Hi! I know I haven’t written in awhile. I hope you are doing well and had a great school year. It’s been a challenging time and I haven’t made blogging a priority. I’m still here though and making art! Now that summer is here I have a bit more free time, so maybe I’ll catch up on sharing some things with you. I wanted to share with you a couple places to get free or cheap materials– but you have … Read more…
Happy Spring! It is Spring Break for us and we took a little trip to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. We saw an awesome Lego exhibit at the museum by artist Nathan Sawaya. If you are in the area, I definitely recommend visiting the museum to see this exhibit. My favorite pieces were the ones in which he recreated famous works of art throughout art history. There were some impressive animal sculptures as well as a fantastic … Read more…
Here is a fun project to do for the element of art texture. It is great for the little kids in grades K and 1, but I have found that the older kids in grades 3 and 4 enjoyed it too. It is also good as an early finisher activity for the older kids because it doesn’t require a lot of instruction. The supplies are simple. You will need a marker to draw the shapes, peeled crayons and texture rubbing … Read more…
I was contacted by a representative at Grabie online marketplace, which I had never heard of before. Since I love trying out new supplies, I decided to go ahead with a product review. I also love to find and share different art supplies with other art teachers. They sent me two art supplies to try out. I was not compensated for my review, other than the free supplies. I told them I would be completely honest in my review and … Read more…
Hi! Valentine’s Day is coming up and here is a fun, free word search you could give to your students. Here is the high resolution PDF version for free download. You might be interested in some of my other word searches: Winter Word Search Spring Word Search Art Word Searches Bundle Art Vocabulary Word Search I am an Artist Word Search Famous Artists Word Search Elements and Principles of Art Word Search
Hi! This is a project I repeat in some form every year with my 3rd/4th grade class. Often I do it to teach about shading and values. Here’s an example from 12 years ago (wow, I can’t believe my blog is that old) of a black and white non-objective lesson. This year, I wanted to add pops of color to the hallway and I wanted the kids to explore color and blending. We first learned about non-objective art- art that … Read more…
Here is a fun and seasonal art project for kids that can teach about the element of space. I did this project with my 1st graders. The first step is to paint stripes of green on a large piece of paper. We used watercolor paints. Wait for the paint to dry. Cut a piece of white paper down the middle to make hills of snow. Glue the white paper to a blue background. Next, cut the painted paper into triangles … Read more…
We recently had everyone in our school trace their hands, cut them out and write things they are thankful for on the hands. We then used the hands as feathers for a turkey for a bulletin board. We are going to use the remaining hands for the leaves of a large tree. The other art teacher, Kathy, who is subbing for maternity leave made the body of the turkey. I think it turned out really cute!
Here is a welcoming art project you can do with your students. Read the book All Are Welcome (Amazon affiliate link at no extra cost to you.) This is a great book about including everyone at school. Have each child draw a self-portrait from head to toe. Display with the heading You Are Welcome Here! We used these handouts for reference.
This year during Latinx Heritage Month (September 15-October 15) I will be teaching my 3rd graders about Frida Kahlo and her many pets. It is a good reminder to teach about diverse artists throughout the year and throughout your curriculum. Frida Kahlo’s had many pets including macaws, parakeets, a parrot, sparrows, a cat, a fawn, monkeys, an eagle, and hairless dogs with ancient Aztec lineage. Many of her self-portraits feature herself with animals. The animals are like children to her, … Read more…
Are you required to leave emergency sub plans? If so, you may want to use a choice board! My art colleague Sharon had the idea to make a choice board that can be used multiple times if there is a situation where you need to be gone unexpectedly (sickness or unexpected quarantine). Even if your school does not require this, I highly recommend having a stash of lesson plans ready to go in case you wake up sick in the … Read more…
Minnie Evans was a new-to-me artist that I became fascinated by her beautiful and intricate face designs. At the end of the school year I taught about her artwork to my distance learning students. Here is the Google slides I used: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1SYYp6IORiCHurWQFwUoFkVdl–8t9tWwYKuaorGSNRI/edit#slide=id.gbccc15b226_0_86 And here are the images of the slides:
Here is a fun art project I taught kids awhile back. I have been going through my picture files and rediscovering old projects that I want to try again. I have lots of art projects in my archives that I have never blogged about before. I was thinking this summer I can post a few of them. First, read a book about PEACE. I like Peace is an Offering, by Annette LeBox or The Peace Book, by Todd Parr. (These … Read more…
Here is a fun 3-d project I did with my 3rd-5th grade classes as an asynchronous (at-home) art project. We have been hybrid for a little while and some of my classes are still fully virtual. I have been giving out asynchronous assignments and then having 1 live (either in person or virtual) art class per week as well. I found this handout online from Shoshy Art, which inspired this project. I created a step-by-step video for my students. Here … Read more…
Here is a distance learning lesson I did with my 3rd graders for asynchronous work. We also did a Color Wheel worksheet to go along with their study of colors. Here are a few student examples. Aren’t they so fun?
