• Subscribe to Blog via Email

    Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 4,626 other subscribers
  • Banner with colorful artwork promoting an art shop featuring kindness coloring pages, artist activities, and resources for teachers.
Search Results for: books

Blogging Basics, Part Two: Choosing a Blog Name and Getting Ideas

By | | , ,
2 Comments
Blogging Basics, Part Two: Choosing a Blog Name and Getting Ideas

  If you missed the first post in this series, check out Blogging Basics for Teachers and Other Creatives, Part One.  In that post I share reasons to start blogging and how to choose a blogging platform. In today’s post, we will talk about how to choose a blog name and where to get ideas for your blog.   My blog was originally called Vivid Layers (raise your hand if you read my blog back then!).  The header is the … Read more… →

Blogging Basics for Teachers and Other Creatives: Part One

By | | , , ,
4 Comments
Top-down view of a desk with a laptop, notebook, and watercolor set. Text reads "Blogging Basics for art teachers and other creatives."

So… you want to start a blog about teaching or art?  One of the questions I get asked frequently is how do you start a blog?  I asked the experts (other popular art bloggers) to share advice about getting started with blogging.   The bloggers, in no particular order: Me from Art is Basic, of course Lee Darter, from Art Room Blog Phyllis Levine Brown from There’s a Dragon in My Art Room and The Artful Advocate Don Masse from … Read more… →

Article in Arts & Activities Magazine

By | | , , , , , ,
3 Comments
Magazine open to an article titled "Anthropomorphic Animal Collages" in Arts & Activities Magazine, featuring colorful animal artwork and text.

I’m pretty excited my article in the October issue of Arts & Activities is on the cover! I wrote about an art project my students did after learning about the artist William Wegman. I had the awesome opportunity to interview Wegman on the phone and include the interview as a large part of the article. I’m very glad that they included a bunch of my students’ artwork (3rd grade). You can read the whole article here: http://pubdev.ipaperus.com/ArtsandActivities/AAOctober2016/?page=20 If you would … Read more… →

The Best Thing I Did to Start My School Year

By | | ,
2 Comments
Colorful "ARTSY" banner with letters on pencil-shaped flags against a red background with a vibrant chevron border.

Hi!  Welcome back to another artsy school year! I had a brilliant breakthrough this summer while reading Facebook Art Teacher groups online.  Someone had created a video about their rules and procedures for their art room.  I saw that and I thought that I DEFINITELY needed to do that! As a K-4/5 art teacher (I no longer teach the 5th/6th graders.. that grade level went to our new art teacher), I see a lot of classes.  But, I still probably … Read more… →

Free Symmetry Challenge Sheet

By | | , ,
1 Comment
Free symmetry challenge sheet featuring half-drawn pictures of an owl, rabbit, frog, girl, pencil, and cat.

I have been working on making printable activity sheets to put into sketchbooks for my students.  My plan is to have them work on some of these for “bell ringers” or 5 minute warm-ups while they are waiting for the rest of their class to arrive (my students travel from class to class on their own and some trickle in minutes later than others… it’s a complicated scheduling story which I can explain if you are interested.)  The sketchbooks will … Read more… →

Coloring Book Review and Giveaway!

By | | ,
1 Comment
Coloring Book Review and Giveaway!

**This is a cross-post from my personal art blog.  To enter the giveaway for a free copy of this coloring book, please leave a comment on the original post.** Today I am part of a TLC Book Tour for a new coloring book called  Inkspirations Fruit of the Spirit.  There are a few reasons I decided to be a part of this book tour.  1) I wanted to show you how we have enjoyed coloring books.  2) This is a … Read more… →

10 Ways to Calm Down: A Free Printable Poster

By | | , , ,
Leave a comment
A list titled "10 Ways to Calm Down" with suggestions like breathing exercises and talking to a grown-up, made into a free printable poster with illustrated children.

Here is a fun poster that can be used to hang in your classroom or print out for kids.  These are 10 tips to help kids deal with strong emotions. Click to download the free PDF:  10 Ways to Calm Down The download is sized at 11″ x 14″ but you could probably easily choose to fit to 8.5″ x 11″ in your printer settings. Here is the backstory behind why I made this poster.  I am a Girl Scout … Read more… →

Doodled Drawings, Collages and Sculptures

By | | , , , , ,
1 Comment
A colorful, abstract drawing featuring various intricate patterns and shapes, resembling a whimsical, mosaic collage creature.

It’s summer time!  This wrapped up my 10th year of teaching at my current school and 13 1/2 years teaching total.   The good news is that since I was so busy this year, I have a huge backlog of art projects to share with you.  I will probably write them all up this summer and then save some of them for the busy times next school year. Doodle patterns are always good for focus and concentration. This project is also … Read more… →

Peace Prints with 1st Grade

By | | , , ,
5 Comments
Colorful drawing of a peace sign with red hearts inside the segments, surrounded by stars and hearts on a vibrant background, ideal for Peace Prints.

I was trying to sit down to write a blog post yesterday and I was thinking about how when the world seems to be in chaos, writing a blog post about kids’ art seems insignificant in the grand scheme of things.  I had a post about recent doodling projects my students made in the works, but that didn’t seem quite appropriate after the events on Sunday morning.  When something big like the attacks in Orlando, do you go on writing … Read more… →

The Value of Independent and Exploratory Art

By | |
1 Comment
A vibrant exploratory art painting with various geometric shapes and swirls in multiple colors, dominated by red, blue, and yellow.

I wanted to explain to you how our art class periods are structured.  Students have art twice a week for 40 minutes.  Typically, we start with a 5 minute art warm up drawing in a sketchbook.  Then we move to instruction, demonstration, art history or literature connections.  Finally, for the majority of the time, the students work on their artwork.  Students work at all different paces.  Some students work very quickly and others take as much as double the amount … Read more… →

Peanut Butter and Jellyfishes Book

By | | , , ,
Leave a comment
Two alphabet books titled "Peanut Butter and Jellyfishes" and "ABC Book" on a white surface.

I want to show you a beautiful book I discovered called Peanut Butter and Jellyfishes: A Very Silly Alphabet Book by Brian P. Clearly. The book was illustrated by Betsy E. Snyder and I think the pictures are fantastic.  The style of the book is reminiscent of Eric Carle’s painted paper collages. Aren’t they beautiful?  On each page of the book are pictures that feature things that start with one letter of the alphabet.  My first grade students created an … Read more… →

Some of My Favorite Presentations from NAEA 2016

By | | , ,
3 Comments
Image of the Dalai Lama with quotes on kindness and compassion, accompanied by a message on teaching with empathy.

In my last post, I wrote an overall recap of the National Art Education Association conference.  I also gave a summary of the artist Jesse Reno’s speech.  In another post, I put together a little art history quiz of artworks from the Art Institute of Chicago. Today I am going to share with you some highlights from a few of the presentations.  If you would like to see all of the handouts from the presentations that were uploaded, they are … Read more… →

NAEA Convention Recap Part 1

By | | ,
1 Comment
Art supplies arranged around a framed painting with text "NAEA Convention 2016" at the bottom.

  Hi, artsy friends!  It’s taken awhile for me to gather all my pictures and information from the National Art Education Association conference and compile them into a recap.  At my school, if you go to a conference, you present something about your experience at one of our weekly staff meetings.  So I am “killing two birds with one stone”.  If you have never been to an art conference, it is really fun! There are many, many sessions to choose … Read more… →

Jesse Reno: ambition over direction

By | | , , ,
1 Comment
A colorful abstract face with various patterns and textures, featuring two horns and closed eyes.

When I found out that Jesse Reno was going to be at the National Art Education Conference this year, I was stoked.  I’ve been following his artwork and blog for several years and I love how layered and complex his paintings are.   You have to watch his process of transforming one thing into another while painting.  He has several videos on his blog where you can watch him paint.   I was excited to hear him talk, but it would have … Read more… →

Spirals, Flowers and Patterns: Learning about Hundertwasser

By | | , , , , ,
1 Comment
Colorful drawing of two abstract flowers with spiral stems and a bright, Hundertwasser-inspired background pattern resembling a sunburst.

“A good picture is when the picture is full of magic, when you can feel the happiness in it, when it makes you laugh or cry, or when it makes something happen. It should be like a flower or a tree. It should be like Nature. It should be that we miss it when it isn’t there.” Hundertwasser Friedensreich Hundertwasser believed that nature and beauty was the key to happiness. He was born Fritz Stowasser but created his “artist name” … Read more… →

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