Bringing creativity into the classroom one art lesson at a time.
Art Docents
Hello, we are so happy you're interested in being an art docent. Bringing art into the classrooms is a fun and rewarding experience for both the students and the volunteers.
Our PTA partners with teachers and volunteers to help bring out the artist in every student. Once a month, our docents will teach an art lesson to a class. We provide the supplies and the training, the docents provide the time and creativity.
How the program works
Our art docents dedicate their time once a month to come in and teach an art lesson to students in a classroom. Some docents do this for one teacher, while others do this for multiple teachers.
As with all the volunteer programs at Skyline, our volunteers need to be approve by the district after completing a background check. Click HERE for the link to the district website.
Prepping ahead of time:
Connect with the classroom teacher.
See what days and times will work best for the both of you to come and teach the lessons. Plan to be in the classroom for 60 minutes. This doesn't always include set up and clean up time. Some art projects can take a few days to finish, so discuss this with the teacher ahead of time. Plan the project according to space and time allowed.
Figure out the lesson you wish to teach.
It can be themed to match the season, or just a fun art project to share with the students. If you would like help coming up with ideas, we are happy to help with this. Play around with different techniques and materials. You can adjust certain projects depending on the skill level of the students with a simple change of medium. Kinders and 5th graders have different skills, so adjust your materials according to their needs. Art is supposed to be fun, not frustrating.
Gather the supplies needed for the project.
The PTA has an art supply closet full of items for you to use with the students. If you have a particular lesson in mind, look in the cabinet to make sure the supplies are all there a few days in advance. Sometimes supplies will be checked out to other docents, or they might be running low. Looking at them ahead of time will help make the day of your project run smoothly. If there are no supplies for the project you wish to make, you can purchase those items or adjust your lesson to work with the supplies that are on hand.
Be ready to start the lesson on time.
Show up early to park, check-in at the office, gather supplies, and set up in the classroom. This could easily take 20-30 minutes. Teachers have a strict schedule to stick to. If you arrive late or run into issues with supplies, that will take up valuable art-making time.
In the classroom:
Spend 5-10 minutes teaching a lesson.
This is where you get to share the history behind the art, discuss the artists who are known for using this particular style of art, and share their work through pictures and examples. Discuss the techniques and materials used to create this work.
Help kids create art for 30-50 minutes.
You can give step-by-step instructions along the way, or let the students create what they wish with the guidelines you set in place. This is a wonderful time to walk around and give guidance and ideas to students as well as check on their use of materials.
Clean up after it's all done.
Make sure you allow enough time to clean up the projects. It could easily take up to 15 minutes for some projects.
We ask that you:
- Wash the paint brushes.
- Empty and clean the water cups.
- Clean off desks and around the workstations.
- Clean up the paint trays.
- Check the art supplies for missing or damaged parts. Set aside the items that need to be looked at by the head docent.
- Make sure the students are clean and ready for their next task.
After the lesson is over:
Connect with the teacher.
This is a great time to reflect on the lesson. How well the students did, the ease or difficulty of the project for the classroom, and would this type of lesson be good to do again? This is also a good time to connect about any follow-up parts to the lesson if it is needed. This can easily be done via email, especially if the class needs to get to the next lesson of the day.
Return the supplies.
If you used supplies from the art docent cabinet, please return them where you found them, cleaned, and are ready to go for the next docent. If you have any items that are broken or need to be looked at, please make a note, and place them aside in the cabinet. Please email us at pta.skyline@gmail.com so we know that there is something we need to look at.
Checking out of the school.
Make sure to stop by the office and let them know you are all done for the day. Make sure you leave enough time in your schedule to check out and get back to your car before school gets out for the day.
Websites and Tutorials
There are many websites out there that you can get ideas from and links to resources for your lessons. Below are a few that we recommend and use in our program.
Deep Space Sparkle -
Tons of trainings on teaching art to kids, how to use supplies, trainings, art show how-to, etc. They require a personal membership to their program and have open enrollment a couple of times a year. They also have a lot of free projects and trainings on their website and Facebook page so be sure to check it out.
Deep Space Sparkle
Facebook
Cassie Stephens -
She's awesome! An art teacher with great projects. Check out her blog and Facebook for ideas and tutorials.
Facebook
Cassie Stephens
Art Hub for Kids -
Art Lessons - How To Draw For Kids
Supplies
If you are looking to start an Art Docent program at your school, or wish to purchase items for personal use, we have come up with a list of supplies that have been tested and seem to hold up the best with the rigorous use at our school.
While we have included some links for supplies/brands that we recommend, there may be other sources with better prices so please keep that in mind.
Papers:
Tru-Ray Construction Paper - 9x12 and 12x18. -
Very good quality sulfite construction paper. Holds up well to paint, even watercolor. You won't be able to do salting techniques for w.c. as the paper does absorb water quicker that w.c. paper, but it still works well for w.c. projects.
Available on various websites, including Amazon
Bulk 90# school grade watercolor paper -
Best for projects where you're introducing interesting texture making techniques (salt, rubbing alcohol, bubble wrap, cling wrap). We don't use this very often, just for special projects.
Found a pack of 250 sheets on Amazon
Paint:
Watercolor paint tray -
We love the Crayola watercolors! Easy for those quick one and done painting projects. The kids do tend to use up the blue color the quickest. Unfortunately, they no longer make the individual color refills, just the tray refills.
Amazon does sell them in bulk, in either trays of 8 or 16 colors.
Crayola Watercolors Classpack
Crayola Washable Watercolor Paint Set
Liquid watercolor -
Great for painting large areas (and when you run out of blue). You can dilute with water or use full strength. Super fun for paper marbling! Lasts a long time. It's pretty staining so beware.
Blick Liquid Watercolors and Sets
Tempera Paint -
We like the Crayola Washable brand. Personally, we think the smaller bottles are better than the giant jugs. The paint is less likely to go bad if it's not used very often. Nothing worse than opening a big jug of stinky chunky paint.
Available in individual bottles or boxed color sets. Amazon and Blick.
Crayons/Markers:
Regular Crayola markers/crayons-
Tried and true, you cannot go wrong with Crayola.
Construction paper crayons -
These show up nice and bright on dark/colored paper.
Metallic crayons -
These give a fun metallic effect and looks cool on dark papers.
Chalk Pastels:
Sargent Art -
This brand is wonderful! Rich vibrant pigment goes on really well. We've tried Artist Loft and was really disappointed. Get a set of Sargent, you won't be sorry!
Here's an Amazon link for bulk refills
**If you're just building your supply library, you can get boxes of 24 (2.5" sticks) for around $16 each and have kids share. Then refill with the bulk set mentioned above.
Amazon.com: Sargent Art 22-4125 24-Count Landscape Square Half Pastels
***Just make sure you check the length of the chalk before purchasing. It comes in 2.5" and 1.25" lengths. I recommend 2.5".
Oil Pastels:
Pentel -
This is our personal favorite. Creamy, but not goopy. Use these for water color paintings. You can also use crayons, but oil pastels lay down a thicker line/barrier.
You can get a bulk classroom refill set to refill your individual boxes.
Sharpies:
Sharpie brand works best. Get a few boxes! You will use them for a lot of projects. Watercolor, pen and ink drawings, etc. Regular fat tips are used most, but we've also used the fine liners.
Brushes:
Royal Langnickel Big Kids Choice -
These are the best quality and value for your money! Do NOT get cheapo brushes. Bristles will fall out, frustrating to use and they just don't last. Royal Langnickel are awesome. You can find them on Amazon in individual sizes or multi-size class sets. We recommend a large round green brush (size 8 or 10) and a large red flat brush (size 12 or 5/8). The size 6 and 8 round and size 12 flat are the only individual sizes sold on Amazon.