The Circle Game asks students to come up with as many different things as they can from one circle. I thought this activity was really fun! However, my elementary students were not that interested. Most of my kids' papers were dull circles with a scribble on them. I think older kids might "get it" better. I have included the handout from Ande Cook's Art Starters as well as my lesson plan with all the directions for a sub. The Ande Cook handouts were part of a SchoolArts subscription, or you can get her book: Art Starters
“The prime value of the arts in education lies, from my point of view, in the unique contributions it makes to the individual’s experience with and understanding of the world. The visual arts deal with an aspect of human consciousness that no other field touches on: the aesthetic contemplation of visual form.” – Elliot Eisner, […]
Integrate art and literacy with no prep or background knowledge with step by step tutorials for art history and art around the world!
Find the perfect word and tell us exactly how you feel.
Financially savvy kids are future leaders!
Effortlessly Communicate Your K–8 Curriculum With These Student Handouts Curriculum % %
This is a little throw-back post from over 2 years ago... yet it's one of my favorites. ;) I know we all love the book, "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?"! It's such a great book to encourage our little ones to fill others' buckets and in turn fill their own bucket. If you want to see more, go {here}. Well, I've found another amazing book to help with your students' self esteem. The book is: Amazon This book is so cute! It's about a grandma teaching a lesson to her grand daughter. Back in her day, Grandma felt the pressure to fit in. She bought her clothes from the Hap {like the Gap, but not}, worked out at Silver's Gym {get it? Like Gold's Gym...haha} and tried to be just like Mallory Emma McBane. Until Mallory started acting like Laura LaVan. This is such a fun rhyming book about the importance of being yourself and LOVING YOURSELF! Ok, I'm pretty partial to this book since a great friend of mine wrote it . It really has a great message and I like it so much I made a mini-unit to share with you for FREE! :) Here are some of the activities to do with your students: Student mini-book {just staple in the corner}: They add a piece of tin foil to this page to act like a mirror! Some writing activities too: Whole class chart: Whole class sequencing chart to go with the book: Head over to Amazon, pick up the book and help your students feel good about themselves! Frames courtesy of http://www.deliciousscrapshop.com/ Clipart &/or fonts copyright and used with permission by DJ Inkers
According to Grant Snider, "genius" is: 1% inspiration, 29% perspiration, 5% improvisation, 8% aspiration, 7% contemplation, 15% exploration, 13% daily frustration, 11% imitation, 10.9% desperation, and 0.1% pure elation.
Imagination Workout Printable Click the link above to download Attalie’s Imagination Workout free printable art worksheet.
Life Is a Doodle in a Notebook
This blog post explores innovative and engaging lesson plans for any novel unit... ranging from task cards to book instagram pages to a novel podcast project. Student choice is key here, and students can find something they would like to complete in order to convey their reading, comprehension, and
Diagramming sentences helps kids see English grammar at-a-glance. It's easier to practice analyzing English parts of speech on the diagram charts and worksheets.
My district is one that is implementing Student Learning Objectives...which are basically large-scale goals for each student in class base...
Create a Syllabus That Your Students Will Actually Want to Read. Free Resource to download to help you create an Art Syllabus for your art students. Want to try your hand at a visual syllabus? We'll give you three helpful hints. This article will take 8 minutes to read.
Create a sub plan so that you are good to go in the event of needing a substitute teacher as an art teacher or music teacher can make your life easier. There are many tips on putting together a sub plan and here are a few to get your started.
Visually Scaffold Your Curriculum With Ease % %
The first day of school is full of so many things: anticipation, wide-eyes, school supplies, new faces, maybe a few butterflies. And I...
Today I wanted to stop by and share some strategies for teaching vowel teams and diphthongs in our classroom! It’s always challenging to teach spelling patterns that aren’t easily decodable! […]
I love Pharrel's "Happy" song and I know that my kids do too! Check out how I use this fantastic song to teach musical form to my students.
¿Quién tiene la razón? ¿Cómo es posible que los dos tengan razón? One of the most important tasks outside of language learning that world language teachers face is to make our students aware of the…
Effortlessly Communicate Your K–8 Curriculum With These Student Handouts Curriculum % %
Use this free resource for research-based, creative vocabulary strategies that build background knowledge and reading comprehension for student success.
I LOVE saving figurative language until June - it's such a fun language unit ... and perfect for our "dreaming of summer brains". We finished up our EQAO testing mid week, and this onomatopoeia activity was the perfect break from testing. How fun is that??? Students chose two contrasting colours - one for the background and one for the word and border "bursting out of the page". They also needed newspaper (cut just a fraction smaller that the "bursting out of the page border" and glued the newspaper on top. They glued their word on top of that (we had brainstormed a lot of onomatopoeia words, but for some reason most of them chose SPLAT for their word). I also had them do a little shading under their letters for that little extra POP (see, I know some onomatopoeia words, too). ;) I had seen this awesome idea on Pinterest and followed it back to Artisan des Arts. Her examples are FANTASTIC!! We also wrote simile poems this week. I found a little template HERE for the students to use for their rough copies. When students were finished their templates, I had them write out their good copies, and illustrate a few lines with a small image. I hung these up, too ... LOVING our bulletin board switch up ... even this late in the school year!!! (I have two of these "smART class" bulletin boards side by side in the classroom. 15 more school days left ... I think I can ... I think I can ... Happy Friday!!!
There are so many engaging resources and activities that can be used to help 2nd grade students master verbs!
This past week, we learned about synonyms. The kids really grasped the concept by mid-week! I am excited to see them start using synonyms...
This smart comic by Grant Snider, which is available in his shop as a poster, breaks down the archetypal conflicts in literature… although he did leave out man vs. computerized wolf god.
Check out these great ideas for teaching conjunctions including a video lesson with an organizer, posters with rules, and anchor charts.
Three Exit Slips Assessment Design % %
Children will practice using context clues as they identify the correct homophone in this grammar and spelling worksheet.
In today's post, I'll share 10 quick, meaningful “follow-up” activities that you can use in your guided reading lessons - all materials are FREE!
Check out these fun activities from Award Winning Author/Illustrator Jarett Lerner to do at home or in the classsroom. Includes comics, drawing, and more.
This ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform activity is a fun, hands-on history experience. Become ancient scribes writing on clay tablets with reeds.
I've been working on this pack off and on for a couple weeks, and it's finally ready and up for sale! This pack includes 10 no-prep worksheets for teaching poetry. It's perfect to put into a sub tub! Check it out below and let me know what you think! Click on the cover image or click here to download the pack! Ezra Pound Couplets: Haiku: Limerick: The pack also includes: -Tanka -Sonnet -I Am poem -Found poetry -Biographical poem -Cinquain -Diamante The adorable bookworm on the cover is from Krista Wallden at Creative Clips! It's from her "Reading Buddies" clipart set.
Expanding Sentences Anchor Chart and Mini-Lesson
The Best Tool to Keep Your AP Studio Students On Track Classroom Management % %
Ability and Inability Free ESL Printable Grammar Worksheets, Eal Exercises, Efl Questions, Tefl Handouts, Esol Quizzes, Multiple Choice Tests, Elt Activities, English Teaching and Learning Resources, Information and Rules for kids
Guest blogger Glenn Whitman, Director of the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning, suggests a scientific approach to manageable homework: students should do it without interruption, and schools shouldn't assign too much of it.
Love podcasts? Check out this post in the form of a podcast episode on The Classroom Commute Podcast :
If I Were a Superhero Identify a few well-known superheroes with your students and brainstorm adjectives that describe these superheroes and their actions. After reviewing the list, ask students to identify people in their real lives that possess these characteristics. Ask students to complete this thinksheet and describe what kind…
