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Line Windsocks for Kindergarten

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Line Windsocks for Kindergarten

Last week, I posted about line drawings that my kindergarten students made with oil pastels and watercolor paints. To finish these off, my students glued paper strip lines (folded to make zig zags, curled and pleated) to the bottom of the page.  The students reinforced their learning of types of lines and were introduced to paper manipulation techniques. Then, we rolled and stapled them at the top and bottom to create a hanging windsock.  A little bit of double stick … Read more… →

See a Heart, Share a Heart: 3rd Grade Photography Unit on Hearts

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See a Heart, Share a Heart: 3rd Grade Photography Unit on Hearts

I was given a review copy of this new book See a Heart Share a Heart.  The author takes photographs of hearts he comes across in daily life, from a leaf to a sidewalk crack to a moth. After reading this book to my 3rd grade students, we worked as a team to find hearts or create heart artworks indoors and outdoors.  When I say we worked as a team, the kids collaborated and talked about how they could find … Read more… →

25 Amazing Books for Teaching about Art

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25 Amazing Books for Teaching about Art

Missy left on comment on a previous post: ” LOVE that you’ve included some of your favorite kids books! Any other books you’d recommend to the mom for reference for trying to teach her kids basic art principles?” I use children’s books all the time in the art classroom.  It is a great way to tie in literature and inspire the kids through stories and illustrations. Here is MY list of favorite books for teaching about art.  I highly recommend … Read more… →

Lego Art Projects

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Lego Art Projects

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… →

Art Discussion Cards for Class Critiques or Art History Lessons

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Art Discussion Cards for Class Critiques or Art History Lessons

Hi there! I have a set of Art Discussion Cards that might be useful to you!  These questions are great to use in small group discussions, individual writing responses and as a whole class critique.  You can use these questions to discuss a famous artwork or student artwork in peer-to-peer critiques.  If you order them, all you need to do is download them, print them off, cut apart and laminate.  You can reprint them as many times as you would … Read more… →

Rules of the Art Classroom

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Rules of the Art Classroom

I made a new poster for my room.  Every couple of years I tend to tweak my art room rules.  I struggled to come up with an “I” but settled on “Imagine new things!”  I told the kids it’s not really a rule, but a reminder.  I was surprised how often I referred to the reminder on the poster.  When a student said, “I like what so and so is doing, can I copy it?” I referred to the “Imagine … Read more… →

Self-Pinning and Other Pinterest Talk

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Self-Pinning and Other Pinterest Talk

I enjoy using Pinterest.  It is a great tool for getting ideas for lesson plans and for random fun ideas for my own personal life.  Do you use Pinterest?  What are the pitfalls of Pinterest?  In this blog post, first I will talk about where I got this idea for a blog post (self-pinning) and then I will talk about some of the reasons I like Pinterest and then some pitfalls of Pinterest. Self-Pinning:  the act of pinning something you … Read more… →

Dot Artwork by Kindergarteners

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Dot Artwork by Kindergarteners

This is one of my favorite lessons and is a great way to start off the year.  Many of you have seen the book The Dot and this lesson is inspired by that book. There is a cute animated video from the book that you can see here and there is a whole website about the International Dot Day which is September 15. The kindergarteners start by tracing lids on colored paper and cutting out the circles.  They are glued … Read more… →

Colorful Mobile for Kids

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Colorful Mobile for Kids

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… →

Back to School Bulletin Board

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Back to School Bulletin Board

Well, another school year has begun! We’ve had one week of classes and I have been pleased with my student’s behavior, effort and creativity thus far. What I was not pleased with was catching strep throat the first week of school!  I had to stay home the second day.  🙁  My daughter got sick the week before, so I that is where I got my illness from.  I am mostly back to normal now, so let’s hope the rest of … Read more… →

Favorite Art Projects for Kids: Roundup of Kindergarten Lessons

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Collage of four kindergarten art projects with text "10 Favorite Art Projects for Kids" on the top left.

Perhaps you are new to my blog or you would like to see some of my favorite kindergarten art projects from the past.  Look no further!  Here is a round-up of my 10 favorites. 1.  Cool Hands, Warm Heart 2.  Map of My Heart 3.  Paper Mache Rattles 4.  Texture Teddy Bears 5. Line Sculpture with Wire and Pipe Cleaners 6.  The Dot 7.  Clay Leaf Dishes 8.  Paper Weavings 9.  Line Paintings 10.  Sunflower Observational Paintings Also, I updated … Read more… →

A Visit from an Editorial Cartoonist

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A Visit from an Editorial Cartoonist

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… →

Why Art Teachers Look Forward to Going Back to School

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Why Art Teachers Look Forward to Going Back to School

There are still five more days to enter the back to school giveaway!  I will announce the randomly selected winner on August 22. What are teachers looking forward to most about starting a new year?   I picked a selection of the answers teachers gave when asked this question. 1.  Carrie:  “The best part of going back to the classroom is seeing all of the kids. It’s all about them and allowing them the opportunity to explore, create, imagine, and … Read more… →

Summer Art Making!

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Colorful collages featuring a mix of shapes, patterns, and text with cheerful designs and inspirational phrases evoke the joy of summer.

We went to Saugatuck, Michigan last week (bet you didn’t know that, because I pre-scheduled blog posts for that time.  You really should be careful what information you give out when you are leaving town. You don’t want to come back to a ransacked house!)  Anyways, we were gone for about 5 days and went to the Indiana Dunes and stayed in a cabin in Saugatuck.  We went with my brothers, nieces/nephews and my parents. We had a blast riding … Read more… →

  • Banner with colorful artwork promoting an art shop featuring kindness coloring pages, artist activities, and resources for teachers.