Here is a welcoming art project you can do with your students. Read the book All Are Welcome (Amazon affiliate link at no extra cost to you.) This is a great book about including everyone at school. Have each child draw a self-portrait from head to toe. Display with the heading You Are Welcome Here! We used these handouts for reference.
The first day of school was an orientation day for Kinders and new kids. We had a very shortened schedule and I saw the Kindergartners for about 10-15 minutes. I never feel like I know what the best use of that time is, because it is too short to do any real art projects and it is the first time I am meeting them. So, I decided to read them a story about colors and then do a simple coloring … Read more…
Here is a fun and successful project for kids to do at the start of a new year! We did this with my Girl Scout troop of 3rd graders last January at the beginning of the new year. We talked about setting goals and intentions of what we wanted to accomplish such as personal goals for sports and activities, academic goals, goals for Girl Scouts or to be a better person and friend. It was right at the start of … Read more…
New coloring package available in my shop! I have been working hard on making these Growth Mindset Coloring Bookmarks for you. First, I know everyone loves FREEBIES! As my gift to you, here is a sample from the Growth Mindset coloring bookmarks. Click on the image for a high quality PDF download, FREE! How to use these? I think they are perfect for a variety of settings…. character education, Back to School activities, after school daycare, indoor recess, free choice … 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…
My students are making kindness bookmarks now when they have free time. These are some positive mindset affirmations and mantras that I wrote or collected. Great for kids! Great for art projects or art journaling! For a high resolution PDF copy, visit my TPT shop for a FREE DOWNLOAD: 100 Positive Mindset Phrases for Kids
Here are a couple of Kindness Themed Choice Menus that you can use with your students to pick an art activity that demonstrates kindness. I have this as a free download in my TPT shop. Download here.
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…
At the end of the year last year, my students created this colorful and inspiring banner that we are displaying in the hallway now. We loosely marked out the ABCs on a large banner and kids thought of positive words to go along with each letter. Then, we used letter stencils of varying sizes to write the words. These were colored in with patterns and designs. I had this project set up as a choice activity after they were done … Read more…
I was on a mission last year to find some excellent books about KINDNESS for kids. I found NINE books to recommend to you. There were others I came across, but these were my favorites. If you have any good recommendations for books about kindness, please share in the comments! Thank you! (Amazon Affiliate links have been used in this post at no extra cost to you.) I think kids need to be taught kindness. They need to be made … Read more…
This year, our school has been focusing on kindness and cooperation. In art class, my students created posters to display around the school about kindness, cooperation and playground etiquette. Students cooperated together to make posters about cooperation! Each group received a slip of paper with a cooperation “slogan”. The Power of Cooperation C – Care for each other – Be Kind O – Obey rules O – Offer to help others P – Participate together as a team E – … Read more…
Growth Mindset… Positive Thinking.. whatever you want to call it, there is power in changing the way you think about your day. This package has 24 colorful, positive posters to hang in your classroom. I choose to be positive. Attitude and Effort are more important than talent. Attitude is the mind’s paintbrush. It can color any situation. Is this my best work? A Challenge lets me exercise my brain. Don’t say “I can’t”. Do say, “I will give it a … Read more…
You are part of the puzzle! Each student in my older grades (3-5) made a puzzle piece about themselves and their interests. I should have written: You are a PIECE of the puzzle. Or, I could have said: We all fit together. I know, it’s kind of corny, but the puzzle piece making was fun. I bought a set of wooden puzzle pieces (the package came with two pieces) and I traced them onto several pieces of tagboard to make … Read more…
At the end of last year my students created some inspirational quote artworks using artistic lettering and their choice of media. I typed up a list of inspirational quotes (below) for them to choose from. Many of the students had their own ideas and wanted to use a quote they already knew and liked. I saved the artwork for the beginning of this year so that we would have some artwork with inspirational sayings on them for the start of … Read more…
Here is a fun poster that can be used to hang in your classroom or print out for kids. These are 10 tips to help kids deal with strong emotions. Click to download the free PDF: 10 Ways to Calm Down The download is sized at 11″ x 14″ but you could probably easily choose to fit to 8.5″ x 11″ in your printer settings. Here is the backstory behind why I made this poster. I am a Girl Scout … Read more…
