Fun hands-on art lesson for early elementary children on tints and shades in 45 minutes for Kindergarten, 1st, & 2nd grade-level children - Book suggestions - Use with your class, homeschool, after-school program, or co-op!
This month, the Art Ed Blogger’s Network is talking about how to enrich art class for students who finish early. I think this is an ongoing concern for most art teachers. Kids work at all different paces. Some students will finish their artwork lickety-split with half the class period left. Others will work on the same technique or project and spend multiple periods working on the same piece. So you will often have students at all different paces and at … Read more... →
Discover ten of the animals that inhabit the rainforest! Explore their different characteristics with an easy reader book, full color posters, practice pages, and more! ***All pages in the product are shown in the preview.*** Here is a list of the pages: Page 1: Cover Page 2: Suggestions for Use Pages 3-9: Easy reader (instructions for assembling are at the bottom of suggestions for use page) Page 10: Fun trivia questions (6 text dependent; 6 inference) Page 11: Cut and paste review page - Categorize by where they live in the rainforest Pages 12-16: Full color animal posters with 3 details listed below each animal; animals include: toucan, jaguar, butterfly, snake, monkey, fish, sloth, frog, bat, ant Page 17: Graphic organizer "are, can, have" for toucan Page 18: Blank Graphic organizer "are, can, have" for students to write about an animal of their choice Page 19: "I know all about ___." page for writing and illustrating. Page 20: Initial sounds page (for struggling readers) Pages 21-22: Who Am I? page (for average and above average readers) Page 23: Graphics Credit and Terms of Use
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I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to share my latest project with you- I've been working on it for a couple of months now, trying to figure out the whole system before I present it to my students, and I'm finally ready to use them in my classes this week! Presenting: rhythm monster magnets! I love doing composition with all of my students, even as young as Kindergarten, and when I saw Jennifer's idea for rhythm monsters last summer on her blog, The Yellow Brick Road, I was intrigued. Don't those little critters just look so darn cute?!? And I love the idea of showing the number of notes in each beat iconic-ly (Is that a word? Whatevs, you know what I mean). You can check out her post on her original epiphany (using googly eyes and puff balls) here: My problem: I didn't like the idea of trying to glue stuff to puff balls. Trust me, I've done stuff like that before, and it's not pretty. You get little strings all over the glue bottle (or gun, or stick, or whatever you're using to administer adhesive), and it's a struggle to get the bottle away from the strings of glue each time without creating a sticky cobweb all over your face and clothing. I also wanted something more durable- if I'm gonna take the time to make so stinkin' many little monster thingies, they better last for years (and be used by hundreds of students)! So these thoughts have been percolating for about a year, and this summer I finally landed on my solution: magnets! If you've been around a while, you know that magnet boards have become one of my standard fall-backs. They are durable enough for little hands, the materials are pretty cheap, and there are a wide variety of options readily available for materials as well. I will admit, this is no one hour project. If you're ready for a commitment it could probably be a weekend project, but for me I needed to pace myself so I didn't get mad and throw the whole thing out the window- it definitely requires some patience to make everything. But I am THRILLED with the results! To make the basic set with quarter notes, paired eighth notes, and magnet boards, you'll need some magnets (I got these), googly eyes (I had some laying around from my kids' craft supplies but these are the same variety/sizes), craft glue (or better: super glue), and cookie sheets (I found mine for 88c at Walmart). You'll also probably want electrical tape, but you could achieve the same effect with a black sharpie/ paint pen too (more on that later). You can see the trial versions I made, to see how well the glue would hold, in the above picture. So far they are holding up just fine- definitely get glue like the kind you see in the picture. I borrowed some from my art teacher colleague, but you can find it at any craft store. **Update: after 2 years of use I have switched from craft glue to super glue. The craft glue held up pretty well for about a year but then about half of the eyes started falling off in the second year. The super glued ones seem to be pretty much indestructible! For even more durability you can rough up the surface of the magnet before glueing.** I wanted to be able to use my monsters for melodic composition as well, so I made one quarter and one paired eighth in each color and made 7 sets (one for each color group that I have set up for small groups in my room, plus one extra). Since there are 5 colors, I can assign each color to a note in the pentatonic scale for my older students to create melodic compositions. For kindergarten I won't attach any meaning to the colors, and for first and second grade I will give them only enough colors for the notes they are using (sol and mi or mi-sol-la, respectively) if I decide to do anything melodic with them. You could do plenty of fun composition activities if you just stop there, but I really wanted to have quarter rests and half notes as well. I spent a lot of time figuring out the best way to represent those with monsters- I wanted the half note to show one sound that takes up the "space" of two beats, and I wanted the rest to show the "space" of a beat but with no sound. For the half notes, I finally figured out my solution when I saw some mini popsicle sticks at Walmart. I enlisted the help of my 3-year-old's and colored the sticks to match the colors of the magnets (one of each color for each set): I attached the popsicle stick to the bottom of the magnet (yes, the magnet is still strong enough to hold through the stick) and added a single (larger) eye to the top. My idea is that the sticks are like the monsters' tail? I may try to make them look more "realistic" at some point but for now they work ;) For the quarter rests, I bought some clear marbles that have a flat base (made for aquariums and vases and such) and stuck a magnet dot on the bottom. I love this idea because the students can see that the rest takes up a beat but it has not sound- I thought about just using magnets with no eyes but having something transparent seems clearer to me (no pun intended). Time to set up the magnet boards (aka cookie sheets)! This is where things got a little sticky for me (seriously, I'm full of these puns today). You could easily write staff lines, beat boxes, or whatever you want directly onto the cookie sheets and call it a day, but I (in my infinite wisdom) decided that I wanted to use electrical tape so that I didn't have to worry about the lines fading or scratching off, and I could easily change the lines/boxes if I wanted. At first it seemed easy enough: I found these rolls of electrical tape for some ridiculously cheap price like 77c at Walmart and started cutting and taping: The magnets fit perfectly on top of the width of the tape and I was ecstatic! And then I remembered the constant struggle I encounter with students who draw notes "on the line" either above the line or barely touching the line. I needed a way to have them practice and see the line going through the middle of the note head. (Hi, have we met? I'm Miss Obsessive-Perfectionist. Nice to meet you.) So back to the drawing magnet board I went, and I started cutting the strips in half length-wise. Let me tell you, this is where the tantrum almost kicked in. I finally bit the bullet and got myself a paper trimmer for $10 at JoAnn's and there was peace throughout the land (seriously, why did it take me so long to get one anyway?). The other advantage of the thinner lines is that I now had space to put some beat boxes (I had space for 8) directly under the staff lines. I measured the boxes with my half notes to make sure they would take up 2 beats and then split the boxes in half. Now I can have students create rhythmic compositions in the beat boxes: And, if I want, I can have them transfer that to a melodic composition by assigning a solfege note to each color (and have them show me, for example, if do is on the bottom line, where the other notes should go): Are you as excited as I am yet??? Because this is SO COOL!!! I also put a simplified setup on the back of each cookie sheet, with just a line (for unpitched composition) and 4 beat boxes, for my younger students to use. I made 6 cookie sheets (one for each color group in my seating chart- each group has 2-4 students depending on class size). All together, I spent just under $30 for this project (I already had magnet dots and googly eyes on hand- add a couple of dollars if you need to purchase those), and I have a set of composition manipulatives that I hope to use for years to come! I am excited because I think my monsters will help students better understand the rhythmic and melodic concepts they are practicing, get them used to creating their own rhythmic and melodic lines, and engage them in a fun way! I can't wait to use them in my classes this week. I will be having my 2nd graders compose a short rhythmic pattern in their small groups to practice half notes, and my 3rd graders will be creating their first melodic composition to practice the pentatonic scale! After some practice with the monsters I will have them transfer their compositions to a worksheet by writing them out in standard notation. I can't wait to see if I get as many light bulb moments as I expect :) What are your favorite strategies for getting lower elementary students composing? Do you think you might want to create some rhythm monster magnets for your own classroom? Share your thoughts and ideas below!
Get ready for November with this mega pack of activities for kids that includes holiday math and literacy printables for Thanksgiving, Veterans Day, and more! A perfect addition to the other crafts and ideas you have planned for your preschool, kindergarten, or first grade students!
This FREE literature-based unit study introduces students to 16 different countries and cultures around the world.
Parents who enjoy the Charlotte Mason style of homeschooling will love this language arts program, filled with child-friendly living books and short lesson plans.
OWLS. by thrid grade
Children's Art in Response to the Masters: Matisee, da Vinci, Monet, Munch and Miro Art Projects for Kids at RainbowsWithinReach
Amazing things can happen with just one dot.
One of the most powerful ways we can connect with our students and normalize “big feelings” is by sharing quality literature with them. Often, they can identify with a character […]
These easy-to-read chapter book series are perfect for kindergarten, first grade, and second grade kids who are ready for bigger books. This post is part of an ongoing Summer Reading for Kids series. Click HERE to find ideas for reading activities, reading lists, and reading incentives…and keep checking back for more! My youngest daughter was reading really well...
Music class is an active, engaging, and joyful experience! This is especially true when our musical activities are grounded in creative and intentional teaching strategies. One of the most important teaching strategies has to do with teaching the difference between steady beat and the rhythm of
Welcome back to Art class with Mr. G! Kindergarten Art Lesson November 16th-20th Monday, Tuesday- In person art class for the M, T cohort. All other students work on the art assignment independently/no google meet. Wednesday- Art class google meet for all remote students only. M, T and Th, F cohorts work independently/no google meet. Thursday and Friday- In person art class for the Th, F cohort. All other students work on the art assignment independently/no google meet. Please reach out to Mr. G if you have any questions or concerns. Mr. Giannetto's email is [email protected] Please follow me on Facebook: Young School Art with Mr. Giannetto and Instagram @youngschoolartwithmr.g. Kindergarten Art - Paper Stegosaurus The following dinosaur art lesson includes the option to use paint. All artists may use markers or crayons instead if paint is not available. Please use whatever color paper you have available at home. Materials: construction paper, scissors, glue stick Optional: cardboard, paint, markers, crayons Step 1: Draw a dinosaur using shapes. A triangle for the head, large rainbow shape for body, a long triangle for a tail, and four rectangles for the legs. Step 2: Paint the dinosaur parts with a piece of cardboard or color them with markers and crayons. Dip one end into paint and use the cardboard as a stamp. This will create a rough texture for the dinosaur’s skin. Let your work dry. Step 3: Create a place for your dinosaur to live. Cut out green strips or triangles and glue them to a new piece of paper to make grass. Make a volcano by cutting out a brown triangle and cutting of the top so it’s flat. Add red lava. Cut out a variety of small triangles to act as plates on the back of your stegosaurus. Step 4: Cut out the dinosaur you painted and glue it on the paper. Glue the triangles on the dinosaur's back and tail. Step 5: Add additional details such as a sun, clouds, and the dinosaur's eye and mouth. Talk About Art What type of dinosaur did you make? Can you identify any patterns in your work? What is happening to the volcano? Extend this Art Activity In our Google Art Classroom Mr. G recorded a video reading the book Stegosaurus and drawing the dinosaur step-by-step. Watch the video this week and listen and draw along with Mr. G. Also, I included a second video highlighting the book called Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones. Listen and draw dinosaur bones along with Mr. G! Have fun and try your best!
Book for Early Musical Education Package with practical manual (Art. 577154), collection of materials and 113 audio recordings on 3 audio CDs and in the Helbling Media App For childcare centre, U3, nursery, kindergarten and elementary education By Eva Biallas, Milena Hiessl und Christoph Studer Over 100 songs for children With games and rhythm and movement exercises ISBN 9783862275571, ISMN 9790502769390 Leverbaar sinds Maart 2024 artikelnummer 588208 verkoopseenheid 1 stuk Boomwhackers No Glockenspiel No Music Education Yes Music and Dance Yes Education No Bonus Audio Yes
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... →
Parents who enjoy the Charlotte Mason style of homeschooling will love this language arts program, filled with child-friendly living books and short lesson plans.
Rosie Revere Engineer was our inspiration for this paper plate hovercraft. My kids are big into engineering and STEM, so when we found the book Rosie Revere Engineer, of course we had to buy it. This book is so much fun, because not only does it show kids that they can be inventors too, but ...
Discover fun and easy Eric Carle activities to do with your child! Here are a few ways to create art, games and activities inspired by the popular children's picture book author and illustrator Eric Carle.
Find 6 ways to make vowels fun in the primary classroom including ideas for song, interactive notebooks, games, tech, and more.
Craft a paper rocket in this hands-on activity inspired by the life of Mae Jemison!
You've found the perfect Fairy Tales Emergent Readers for your Preschool, Kindergarten, or First Grade kids. These easy to read books will go right along with the other activities, ideas, & crafts you have planned for your little readers. They are a perfect way to practice high frequency words. Download The Little Red Hen FREE!
Social emotional learning can be incorporate into the elementary classroom through books. Check out these books about feelings and get the free lesson plan.
The Color Monster is the story of a monster who, with the help from a little girl, learns about his emotions through different colors. This book companion is the perfect cross-curricular addition to your classroom for teaching your students about their emotions. What is included? • Visual craft with step-by-step real picture sequencing • Writing activity (to go along with the craft - great for bulletin board displays!) • STEM emotion activity • Visual recipe to make monster cookies • 7 differentiated cut/paste worksheets (errorless included) • Task box emotion clip cards When do you use book companions? Book companions are a great addition to any reading or language arts block. They also serve as a great print-and-go lesson for any substitute binder. PLEASE NOTE * 1. You will need to purchase the book The Color Monster - A Story About Emotions by Anna Llenas to go along with the book companion and craftivity. 2. Part of this book companion is included in the January Mini Lesson Plan Pack. Connect with me: • Newsletter • Blog • Facebook • Instagram • Pinterest • Don't forget about the green ★ to follow my store to get notifications of new resources and freebies! Thanks for Looking and Happy Teaching!
This simple project with help teach kids geography and increase their global awareness as they begin to grasp their city, state, country, and continent.
1-2-3 Come Travel Around The World With Me! Woo Hoo! Having spent over 200 hours researching & creating, plus a small fortune on graphics designing things, I’m so excited to post this jumbo “labor of love”, "Travels Around The World" packet, which features the awesome talents of 38 clip artists! This super-fun packet is extremely versatile, as everything stands alone, so you can mix & match creating a unit that is tailored specifically for your class, or use pieces and parts with lessons you already have implemented. I think my students, favorite part of our Travels Around the World is making the cereal box suitcase, which can be done in class or for homework. The sky's the limit of how you want to design them. We add 2 file folders to make a drop down interactive "briefcase" of sorts, which includes a pocket for their passports, tickets and boarding passes. The extra files are a great way to keep everything neat & organized and provide space for them to glue on a variety of activities that we do. My kiddos absolutely LOVE collecting the "suitcase stamps/stickers" to decorate with. They get a few to start out, then receive more as we travel to the various countries. Others I use as a motivational & behavior modification incentive, which is very successful. Another huge hit is making a passport. There are 4 options, including a passport specifically for "Christmas Around The World" traveling, as well as a huge variety of passport stamps, which they also enjoy collecting. The train tickets and plane, bus, & boat boarding passes. are also a huge hit. Via a letter, students are invited to come travel with the gingerbread man, who makes a speedy tour guide. "Gin" keeps them apprised of places they should visit by sending postcards. I had an absolute blast designing these from real photographs & stamps from those countries. There are 3 from each country, as well as "color me" postcards, so that students can practice "point of view" writing in a fun way. A set of gingerbread-themed posters announce where children will be traveling and how they will get there. The 6 countries included in this packet are: USA, Mexico, Canada, Sweden, Italy & Germany. I've included a variety of maps, which come in color to use as posters, plus black & white for students. They come labeled & unlabeled, so you can use them as an assessment tool as well. My personal favorite activity, is the "Snap & Scrap" journal, with a Christmas-themed page, as well as a generic counterpart. I've included several pages of interesting information about how each country celebrates Christmas, should you want to do the "Christmas Around the World" theme. The "snap" part, is a camera craft featuring a lens "booklet", with pictures specific to that country. You can opt to do just the camera(s), or hinge them with a piece of tape to the "scrap" page, so that it flips over to reveal the information underneath. Each country also comes with factual information, which is incorporated in the "Fan Of Fun Facts For _________" craftivity. The title is a double play on words, for the craft opens like a fan, and students quickly become "fans" of these super-interesting facts. Later, check comprehension by playing "Name That Country?" by reading a fact and having students tell what country it came from. "I Spy A Country" is another game you can play to help reinforce map skills. Teachers jot down 3-5 clues on the poster, then students write down their dated-answer on their worksheet. X number of correct answers and they receive a "super spy" stamp for their suitcase. I've also packed in a lot of travel-themed writing prompts, such as making an itinerary, which provides a vocabulary building opportunity. Students can also do a "Sightseeing Check It Out Then Check It Off" list, flag booklet, and travel journal. There are several options for the travel journals as well, from a "color me" text it page, to a cut & glue class-made book. They are different enough so that you can do them all, or pick & choose what's appropriate for your kiddos. The beauty of this jumbo packet is that it's very versatile, so you can mix & match things to do individually, as a whole group, with a partner, in small groups, or for homework. The projects can also supplement other geography activities you already have implemented. Besides social studies, many items practice a variety of other standards like graphing, weather, telling time, comparing & contrasting & research, with a bit of math tossed in for good measure. There are also a variety of ways to use the packet. Teachers can give the information, or students can pick a country and research it independently. The "Travel Bucks" are a fun way for students to give their presentations, as they become "travel agents", who share highlights about their country, in the hopes that their fellow classmates will use their travel cash to buy a trip from them. Top sales certificates & suitcase brag tags add to the fun, and are a wonderful incentive. An easy-peasy writing prompt for any age, is the "ginger-gram", where students fill in the blanks with a country they would like to live in, as well as one they would not. Older students can explain why. Another simple writing activity is the "Travel Quilt" craft, which practices adjectives in a unique way. Even younger kiddos can do this, and completed projects make an awesome bulletin board. The "Peace is in our hands" craft, is also quick & easy, with lovely results making a terrific hallway display. This craftivity really helps children wrap their heads around the "big picture" of their "personal geography" and their cut out hand prints add that keepsake, finishing touch. I've included a poster for the center of your display, as well as a suitcase sticker kiddos can earn upon completion. Because my kiddos are learning about seasons, weather and appropriate clothing to wear, I designed the "Pack It Up" suitcase craftivity; where they color, cut & glue various clothes suitable for a particular country, to a "suitcase" page; while older students simply list the items they want to take. The suitcase opens to reveal several pages of the different things they packed for the various countries that they visited. Besides a “Christmas Around the World” theme, you can use this unit all year long, as I have matching generic counterparts. Start whenever you want, then in December, board the “Holiday Express” & add the activities of how these countries celebrate Christmas. Lessons are easily diversified for various classroom abilities & grade levels. Simply pick what’s appropriate for your kiddos. "Travel Tweets" are also an interesting way to get students enthusiastic about writing, as is the "Welcome To Our House" booklet, "Airport Adventures" and "Whooooo Do You Want To Travel With?" color-me worksheets. Besides black & white versions for students, I’ve included colorful templates, so you can quickly make samples to share. There are also graphs, Venn diagrams, posters, a song, and some worksheets, which can also be used as assessment tools. As you can see there's a ton of fun for you to choose from including some puzzles. These come in color for an independent center, as well as BW so kiddos can make their own, as they practice recognizing & sequencing numbers from 1-10, or skip counting by 10s to 100. Click on the link to zip on over to my TpT shop to take a look. Travels Around The World. Today's featured FREEBIE comes from the packet and is a "Merry Christmas From Around The World" poster and coloring card, which includes an alphabetical list of how 28 countries say "Merry Christmas" , with 4 links to other websites with more countries. Well that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by. My feet have hit the floor running, as there is much to do, and not enough time in the day to get it all done. But I will endeavor to slow my pace and enjoy the journey, making sweet memories, as we decorate our blessed home for Christmas. Wishing you and yours a special day. "Maybe Christmas" he thought, "doesn't come from a store." "Maybe Christmas perhaps, means a little bit more!" -Dr. Seuss From "The Grinch"
An elementary art teacher blog with art projects and lessons, DIY projects and outfit photos as well as clothing I have made myself.
If you have been following our blog, you might have seen our post about our favorite teacher hack, earlier finisher packets! If you missed it, don’t worry, I will sum it up real quick for you. Essentially, despite teaching different grade, Emmy and I realized we were both having the same Issue. Kid
Sarah Punkoney, MATI am Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home mama of five! I am the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught range of levels, including preschool and college, and a little bit of just about everything in between. Right now, my...Read More »
I have started a big drawing unit with my cute grade one students using the method outlined in this wonderful book by Mona Brookes titled “Drawing With Children”. If you are planning to…
World History CurriculumA FIVE-PART BUNDLE THE PARENT GUIDEThe Precious People pdf parent guide is your go-to for giving your 6-12-year-old students a literature based education. The guide will lead you through daily readings designed to introduce your child to ancient history through the early m...
Are you required to leave emergency sub plans? If so, you may want to use a choice board! My art colleague Sharon had the idea to make a choice board that can be used multiple times if there is a situation where you need to be gone unexpectedly (sickness or unexpected quarantine). Even if your school does not require this, I highly recommend having a stash of lesson plans ready to go in case you wake up sick in the … Read more... →
Children move through predictable stages of drawing during their development. Here are the drawing milestones, listed by age.
As French Immersion teachers, we know how valuable it is to sing. It’s a great way to practice pronunciation, vocabulary and get our students excited about learning French. This list has a range of easier to harder songs. I taught some of these to my kindergarten students and also to 2/3s so it
An elementary art teacher blog with art projects and lessons, DIY projects and outfit photos as well as clothing I have made myself.
Looking for drawing exercises to improve confidence amongst your elementary and middle school art students? One activity I like to do before a big art project is to have kids fill out echo drawing worksheets.The benefit to this activity is that it trains the brain to carefully observe what it sees. ...
I’m back with another list of 25 more of my favorite art books! Be forewarned, this is a long post. I have given you extra details about the books and some ideas to spark your lesson planning. It is no secret that I love children’s books. Previously, I wrote a list of 25 amazing art books which I like to use in my art classroom. This has been one of my most viewed posts. Since then, I have discovered some … Read more... →
Get a list of books to teach main idea to improve literacy and increase engagement in your early elementary grade classroom here!
