Here are two templates to use for postage stamps: one full stamp or a sheet of nine. You could also just draw them in boxes and then cut them out with those craft scissors that have the funky edges. My 4th/5th grade class designed their own postage stamps. I brought in a box of stamps for them to look through and see up close. I also showed them a short Powerpoint about stamps throughout history. There is information on the … Read more…
I still have some things to share with you from last school year. Towards the end of the year we had an editorial cartoonist visit our school. Every year our students draw editorial cartoons as part of the art curriculum. You can see some of the cartoons my students drew in 2013. When teaching about editorial cartoons, it is very important to show cartoons from both sides (in the U.S.= Republican/Democrat). It is also essential that you do not tell … Read more…
Have you made mosaics with elementary students? We first learned about the mosaics in ancient Greece and Rome. The student thoroughly enjoyed sifting through my box of mosaic tiles to find the perfect pieces. We used glass bits and bobs, shells, stones, square tiles and stained glass pieces. Some tips: Be sure to cut your pieces inside a plastic bag to avoid flying pieces. Use sanded grout (available at a hardware store) to minimize cracking. Tiles should be placed about … Read more…
The fifth and sixth graders study the Medieval time period in their Language Arts/Social Studies class. I love teaching this clay castle project because it allows the students to practice important clay building skills (plus it’s just fun!): rolling slabs building with slabs scoring and using slip smoothing adding embellishments glazing We started by drawing some preliminary sketches of Medieval castles. The students looked at some examples for reference. The Medieval Castle (one example of a resource) They drew their … Read more…
My 5th and 6th grade students studied Africa and the African Adinkra stamped cloths. I showed them a slide show of images. Examples of Adinkra symbols were shown for inspiration. Check out my African Adinkra Pinterest board for handouts of symbols. The kids could use these ideas and embellish upon them or come up with their own symbol based on some of these ideas. They used linoleum cutters to carve their own rubber stamps on the Dick Blick Art soft carving … Read more…
We are on Spring Break now, so I’m going to use this time to catch up on some blog posts! I have a lot of projects that are finished that I have started writing posts about. How about you? How many blog posts do you currently have in your “draft” folder? Here is a lesson on drawing Greek vases that I teach to my 4th and 5th graders. We start by reading the Scholastic Art issue about Greek pottery. It … Read more…
Teaching about editorial cartoons is a great way to bring current events into the classroom. Every year our students in grades 4th-8th participate in a local editorial cartoon contest. The students watch a video about editorial cartoons and they discuss, analyze and interpret current editorial cartoons. Cartoons for the Classroom is an excellent resource for lesson plans about editorial cartoons. If you are going to teach about editorial cartoons, this website is a must-see. The cartoon templates we used are … Read more…
Clouds. Aren’t they amazing? Two years ago I took a very helpful watercolor painting class. One of our assignments was to paint clouds. Connecting Art with Science I love to make connections with other subjects. This one is perfect for my 5th/6th grade because in Science class they study cloud identification. They come into my class with a broad understanding of clouds which makes my lesson richer. Clouds and Art Resource The Clouds in Art Gallery is amazing. This gallery … Read more…
Two of my classes made pictures frames like these: They turned out really cute and I did not take pictures until after the kids glued their pictures in, so I did not want to post any of the frames with their pictures in it. This year, I did not do too many holiday art projects, but here is a round-up of some that I have done in the past. Sock Snowmen  Snowflakes with Glitter Snowglobe Pictures Picture Frame with Tooling … Read more…
The fourth-sixth graders made these glass fused pendants. We are gluing the “bails” on the back to make necklaces. The kids are going to give these as holiday gifts to a family member or friend. They each made two pendants. This is the first time I have done fused glass with kids. I used the how-to guides from the System 96 website and ordered the glass from Delphi glass. Have you done fused glass in your kiln before? If so, … Read more…
Thanks for your kind comments about my fingers! They are actually healing much faster than I expected. As you might know, I am a lover of all things mixed media! I also enjoy occasionally teaching an after school art workshop for my students (I’d love to do more, but since my daughter goes to daycare it’s a bit tricky.) I thought painted canvases would be a great gift for kids to give someone in their family, so I decided to … Read more…
These are the fun sarcophagi the 4th/5th graders made from clay. We spent a few days learning about Egyptian art and drawing them on paper. See my previous post about the drawings. Due to my finger problem, I’m not going to type out full directions for the clay sarcophagus.. but we traced the template onto slabs of clay for the top and bottom, built the bottom up with coils and then carved designs in the top of the box. Kids … Read more…
This is a great project that ties together math, art, and social studies. We looked at the repeating patterns and shapes in Islamic tile designs (they are studying Islam in social studies) for inspiration. The tutorial for this project is in a blogpost I made earlier. The only difference is that this year we used light tables to trace the image through the triangles.
Are you wondering what to get a child in your family for the holidays? As an art teacher, I see what the kids really like and what they gravitate towards to when they are given free time in art. These are some popular items for kids that I have personally used and recommend. Most of these can be found at your local Target or Michaels (or other craft/art store). Don’t forget to print off a coupon online if you are … Read more…
As much as possible, I like to tie in art projects to what the students are learning in their other classrooms. The 4th/5th grade class studies ancient civilizations and has a big unit on Egypt. In art class, I showed them a long slideshow about Egyptian art and architecture. Then, the students made a sarcophagus drawing. They all started with a shape tracer for the sarcophagus. I don’t often use tracers, but once in awhile, I think it helps to … Read more…
