What is the Choice Station?

You may have heard about "Choice Time" or the "Choice Station" in art class from your child. Since encouraging creativity is one of my top priorities in the classroom, I offer my students the opportunity to explore a variety of materials when their classwork is completed. I also may offer a "Choice Centers" Day on a semester by semester basis throughout the school year. This philosophy comes from a theory of teaching art referred to Teaching for Artistic Behavior, or "TAB". For more information about TAB, click here.

Students are expected to choose one activity and explore it for the class period. This teaches them patience, endurance, and conservation of materials.

The Choice Station in the art room regularly offers blank paper, coloring activities, comic strip templates, whiteboards (for just working out a problem or doodling), drawing instruction books, easy how to draw activity sheets, 3D art directions/activities, markers, glue, colored pencils, masking tape, scissors, scrap paper for collage, and crayons. Additionally, I have a library of art books for students to explore. When possible, I also have a "tube sculpture" station with toilet paper and paper towel tubes, and a "crafts" container with popular crafting items such as foil twistees, pom poms, pipe cleaners and plastic or paper straws. I add or take away table top stations throughout the year to keep the Choice Station "fresh". There are containers a student can take to their table and work on independently. The idea is to offer choices to students they can learn on their own with instructions or a book to teach them. Currently these include Weaving, Zentangles, Texture Rubbings and Origami. Manipulatives are also available and very popular. These include Plus-Plus Blocks, Keva Structures blocks, Etch-a-Sketch and shape blocks.

If you wish to donate items you are cleaning out, manipulatives, crafting items and paper towel and toilet paper tubes are needed. I also welcome legos and other blocks or manipulatives.