I had my students make painted papers for one week’s assignment. Their task was to make 4 painted papers (two with swatches of color and two with line patterns.). Then, they are going to turn their painted papers into collages the next week. Here are the steps I gave them. We are fully remote here. Watercolor paints was something I put on their supply list.
From Wikipedia, “National Hispanic Heritage Month is a period from 15 September to 15 October in the United States for recognizing the contributions and influence of Hispanic Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States.” Our Spanish teacher invited us to bring some children’s books that highlight Latinx authors and artists to our classroom this month. With the librarian, language arts teachers and Spanish teacher, I brainstormed books to read to my classes. These are some of … Read more…
Here is my lesson on patterned circles for distance learning. I used this with 3rd-5th grade. A pattern is a design, line, shape or color that is repeated.
Mark your calendars for the week of November 9-13. Cindy Ingram is hosting another Un-Conference, which is sure to be filled with fabulous information and ideas. Last summer, over 8,000 art teachers participated in this online conference which had so many wonderful presentations about equity, inclusion, classroom management, STEAM, choice based art and tips for teaching online. This Fall, Cindy is back again with another exciting FREE professional development opportunity for you! Free Online Conference for Art Educators Call to Art: … Read more…
Overlap means to place one object over another object. This is a simple project that easily transfers to distance learning. I did not create this lesson, it was given at my daughter’s school last year by her wonderful art teacher. The example above is by my daughter- she made it in 4th grade at home for distance learning. The concept is about overlapping and repetition. Also, more advanced students can bring in some shading and contrast. The example below is … Read more…
When I first started distance teaching, I tried all different types of camera arms and stands. This is the one I found that works best for me. It is not perfect, but it works pretty well for my needs. First, the stand is an Arkon Pro Camera stand. It is sized to fit cell phones. This is perfect for when you want record a video of your hands making art from overhead. The cell phone sits securely inside the clamp. … Read more…
Here is a great project for the first week or day of school. I put up these directions in my Google classrooms for my students and they completed them in their own time, asynchronously. Here is my example of a Name Design NOT using block letters if that is too difficult for your students. Here is a book I read to go along with this project.
I apologize for not regularly adding to the blog lately. It’s been a bit overwhelming here and I haven’t had the motivation. With the day off today, I felt like sharing one cool new book I bought that I have been using with my little students (grades K-2). This book called Studio, A Place for Art to Start is perfect for the first weeks of school. (Affiliate link has been used at no extra cost to you.) This book shows … Read more…
This is Part 2 in my blog posts about the Black Lives Matter murals in downtown Madison, WI. There were so many of them, lining the streets of State Street. See my first post with more murals here.
After the death of George Floyd, protests happened here in Madison, WI (as well as all over the country). Some businesses had windows broken. Artists covered the boarded-up windows with beautiful murals calling for justice and equality. I will have two posts of photos of some of these murals, because there were so many amazing artworks.
I wanted to point you to this great place to start your journey on becoming a more inclusive, anti-racist art teacher. The new Anti-Racist Art Teachers website has loads of resources to get you started with reading, listening, learning and reflecting on how to remove stereotypes and false narratives in your art curriculum. They even are starting a collection of lesson plans specifically designed for the art classroom. You can now download these posters for FREE at these three TpT … Read more…
I found two new collage books that I thought were pretty cool! If you know me, you might know that I love stickers! The first book I found is called the Antiquarian Sticker Book: Over 1000 Exquisite Victorian Stickers. (Amazon affiliate links have been used at no extra cost to you.) I made a video flip through of this book so you can see all the cool stickers inside. The next book I discovered is brand-new, just published. It is … Read more…
Here is my Art Choice Board from last week for Distance Learning! Each week I am trying to do something a little different.
Like most of you, our in-person classes have been changed to distance learning and we need to come up with challenges and projects the kids can do on their own at home. The first week I had my students create stuffed animal still lifes or still lifes with objects that were meaningful to them (depending on the grade level). The following week we made found object color wheels, like this one below. This week it is all about going outside … Read more…
I was very excited to give a presentation on art journaling at the National Art Ed Conference, which had gotten cancelled due to reasons you can guess. I am presenting a similar presentation at the Call to Art Un-Conference, which is a virtual professional development un-conference going on now. You can watch the presentations for a week for free. Each day 9-10 new presentations are released. I wanted to give a big SHOUT OUT to the Blick Art, Nasco and … Read more…
