Art Portfolios

A while ago I admitted that I needed an idea to help my students want to keep their artwork.  I thought some kind of art portfolio would be the answer to the problem of them tossing the art as soon as I give it back to them.... but wasn't sure how to go about this art portfolio.

The problem?  I don't have space to store a lot of stuff so I would prefer my students to be in charge of their own art portfolios so that they have to store it somewhere... that somewhere being in the classroom so basically I was back at square one.

But have no fear because I have a new favourite blog Runde's Room (it's mostly my favourite because she is teaching the exact grades I am AND is in Canada... a rare find!)

The exact post that inspired me is here

So.. my new plan is to only do art that is on paper and one-dimensional (so long messy paper mache projects!).  On the backs of their artwork I will have them do some kind of reflection (maybe not all of the time but definitely some of the time)... was it easy?  did they like the process?  Could they improve somehow?  Favourite part?... a simple sentence or two for a reflection will suffice.

I'm also going to try to incorporate poetry (and also math sometimes) to their art.  I'll store all their artwork with corresponding poems in a filing cabinet (I don't have cute little crates and don't plan on making any... this year) and put together their art and poetry books at the end of the year (that's assuming I'm there at the end of the year... let's all keep our fingers crossed on this one).  Hopefully it will be a great gift at the end of the year for them.

One of the first projects I'm going to have them do is a name sphere... I think they will put them on their lockers in the hall... I'm hopeful that these will last until June and we can use them as part of the cover to their art and poetry books.  We'll see.