Grade K learned about the most very basic marks in art… DOTS and CIRCLES. The class read the book The Dot, by Peter Reynolds. They also looked at a slide show of artwork that uses dots. These are some examples: Aboriginal Art made in Australia Georges Seurat and his Pointillist technique The Kindergartners made a picture using dots and circles as design elements. They focused on drawing circles, cutting and gluing circles and overlapping. The students got their first … Read more…
I love the results of this dotted pumpkin project inspired by the dotted pumpkins of Yayoi Kusama. I did this art lesson with 3rd/4th grade. (Amazon Affiliate links have been used, at no extra cost to you.) I based our project after the lesson taught on the blog Plastiquem. First, I read the book Yayoi Kusama, From Here to Infinity, which is an inspirational book about her artwork and life. This is on my list of top 10 favorite books … Read more…
I’m going back in my archives! I’ve got lots of folders of photos I’ve been meaning to share but haven’t yet. One of these is the Dot Day collaborative circles. Four students complete one section each of the circle, and then they are put together for display. Nic Hahn shared this lovely idea and template. Visit her TPT shop for a free download of the template. International Dot Day is celebrated September 15-ish! More information can be found here. … Read more…
I had the opportunity to try out Dab and Dot Dauber Markers and write a blog post for their website DoodleHog. These are similar to other paint dotters, but one difference I noticed is that the colors seem richer and better than other brands I have tried. The colors mix together very well. Piet Mondrian Dab and Dot Art Project Piet Mondrian was one of the most important and well known abstract painters. But did you know his early work … Read more…
Another Dot Day has come and gone. I’ve seen lots of dot projects all over the internet already. Here is what my kindergartners made this year. You can read all of the lesson details on this previous blog post. I didn’t do Dot Day with all of my classes, because I did a big Dot Day thing last year.. which you can see all of our fabulous artwork on last year’s blog post. If you don’t know, International Dot Day … Read more…
I was out for a couple days with a sub earlier this year (around Valentine’s Day) and I found this easy dot picture idea. Since it was around Valentine’s Day, I left in my plans that kids could make hearts for their design or if they wanted to draw a different design that was fine too. The steps are simple and easy, which is great for a substitute lesson. I usually don’t leave paint for sub lessons, but I figured … Read more…
Like many other art teachers around the world, my students participated in International Dot Day. The students dressed up in polka dots, we watched the story of The Dot and sang along to The Dot song. If you have not read the book The Dot, by Peter H. Reynolds, it’s a must-have for the art teacher! Two of my classes made the giant 3-d stuffed dots. These were super fun to make. I traced a hula hoop onto a large … Read more…
Hi friends! After a few days of panic, I am able to log in to my blog again. Erick at Bluehost deserves a raise. I had three other techs look at it and they couldn’t figure out the problem. So, if you saw a weird post from me on Friday with a picture that didn’t show up, that’s why! I couldn’t log in to my blog or do anything. On Friday, I had shared a fun poster that you can … Read more…
This is one of my favorite lessons and is a great way to start off the year. Many of you have seen the book The Dot and this lesson is inspired by that book. There is a cute animated video from the book that you can see here and there is a whole website about the International Dot Day which is September 15. The kindergarteners start by tracing lids on colored paper and cutting out the circles. They are glued … Read more…
A great project to begin the year is a DOT project. The kindergartners read the book The Dot, by Peter Reynolds. I love this book! We also view a slide show of some artworks that use dots (Australian Aboriginal, Seurat). The first day we trace circles on colored construction paper. We use lids, cups and rolls of masking tape. The children cut these circles out and glue them to a white piece of paper. On the second day, they … Read more…
What is art? What materials can be used to create art? How do we properly use art materials? These are the questions that the Nest (grade K) discussed at the beginning of the school year. They also learned about the most very basic mark in art… the DOT. They looked at a slideshow of artworks that use dots. The class read the book: The Dot.Then, to make their artwork the Nest students cut out large dots (circles) and glued them … Read more…
One of the presentations I was most looking forward to going to at NAEA ’19 was the author Peter H. Reynolds. Most elementary art teachers are familiar with his books.. they are all so colorful and teach about those concepts we want our students to learn. The Dot The book called The Dot is the one that I think most people have heard of. I have done lots and lots of projects about dots using this book. You can see … Read more…
I had a very exciting trip to Boston last week for the National Art Education Association Conference. If you have never been to one before, you should really try to go some year. It’s quite the experience! The conference was from Thursday-Saturday last week and it was jam-packed full of workshops, speakers, vendors, meeting friends, site-seeing and walking back and forth around the hotel/conference center. I am going to split up my experience into a few different blog posts. Here … Read more…
I wanted to share with you a new book that just came out that I discovered! It is called I am Human and it is written by Susan Verde and illustrated by Peter Reynolds. I LOVE the illustrations of Peter Reynolds. The two of them have collaborated before on books before that I’ve enjoyed in my classroom, including I am Peace and The Museum. Peter is also the author of the very popular art book The Dot, which has inspired … Read more…
Paul Klee was an important painter in the history of modern art. I have always been drawn to his colorful, abstract pictures. Children can relate to the simple geometric shapes and bold colors. His art has been related to Expressionism, Cubism and Surrealism. Swiss artist Paul Klee painted the Castle and Sun with simplified shapes, but viewers can easily see the way the shapes form a castle or city-like scene. For this lesson, we are going to paint colorful swatches … Read more…
