Putting the Animals In Their Place

I learned a great deal from my experiences last Tuesday. I felt that I could have done a better job with instruction and how I handled materials. It was also apparent that I needed to spent more time thinking about what students should do when they finished early or didn't have anything to work on.
Using the lessons I learned, I went in to today's lesson better prepared. I first made sure that I had clear instruction on what they would be doing, how they should clean up, and what they should do when they finished.
They were painting their boxes to create a habitat for their animal. I had prepared their boxes beforehand so that they just needed to paint on them.  I reviewed the rules for using the paint, cautioning them against getting it on themselves, their clothes, or their neighbor.
On the board, I wrote down the steps for cleaning up once they finished. Despite this, I still needed to remind students what they needed to do, but I had something to refer to when instructing them.
I had come prepared with some "How to Draw" books that I was going to make available to the students for when they finished so that they would not disturb the others still working. This proved to be unnecessary as the students had some projects and assignments that they needed to finish already. So I reminded them of those assignments so that they had something to occupy them as they waited for the class to release for recess.
The distribution of materials was a lot smoother this time. I had not known where to find the paper plates last week, so I didn't have "palettes" to put colors on for them. Today, I knew where to find them and was able to get some paper plates so that I could give each table a plate with all of the colors available for them to paint. This way, I just handed out one plate for each table in stead of going around to each student. I also provided them with a few extra plates for mixing colors. As the class worked, I was able to replenish any colors the students needed. I had informed the class to raise their hand and I would talk to them and get them any colors they ran out of.
Anything that I failed to mention at the start of the art period I was able to tell the students after getting their attention using the hand clapping rhythm that Mrs. Black uses with them. For instance, I needed to remind the students to roll up their sleeves if they had on long-sleeve shirts. I also needed to remind the students to not paint the bottom of their boxes so that they wouldn't stick to the drying paper.
I spent most of my time walking around the class commenting on their work, providing praise for their use of color and some of the interesting compositions they created. I also encouraged them as they tried mixing colors and creating textures. When necessary, I gave them more paint.
The class was on task with the exception of a few that needed to be talked to occasionally. They were all having a great time painting and talked with their neighbors as they worked on their habitats. Not everyone was able to finish in the time we had for art, but Mrs. Black is going to let them finish later in the day. I am excited to see their animals in their homes next week. I will take pictures of their work and post those next week. I believe that the students are really proud of their work and really like their animals. In fact, they are very protective of them and are cautious about letting Mrs. Black put them on display in the school library because they are afraid that other kids might ruin or break them. I am sure they will have a great time showing them off to their parents when they take them home next week.