The talking stick is used in many Native American traditions. Whoever holds the stick has the right to talk. The talking stick is used to make sure that each person in a group has a chance to express his or her own thoughts. Everyone else has to show respect and remain silent. When the speaker is finished talking, he or she passes the stick. My 2nd graders created beautiful sticks with wire, chenille stems, beads, feathers and paint to be used as … Read more…
Little artists love digging into a big box of fabric scraps to find the perfect patterned piece that speaks to them. We have an upcoming Fine Arts Night with the theme of Animals. We are calling it “Wild about the Arts”, which someone suggested in the Facebook art teachers group. The 1st graders made these fun creature collages. First we read the book Zigzag by Robert Souci and looked at the illustrations of fabric dolls. The students made creature collages, either … Read more…
Here is a simple lesson to introduce your students to the primary colors. We started out by reading the book Mouse Paint, which is a fun story to teach about primary colors. My kindergartners, while I love them dearly, were having difficulties lately with classroom procedures. We needed to go back to the basics with simple materials until they understood how and why to clean up. I pulled out this idea that I got about 11 years ago when I first … Read more…
My students were treated to a visit by illustrator Duncan Tonatiuh. He is both Mexican and American. He grew up in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and graduated from Parsons School of Design in New York City. His images are inspired by ancient Mexican art, especially the Mixtec codex of the 14th and 15th centuries. Like the people and animals in the codex, the figures in his illustrations are always drawn in profile– their entire bodies are usually shown and their ears … Read more…
Another year has come and gone. Here are some of my favorite posts from 2016. Wishing you and your family a Happy New Year! My Top 6 Favorite Posts in 2016.. in no particular order. 1. Huge Printable List of “What Artists Do” The list is two pages long and can be printed and hung in your classroom as a reminder of all the things that artists do! Click on the image to find the downloadable pdfs. This goes along with a … Read more…
One type of art skill that I haven’t been the best at consistently teaching in my classroom is sewing. I was reminded of how you can sew on burlap after seeing some painted and stitched leaves at my daughter’s school. My third/fourth grade classes were often asking me if they could sew and I already had a lot of yarn and a roll of burlap at school. I wanted to share this idea with you quickly without a whole lot of … Read more…
Are you looking for a fun art project to try over winter break with your kids? Here is one that is sure to be festive, fun and creative! What you will need: watercolor paints pencil watercolor paper paint brush cup of water markers. For my own art, I prefer Micron markers, Sakura Koi markers, and Molotow White markers. stickers of your choice glue magazines assorted paper scraps of your choice 1. Begin by drawing a Christmas tree shape on a piece of … Read more…
My 3rd grade classes learned about African Korhogo Cloth paintings. They had been studying Africa in their Social Studies class. Here are some of the resources we used: information about the cloth paintings and a couple of YouTube videos– Take a Look at African Korhogo Cloth and Senufo Art (although I do caution you that there is some tribal nudity at the beginning of this documentary in the intro, so start it after 20 seconds in). There is a really cool tribal dance portion … Read more…
On Friday, we had a visit to our school by author and illustrator Duncan Tonatiuh. See his artwork here. He is both Mexican and American. He grew up in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and graduated from Parsons School of Design in New York City. His artwork is inspired by Pre-Columbian art, particularly that of the Mixtec codex. His goal is to create images and stories that honor the past, but that are relevant to people, especially children, nowadays. His books are beautiful … Read more…
Personal Collages: 4th and 5th Grade We read the book Emily’s Blue Period, which is about a girl whose parents are divorcing and now she has two homes. Emily was learning about Pablo Picasso, his Blue Period and his collages in her art class. She goes through her own “blue period” of sadness. Her art teacher asks the class to make personal collages about their homes. She doesn’t know what to do because she has two homes now. She ends up … Read more…
For me it is always a challenge to keep up with Kindergarten art projects. I see my classes twice per week for 40 minutes, so they get to do a lot of art! They go through lessons and projects quickly, their attention spans are short and they have difficulty sometimes with very basic skills. Here are three Kindergarten art lessons that are fairly easy to prepare for, teach important art concepts and use the same selection of materials. The first … Read more…
This is a project I love to do with the 3rd graders. Their drawing all turn out so unique and fun. First, we talk about what rhythm in art is. Rhythm is like a visual beat in a picture, created by lines, colors, shapes and space. Rhythm can be made by repeating certain elements of art. Here is a good handout about rhythm. Here is another handout about rhythmic line designs. The students each drew their own line drawing showing … Read more…
Hi friends! Thank you all for your amazing support of my blog and my shop. You have no idea what it means to me! I love reading your comments on my blog posts. Like I mentioned earlier this week, I am part of the huge sale at Teachers Pay Teachers this MONDAY and TUESDAY– Nov. 28 and 29 ONLY. Many sellers are participating and nearly all of my products are 20% (the only thing not included is the Growing Art … Read more…
Reggie Laurent: Contemporary Artist Reggie Laurent is a self-taught artist living in Georgia. He creates very intricate abstract shape paintings. I saw his paintings online and I was immediately drawn to all of the fun patterns and colors. My first graders learned about his abstract pictures. They are filled with lots of different shapes, fitted together like a puzzle. His artworks are highly detailed and very colorful. Student Shape Collages The students learned about and used organic (freeform) and geometric shapes … Read more…
I love Kwik Stix and so do my students. “It’s like drawing with lipstick!” I posted a video review of the product because I liked them so much. Then, the Kwik Stix company saw it and contacted me about trying out their metallic and neon colors. I tried them out to share with you and I also came up with a fun project you could try using them. (Disclosure: I received these as a gift from the company. I am … Read more…
