Art Room: Artist of the Week bookmarks

Just a little example of a successful classroom management strategy I use!  Every class I teach, I pick an "artist of the week" for that class.  It has to be someone who is working hard, working quietly, helping others, and having a good attitude.  I make a big announcement at the end of the class (last three minutes). It's also a great way to get students to clean up quickly and quietly because they all can't wait to find out who the artist of the week is!  Can you believe this even works with my 6th graders!? (you gotta hype it up!)

  Once they are all sitting in their seats, and everything is put away, I announce and we all cheer and clap, and I write their name on my bulletin board display so I can keep track (see pic below). The prize is a laminated bookmark.  Lately I have been making my own bookmarks on http://www.picnik.com/ .  With this website you can upload student artwork, and add all kinds of cool fonts (like the picture above).  I usually choose several different pieces of artwork, and make several different bookmarks, so students have a choice when picking.  You can see I added the students name in a fancy signature.  Students love finding out that their artwork was chosen for a bookmark, and students choosing think it's pretty cool when they can pick a bookmark with their friend's art on it.  It's a great way to share the art and get the students pumped up about it!  Anyways, just thought I'd share.  On picnik, just click on "collage" and you can start uploading photos, then you have to click "done" to add text and save.