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

Cross Hatched Animals

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A pencil sketch of a panda resting its head on a bamboo structure with a few clouds in the background, showcasing cross hatching technique.

@font-face { font-family: “Cambria”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Hatching and Cross-Hatching  by the 3/4s The 3/4s are learning about hatching and cross-hatching.  They explored this technique in a portrait drawing.  After a quick practice of portrait drawing, the students moved on to a cross hatched animal.  Animal pictures lend themselves better to this technique, because there is a lot of texture on the surface of … Read more… →

Contour Shoes– 3rd grade

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A large boot outlined with stick figures dancing, climbing, and parachuting around it on a white background, evoking the creativity of 3rd grade.

Contour Drawings  The students observed the details and lines on their shoes.  They completed a contour line study of their footwear.  Next, they turned these drawings into “miniature playgrounds” for stick people.  Contour drawing helps define and explore edges through line and locates one object in relationship to another. It also establishes an expressive and accurate representation of the subject by the richness of the lines, thick or thin, crisp or soft, and the speed and rhythm with which they … Read more… →

Substitute Assignment

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A child's drawing depicts someone at 30, with family and work, and at 70, using a cane and standing alone.

On Wednesday I had a substitute teacher.  I left this drawing assignment for the 2nd graders to complete.  Divide your paper in half.  On one side, draw what you imagine your life to look like when you are 30 years old.  On the other side, imagine how your body will look when you are 70.  What will your life be like then?  I got this idea from Teaching Drawing From Art.  This book is from 1988 and only has black … Read more… →

Patchwork Animals– Kindergarten

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Patchwork collage of an abstractly shaped elephant with a bird on its back against a black background.

Patchwork Animals  To connect again with literature, the kindergartners read the book Elmer, by  David McKee.  Using squares of colored paper and patterned paper, they are making their own patchwork animal.     The objectives of this project are to 1) Define, identify, and use a variety of patterns and colors in a collage 2) Show unity by using similar colors in a picture and 3) Create works of art inspired by stories and themes.

Versatile Blogger Award

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Abstract watercolor art in the shape of an irregular ring, featuring vibrant colors blending together on a white background.

Hey!  I received a Versatile Blogger Award from Katie Morris, Adventures of an Art TeacherThanks for this award!  I know these awards go around the blogs and it is a really great way for people to connect and find new blogs. Here are 7 crazy, exciting things about myself:  I’ll try to add some different things besides the usual. Daria and I at church on Easter One of my watercolors 1.  This will be my 9th year teaching art, my … Read more… →

Australian Animals– 2nd Grade

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Child's colorful drawing on crumpled paper, surrounded by whimsical abstract symbols and doodles.

  Australian Art:  In April, the second graders learned about Australian art.  Animals were  drawn similar to Australian Aboriginal drawings showing the animal’s bones, organs and muscles as well as the outside normally seen.  Some of the oldest Australian art was created on tree bark.  The students created the same likeness of ‘tree bark’ art on brown butcher paper.  We wrinkled them and then ironed the sheets.   The students tried to emulate the Australian Aboriginal style of dot painting. We … Read more… →

Girls Night Out

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Three colorful glass pendants: a yellow duck on the left, a red flower in the center, and a red heart on the right.

The other weekend, I went out for a Girls’ Night Out at our local paint your own pottery place.  They also do glass fusing, which I excitedly tried for the first time.  It was a blast!  We were able to bring our own wine and snacks and we all decided we were going to go back for another night out.  This is something we could actually do at my school with our kiln.  I just have to figure out temperature … 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… →

Third/Fourth grade Landscapes

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Colorful painting of a serene lake surrounded by green and yellow hills under a bright blue sky with fluffy clouds.

 American Landscapes  The 3/4s learned about Colonial times and Westward Expansion.  The students watched a video about American landscape artists during the 19th century and they painted their own landscapes.  One of the goals was to use inspiration from the environment to create a painting.  The students chose a landscape scene from Wisconsin or a state they have visited.   Painting lessons include how to add texture with a fan brush, how to mix colors and how to add shadows … 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… →

Monochromatic Rhythm Paintings

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An abstract painting with wavy, green patterns on a white background, capturing the rhythm of stylized terrain or topography.

Monochromatic Rhythm Painting  The third graders are learning about how rhythm is used in art.  Rhythm is a principle of art that’s difficult to summarize in words. Assuming that you’ve picked up on a rhythm in music before, take what you heard with your ears and try to translate that to something you’d see with your eyes. Rhythm, in art, is a visual beat.  They made a drawing using lines to show rhythm.  Then, they mixed tints and shades of … Read more… →

Color Collages

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Color collages featuring various green elements: plants, animals, and text, surrounded by handwritten notes about the color green.

 I really enjoy these pictures.  These were made by second graders.  This is a monochromatic color exercise.  The students flip through magazines to find pictures and swatches of one color and shades of that color.  They filled in some of the extra white spaces with markers.  Then, they wrote a poem that tells about the color.  I gave them some examples of how to use all the senses in their poems.“Blue is….Blue looks like…Blue tastes like…Blue smells like…Blue feels like…Blue … Read more… →

Rainbow Fish

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Kid's colorful drawing of three whimsical rainbow fish underwater, with coral and sea plants at the bottom.

    Rainbow Fish  by Kindergartners First, we read the book Rainbow Fish. Then, the kids drew pictures of fish. Next, we colored them using neon crayons and regular crayons.  Color REALLY hard and thickly.  Demonstrate this to the children so they see how to color darkly.    Next, paint with watercolor on the background, to fill in the water.  The paint will resist.  We used these watercolors.  They give a bit of sparkle/glimmer.  Not a lot, but a nice … Read more… →

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