble.
