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Mosaics in the Classroom

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Mosaics in the Classroom

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… →

Around here lately… Stress and GARAGE SALES!

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Around here lately… Stress and GARAGE SALES!

School Lockdown and an ER visit It’s been a crazy week!  First, we had a school lockdown last Thursday because the FBI was trying to catch a fugitive in our area. Initially we spent 10 minutes on hard lockdown and I had my class in the closets.  Then, we moved to a “soft lockdown” and were allowed to switch classes.  Kids were escorted to use the bathroom.  The kids were upset and it was difficult to continue class as normal. … Read more… →

Making Bookmarks with Kids

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Making Bookmarks with Kids

Our local public library partnered with us to have a bookmark contest.  The kids in grades K-5 each designed a bookmark based on a favorite book.  We provided a template for them to compose their drawing. The library will pick a number of winners to print as bookmarks for distribution at the library.  We’ve done this before at school and when the designs were returned to us, we chose other designs and copied them at an office store on card … Read more… →

Fabric Dolls by the 1st Graders

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Handmade doll with brown hair, a colorful dress, and blue fabric legs, suitable for 1st graders, laying on a light-colored surface.

Here are some of our cute fabric dolls the 1st graders made.  We used a lot of wrapping, tying and hot glue.  I would recommend having an older student helper or a couple of parent volunteers.  I’m trying to find an easier way to make fabric dolls with kids.  Any ideas?  These are very cute, but the kids needed a lot of help.   Google

21 Secrets Online Workshop and a Link Round-Up

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21 Secrets Online Workshop and a Link Round-Up

As art teachers our hands are covered in glue and paint all day.  We are on the go and juggling so many different tasks. We definitely need our own creative outlet.  We need time for ourselves… to play, to relax, to express ourselves.  Keeping an art journal is a great way to de-stress. I am taking the 21 Secrets online workshop.  Obviously, with a limited amount of free time along with a limited amount of disposable income, I have always … Read more… →

Art Journaling Exposed 2

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Art Journaling Exposed 2

I am very honored to share with you that I have an article in the Art Journaling Exposed 2 downloadable E-magazine from Cloth Paper Scissors.  I browsed through the issue and it has a lot of interesting articles and videos.  My article is titled “13 Great Layers for Art Journal Pages” These are some of the pages in the article. If you like art journaling, mixed media, collage and you would like to follow my personal art blog, you can … Read more… →

Clay Butterflies for 1st Grade

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Clay Butterflies for 1st Grade

The first graders had a blast rolling out clay slabs, tracing their butterfly, cutting the clay and stamping textures in the clay.  Do you remember the game Perfection?  When I coordinated a summer day camp, we had this game and the kids loved it.  Then one day, the game stopped working and we couldn’t fix it.  What to do with the pieces?  They are perfect for stamping into clay and also for stamping with paint!  I have used these pieces … Read more… →

Landscape Scroll Displays

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Landscape Scroll Displays

How is your year going?  Ours is rapidly coming to a close.  There is so much to do… grading, finishing projects, finishing the yearbook, planning a middle school dance, inventory and cleaning the room!  Yikes, I don’t know about you, but April is the craziest month. I think in the summer, I am going to blog about some tips for organizing Student Council events.  Not that I am an expert, but since I’ve done it for about 7 years now, … Read more… →

Circular Weaving with 2nd graders

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Circular Weaving with 2nd graders

Weaving is so much fun!  I love using up scraps of yarn, but there are other things you can use too: pipe cleaners (or chenille stems.. what do you call them?) tissue paper rolled up fabric scraps cut into strips ribbons feathers raffia I started the kids with just yarn pieces.  After 2 days of working, some of the kids were far behind, so then I brought out thicker ribbon, tissue paper and raffia to fill in the gaps.  Some … Read more… →

Clay Castles with 5th and 6th Grade

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Clay Castles with 5th and 6th Grade

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… →

American Landscape Paintings with 3rd and 4th Grade

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A watercolor painting of a hilly landscape with brown and green tones, depicting trees in the background, showcases elements of American landscape paintings.

  Just a few quick pictures of American landscape paintings that the third and fourth graders created.  A few summers ago I took a watercolor painting class which was very useful.  I used some of the techniques I learned in that class to teach them about how to use the fan brush and sponges to create texture.  The kids looked at photographs of landscapes from America and they learned about the Hudson River school of painters.       

5 Fabulous Things

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The image has text "5 Fabulous Things I am loving right now" with a vibrant background featuring stars and paint strokes.

Hey there!  I read a lot.  I skim a lot.  I get way too many emails from various things I subscribe to.  Here are some of the cool things I’ve seen lately. 1.  Daring Duct Tape:  CALL FOR ART.  While I have never created anything from Duct Tape, I know that some art teachers have created some amazing projects with their students.  I read an article about high school students who made prom dresses from duct tape.  How cool would … Read more… →

Aquamarkers Review

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Aquamarkers Review

The awesome people from ColArt (which is the company that represents the brands of Reeves, Liquitex, Winsor & Newton, Conté à Paris, Snazaroo and other well-known brands) sent me a “swag bag” of fun product samples to try out and share with you.  Many of these I had heard of and tried before, so I was super excited to get this package. Some of my favorite supplies from this company are the Liquitex Paints. Personally, I like to use the … Read more… →

Styrofoam Weaving for 1st Grade

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Styrofoam Weaving for 1st Grade

Weaving on styrofoam is really easy to do! There is a great restaurant supply store near my school where I can buy meat trays in bulk and have them last for years. 1.  Cut slits on the edges of two sides. 2.  Loop a sturdy string or yarn up and down the slits. 3.  Weave over and under using pieces of yarn, ribbons, pipe cleaners, feathers or rolled tissue paper. 4.  Trim the edges that hang over.

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