The last week of school I held the First Annual North Middle School Art Olympics… Inspired by The Art of Ed Post.
Usually for the last 3 days of weird schedules, assemblies, field trips and grades already past due, I just show a movie and let the kids draw or help me clean the classroom. This year I was already mostly packed due to early purging and preparation for our remodel next year. I wanted to avoid the misbehavior that can occur with little to do… so the Art of Ed post came at the perfect moment.
My olympics had events over the 3 days with teams accumulating points for an eventual winner on the final day. Students selected their own teams and one or two kids in each period were referees to help with the games.
Day One we made Art Pancakes. This required that I mix up 3 gallons of colored pancake mix, buy some restaurant squeeze bottles, borrow electric griddles and make a YouTube play list of art pancake videos. (It is a thing…Â https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZhjjxQvoTlSaI-xzWWn2rShmD1uIjlja)
Unfortunately we got off to a rocky start when I blew the fuses. Although my 30 year old room has over 20 plugs surrounding my counters, using 6 electric appliances at the same time is not an option. Good thing we are getting a new building soon. After having the custodian reset the fuse, and reducing down to 3 griddles, we got cooking. Students had to make something that was recognizable to earn points for their team.
Day two we did paint mixing to match paint chips from the hardware store and I-spy on art prints. It was a short period so these events were timed.
Day three were distance events. We went outside to throw paint palettes, paper airplanes and paint brushes.
The last day, our short assembly half day was my “awards” for winning teams. They got to select from my big box of art supply samples from conferences.
Overall this a for sure do over. The kids were engaged, no behavior issues, minimal supplies and mess, we got to go outside and they loved it. Not surprisingly, the pancakes were the class favorite!
How do you finish the year on a high note?
