For this lesson I wanted 4th graders to think about radial balance differently than in years past. In starting this lesson and discussing radial balance students were asked to think about what kind of objects do we see throughout our day that show this? Some of the common answers: flowers, clocks, bicycle wheel, ferris wheel, ceiling fan, a spinner in a board game, the color wheel and the list continues. In discussing these objects I went around the room and placed a sliced lemon, lime, and orange for students to observed the radial balance found within the objects. Not only did the room smell so fresh and clean for once but I also think by having the tangible example they were able to understand it much better. As students sat a their tables and drew the citrus fruits I called three students up at a time to create a 12 in by 12 in monoprint using the gelli plate method. Unfortunately, gelli plates are not in my budget so I made my own using the recipe found here. THE kids loved it and so did I. We used the print as a background for the completed citrus drawings, I think the contrast is quite stunning. What do you think...orange they absolutely delicious?

For this self-portrait project, 4th graders learned all about Italian artist Modigliani. I was actually not familiar with this artist until starting my teaching job at EDS and found an old print w…

Welcome to Art Room 104! Well, I no longer teach in room 104...it's now room 309, but the heart is still there! I have now transitioned into teaching 7th-12th grades, and my focus is now moving towards Choice Based Learning in the art room. Join me on my journey as I enter new territory, experiment, and share how I fit it all into the realm of Common Core!

I was so excited to finally do this project with all my classes (6-7 year olds, 8-13 year olds, and adult class). I love Ted Harrison's landscapes. The simplified, reduced shapes are accessible to all age groups, while the movement and dancing line work keeps things exciting and lively. And of course his use of tints and shades are a great opportunity for students to get to know the potential of a limited palette. Ted Harrison Canadian Yukon landscapes Discussion: To begin, we looked at plenty of Harrison paintings and discussed the geography and landscape which inspired these beautiful paintings. We then deconstructed his work, identifying the qualities of line, color, brush work and composition. Even my youngest students noticed that there is no texture, that there are no visible brush strokes, and that his palette is limited but extended by making tints (proud teacher moment). We noticed that Harrison barely and rarely uses green, and if, then a light tint only for emphasis (in a sweater, a window frame, a smoke cloud). We discussed the 'rule of thirds' (foreground, middle ground, background) and that his use of line is varied (horizontal lines are balanced by vertical lines; wavier lines contrast with by straighter lines, but there are no truly straight lines; lines go this way and that way, to keep the eye engaged). Last but not least, we noticed that Harrison outlines all his shapes and details in colored lines, sometimes in contrasting colors, sometimes in similar colors. Students were asked to create their own original Harrison-inspired landscape incorporating all the elements discussed. Must have foreground with house, people and/or animals; must have middle ground with mountains or water, preferably layers or multiple levels of these; must have background with sky and moon/sun incorporating movement through the use of line. I had students think about what kind of day or scene they wanted to depict. Was is stormy? Windy, Calm? Sunset? Sunrise? This helped them decide on line and color choice. Tints: We focussed on mixing tints for this project. Some kids also mixed shades for darker values, but for the most part, out starting point was working from hues to tints. To stay true to Harrison, students chose a limited palette of primaries and purples and extended their palette with white. Tints of lime green or turquoise were used for emphasis or contrast. I'm a stickler for craftsmanship. This is why I decided to have my students use acrylic paint pens to outline our shapes. Harrison's outlining is neat, bold and an essential element to the overall look of his work. Knowing that this detail is what makes or breaks a Harrison piece, I knew we had to do it right. They worked so hard to create that flat color application with subtle shifts in value, I knew that offering them paint pens (as opposed to painting with a brush) would allow them to continue to experience success in mimicking Harrison's style. This came in especially handy when adding outlines and details to our animals, people and houses. Tints in progress Day one, tints in sky Work in progress, 6-7 year olds Work in progress, 8-13 year olds Adding our details Adding our details Border: To mimic Harrison's border, we taped our edges with artist tape before painting, and when finished, we ran a blue, dark blue or black paint pen along the inside edge of our tape to 'frame' our painting. Once the tape was removed, we had a crisp white border with a colored border frame. It's all in the details! Using acrylic paint pens to add lines and borders Final product, 9 year old Final product, 9 year old 8-11 year olds 9-10 year olds 8-12 year olds 8-13 year olds 6-7 year olds Adult class

"Everything on the farm was dripping wet. The grass looked like a magic carpet. The asparagus patch looked like a silver forest." Each project for our Art Show was inspired by a quote from Charlotte's Web and the 5th graders used this quote about the farm at sunrise to make a watercolor painting that incorporated a bit of perspective and pattern making. They also learned about the art of Grant Wood and his rural landscape paintings. It was so interesting to see the small details emerge in each student's painting. Some have barns while others have houses. Some included animals, fences, ponds, windmills, plants or trees. And their patterns?! Some were very traditional with stripes, dots and chevrons. While others went a little...um...let's just say their crop patterns involved strips of bacon, robot parts and even cute little minions! Looking closer at these pieces really pays off - you can see them on Artsonia. And, as promised, here is the lesson plan: I hope you're able to use all the lesson plans from this week. Enjoy! ~Amy

I hope this blog post finds you either A. Experiencing a Snow Day; B. Enjoying an electric blanket/hot chocolate combo or C. Somewhere other than the subzero temperature land the rest of us seem to be enduring. As for me, I'm enjoying myself a two-hour school delay with a cat on my lap and a cuppa hot tea. And weaving. Because that's what days like this are perfect for! In case you didn't know, I've declared January the Wonderful World of Weaving month (or something like that). Here's what I've shared so far: The Weaving Series: Paper Loom Weaving (perfect for first grade) The Weaving Series: Straw Weaving (second grade and up) The Weaving Series: Circle Loom Weaving (second grade and up) In my last post, I shared with you Circle Loom Weaving which, if you go about it like I do by having the kids spend a couple of classes painting their plate, can be a long project. If you don't have that much time to invest in a project, then this CD weaving is just the thing for you and your kids. It's fast and fun and teaches the same weaving skills learned in circle loom weaving! Now, I gotta tell you, everything I learned about CD loom weaving came from my friend Julie O'Brien who has the super fab art teacherin' blog Art Matters. In this particular post, she does a great job walking you through the steps of CD weaving. I'll be sharing with you a coupla short clips today but go to her post for detailed photos and printable step-by-steppies. Supplies: CDs: Send out a school-wide email and you'll end up with more than you could ever image. Yarn: A lil for warping and a lil more for weaving. That's it! Let's get started: In this short clip, I'l show you how to warp you loom. I always avoided CD weaving because I thought the warp strings would move around on the circle of the CD. Surprisingly, it doesn't! Well, not much anyway. And if it does, you can easily just slide it back into place. And there you go! Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments. I'd also love to hear some alternatives to teaching CD weaving you might have. Or what you've done with the finished result! Another alternative to circle loom weaving would be weaving on an embroidery hoop! I shared this technique this summer if it looks kinda familiar to y'all. I think this project would be great for an art club since it would require each kid to have an embroidery hoop. Again, ask around. I bet you'll have embroidery hoops comin' out yer ears. I made a bunch of these guys this summer and currently have them hanging like a mobile in my art room. I'd love the kids to weave a collection of them and hang them in front of my school's large bank of windows. Wouldn't a bunch of these kind of weavings in a variety of sizes look great? Here's the method I use to create these weavings: Very similar to circle and CD loom weaving, right? And there you have it! Stay warm, kids. Looks like my two hour delay is just about up, time to get ready for the day. Enjoy yours!

Students will learn about pop art as they create paintings of sweets inspired by artist Wayne Thiebaud.

At cleanup time, a stopwatch is a teacher's best friend. On some art days we have a HUGE mess on the tables. I kind of appreciate a good mess in the art room because I know that art is happening! With only 5 minutes between classes when I'm lucky, our beautiful art mess has to be completely gone in a matter of minutes! Check it out! Even my 1st Graders know how to do the 2 Minute Cleanup! Before: 2 Minutes on the Clock. Ready, Set, Go! After: When the timer goes off, I count down slowly from 10. Everyone is in their seats with heads down by the time I get to 1. Jobs are completed and the room is looking good! (Although, I do tell them that Sink Captains are allowed to still be finishing up since I know that is a big job)! This works for almost all classes, almost every time! They just love to race the clock. I offer them an extra half box on our "Bonus Day" chart if they can do it with less than 3 mistakes. Running and yelling will disqualify the class. I gotta admit... I have fun at cleanup time too! I usually save this for days when we have a lot to clean or set up. Classes that have another class after them must not only clean up but set tables up for the next class! Supplies each table needs for the next class are listed on the board. Each table knows how many kids sit at their table in the next class and will put out the appropriate number of supplies!

Here is a quick color word search to use in a color lesson. I love to use this to extend the lesson for early finishers, or have them in a station for independent work. ...

I showed my 4th graders how to draw the simple shapes that make up the nutcrackers. Then I asked them to decorate the nutcrackers they drew...

This fact-filled 2-page nonfiction article teaches kids about the life of George Washington Carver. Then, students complete a biographical graphic organizer. Lexile Level 740

The ultimate list of distance teaching and learning activities for teachers and parents in the event of school closure. Provide quality learning opportunities for kids when they are away from school!

Choice based worksheet for students to practice different painting and medium techniques. I print this on white card stock paper for students to use watercolors, bottled tempera and tempera cakes. Please follow up with me if the choices need to be different. ...

This digital download is a fun way to assess your students art abilities. I left the four frames blank for you or your artists to add their own titles of the frames. This also is handy as the first page of an sketchbook as well, or at the end of the semester to have artists draw about their favorite...

This week, and the beginning of the next, we're working on patriotic works of art, to celebrate Veterans Day! We are a big military town, and we want to support our local veterans and country! 4th & 5th worked on their shading in this American flag project, 1st and 2nd grade worked on their drawing skills, sketching out a bald eagle with me, and 3rd is drawing the Art Project for Kids, head of the statue of liberty surrounded by fireworks! They're doing a great job so far! Check out our art below! btw, I found the flag idea on The Lost Sock Blog, by Tabitha Morgan! Click on her name for how to! Here's our Bald Eagles by 1st and 2nd grade! Here's my example if anyone needs it. I'll try and make a video this week. It's harder to do so now, being art on a cart! :) Here's what 3rd grade is doing! It was inspired by Art Projects for kids, and can be found here. Since we can't share paint, we cut them out and glued them to black construction paper, and used Crayola Metallic markers to add fireworks.

Take PLC Matters Into Your Own Hands! Create an Art Ed Co-Op % %

Zamorano Fine Arts Academy student work and real-world collaborations. Art projects created by K-5 students in San Diego.

A conversation last night in a Facebook Art Teachers group has sparked this post, which I have intended to write for, like, at least a year. So now is the time! I've actually addressed the topic of cleanup before, but some of you may not have ever seen the older posts, and I'll give more detail here anyhow. I'll start with some of my procedures for practical paintbrush use and care. After spending 36 years teaching art, I feel well-qualified to address this topic, and hopefully offer you some helpful tips. But like with a lot of other things, you will find that my procedures are often different from what is typical. Over the years I have learned from others, and from trial and error, but in the end, I march to my own drummer and have trusted my instincts to figure out what works best, at least for me. And lest you say "I think I've seen these images before", let me tell you that they all have appeared in prior blog posts over the almost three years I've had this blog. So the original question on Facebook had to do with painting procedures and water at the table. I have seen a lot of blog posts where teachers are left with a sinkful of dirty, loaded paintbrushes at the end of the day. Eek!! Hopefully my suggestions will help prevent that situation. If you look at the 4th grade paintings to the left (painted on 18"x24" white paper) from a still life setup, while studying Matisse), I think you will agree the colors are clear, not muddy. You'll notice the edges of the papers are unpainted. More about that later. The students set themselves up with water bowls between them, or sometimes had their own. For my Royal Big Kid paintbrushes (which I love, but have short handles), I favor water bowls that have a wide bottom so they don't easily tip, and that are not too tall. I don't want the brushes to fall into the water. Also between the kids were what we fondly called our "ugly sponges". These were shaped differently from the sponges we cleaned the tables with, so there's no confusion. The ugly sponges have one purpose - removing extra paint from a brush. From kindergarten up, the students were taught to "wipe, wash, wipe". In other words, after using one color, the brush is wiped on the ugly sponge (or newspaper, or paper towel, depending on the circumstance) to remove excess paint, then washed with an up and down motion in the water bowl, touching the bottom. We called this the washing machine. It prevents the stirring that knocks water bowls over or causes splashing, and gets the paint off really well. Then the brush was wiped again, to remove excess water before dipping in another color. This really helps to prevent color contamination when painting with a new color, and helps to keep those yellow and whites pure and clean! For this particular project, the students also each had one of those black dishes from diet TV dinners to use as a mixing palette. A staff member donated hundreds of them to me! A selection of paint colors (red, yellow, blue, turquoise, magenta, and white) were placed in solo cups, on a large tray on my circular center table. Each color had a pop stick in it. Students would take their palettes to the paint table, use the pop stick to scoop some color, and then use their brush to mix. Letting the students mix this way gave them a broad range of lively color choices, rather than colors straight from the bottle, and they had to figure out how to get what they needed, based, of course, on past learning. Note that depending on the project, sometimes paints were placed at every table, but the central table was often used when students were making a lot of individual choices and I didn't want a dish of every color at every table. At the end of the class, students gave their brushes a final wipe/wash/wipe and they were collected in a bucket that had a couple of inches of soapy water. Two kids took that bucket to the sink and gave the brushes a final wash (they usually were very clean at this point anyhow). My classes were 40 minutes long. But maybe yours are only a 1/2 hour. If you use the method I've described, I doubt you'll have time to have kids give the brushes the final wash at the end of class. But that's OK. With this system you are left with a bucket of almost clean brushes, rather than a sinkful of dirty ones, and that final wash will just take a few minutes at the end of your day. Give it a try. Now here's where I did something really different. I'll bet you, at this point, now return the brushes to a container, with their brushes pointing up. Of course you don't want them brush down, because we know they get a terrible case of "bed-head"! But you don't really want them brush up, either, because the water seeps into the ferrule of the brush and eventually causes the glue to loosen and the brush to fall apart. This has happened to you, right? In an ideal world, you would hang the brushes so the tips dripped downward, but who has a way to do that??! So, I covered an old cafeteria tray with a padding of newspapers, and the cleaned brushes, with their brush tips nicely shaped and smoothed, were placed on the newspaper padding to dry. This way the tips stay nicely shaped, and the water does not seep into the ferrule. The brushes will last longer. If the next class is also painting, they can select brushes right off the newspaper to use. The next day there is always a kid who wants to sort the dry brushes and put them back in the container. Works like a charm!! Meanwhile, those dirty palettes... My room had a 'sloppy sink', and we collected them all in there and filled it with soapy water. But this could also be done in a big basin, if no sink is available. Later, there is usually a bored kid who loves to rinse them off and put them on the dish drainer (thank you, dollar store) to dry. If we are using acrylic paints and not tempera, we simply let the paint dry in the palettes, and do NOT wash them. The dry paint can be peeled off! The kids fight for the chance to peel them! Now lets say the kids were painting with bigger bristle brushes. My favorite water containers for these longer handled brushes, again to share with two kids, were empty Kool-Aid containers, which are pretty stable and curve inward at the top, which means drips go inside and not outside! The paintings above had no black in them, but I do love black paint, especially for outlining. But one dip in a dish of black can contaminate the rest of the colors at the table. So I taught kids that if they chose to use black, they needed to wipe the brush, then take it to the sink and give it a good shampoo before dipping in another color! Unless, of course, everyone is using black. Then there is a bucket for collecting just paintbrushes used for black. Believe me, this really helps! By the way, if we used black tempera for outlining, I usually premixed it with a little water to get it just the right consistency to outline smoothly but still maintain its blackness. Sometimes, an 'alternative paintbrush' will make your life so much easier, and give the kids a fun tactile experience. The kindergarten rainbow and pussywillow paintings above were done with fingerprints. No brushes to wash, just hands! The first grade lilacs were painted with long-handled Q-tips. Disposable! Sometimes, you can make your life easier by painting with just one, or a few colors at a time. In the pop art paintings below, each table had only variations of one color. No wiping and washing was needed at all! One water bucket was placed on each table, and all the brushes started and finished class in that bucket. The next class came in and used the same brushes, and the final wash didn't need to happen until the last class left the room. Big time saver!!! In the paintings below, students selected their table to paint their checkerboard and and circle (on a different piece of paper, which was cut out and glued on when dry) depending on their color preference. The black paint was done on a different day, where everyone used just black. Same thing here. One day only warm colors were available, one color at each table, and the next class was just cool colors. The black again was done last. In the buildings below, an assortment of warm colors were placed at each table on the first painting day (students chose to paint either the sky or buildings) and the cool colors were done in another class period. Yet again, black was added last. In both the Andy Warhol cat painting and the Lichtenstein paintings below, all yellow was painted first, then reds, then blues. Once a student left the yellow paint, they were not allowed to return to it! As a result, the yellow paint remained clean. Yeah!! The dots on the Lichtensteins were done with those Q-tips again, and of course, the black outline was done last, and was also painted with Q-tips. Regarding table cleaning - to the left is a tower of my favorite water bowls. I'm not sure what they were originally from, but you can see a Kool-Aid container and a couple of other random containers that were found in my room. Kids cleaning the sink area loved to create a tower at the end of class, and it helped the bowls drain and stay dry. Sponges - Kids like to clean up, and can be taught to do it well. I'm not saying I never had to do any cleaning, but I tried to have the bulk of it completed by the kids, not me. Starting in kindergarten, teach them how to use sponges! Teach them that sponges must be moist, but not wet. Show them how to use two hands to squeeze excess water in the sink before washing tables. In case of spills on the floor, teach them to use the sponge to scoop the spill in one scoop-up stroke, and then rinse the sponge well and squeeze it out well before wiping up any leftover mess on the floor. Repeat as needed. I made sure kids knew that I wouldn't get angry if there was a spill, but they had to tell me and clean it up immediately, before everyone steps in it and spreads the mess! I always had lots of sponges, so that kids could all participate in table cleanup. Placemats? There were times we used newspapers under our work to keep tables clean, but generally, no. I know many of you use 'placemats' but not me. I found that paper under the artwork made spills more frequent. Plus I like big paper, and if you are painting on 18"x24" paper, you'd need mighty big placemats! I found table cleanup could be done quickly with lots of sponges and a bottle of non-toxic spray cleaner (that was used only by me). Borders? So this wonderful, practical hint helps to minimize paint on tables. Have kids draw a pencil or chalk border approximately 1/2" from the edges of their paper (for younger kids, I sometimes drew the border myself). They are not to allowed to paint inside the frame. This has several benefits: First of all, if your paper isn't painted right to the edges, it will curl less when drying. Yippee! Second, it will give the artwork 'handles' - unpainted edges to make it easier to carry to the drying rack and keep hands clean! (Or in the case of big paper, sometimes we lined them up along the wall in the hallway to dry. Unpainted edges means no paint on the hallway floor and happy custodians!) Finally, the unpainted edge gives the painting a nice white 'frame' for display, or a frame for decorating to give the artwork some pizazz! I used this process for all large paintings, both tempera and watercolor, and often for smaller works too! The tree paintings above, originally posted here, were painted on 12"x18" paper by 3rd graders, have an unpainted border, as do the 4th grade sunflower paintings above, and the 3rd grade "fauve fauve" paintings below. The unpainted borders in this case, on 16"x20" paper, were made wider and were collaged with animal print tissue paper to complete the work. To see a whole post on these paintings, look here. I hope I have been some help. If you have any questions about specific materials or processes, please feel free to ask in a comment. It took me a long time to figure out how to make big messy art with kids and keep my sanity and maintain my classroom, so I'm willing to share what worked for me. And remember, with today's technology filled world, kids have increasingly less tactile experience. They don't even play in the mud as much as we used to. So it is our responsibility, as art teachers, to provide this tactile experience!! Don't take the 'easy way out' with only markers and pencils because you are afraid of the mess. Find a way to make the mess manageable, especially by teaching the kids to be responsible for cleanup and care of materials.

This school year is going to be a little different for me since I've got a little baby boy on the way! Baby Scobey is due October 17th and I can't wait! Anyways, here's a tour of the art room.... Mrs. Scobey's ART ROOM TOUR! Here's my "Colors!" Bulletin Board. In the past, I've had famous artist's works of art all numbered 1 through 9. I decided to change this up at the end of the year to colors. I use this a lot when lining up tables. Instead of just saying, "table number 1 line up", I say "Primay Color table line up.." I also get to reference this chart any time we are discussing or using color. It's been a really great resource. I might add the famous artists to my other bulletin board because I do miss being able to point at Starry Night whenever I need to. Colors Bulletin Board Here's the carpet and my introduction area that I start class with. Every grade level comes in and sits cross-cross-applesauce on a circle to begin class. I even do this with the 4th graders. I learned long ago that it really helps to gather everyone together in this space and setting before jumping into class. It has made a tremendous difference! I also get to discuss the "Art Word of the Day" and go over the general goals for that class period. This is also where I read to the kids and where our rules are posted. At the beginning of the year, we always start class saying the rules together. Here's my "Be a Good Listener" anchor chart and my Art Room Rules poster. I reference the Good Listener chart a lot! It's a very helpful visual for all grade levels. So the beginning of the year is always me blabbing about the rules and what not. Here's my schedule for day one. I always include a "tour of the room" because the kids get a case of the wiggles and I hate for them to have to sit there for so long just listening to me. Here's the book I always read to my classes at the start of the year... "Beautiful Oops!" by Barney Saltzberg We talk about making a beautiful oops all year long...no mistakes...just opportunities to make something beautiful. The kids really grasp this idea and then don't ask me for new paper and now they've learned not to ask for an eraser! (Well most of them...) Here's my Vincent van Gogh print by one of our parents...he's a collage artist named Wayne Brezinka and it's so awesome to have him come do artist visits to our school! We are so lucky! Here's the strike board. My discipline plan is simple. Break a rule, strike 1, which is a warning and gets your name written in the ugly red box. (I just laminated a piece of paper and use dry erase markers.) Do something else you're not supposed to do, strike 2 which equals time out and for older kids a writing assignment. I usually have kids write the rules..but sometimes they have to do a more reflective writing assignment depending on the severity of the offense. Strike 3 means you're out of art. I don't send kids to the office unless it's really bad...but strike 3 equals time out for the rest of class and I send a note home. Here's the time out desk and my "time out activity" for really severe behaviors. The Be SmART chart! This is where I post each grade level's upcoming or current art project. It's also my "word wall" so it's works out great. Checklist for your artwork poster and the grading scale. I love referring to the checklist with "early finishers"....I can't stand the words "I'm done." They're like nails on a chalkboard. You're never DONE! **Special shout out to Mrs.C of Rainbow Skies and Dragonflies Blog...I totally stole this grading scale from her blog years ago! Click here to see her way better version. My Art Folder was created for students with special needs. I've really only used this with one student but it's always there if I need it or if a para-professional needs it. The cards can be flipped over to complete the task. Here's my line-up line. Tape on the floor is VERY helpful. I have a designated spot for the line leader, door holder and the art star! I always choose one person at the end of every class who has had an amazing day in art of listening and following directions who is the "art star". They get a special little ticket and a 'pride paw' which is a part of our school wide behavioral plan. The art star gets to line up first and also gets a round of applause from their peers. Here's the "Paint Station"...where I keep the water cups and all the painting supplies. I don't usually let the kids use the sinks...cause then the floors are completely covered in water. Here's the "Drawing Station" where we keep the crayons, pens and free draw paper. The kids are usually really great about following the rules of free draw...but there's always the one who folds their paper and I have to make a big speech. Once they fold it, it becomes a toy and then we have problems, so I implemented the "no folding rule" years ago. Sometimes I set out stencils and drawing books depending on behavior. The students are allowed to get a piece of free draw paper only when they have completed ALL of their project requirements for that day. The Pencil Station: I am in charge of sharpening the pencils because I got tired of replacing broken pencil sharpeners! So I have a "sharp" cup and a "not sharp" cup. The students can trade their pencil out when they need to without asking me....I try to get them to be as independent as possible. Here's the poorly lit drying racks and my "no name no fame" poster to remind them to write their name. I usually place the art on the drying rack for them, but I started letting 3rd and 4th graders do this on their own. Less work for me! And you can see how I store art shirts...usually they are all balled up on this quilt rack, but at the beginning of the year they look nice! The Goal Wall / aka Data Wall We are required in my district to have a "data wall" in our classroom...so here's my solution to that. The Marker Monsters! If a marker is completely dry, the students can "feed the marker monster". The monster on top eats the markers and the one on the bottom eats the lids. I made the black one and a former student made the "lid monster"...I added eyes and a mouth, but I thought that was really sweet of them! Here's where I store Idea Books...one box for each class grades 1-4. Kindergarten doesn't use idea books yet. We use our idea book to sketch and write about the projects we make. This year we will be using them to create "thinking maps".... A little poster about glue procedures....and my demo table rules. I didn't photograph the demo table, but it's just a round table with tape on the floor encircling it. I use it ALL THE TIME. It's so very handy. And here you can see my messy teacher desk and the other bulletin board. I used to refer to this board for "ways to be the art star" but now it's a little obsolete so I'm thinking about putting my famous artists back up in this area. And that's the tour! Thanks for checking out the art room and I hope you found something you can use in your space. Happy School Year!

I hope all y'all had a wonderful holiday! Ours was super low-key and relaxing. I've been taking time to catch up on projects for the art room...just this week alone, I've managed to start three new projects (and finish zero...no surprise there). While working on my latest project, I decided to film the process and share it with you cuz I'm super stoked: Seat Sacks! Heaven on Earth, aka the Dollar Tree, had seat sacks or over the chair storage in their education isle recently and I was so stoked. Currently, when my kiddos finish early and only have a few minutes to spare, they LOVE to go and get a dry erase board. However, I don't love the extra milling around the room when it's so close to clean up. However-however, I never wanna see a kid just SITTING in their seat, even if for a few moments, not creating something, anything. So when I saw these seat sacks, I thought they'd be the perfect solution: I could store dry erase boards in there (or, dry erase board SLEEVES with drawing sheets, YES!! More on those in a moment) and that would prevent extra movin' and confusion during cleanup. Now, as you might know, I'm currently on an art room redo bender and I'm color coordinating EVERYTHING. So, while I was excited about these seat sacks, I was disappointed that the above were my only color options. By the way, you can purchase these in bulk here, if they are not available at your local Dollar Tree. So I went on a quest to find another source for the sacks. Y'all. These guys are COSTLY! Then I got the bright idea to SPRAY PAINT the sacks...so I bought one as a test and, um, no. That did not work. Not. At. All. The one that was sadly spray painted then became my pattern. I looked at the seat sack closely and realized it's a super simple pattern that requires very few supplies. Here's what I used: * 2 yards of ripstop fabric. Really, 1.5 yards would have been plenty. I chose that kind of nylon fabric because I thought it would be easier to wipe down. * 4 packages of bias tape. I am doing 4 sacks per table and this proved to be the right amount of tape. * Elastic. I used the wider kind. Here are the directions: Like I said in the video, I did this in assembly line fashion so as to get it done faster. I started by cutting everything out and then set to stitching all the red ones first, then the orange...this way I didn't have to keep changing out my thread and bobbin. I noticed online that there are a lot of other seat sack tutorials...so be sure to check out your options if you do this. I just went the route I thought was easiest. I don't plan to put anything heavy in these so I'm hoping that they'll be solid enough. In case you need those measurements again... I don't know if you noticed in the first photo but you'll see the kind of chairs that I have. These seat sacks fit them perfectly. If you decide to make these, you'll def wanna be certain it will work for your chairs! Of course I had to add a label! I got these labels made a while back from Dutch Label Shop. It says Art Will Rock You. This is the back And this is the front! I'll keep you posted on how these work out in my art room. They'll either be a hit or a miss...there never seems to be gray area in my art room! Do y'all use seat sacks? How so? Love to hear more! My little assembly line of pocket making. Wish me luck!

This pig craft got a resounding "let's do that again Mommy!" when we did this farm animal craft with our daughter. Print out our provided template (print onto pink paper to make the prep time for this craft even shorter) and let your child sponge paint on the "mud". This pig craft is a simple one, but a definite child favorite!

Books for elementary music? You can teach musical concepts in elementary music with books! In this post we have 9 book based lessons for elementary music!

creating lessons to inspire a love of the Arts

Support your teammates by creating teacher thank you notes for them this Teacher Appreciation Week. This bundle has four different Thank you note sheets that can be copied on white or colored copy paper. One general education card is included.Each sheet has 4 identical notes so that teachers can pri...

Wayne Thiebaud is one of the California greats - famous for his gentle paintings of beautifully arranged baked goods. This is a fun lesson for kids because it is so easy to relate to his happy art, and it's a stirring activity to imagine row upon row of delectable cookies, pies, cakes, donuts, etc. It's also easy to customize for different ages. Materials: cardstock for template, scissors to cut the cardstock, large white paper, sharpies, and chalk pastels Presentation: find slideshow here. Some simple facts about Mr. Thiebaud (pronounced "Tee-bo") are included in the slide presentation. Additionally you can read about his life here and here and share what seems relevant to you. Activity: pass out cardstock squares and have the kids draw a shape of their choice with sharpie to be their template. Have them think of something sweet a la the paintings they saw in the slideshow - a lollipop, donut, cupcake, slice of pie, etc. {To do this in younger grades, you could have the templates already cut depending on the time you have - or even make copies of papers with the shapes already drawn, and skip to the coloring with chalk pastel step.} Then have the kids place the template on their white paper and outline their shape with sharpie. Have them repeat as they like on the page: show them how they can make rows, or whatever kind of pattern they like. Once the shapes are drawn, the children are to use the chalk pastels to fill in their shapes.

*UPDATED 2019 Our district has iPads for all students 4th -12th grade, with a variety of other devices to assist the kids. We also provide a secure server for these devices, as the iPads go home with the kids. Our Admins and community expect us to use these devices. However, we need meaningful technology integration in the art room. This is where I wigged out a few years ago, wrongly thinking that technology would replace traditional art-making. In my room, we use the iPads for photography, research, creating and maintaining E-Portfolios, creating digital art and early finishers. For art teachers who have iPads, Google Docs, PCs, MACS, a mixture of all of the above, here's a tutorial for getting started. Don't worry, it's easy! Just as an FYI, here are our conditions in my district, Lewisville ISD: Every school is site-based, so very little is consistent. Our students have access to iPads, Mac Airs and Google Chrome Books in a variety of ways. We all (students and teachers) use Google Apps for Education. Are you just starting out integrating technology into your art room? Here are some easy, baby steps to help you. Ready? Have the kids create digital portfolios Create a photography unit or lesson There are free stop-motion apps, fabulous for movie making Teach kids how to edit their photos, create memes Use an art app to create digital art, talk about how artists create today, careers in art, etc Use the camera function to record works in process or final self refections Virtual field trips to any place, almost any museum in the world! Literally Google ideas, there is so much out there and so many people have already figured the hard parts out :) Don't stress! Have the kids help you out!

We had so much fun finishing up our Chinese New Year art lesson today. We did the printmaking pattern lesson last week on 18 x 6 inch p...

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Art room ideas and activities to try in your elementary classroom.

I love Savannah's bright palette and bold black lines My daughter and I have been having fun with a non-objective collage idea I found on Mrs. Picasso's Art Room (details and directions shown here) last year. I thought it would be perfect for my Messy Art Fun class. We added a few extra elements to the top two pieces (decoupaged tissue paper, newspaper, yellow pages, magazine cut-outs, and foam stamps.) Once dry, I cut it into 2" x 3" pieces and we re-assembled it into an interesting composition. I'd love to modify this idea to create unique artist trading cards.

This is a fun and simple winter project- there are a few versions of this floating around on the internet. It seems to be geared towards younger students, but I loved making them and knew my middle school kids would as well! I like projects that use everyday objects that kids can try at home as well. You just need some coffee filters (basket style) and watercolours and water. You could also try using waterbased markers for this as well. Liquid inks or liquid watercolours would come out much more vibrant, so use those if you have them. Fold your filter in half 4-5 times. Cut lots of shapes and notches out from all sides. I encourage kids to cut away lots of the filter- that way you can get a more frilly, complex snowflake. We used tempera discs for the painting step. Wet the entire folded snowflake first (using a wet paintbrush), then paint on colours on both sides, making sure the color is pretty intense and it passes through all the layers. Paint, paint, paint... then flip it over and paint the other side... We used clothespins to write our names on the snowflakes.... Then left them on a shelf to dry overnight. The next class, carefully (they are very fragile) unfold them and carefully glue stick them to a square piece of paper. These were made by Grade 7 students. Ta da! Three snowflakes layered together! this student layered together two snowflakes. These were made by Grade 6 students:

It's apple picking time, so bring out all the apple activities for a fun-filled apple theme in your preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten classroom! I'm here to share all of our favorite apple activities with you. Grab your lesson plan book, and let's go!