I was trying to find a good activity for my daughter to do for Father’s Day and decided to make my own. Here is an interview printable for your little ones. Have fun! For the PDF downloads, click the links below. I recommend printing from the PDF files because they are crisper with a higher resolution. Fathers Day Printable Grandpa Printable
At the beginning of the year when Kindergartners are learning how to write their letters I like to read the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and teach an art lesson using the alphabet. Most of the kids have already read this book, but it is a quick read and has a great rhythm. The kids do love the book. If you want to get a laugh though, read the one-star reviews on Amazon, lol. Start by painting a paper with … Read more…
I was approached by a representative from Build a Sign to review a product from their website. They have a variety of types of signs (metal, vinyl, etc.) and also things like bumper stickers, magnets and license plates. I chose the 3 foot x 6 foot vinyl banner! I thought it would be fun to make a banner for my art room and also to hang up when we have an art show at school. I used the feather and … Read more…
Beautiful spring butterflies are a great way to end the school year. Paint dotters give colorful results without a ton of mess. Kindergartners drew these with pencil first. I read a suggestion from Patty Palmer on the art teacher Facebook group to use tracers for the top set of the wings to get the size proportional and then have the kids draw the bottom of the wings on their own. Then they used paint dotters to create symmetrical designs on … Read more…
HEATHER KORDSMEIER you are the winner! Congrats and email me your address. Heather Kordsmeier May 20, 2014 at 5:05 pm I teach 3rd grade language arts and social studies. After our standardized test in April, I start Art and Art History. I have been puting together an artist timeline. We have learned about artists, their techniques, and do some sort of project using their techniques.
I was super thrilled to receive an email that I was going to have an art journal published in the Somerset Studio Gallery magazine (Summer 2014 issue). I had submitted this book over 2 years ago and I had pretty much forgotten all about it. You can see all the pages in a video here.
** This giveaway is now closed. ** I received a copy of a great new art history book to share with you! The book is A Child’s Introduction to Art: The World’s Greatest Paintings and Sculptures, written by Heather Alexander. The publishers are also giving away ONE free copy to a lucky winner. To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on the blog telling one way you introduce art history to your kids. I will pick one winner on Friday … Read more…
Every so often, I host after school art classes. I try to have some fun projects that I wouldn’t normally teach during the school day. These magical wands were a hit with both the boys and girls who signed up for this class. Use dowel rods or natural sticks as the wand base. Twist, tie, wrap and hot glue fabric, ribbons, feathers, pipe cleaners and colored tape around the stick. Tie on flowers, add glitter glue and sequins and use … Read more…
[cryout-pullquote align=”left|center|right” textalign=”left|center|right” width=”100%”] How do you experience your brain? What does your brain do for you? How can you express the feelings of your brain? [/cryout-pullquote] Students at our school connected with a scientific researcher to create diverse and artistic representations of their brains. I teach art at a school for gifted and talented children. Our students are highly interested and curious about science, so when I was contacted by Ayla Kruis to work with her on a project … Read more…
I opened up my email this week and was thrilled to read the following message: I wanted to thank you for your post regarding portfolios and interviewing. I was recently hired at a fantastic school, and the interview wouldn’t have gone well without your advice about preparation. Yay! I love it when someone finds something useful in something I’ve written! The post she was referring to was Art Teacher Portfolio Ideas. Later, I posted an article about digital portfolios. I … Read more…
It’s no secret art teachers love Pinterest. In this new blog series, I will round up some of my favorite Pinspiration for art teachers. If you’d like to see all of my Pins, follow me on Pinterest. It’s a great way to plan projects, find handouts and ideas! If you have other ideas that fit this theme, add them in the comment section. I was inspired to pick the theme of FACES for this blog post, because I came across … Read more…
Hi! For those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, you probably have seen some of the baby pictures. Desmond was born this past weekend! Desmond Arthur Beckett was born on Saturday, April 19 at 9:47 am. He weighed 10 lbs 6 oz! The c-section went smoothly and even though I was SO nervous beforehand, the doctors and nurses were very reassuring. After I realized that I actually was not going to feel any pain during the surgery, … Read more…
I came up with this idea from my daughter’s obsession with playing with her figurines and maps. She has a few of these map sets that come with a large fold-out map, a book and a bunch of related figurines (they have these at Barnes & Noble). This project taps into children’s natural interest in miniature toys! I showed the 2nd graders this map with some figures (many of them had similar maps at home) and told them to bring … Read more…
