Ingredients:
-Books on individual artists
-laminated images of artwork (I recommend purchasing your own laminator for home if your school does not have a good one--found mine on Amazon for $30 and a box of 100 sleeves for $10)
-old recycled file folders (or new ones)
-tape to tape up the sides of the file folders and turn them into pockets
-markers
-plastic bins about 13/14 inches wide
-paper for labeling the bins
-articles about artists or any other resources your students can use when doing research
-shelves
Description:
While my district was pushing classroom libraries in the K-8 classrooms, I thought I'd be proactive and maybe preemptive in creating and organizing a classroom library in the art room. So for the past few years, I have been developing a system for this library. One of my favorite parts is the artist bins.
These bins hold books about individual artists as well as folders containing image cards of artwork, photographs of the artists, and periodical articles about those individual artists. In my district, the Arts Department pushes the notion that artworks are the text of our content areas and that our contribution to our students literacy is to teach them how to read the art form we teach. This is why images are included in my library.
With my students being over 99% African-American and within Chicago, I also indicate on the side of the folders which artists are black and which artists have a Chicago connection. This is to make searching easier for my students who use these resources for not only art history projects in my classroom but also social studies projects with their classroom teacher.
