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

Accordion Books | Drawing Scientific Specimens | 3rd Grade

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Accordion Books | Drawing Scientific Specimens | 3rd Grade

Did that get your attention?  How about this? The Science teachers at my school often have the kids create drawings about what they are studying.  One of them asked if I wanted to coordinate and have my third graders do more observational drawing.  I borrowed these fun scientific specimens and some plants from the school greenhouse for my students to draw. If you want to buy some of your own specimens, they are not cheap, but once you have them … Read more… →

Veteran’s Day Poppy Posters

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Hand-drawn US map filled with flag pattern, text says “Thanks Veterans” on a red background, ideal for Veteran's Day posters.

Have you seen the art installation of ceramic poppies at the Tower of London?  It is amazing!  If you follow that link, there is a video about how the installation was made. The poppy is a remembrance symbol for soldiers who have died in war.  The symbol comes from the poem “In Flander’s Field”, where poppies grew in a field over the graves of soldiers. Each year, our 5th/6th grade class gets a visit from the wife of a veteran, … Read more… →

Mixed Media Self Portraits by 3rd Grade

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Mixed Media Self Portraits by 3rd Grade

My students made self portraits with construction paper, tissue paper and paint. This project is always a hit with the kids and parents.  I love it because it involves lots of good art concepts such as color mixing with paints, shades and tints, proportion, facial details and collage techniques. We start by creating the background with tissue paper and paint.  The kids are encouraged to experiment with color mixing.  I demonstrate how to make colors lighter by adding white and … Read more… →

Day of the Dead | Symmetrical Paper Skulls | 1st Grade

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Day of the Dead | Symmetrical Paper Skulls | 1st Grade

October 31 to November 2 is the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead.  My first grade students learned about the celebration a bit in their Spanish class and then in art class, we read a story about the holiday and drew these symmetrical skull pictures.  The book we read was Day of the Dead, by Tony Johnston.  It’s a nice story with great pictures.  My only complaint is that the book is very very small, so the kids have to … Read more… →

Salt and Watercolor Fall Leaves

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Salt and Watercolor Fall Leaves

I came across this beautiful technique at the Happy Hooligans blog.  She practiced letter writing with glue, salt and paint.   I thought this technique would be a fun experiment for my third graders and make beautiful fall leaf paintings. Here’s how this works.   First, we used real fall leaves for inspiration while drawing.  We drew leaves with pencil on watercolor paper.  Then, we used regular Elmer’s white glue to outline the leaves. While the glue was still wet, we poured … Read more… →

Disney Spirit Day at School

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Disney Spirit Day at School

We had Spirit Week at school this week.  Since I am no longer the Student Council adviser (I had a few extra classes added instead)  I was able to relax and actually think about how I might tie in Spirit Week to my art classes.  This year I am having the kids do a 5 minute silent art warm-up at the beginning of class.  I write a prompt on the board and the students draw in their art journals that … Read more… →

Fall Leaf Printable

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Fall Leaf Printable

Aren’t the colors of the fall leaves breathtaking?  I scanned some of the leaves that I found on the trees here in Wisconsin.  Feel free to print these out, color designs on them with permanent or paint markers, make a collage or just draw from the pictures.  They would also look good on a bulletin board. Download the higher resolution version here at TPT for free!   The book Leaf Man, by Lois Elhert, would be a great way to … Read more… →

Mosaic Stepping Stones and Coasters

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Mosaic Stepping Stones and Coasters

I have been wanting to make some more permanent artworks to beautify the school grounds.  I had pairs of kids working on these stepping stones.  This was such a fun project I am planning on making more in the coming years ahead to add to our collection. I have never made outdoor stepping stones before, so I asked for advice several times on the Art Teacher Facebook group.  I just want to give a shout out to them for answering … Read more… →

Art Rubric for Elementary

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Art Rubric for Elementary

Do you use rubrics for self-assessment with your students?   I developed this rubric based on others I had seen online.  I wanted to get my students thinking more about their artwork and writing a few sentences in reflection.  We haven’t done much writing in art class before, so I didn’t want to overwhelm them.   What do you think?  Do you have any suggestions for my rubric?  (Does everything sound right, but also easy enough for little kids to understand?)  … Read more… →

William Wegman: Photomontage Project for Kids

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William Wegman: Photomontage Project for Kids

My third grade students learned about the photography, films, paintings and children’s books by contemporary artist William Wegman.  I actually talked to Bill on the phone and had an interview with him, which you can read in this blog post. William Wegman is known for his anthropomorphic photos of dogs dressed in various costumes. Anthropomorphic means giving human characteristics to animals (or other non-human things.) We read his books, watched some of his short films and saw pictures of his … Read more… →

An Interview with William Wegman

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Two gray Weimaraner dogs with soulful eyes, sitting close together against a black background.

Wow, do I have a treat for you today!   I had the amazing opportunity to talk with American artist William Wegman on the phone.  Bill is well known for his photographs of Weimaraner dogs, dressed in all sorts of costumes and settings.  Did you know he has also written and illustrated children’s books as well as created films and paintings?   If you’d like to see some of his artworks, there is a wide selection on his Pinterest page. Two of … Read more… →

Dot Day Celebration

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Dot Day Celebration

Like many other art teachers around the world, my students participated in International Dot Day.  The students dressed up in polka dots, we watched the story of The Dot and sang along to The Dot song. If you have not read the book The Dot, by Peter H. Reynolds, it’s a must-have for the art teacher! Two of my classes made the giant 3-d stuffed dots.  These were super fun to make.  I traced a hula hoop onto a large … Read more… →

All About Me Crayon

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All About Me Crayon

One of the first projects my first graders made were these “All About Me Crayons”. I had seen and taught this lesson probably 10 years ago and decided to revisit it.  I can not remember exactly where I saw this idea, but as many lessons are, we get ideas and see projects all over the place.  I try to credit when I can, but some of these I have been doing so long!    We started the day by reading … Read more… →

Reach for the Stars – Back to School Bulletin Board

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Reach for the Stars – Back to School Bulletin Board

I hope you are enjoying your first few weeks back to school!   Here is a Reach for the Stars bulletin board my students made as their first art projects. The tape letters were made by 1st graders.  I don’t know how people use painter’s tape for this technique, because it just caused my paper to rip.  I discovered the Post-it Label Roll which worked great to block out the letters. The kids painted over the label tape with a crayon … Read more… →

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