I use liquid watercolors, but the procedures would be the same with pan watercolors. I try to prep 8 sets of everything I use, this seems to be enough for any of the classrooms I go to. I carry 2, five gallon buckets with me, one for clean water and one for dirty. I fill the clean about 1/3 of the way. I also have half sheets of poster board I use for place mats.
When we are done painting, place mats and paintings go on the drying rack. I collect paint and water cups with paint brushes in them. The dirty water goes in the dirty bucket and I rinse the brushes in some fresh water or leave them in fresh water to clean later, depending on how dirty they are, or if I have another class painting that day. I put a little clean water in each cup, swirl around and dump in the dirty before stacking them.
While I take care of brushes and cups, students put away all other supplies and wipe desks with baby wipes or damp paper towels. I start training them with this in Kndg, and they are pretty self sufficient by the 1st grade. If it is a messy hand type of day, I give them either wipes to clean hands or we go to the bathroom for a 30 second wash (our bathrooms have 8 sinks).
My goals are... easy to store, fast/easy to clean up and compact. This isn't the same system I use when I have a classroom. Then I try to have students take more ownership and be responsible for most set up and tear down.
As a fellow "Art-on-a-cart" teacher, we are twin daughters of another mother! Ha!
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