The creative students at Artisan des Arts made manga self-portraits and I loved them so much I wanted to try it with my own students. The students used the website Face Your Manga to create an avatar. (Of course, out of the thousands of symbols, hair details, eyes and other options, we came across two that were not good for kids, so next year I think I’m just going to print out examples of eyes, noses, mouths, etc and have … Read more…
Materials you will need: Compass Pencil White paper Things to color with like markers, crayons, colored pencils Sharpies (optional) Crayola Twistable Neon Crayons (optional) Goals: understand the meanings and purposes of mandalas in other cultures learn to use a compass use radial symmetry in artwork develop fine motor skills and craftsmanship personal expression Steps: 1. Start by showing and discussing mandalas around the world. There is a slideshow linked above or create your own. 2. Demonstrate how to use a … Read more…
I have been wanting to make some more permanent artworks to beautify the school grounds. I had pairs of kids working on these stepping stones. This was such a fun project I am planning on making more in the coming years ahead to add to our collection. I have never made outdoor stepping stones before, so I asked for advice several times on the Art Teacher Facebook group. I just want to give a shout out to them for answering … Read more…
I hope you are enjoying your first few weeks back to school!  Here is a Reach for the Stars bulletin board my students made as their first art projects. The tape letters were made by 1st graders. I don’t know how people use painter’s tape for this technique, because it just caused my paper to rip. I discovered the Post-it Label Roll which worked great to block out the letters. The kids painted over the label tape with a crayon … Read more…
Learn shading! Practice drawing cubes, spheres and more. Add dimension and depth to your drawings! All this can be achieved with SECRET CITY DRAWINGS. Check out this awesome video. GUYS, LOOK AT HIS CLOTHES! amazing. Once in awhile I will show the kids this goofy video and have them draw along for kicks and giggles. If I’m running low on time, we’ll skip the video and just use handouts from his book (affiliate link to Amazon). The kids practice drawing … Read more…
Last fall, we participated in the Wisconsin Association for Language Teachers postcard contest. The theme was Languages: Literacy for Life. The students created postcards to fit this theme and one winning card was chosen to be reproduced in a pack of postcards that was given to all of the association members. The members were encouraged to use the postcards in correspondence to parents or administration. This would be a wonderful idea for arts advocacy! This is the card that was … Read more…
[cryout-pullquote align=”left|center|right” textalign=”left|center|right” width=”100%”] How do you experience your brain? What does your brain do for you? How can you express the feelings of your brain? [/cryout-pullquote] Students at our school connected with a scientific researcher to create diverse and artistic representations of their brains.  I teach art at a school for gifted and talented children. Our students are highly interested and curious about science, so when I was contacted by Ayla Kruis to work with her on a project … Read more…
These paper mache masks by the 3rd/4th grade received lots of compliments when they were hanging in the hallway. The class was studying Native American history in their Social Studies and we looked at some Pacific Northwest Coast masks and we discussed the functions of masks in general throughout the world. We started with a mask form (made of paper mache) that I ordered in a class pack from Nasco. From this starting point, the students built up and embellished … Read more…
The week after winter break was up in the air. Due to construction, we weren’t sure if we were going to be able to use our art room and we didn’t know if we would have easy access to supplies. I planned for most of my classes to complete observational drawings during that week period, since they all could use the same supplies and learning to observe the edges and shapes of objects is great training for the eye. It … Read more…
This is a clay lesson that has been a big hit with my students. You can see my previous posts about this project here and here. The 4th/5th grade class studies ancient Egypt in their social studies class and they are excited to learn more about the art and architecture in my class. I show them a Powerpoint with an overview of Egyptian art and then they work on drawing a sarcophagus design of their own. I encourage them to … Read more…
Another year is rapidly coming to a close, so I thought I would spend some time reviewing my favorite projects and blog posts from this year. Here are my favorite posts, in no particular order! 15. How to Paint Gorgeous Clouds with Watercolor 14. Clay Castles 13. Postage Stamp Art Project 12. Heart Photography Project with 3rd Grade 11. 25 Amazing Books for Teaching About Art 10. Editorial cartoons are a unit I teach every year. We even were … Read more…
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…
Our school is building an addition, so I thought projects related to “building” would be fun. Legos are the perfect building blocks! So, we designed our own mini-figures with this template. I originally saw this idea from The Art Teacher’s Closet. We also stamped with Legos (idea via Lego Stamping from Filth Wizardry). Thanks to wonderful bloggers for these two ideas! My students LOVED them! They were so excited about these proejcts. Place your piece of paper on top of … Read more…
We recently finished a mobile that will soon hang in our window wells in the hallway. Third, fourth and fifth grade students created single strand mobiles using Twisteez wire, foam pieces, feathers, beads and other random materials. They made these at the end of the year last year when they had a few extra minutes in class. I got the idea from the Single Strand Mobile group kit on Nasco. However, we did not purchase that kit, because I figured … 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…
