Adaptive Art: Finger Painted Self-Portraits

Part of my position in my new school district is teaching an Adaptive Art class at the high school. I see six students with varied abilities every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for 45 minutes. While I have had a lot of experience in working with students with disabilities in my last district, never an Adaptive Art class. Needless to say I was nervous, but now I am finally settling in to working with them and finding projects and activities that meet their sensory and developmental needs.

One of the first things we did so I could get to know them, their abilities, and sensory stimulation was finger-painting self-portraits. It was so much fun! And one of my favorite things about this small group is that I sit and do the projects with them...

Stay tuned for more experiences with this amazing group of students!

Welcome to my New Classroom!

This August I started in a new school district near Madison, WI. I am still teaching elementary with only a small shift from K-6 to K-4. A new school district means a new-to-me Art room to organize and set up! I spent about three weeks going through every cabinet cleaning and moving things around to make it work best for the way I teach. Then, a few days before school started I got a beautiful new SMART Board too! The room was ready to go for the first day of school on September 1st but there is still a lot of work in my supply closet and kiln room! Luckily those are behind closed doors, so they can wait!

 Below is the full room view...Our carpet meeting area in the front and tables in the back. Look at that beautiful SMART board and wonderfully clean tables and floor!

Made these in summer school a few years ago and finally have the perfect place for them, right outside  my room above the door!

These are the three big "boards" I will be referring to and changing the most this year. Especially my favorite one, the Spotlight Artist. We have pretty minimal actual bulletin boards in the school because almost all the walls are staple-able! IT. IS. AWESOME.

 
My color table identifiers made with my collections of what some would call "junk", front board, rule section, free art area, and my work space (hello happy inspiration wall!)

Two pretty vital sections in my room, Plickers that I will be using daily with 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders for exit slips and my "I Can" board. Also you can see some of the key tools I use as visual communication for students.....100th day of school--"MISS LAPIN, I CANNOT FIND THE SCISSORS!" Pictures are worth a thousand words.

Have an incredible school year and I cannot wait to start sharing all the things I do with my students this year! Until then...