Tips for Working Off the Cart

It's not easy carrying your whole classroom around on a cart. Here are just a few tips for those starting out. I got many of these tips from other itinerants and used them.

• Get clear plastic boxes with lids to store art work for your different classes' art work. They should be flat  boxes (but not too flat) and large enough for the largest size artwork that you do with your classes. Make sure that they are not too large to fit on your cart.
• Store needed materials in clear plastic boxes that you can fit on your cart. For example, everything you need for painting in one box, everything for working with markers in another, etc.
• Try to use the same materials in all of your classes at the same time even if you do different projects. I know this is not always possible, but it will cut down on the amount of supplies that you need to carry around. 
• Don't try to do all of the same projects that other teachers at your school might be doing. If they have a room, you may just be setting yourself up for more work than you can handle. 
• Keep a folder on your cart that has your schedule for the day (or days if you are at that school more than one day) as well as your current lesson plans and a list of equipment in each teacher's classroom that you might use. This is very useful throughout the year when you are setting up your cart.

I am leaving my itinerant job this year for my own classroom, but I will continue to post ideas that I might come across and I would encourage you to add to it with your comments or by writing to me at teachart@yahoo.com.