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On Teaching Art #2: Organizing Curriculum

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On Teaching Art #2: Organizing Curriculum

Welcome to the second post in my series On Teaching Art. The first post and the background behind this series is On Teaching Art:  Art vs. Craft. The question posed for this installment is: How can we organize planning for art instruction? Carrie Birmingham said, “For instance, I can imagine planning around art elements like line and color, or planning based on great artists, or planning based on curricular connections, or planning based on children’s development. There are probably a … Read more… →

On Teaching Art: Art vs. Craft

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On Teaching Art: Art vs. Craft

I received an email from Carrie Birmingham of Pepperdine University about teaching art.  She teaches a general education course.  She proposed a number of questions about teaching art that she would like to share with her university students.  Here is what she writes: “The students I have will be general ed classroom teachers, mostly K-5. They may or may not end up at a school which has an art teacher, and I want them to have a starting place if … Read more… →

Google Reader ENDING! Try Feedly as an alternative

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Google Reader ENDING! Try Feedly as an alternative

Did you hear the news? My heart sunk. Tears were (almost) cried. Google is ending GOOGLE READER! On July 1st, Google is discontinuing the reader because of diminishing use.  Say what? What to do with the hundreds of blogs that I follow?  Yes, hundreds.  (I do a lot of skimming.)  I flip through blogs on my Google Reader app on my phone.  I know many of you also probably use Google Reader and Friend Connect. Well, after doing a bit … Read more… →

5 Fabulous Things an Art Teacher is Loving Right Now

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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.

Before I start with 5 Fabulous Things let me just tell you how jealous I am of any of you who went to Texas this week for the National Art Education Association conference.  I love love love going to these conferences.  Unfortunately it’s not possible for me to go every year, but I’m living vicariously through blog posts and facebook posts of other art teachers… like Mr. E  and the Art of Ed. 5 Fabulous Things– a round up of … Read more… →

Daria’s in my art journal

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Daria's drawing on paper next to a colorful sketchbook on a table with markers and a red jacket in the background.

This is what happens every time I try to take out my art journal when Daria is awake!  LOL. She never wants to color in her own sketchbook, just mine! We are both LOVING these new RoseArt Neon Gel Crayons, 6-Count, Assorted Colors that I ordered from Amazon.  Cheap, and perfect for both adults and kids.  They are like very smooth oil pastels.  I like the brightness of the colors.  There is neon orange, yellow, green, pink and purple.. There … Read more… →

A Day in the Life of an Elementary Art Teacher

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A Day in the Life of an Elementary Art Teacher

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be an elementary art teacher? Maybe you are interested in becoming an art teacher.  Maybe you are curious how my day compares to yours’.  I know I would love to walk a day in another art teacher’s shoes to see what it is like at different schools or in different locations.  Through words and pictures, I am going to walk you through my day.  Out of privacy of the students, … Read more… →

Studying African Masks: 3rd Grade

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Colorful, abstract face drawing with geometric shapes and patterns, featuring a big head, prominent eyebrows, and dots. The design is inspired by African masks.

The 3rd graders studied Africa in their social studies classroom and we learned about African masks in art class. The students watched a video that explained about the functions of masks, celebrations, rituals and materials used to make the masks.  (Crizmac Tribal Designs video)   Using markers, the third graders drew their own masks.  The students were encouraged to include human and/or animal features and to personalize the masks with colors and designs of their own choosing. When we made … Read more… →

State Art Show

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At the State Art Show, two children stand in front of a colorful wall display of children's artwork.

  There’s my student’s artwork in the upper right corner of this panel:  the lion watercolor on muslin cloth.  Every year our state has a state wide art show in the capitol in Madison. This weekend, I went with my daughter, my friend and her daughter to see the art show.  Here are the two of them in front of a big banner at the show.   Daria’s friend said, “Mommy, this one blows my mind.”  So cute.. she is … Read more… →

Perspective “Viewing Rooms” 3rd/4th grade

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A surreal underwater hallway with a rainbow ceiling and black-and-white checkered floor, where the walls are adorned with sea life, provides an intriguing perspective.

I teach one-point perspective every year to the 3rd/4th grade class.  In the past couple of years I typically have taught city perspective drawings.  I saw this fantastic aquarium perspective lesson from Once upon an Art Room (grade 7), and I just had to try it with my little ones.  Some of the kids liked the aquarium idea and others changed them into viewing rooms for other animals.  We had wildlife sanctuaries, zoos and aquariums.  

Clay Face Mugs- 3rd grade

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A hand-crafted Clay Face Mug featuring bulging eyes, a red nose, and a wide orange mouth.

Making clay mugs with 3rd graders.. This is a great lesson that can be adaptable to pretty much any age.  I’ve taught this project with middle school students and had very successful results.  This is the youngest I’ve taught the clay face vase project and I think they did a very good job! Clay techniques used: rolling slabs and using a straight edge to cut a clay rectangle tracing a cutting a clay circle for the base forming facial features … Read more… →

Kindergarten Matching Mittens Painting with Oil Pastels

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Kindergarten Matching Mittens Painting with Oil Pastels

This art project is an oldie, but a goodie.  I’m not sure where I first saw this project.  I think maybe one of the other art teachers taught this lesson in one of my previous school districts.  I have seen some lovely variations of this project online.  Here is a beautiful one from Pixels and Paintbrushes.  It looks like we were both working on them at the same time.  🙂 We began by tracing mitten templates on a piece of … Read more… →

Editorial Cartoons for 4th, 5th and 6th Grade

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Editorial Cartoons for 4th, 5th and 6th Grade

Teaching about editorial cartoons is a great way to bring current events into the classroom. Every year our students in grades 4th-8th participate in a local editorial cartoon contest.  The students watch a video about editorial cartoons and they discuss, analyze and interpret current editorial cartoons.  Cartoons for the Classroom is an excellent resource for lesson plans about editorial cartoons.  If you are going to teach about editorial cartoons, this website is a must-see.  The cartoon templates we used are … Read more… →

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