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…
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…
Peter Reynolds, author of the book The Dot, posted this on his Facebook page yesterday.
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.
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…
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…
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.
This 3rd grade lesson was related to the Chinese scroll paintings. I have taught this lovely project for several years and I know I saw a version of it online when I first started teaching it. I did some internet digging and this awesome scroll project from Oodles of Art looks like it might have been where I saw it. The students studied Asia in their classroom and we learned a little about Chinese art through a video: Oriental Art- … 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…
Every year my sister-in-law hosts an Easter bonnet party. All of the guest come with Easter bonnets that were homemade and there is a contest for the wildest or most artistic hat. The crazier, the better! This would be fun to do for other holidays. Maybe you could create a 4th of July hat or a Christmas hat! Start with a base hat. The pink hat we bought from Target and my hat we bought from Michael’s craft store. Tie … Read more…
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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…
Welcome to the 3rd post in my series On Teaching Art. The first post and the background behind this series is On Teaching Art: Art vs. Craft. The second post was On Teaching Art #2: Organizing Curriculum. The question posed for this installment is: How can art be integrated into math, science, social science, and literacy? That is a great question and I very often connect art lessons with their units of study in the classrooms. Integrating art with other … Read more…
