Assessment

Portfolio Ready to Go!

Sending home artwork with Kindergarten students can be a challenge.  I assemble Kindergarten Portfolios myself, with help of my art volunteer. These are sent home during conferences with parents. It’s a great way to ensure the art gets home safely and gives parents an opportunity to see all of the student art in one place. My hope is this will facilitate rich conversations about art between students and parents.

I use Rubbermaid totes as holding areas for the portfolios. Then, I send the whole tub to the Kindergarten classroom teachers. When parents conference with the teacher, they just grab the student art as well.  Before, I would have parents come to the art room to pick up the artwork, however, I would miss a lot of parents, and with me traveling between two schools, I am not always in the room for all of the conference hours.

The paper bags were donated, so I used up what I had. Student pinch pots are inside each bag.

This is exactly how I send art home with all of my students, however, I have the kids help me in the older grades. Projects for the remainder of the year will be sent home on an individual basis. This will help me to keep my drawers cleared out and empty so at the end of the school year there isn’t a huge rush to send things home. I send home Kindergarten portfolios in February, 1-3rd Portfolios in March and 4-5th Portfolios in April.  Then, in May, all we need to worry about is to make art and take it home.

How do you send home student art?

Magazine articles and podcasts are opinions of professional education contributors and do not necessarily represent the position of the Art of Education University (AOEU) or its academic offerings. Contributors use terms in the way they are most often talked about in the scope of their educational experiences.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jessica Balsley

Jessica Balsley is AOEU’s Founder and a former AOEU Writer and elementary art educator. She is passionate about helping art teachers enhance their lives and careers through relevant professional development.

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