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Search Results for: books

Art Teacher SHOWCASE!! Installment #5

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Today I am featuring Karen Bosch on the 5th installment of the Art Teacher Showcase.   1) My name is Karen Bosch and my blog is Pixels and Paintbrushes:  http://blogs.southfieldchristian.org/pixelsandpaintbrushes/  I also have a personal blog called Clever Karen which features the creative side of my non-teaching life: http://cleverkaren.blogspot.com/ 2) Last year was my FIRST year teaching elementary art at Southfield Christian School in Southfield, Michigan USA.  However, I am not a new teacher –  I spent many years teaching third grade … Read more… →

Old School Lesson Plans

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Colorful geometric drawing of a cat sitting with a serious expression against an abstract background.

During the summer, I’m going to dig back to some of my old lesson plans that I had posted on artsonia.com to show to you.  Maybe I will revisit these again during the upcoming school year.  This was favorite of mine and I don’t know why I stopped teaching it. The pictures all turned out gorgeous. CUBIST CATS  for Second GradeThe kids learned about Picasso and his dynamic, fragmented Cubist artwork. 1.  First we did a step-by-step drawing of a … Read more… →

Book Review 2

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Open sketchbook with colorful, abstract drawings of whimsical creatures and patterns, held by a hand at the bottom—a visual delight.

Linda Barry combines funny comics, drawings, and text in a book for adults about how to get your drawing juices flowing.  There’s how tos are more for an adult who just wants to get started drawing.  Her own comics and art are what is really inspiring for me!  I also enjoy her commentary and questioning about the drawing process and creativity.  In one comic the dialogue says, “If you use coloring books past the age of ten, you will wreck … Read more… →

Art Teacher SHOWCASE!!

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Abstract black geometric characters on a narrow, rectangular canvas are showcased with a signature at the bottom.

 For the next installment of Art Teacher Showcase, I am highlighting Ilse Verhoeven.  I have been reading her blog for about a year now.  What is your blog? 1) http://artlessonsfrombelgium.blogspot.com/ Tell us about yourself and your teaching.2) I’m a Belgian art-teacher. I have been teaching for 7 years. The last four years I have been teaching children with learning difficulties too. I love teaching them.Finding projects for those children isn’t always easy. It can’t be too difficult, but I want … Read more… →

Book Review 1

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A hand holds a book open to a factory scene with workers and conveyor belts sketched in blue.

I love using children’s books in my lessons about art.  Even the older kids like being read to.  It’s a way to spark their interest in art, encourage a love of reading and make their learning connections much richer.  And, it doesn’t really take that much time to incorporate a short story in the period.   I know class time for art is limited, so you want to make the most of every minute.  Consider just reading a portion of a … Read more… →

Art Teacher Showcase Installment #1– Stephanie Clegg

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A book page features an intricate drawing with hairlike lines extending across the face, making it an eye-catching addition to any Art Teacher Showcase.

This is my first installment of Art Teacher Showcase, where art teachers across the world will be sharing with you their favorite lesson and invite you to visit their blog.  If you would like to participate, see the bottom of this post. The first art teacher is Stephanie Clegg!My blog is called Mrs. Clegg’s Class blog.  My blog started out as a place for students to find out information about assignments and due dates.  It has since involved into more … Read more… →

Yay, Summer! Yay, Blogs!

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Colorful text reading "I wish YOU the happiest of happy times" with decorative stars around it, evoking a cheerful summer vibe.

I’m at 185 followers now!  So exciting.  Anyways, once I reach 200, I’m going to do a book giveaway.  This summer I need to have a garage sale and sort through all my books on my book shelf.  I, of course, have oodles of art books to get rid of, so I think I will offer a couple of them up here for a random follower! Please also sign up for my ART TEACHER SHOWCASE.  Just send me info about … Read more… →

Third Grade Silhouettes

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Silhouette of a rabbit against a white background with black shapes at the top and bottom edges, ideal for third grade art projects.

We looked at the silhouette portraits of the early Americans as well as the paper cuttings of Hans Christian Anderson.  The students drew with white colored pencil on their black paper, and then cut out their designs.  Then, they flipped these over and glued them onto white paper (thus hiding any remaining white pencil lines.)  This book below is a must-see for this project!  We also looked at a book by Dr. Suess which features awesome silhouettes!!  I happened to … Read more… →

Paper Pulp Pictures

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Colorful abstract art piece with layered, textured patches in blue, red, pink, green, and yellow on a white background.

This lesson plan is an idea I tried at one of the National Art Education Conferences.  This is such a fun project because it gives you the experience of paper pulp painting, but without the blenders or mess.  One thing I will be sure to remind the kids of next time is to be sure to tear the paper into really small pieces.  The larger pieces fell apart.  We coated these with a modge podge after to secure them completely.  … Read more… →

Budgets for Art

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I was reading the teacherartexchange listserve from the Getty museum, which is a very cool list serve, and I felt really sorry for one teacher who only has $100 for a budget that serves 350 students.  She was wondering what other typical budgets were.  Here is the response I sent her, which might help you also to find good deals for your classroom: “Wow, 0 per year is ludicrous.  I spend more than that each year for my own personal … Read more… →

How many blogs do you follow?

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An abstract painting with colorful, swirling patterns and shapes, including white ovals with black dots and lines, invites viewers to follow its intriguing design.

Did you know google reader has a maximum number of blogs you can follow? Did you know the maximum is 300 blogs?  I reached 300 blogs that I’m following and had to cut some out.  So, anyone who doesn’t post frequently unfortunately I had to stop following.  Google reader makes it so easy to follow blogs and get them in a nice straightforward feed.  How many blogs do you follow? It is Spring Break now!  My baby Daria is sitting … Read more… →

Fun Activity for Toddlers, Special Needs or just any child!

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Open notebook with colorful stickers, including pyramids, flowers, and bears, arranged randomly on white pages— a fun activity for toddlers or children with special needs.

As art teachers, we often talk about how the process and the manipulation of materials is the main goal.  The product is nice too, but it’s the process that matters.  That is where the learning occurs.  I’m really excited to have my own personal little art student in my house.  I just can’t wait until she is old enough to do even more art making.  Here is a really fun activity that my 18 month old loves to do:  making … Read more… →

Professional Development Plan

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I’ve been working really hard on my PDP.  In Wisconsin, every 5 years to become recertified you need to make a professional development plan, outlining goals and your plans to meet those goals.   When I was trying to write mine, I wanted to look up examples from other art teachers and I really couldn’t find any sample plans that were specifically for art teachers.  Maybe this will help someone else out when you are writing a professional growth plan.  Here … Read more… →

Grandma Moses Landscapes — 2nd Grade

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A child's drawing of a snowy landscape with houses, a person, a reindeer, a snowman, and mountains in the background. This 2nd grade artwork has a charming quality that brings to mind the folk art style of Grandma Moses.

The goals for this project are to Classify artworks as landscape, still-life or portrait. Identify and use foreground, middle ground, and background in two-dimensional works of art. Use size relationships and simple depth techniques to show space in an artwork. We learned about the artist Grandma Moses and created a winter collage using various materials.  We read a couple books about Grandma Moses and looked at her artwork. These are two books about Grandma Moses which are great for this … Read more… →

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