Eureka! The key to keeping a clean, empty sink in your art classroom.

goodby cluttered, hello clean

I did not expect my newest attempt at controlling the madness to go so well. I knew going into this Spring semester I had to make a change to my classroom procedures for cleaning up brushes and paint palettes. No matter how many lectures and lessons and even Quizzez that I gave to my students about cleanup procedures, I would inevitably have a pile of things to clean at the end of the day, which ended up being at the end of the week. Lezzbe honest though, sometimes the washing did not happen in time for me to save all the brushes from dying a crusty death.

I was also having a moving-around-the -room problem when it came time for my students to get colored pencils and other commonly used art materials. I like for my students to be as self-sufficient as possible, so I let them get up and get what they need, when they need it. So long as I am not in the middle of teaching. I also kept my art materials in large containers available to all. Most of my students do not bring their own art supplies, and I thankfully inherited a large mount of supplies when I took my current teaching position. If you teach, or work with children in any capacity, you could predict what happened: students congregated around the containers, taking their sweet time to pick out the exact colors they need while also catching up on the latest drama or flirting with the nearest person. I hated having to shoo people back to their seats and fight that gaslit battle of "I wasn't doing anything....I'm was going to my seat." So, essentially, I had an art materials dilemma.

Here is the solution that worked for me. I am lucky to have enough space for each of my 6 classes to have their own class cabinet. Within said cabinet, each student in that class has their own tub. This is a rectangular bin just large enough to hold a few supplies and the current project we are working on, so long as the project is no taller than 5 inches, give or take. I already had each tub labeled with a number and the student's name. In past semesters, that was as far as my number system went. It helped to keep student's tub in numerical order, so they weren't getting misplaced. This semester, I decided to give each student their own watercolor set, acrylic paint palette, 2 brushes, and a bag of colored pencils. Each of these items, except the brushes, are labeled with that student's number. So tub #1 has supplies that are each labeled with the number 1. I told the students that they are responsible for the upkeep of the items and must return them or replace them at the end of the semester. Then, I removed any extra brushes and paint palettes from the room. Now, students are forced to wash their brushes and paint palettes at the end of each class because they will be stored back in their tubs. Students are also ready with a supply of colored pencils and there is no more congregating! I have been amazed at how well this has gone over. There have only been a few instances of students leaving their supplies in the sink, and I am able to quickly identify who did it because the supplies are numbered! Used to, I would find supplies unwashed in the sink, ask the class who did it, and get either blank stares or shrugs in response. This way, I can address the issue immediately and make sure that specific student knows the right way to clean up.

In the future, I will probably add bags of oil pastels and maybe even markers to the student's tubs. And I don't know yet how the end of the semester will go as far as collecting all the supplies I gave out.

If this helps you, let me know! I have spend hours researching classroom organization tips for art classrooms, so hopefully if you are doing the same, this is the answer you need.

Shameless plug because I can: go look at my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I have some organizational things, and a lot of coloring pages: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/tattooed-sister-art-class-designs