Setting Up My Art Room 2017-2018

I finally got back from maternity leave ready to teach (a little). Can I take the baby with me? Could he be my helper? Jo? Pleasure. :(
At the end of last school year, I returned early from maternity leave to work two days later. I decided that what I really needed to do was learn how to clean up my classroom so that when I officially returned, I would know where everything was. Last year we had to remove everything from the walls in order for our caretakers to remove them over the summer. And, although it was a pain to break everything down, it gave me a clean plan for the new school year. Interesting facts. my class looks empty HUGGGGEEEEE.

Before I get back to pre-planning this year, I started working on a new color box for my class. The idea was that I would use each shelf to store all my documents for each project in my classroom (so that they do not appear all over the desk, on all the other flat surfaces in my room, like " a habit "). So I went online and found the perfect collection of Target boxes. As you can imagine, I was thrilled to see that the drawers could hold 12 x 18 inch paper, the art teacher's dream. Unfortunately, with all my emotion, I forgot to read the product description carefully. I ended up buying a device 12 inches deep and 18 inches long; the drawer itself is much smaller. And, of course, I realized all this only after spraying, painting and tying all the lids of the boxes. Shocked by this realization, I went to Instagram, where my fellow art teacher offered me the absolutely brilliant idea of ​​using boxes to organize my paper layout by color.


My first project was to paint the edges of my desk and chairs to paint them.
Over the past few years, I have used colored tape to color my desk, but I'm sure many of you already know that kids love to play with tape. I have to change it every time as it is consumed and torn to save my mind. An idea that comes slowly with every scratch on the nail. Yes ... I'm a bit of a perfectionist. So I felt a little more relieved when my administration allowed me to use paint in my room. My classroom desk has a laminate surface, so the first step is to lightly sand my desk. My husband (they are not carpenters, mind you) suggested I use 220 grit sandpaper. However, in retrospect, I wanted to go for something lower so that the sides have less scratches. But you live and you learn.
After polishing, I cleaned the laminate pieces, covered the edges of the counter with glue, started painting with a small cylinder, and painted Behr Marquee (this paint already had a primer). It took about 3 coats for each table to completely cover the sides (I did not use 1-layer warranty). When the ink was dry, I removed the tape and then used an oil-based sharp marker to write the table numbers (I used it for class assignments). After drying, I painted everything glossy mod-podge. When I paint the chair, I just paint it, then cover the mod-podge (looking back, I could have done without the modifier in the chair).

** RENEW. This type of paint does not stand up well (still very selective). So I removed it, painted it with Martha Stewart glossy acrylic and covered it with Delta Creative polyurethane varnish . This works very well.

This year I am using the same containers I used in previous years ... but I got some nice new and unpolluted containers (who does not like shiny new ones). I used the ribbon again to color code the carts. Click here to see how to attach it .
I also create new labels and then add them to help my students know where to put things.