Hello all! Wow, summer is almost here! It’s hard to believe, right? I entered a blog giveaway to receive a free layout review from a web designer. I won! She posted the review on Blacksburgbelle’s blog. Bottom line: reduce the clutter. I think it was very useful and gave me a lot to think about! Maybe you will get some ideas from her review. This will be a little project to work on during the summer. Building with cardboard and … Read more…
Have you used Smart Fab in your classroom? I was recently sent a sample pack of this product and I would love to see how you’ve used it. We are going to use it for accent shapes in fabric collages. Check out this instructional video about how to use Smart Fab. This product is a non-woven fabric that can be used in art projects for kids and adults. The unique properties of Smart-Fab allow it to be easily cut, glued, … Read more…
School Lockdown and an ER visit It’s been a crazy week! First, we had a school lockdown last Thursday because the FBI was trying to catch a fugitive in our area. Initially we spent 10 minutes on hard lockdown and I had my class in the closets. Then, we moved to a “soft lockdown” and were allowed to switch classes. Kids were escorted to use the bathroom. The kids were upset and it was difficult to continue class as normal. … Read more…
Hey there! I read a lot. I skim a lot. I get way too many emails from various things I subscribe to. Here are some of the cool things I’ve seen lately. 1. Daring Duct Tape: CALL FOR ART. While I have never created anything from Duct Tape, I know that some art teachers have created some amazing projects with their students. I read an article about high school students who made prom dresses from duct tape. How cool would … Read more…
Welcome to the 3rd post in my series On Teaching Art. The first post and the background behind this series is On Teaching Art: Art vs. Craft. The second post was On Teaching Art #2: Organizing Curriculum. The question posed for this installment is: How can art be integrated into math, science, social science, and literacy? That is a great question and I very often connect art lessons with their units of study in the classrooms. Integrating art with other … Read more…
Welcome to the second post in my series On Teaching Art. The first post and the background behind this series is On Teaching Art: Art vs. Craft. The question posed for this installment is: How can we organize planning for art instruction? Carrie Birmingham said, “For instance, I can imagine planning around art elements like line and color, or planning based on great artists, or planning based on curricular connections, or planning based on children’s development. There are probably a … Read more…
I received an email from Carrie Birmingham of Pepperdine University about teaching art. She teaches a general education course. She proposed a number of questions about teaching art that she would like to share with her university students. Here is what she writes: “The students I have will be general ed classroom teachers, mostly K-5. They may or may not end up at a school which has an art teacher, and I want them to have a starting place if … Read more…
Did you hear the news? My heart sunk. Tears were (almost) cried. Google is ending GOOGLE READER! On July 1st, Google is discontinuing the reader because of diminishing use. Say what? What to do with the hundreds of blogs that I follow? Yes, hundreds. (I do a lot of skimming.) I flip through blogs on my Google Reader app on my phone. I know many of you also probably use Google Reader and Friend Connect. Well, after doing a bit … Read more…
Before I start with 5 Fabulous Things let me just tell you how jealous I am of any of you who went to Texas this week for the National Art Education Association conference. I love love love going to these conferences. Unfortunately it’s not possible for me to go every year, but I’m living vicariously through blog posts and facebook posts of other art teachers… like Mr. E and the Art of Ed. 5 Fabulous Things– a round up of … Read more…
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be an elementary art teacher? Maybe you are interested in becoming an art teacher. Maybe you are curious how my day compares to yours’. I know I would love to walk a day in another art teacher’s shoes to see what it is like at different schools or in different locations. Through words and pictures, I am going to walk you through my day. Out of privacy of the students, … Read more…
Hello art teacher friends. I hope you are staying healthy and away from those nasty germs. I have been overcome by one of these little bugs and was sick all week. Yes, the dreaded flu. I only taught one day this week. 🙁 Although, two of the days were actual days off of school (MLK day and a grading day). Those two days off were spent grading and sneezing in bed. I wanted to share with you two ways to … Read more…
Katie said… Can I ask how you present your art projects? Do you have a finished picture to show the kids so they have an idea of what you want from them, or do you just explain it and let them create? That is a great question. It depends on the project. I almost always will demonstrate steps to a project. Many times I don’t have a finished picture to show them. Right now, my 5th/6th graders (we have combined … Read more…
Are you looking for more ART IDEAS? Did you know there is an Art Teacher Blog Directory on Art is Basic? There are currently 263 art teacher blogs listed. You can spend hours just looking through these links and seeing all the wonderful things happening in art classrooms around the world. Have you added YOUR blog to the directory? I know there are some new bloggers out there who have just started writing about their classrooms this year. And because … Read more…
I passed out Summer Art Challenge Sheets at the end of the school year last year. Any of the students could participate in it over the summer and then turn in their artwork at the beginning of this year. It is kind of like a summer reading program, where you record what you’ve read and get prizes. Here are the basic parameters of the challenge: “Welcome to the Summer Art Challenge! You are invited to play along and stretch your … Read more…
Once a year, a local art store hosts a Re-Art Swap where anyone can drop off old art materials and then pick up things they want. All for free! Today, I volunteered for a few hours at the swap and had a blast. It was like Christmas for an art teacher! Here is a big box of stuff that I donated. It felt so good to clean out my art supplies. Little did I know that I would come back … Read more…
