This is one of my favorite kindergarten projects and it is perfect to teach at the beginning of the year. Lines are introduced and we talk about the many types of lines… straight, zigzag, loopy, wavy, etc. Then I show them how they can make dotted and dashed lines, lines that start out wavy and then become spiky and even lines that are made by placing shapes in a row. The kindergartners start with a black marker and draw the … Read more…
Beverley Baird you are the winner of the Gelli Plate! Send me your postal address and I will mail it to you. (I used a random number generator to pick the number 5, for the 5th comment on the blog post.)Links to Check Out:I am LOVING this awesome flip book video all hand drawn. Breathtaking! What do you think about Performance Based Pay? Weigh in at the Art of Education. I need to order this kolaj magazine! I love this … Read more…
“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” Andy Warhol The 2nd graders learned about Andy Warhol. We read Getting to Know Andy Warhol, by Mike Venezia and we viewed a short video about the artist. The students drew themselves while looking in a mirror. Then, I photocopied each drawing so the students had multiple … Read more…
A representative from the Gelli Arts company emailed me a few weeks ago and asked if I wanted to try one of their gel printing plates and of course, I said yes, because I love free stuff. I had seen these on a few different mixed media blogs and my curiosity was piqued, but I shied away from them because of the price. Yesterday, I received two printing plates. One to try out and one to give away to the … Read more…
Are you looking for more ART IDEAS? Did you know there is an Art Teacher Blog Directory on Art is Basic? There are currently 263 art teacher blogs listed. You can spend hours just looking through these links and seeing all the wonderful things happening in art classrooms around the world. Have you added YOUR blog to the directory? I know there are some new bloggers out there who have just started writing about their classrooms this year. And because … Read more…
The 2nd issue of Featuring Magazine is going to the printers. It is ready for pre-order! I am part of the editorial team at Featuring magazine and I’m so excited for the release of this issue. In this issue, I wrote the article titled Mapping It Out, which features the art of Mary C. Nasser, Tofu and Karey Kessler. Each of these artists explores using maps in their own way to tell a story or to make a statement. I … Read more…
The 3rd/4th grade class used a grid format to design their sketchbook cover. I am loving using grids in my personal artwork. I am doing a series of grid mixed media paintings which you can see here, here and here, and oh yeah here too. To prepare for this lesson, I drew a 1 inch square grid on a piece of 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper. Then, I photocopied it for the class. Here’s a trick.. if you cut … Read more…
A great project to begin the year is a DOT project. The kindergartners read the book The Dot, by Peter Reynolds. I love this book! We also view a slide show of some artworks that use dots (Australian Aboriginal, Seurat). The first day we trace circles on colored construction paper. We use lids, cups and rolls of masking tape. The children cut these circles out and glue them to a white piece of paper. On the second day, they … Read more…
All of my classes have been busy making sketchbook covers. Here are a few more assignments by grade level: 1st Grade Initials:I saw this idea at Art Projects for Kids. The background has crayon texture rubbings and watercolor paint. 3rd Grade: The students wrote their names in cursive and then surrounded the name with repeating colorful lines. 4th/5th Grade Names: They drew their names and then covered the negative space with patterns. Similar to this idea… Name Tangles. … Read more…
Only for 11 prompts. Purchase the Weekly Doodle here. These printable drawing prompts are now also available at my NEW TPT store. The Weekly Doodle is a PDF file of 11 drawing prompts written for kids in grades K-6. Ready to print and distribute to the class! Printable drawing prompts are perfect for: art centers enrichment activities homeschool lessons substitute plans Here is a sample that you will receive in the packet: If you buy this packet, please allow 24 … Read more…
It has been a busy 2 weeks and a rough transition back to school. The actual “school” part has been just fine. The problems have been with coordinating my schedule and “life balance.” I will talk about that more at the end of this post, but first I will show you some pretty pictures. We have been making sketchbook covers from donated file tab dividers. My sister-in-law works in medical records and they were transferring everything over to digital, so … Read more…
I passed out Summer Art Challenge Sheets at the end of the school year last year. Any of the students could participate in it over the summer and then turn in their artwork at the beginning of this year. It is kind of like a summer reading program, where you record what you’ve read and get prizes. Here are the basic parameters of the challenge: “Welcome to the Summer Art Challenge! You are invited to play along and stretch your … Read more…
School has started! First graders stamped their sketchbook covers. In process sketchbook cover… simple initial collage Kindergarten color collage Embellished stamping Look how beautiful crayon texture rubbings and children’s watercolor paints can be!
Jennifer Grobsaid… I just hung up my sark poster today in my room. I would love those books!!! Your projects are super cute!Jenn Grob Congrats Jenn, you are the winner of the Sark books. School starts on Monday! So, I will have lots of new posts about projects coming soon. Our school is celebrating its 30th Anniversary this year and in the next few years we are going to building on to the existing structure and adding new classes! … Read more…
Scholastic Art was waiting for me when I went into school today! There’s the lesson plan I wrote! That’s me!
