front cover back cover (everything is actually straight on the cover, it’s just the angle I took the picture at) One of my jobs at school is the yearbook adviser. This is a huge job and takes up a lot of my time during the school year! I am very proud of how the yearbook came out, but unfortunately I can’t show you the inside pages because they are photos of kids (of course.) The yearbook staff is made up … Read more…
This is a picture-heavy post!! The 2nd graders reminded me that we had not done any clay this year yet! How could that be? So I decided to try this project that I come up with based on a clay flower in a pot that my sister-in-law has. I’m not sure where she got the flower but I think it was picked up at an art fair or something… We used regular firing clay, acrylic paints, beads, and a flower … Read more…
What is better than drawing? Bringing in your favorite stuffed animals from home to draw, of course! Allowing students to choose their subject matter from things that are important to them will spark interest and excitement. Allowing students to share their stuffed animals with others to draw is a great way to foster interactions and positive connections in the class. Don’t forget to have extras on hand in case some kids forget! Send an email to parents or a note … Read more…
I saw this on Donna Downey‘s blog who saw it on where else, but Pinterest, of course! Doesn’t it sum up why most of us blog? One of the reasons I started blogging was because I discovered that there were so many good art teacher blogs out there and I was getting so many good ideas from them, that I thought I should share some of my own. When I was going through college and first started teaching, the internet … Read more…
Secret Cities The 4/5s learned how to draw 3-d forms and include shading and shadows. They stacked these shapes to make a “secret city”. I got this idea from way back when I was “interning/volunteering” at a middle school when I was in college. The teacher there taught this lesson to her students. She was a great teacher and I had so much fun learning from her. The “internship” was something I set up with my adviser where I went into … Read more…
We made Treasure Boxes at an after school art class that I taught this month. The students were in grades K-6 (about 12 kids). I picked up cigar boxes from a local shop and the kids were able to decorate them with the plethora of supplies I had. We used wall paper scraps, wrapping paper, magazines, stickers, scrapbook papers…. colored tape… Each kid could decorate the box however they wanted. I showed them pictures of Joseph Cornell‘s mysterious … Read more…
These were some fun paper Memory Quilts that the kindergartners made! Aren’t they cute? We read Tar Beach, by Faith Ringgold and talked about her story quilts. The children received a square piece of white paper, which had 9 squares pre-drawn in pencil (4 x 4 inches each). I had a variety of scrapbook papers pre-cut into 4 x 4 inch squares. The children glued down their squares and could cut the squares in pieces to make designs. In the … Read more…
Sometimes I like to let the kids loose with a box of supplies and minimal instruction. I photocopied some pages from Lynda Barry’s book and showed them to the first graders. In the box were paper scraps, magazines, strips of scrapbook paper and random stickers. Isn’t this raw and beautiful?
First, we looked at the art of Bridget Riley and the Op art movement. We read a Scholastic Art issue which features this style of art. If you don’t get these magazines, they are a great investment. Each year, we subscribe for a class set of this magazine. Then, I save them each year in an envelope labeled with the issue’s title. After several years, you will have a collection of lots of subjects to choose from. Both of these … Read more…
These pictures are based on the book Elmer! I love this book and the colorful elephants. The kids drew their own elephants and colored them with fun patterns. The borders were made by cutting up and gluing strips of wrapping paper and neon cardstock. And I want to remind you of this fun game that my students enjoy using in their free art time. It is a blast: PICK and DRAW
The 4th/5th grade classes learned all about Greek and Roman mosaics, to complement their studies of Greek/Roman history. In Art class, we made mosaics from ceramic tiles. The tiles were glued on to masonite board using wood glue (there probably is a better glue out there, but this is cheap and the pieces stick fine). We also had some gems and stones available too. Some of the kids who were motivated were able to use the tile nippers to cut … Read more…
This is a playground! Do you see the mini-Coke cans for sale? Here are some of our finished assemblages. These were made by 4th and 5th graders. This is a town square, with a fountain, pool and snack shop. Ice cream for sale. the pool!
The first graders learned about artists that make art about underwater life. Then, they used markers and water to create a watercolor effect. They drew the fish with water soluble markers and then used a paintbrush and water to blend the colors. Later, they used blue spray ink to create the background. Here is the slideshow I showed them:
This is one of my favorite projects all year. I know it is one of the kids favorite projects too. The 5th/6th graders study the Medieval period in their Social Studies class. In Art class, we have done a variety of Medieval art. In this project, the student build paper mache knights. This year, some of the kids chose to build horses out of Model Magic too. That made things a bit more challenging and complicated for them. … Read more…
My husband has hobbies too! He is really into building Legos now and he even started his own lego blog. I think the title of his blog is cute and I love the picture he put on his heading. Let me tell you, between my art related and scrapbooking hobbies and his Lego/Magic/comic book collections, we have no shortage of STUFF around here! Anyways… there are no official Lego stores in Madison where we live, but one JUST opened an … Read more…
