Are you wondering what kinds of activities to have available for your students when they are finished with their art projects? Here are a bunch of early finisher ideas for the art classroom. Read more…
My 1st grade son has been really on a Perler bead kick lately. He made all of these designs this week. Here is a beginner’s guide to Perler (or fuse) beads. I thought this might be something my readers would be interested in learning about as a gift idea for a young child in their life. My son looked at some examples on the internet for Mario designs and then made them by looking at the pictures. These are from … Read more…
We recently had an inservice at our school and they talked about making choice menus to give the students different ways to show understanding. I decided to make a few that could go along with different units I taught. This one would go along with my Ancient Egyptian art lessons. The free digital download is here in my shop. I plan to use this with my students after they have completed our main art project as an extension activity. Feel … Read more…
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.
At a recent inservice, we were introduced to ways to give differentiation to learners of different paces and allow them to pursue activities or topics they may be interested in. One of these ways is a tic-tac-toe choice menu. You can make menus for students for the main project in a unit (for example, different products to make to show understanding after reading a novel). I like the idea of having menus as enrichment or extensions of a unit. I … Read more…
I have a few new products in my shop you may be interested in. First is the Little Doodle Sketchbook. Learn all about Inchies, Twinchies, Thrinchies, Artist Trading Cards and Artist Trading Coins in the Miniature Artwork Package! Need a simple Artist Award? I’ve got one!! Click here to check it out. Big Bundle of Growth Mindset Coloring Pages— fun for early finishers
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…
This month, the Art Ed Blogger’s Network is talking about how to enrich art class for students who finish early. I think this is an ongoing concern for most art teachers. Kids work at all different paces. Some students will finish their artwork lickety-split with half the class period left. Others will work on the same technique or project and spend multiple periods working on the same piece. So you will often have students at all different paces and at … Read more…
Two pages of high resolution downloads are available for free at my Teachers Pay Teachers shop. This is fun for fall leaf inspired projects!
I wanted to explain to you how our art class periods are structured. Students have art twice a week for 40 minutes. Typically, we start with a 5 minute art warm up drawing in a sketchbook. Then we move to instruction, demonstration, art history or literature connections. Finally, for the majority of the time, the students work on their artwork. Students work at all different paces. Some students work very quickly and others take as much as double the amount … Read more…
Hello friends, I hope you’ve had a good holiday break so far and a happy new year. You may have noticed one of my affiliate links on the side of my blog, which is Pick and Draw. I only tell you about things I have used and trust myself. I wrote about these cards a few years ago and I decided that since it’s been a few years, there are probably new teachers out there who haven’t heard of these … Read more…
At the end of the year in June, I posted about a collaborative word banner project I did with all of my students. Write inspirational words using block or bubble letters on large banner paper. Outline with paint. Color patterns and designs inside with markers. Use printouts of Romero Britto‘s artwork for pattern inspiration. I also used this as an option for students who finished their other art projects and wanted to help out. I saved them for the … Read more…
I have a bookshelf in my classroom that students can go to when they are done with their class assignments. I also have free choice days where students can select from a wide range of activities. Since students finish at all different times it is a good idea to have art enrichment activities for them to do. I like to have low mess activities with little extra guidance needed for those students that finish early. Here are some of the … Read more…
If you are looking for some new art center ideas for your classroom, look no further! Today I’m going to share with you 5 art centers my students have been enjoying lately. After visiting two choice-based art classrooms, I’ve decided to incorporate some free choice days into my class schedule. I think it is important to let students try out different art materials and ideas at their own pace. However, I am still continuing my art curriculum and will teach … Read more…
Rich Davis, creator of a new drawing game called Pick and Draw, sent me a copy of his game to play with my kids. I love this idea! I can’t believe no one has invented this card game already. 🙂 The concept is simple. The deck of cards contains face shapes, eyes, noses, mouths and hair. Pick a card from the face pile, draw it. Then pick the other facial features. You can add your own creativity by changing … Read more…
