How is your year going? Ours is rapidly coming to a close. There is so much to do… grading, finishing projects, finishing the yearbook, planning a middle school dance, inventory and cleaning the room! Yikes, I don’t know about you, but April is the craziest month. I think in the summer, I am going to blog about some tips for organizing Student Council events. Not that I am an expert, but since I’ve done it for about 7 years now, … Read more... →
Let me start out by saying this has been one of the most successful and visually stunning projects that I've ever done with my students. It is definitely the most exciting printmaking project that we've ever done at Thomas. I wrote the lesson and went into the project thinking that it would probably be pretty good. I told my students that I'm absolutely blown away by the results of their talent and hard work. This lesson is a keeper. My previous 4th grade printmaking lesson was decent, but not outstanding. It was too similar from an art-making perspective to the Wild Things I do with my 2nd graders. This year, I really wanted to push the medium a little more by printing with multiple colors. I ended up deciding to push it to three colors and add in a little vocab by also bringing in the use of complimentary colors. Check out the lesson plan here! Close up of the piece above. Wow. Whew. That was a lot of examples, right? I just couldn't help myself this time. They were all so good that I had to show them off. If you're still reading, you're in luck. I'm going to tell you how I did this project and I'm going to use pictures! Let your inner kid rejoice. Start with a drawing of whatever you want to print. I had my kids do animal portraits. I gave them each a piece of the foam they would be printing on, then had them trace around it to give them the size of the final artwork. I then collected the foam for use the following week. Tape your drawing over the printing foam and use a dull pencil or other blunt tool to press down on the lines of just the outline of the subject. Take the paper off and press down again to make sure the marks are deep enough to make proper prints. I had my students make sure they ended up with three good prints of the background on the first day of printing. Re-tape the original drawing the following class. Press down any remaining details. Cut out the subject along the line that was pressed down last time. Now print with this piece directly on top of the original prints. I had my students use at least one set of complimentary colors. On the final day of printing, cut out a small detail that makes sense to print in a third color. Then, you guessed it, print this piece right on top of the original prints. This was my demo piece I did with the materials above.
I have been kind of slack on updating this blog, but I'm hoping to get better! My instagram @artsyblevs takes my attention away from here, even though this blog is my baby. I wanted to blog about teaching elementary art units across grade levels. Last year I tried this a few times, mostly for my sanity, but also to help manage time by using similar supplies across grades. I did an ancient art unit with k-5 last year and it was really fun. It was also quick and easy to change between classes because I could leave materials out on the tables and use similar examples and videos. This past rotation, I did a color theory unit k-5...using paint. My drying racks were full everyday, but I think it was really successful. Here is what each grade was up to: 5th: Intermediate and analogous colors 4th: Complementary colors 3rd: Color wheels, primary and secondary colors [they made hot air balloon color wheels] 1st and 2nd: Color wheels, primary and secondary colors [they made turtle color wheels] K: Primary colors and color wheels- we watched the OKGO primary colors video and read Mouse Paint I had plastic containers with small condiment cups full of the primary colors inside of them for every table. I also had water cups, brushes, and towels for drying brushes [that I wash when necessary] on each table. 5th grade used palettes for mixing, but the other grades just mixed on their papers. These supplies [except the palettes] stayed on the tables all day. I had helpers from every table wash the cups and brushes after each class. We also had to wash the tables a lot, which made for a drippy wet floor near the sinks, but 'tis the way of the art room. 5th grade painted color wheels that included intermediate colors, and then they had to choose 4 analogous colors to create a collage with. Here are some finished collages. 4th grade created silhouette themed color wheels and learned about complementary [opposite] colors. They had to pick one main shape for the center and create smaller shapes that went along with their theme to put on the complementary colors. 3rd grade also reviewed mixing colors and learned how color wheels help show us how colors relate to each other. [sorry for the poor quality of this photo] 1st and 2nd grade both reviewed primary and secondary colors wheels and how color wheels help us see how colors relate to each other. We tried to concentrate on remembering secondary colors. Kindergarten learned about primary colors for the first time. They also mixed colors for the first time and read the story Mouse Paint, so we made mice! Another benefit to doing units like this is they make fun bulletin boards!
The Art I students designed birthday cards for their favorite artists!
My 4th graders love to make this project. They saw it last year when the kids did them and now it was finally their turn! Chalk pastel...
GUYS! I am SO EXCITED! Our new addition is complete and the physical space of our school has doubled. It is so nice to not have to push your way through the halls. It’s like there’s breathing room now. We also have a new art room, so I HAVE MY OWN ROOM NOW. I’m so thrilled that we don’t have to share a room anymore and all of our supplies can spread out. I have the old room and our … Read more... →
Art Classroom Management/Grading @ Harmony School of Science – Sugarland 2nd – 5th grade students Class Points Class points are earned for good behavior by the entire class. Classes ca…
Earlier this year, my co-worker Jayne found the idea to make a collaborative school-wide paper mural based on the artwork of Thank YouX. The idea for a student mural originally came from Jenell Novello and you can see the lesson plan write-up on Artsonia. She also so generously provided the lesson plan and templates on Google docs. Thank You X got his name by accident. In 2009 Andy Warhol’s spray painted portrait was spotted on a city street in L.A.. … Read more... →
For me it is always a challenge to keep up with Kindergarten art projects. I see my classes twice per week for 40 minutes, so they get to do a lot of art! They go through lessons and projects quickly, their attention spans are short and they have difficulty sometimes with very basic skills. Here are three Kindergarten art lessons that are fairly easy to prepare for, teach important art concepts and use the same selection of materials. The first … Read more... →
Why is art important in education? Are these qualities we wish to teach our children?
"Wacky Hats" is a fun and easy art sub lesson for all elementary students.
Please Note: All images seen below are of my students artwork only. These photos/lessons are not posted in any particular order regarding the flow of my curriculum. Abstract Self-Portrait Paintin…
elementary art lessons classroom management
Welcome to our Choice-based Art Studio! This is my first year adventuring into Choice-Art and I couldn't feel more energized or blessed to be an art teacher! The children are creating amazing things and great learning is taking place! I love the personal value I am seeing in their artwork, which makes me feel like our student/teacher relationships are growing stronger because I can see them in their creations! Currently, students may choose from 8 different studios. All studios are color coded so students are able to identify where to access materials. Girls and boys take turns in choosing their studios first. The bracelets let students know when a studio is closed, however, there are times, we have students find "open seating" so they can continue working on a piece or explore in a new medium. Collage, Drawing, Painting and Sculpture were are first studios and we added Fiber Arts, Sewing (hand and machine), Architecture and Ceramics (clay). We have a cabinet for all of our classroom bins. Youngest student classes are on the bottom and older are to the top. Studio signs are color-coded, along with our bracelets, and labeled materials. We have our dining room hutch creating a separation between our Painting and Sculpture Studio. The hutch houses Painting Studio supplies and our Inspiration Station stocked with art books, art magazines and project ideas. Our classes are great at following our routines. Students created our beautiful accents to our classroom chandelier. Students helped paint dining chairs for our studio centers. As the lead learner in our studio, I wanted the dining tables and chairs to feel like home. Being at home makes us feel safe and I wanted our artists to feel safe in their creating and explorations in content and mediums. Check out detailed photos of our studio in the next posting on our studios.
"The axe forgets but the tree remembers."
Elementary art sub idea "Boat on a River of Pattern"
Yes, you saw that right. It's a Crafty Friday post! Since I'm teaching an art class on Friday to middle and high schoolers, I have to come ...
Are you nervous about starting the school year? Or are you excited to get things going? Even though this is my lucky 13th year teaching, I still get anxious to go back. It’s a combo of nerves, excitement and anxiety about getting back into a different routine. I still have dreams that the class is out of control, I forget that I am scheduled to teach or I oversleep. Recently, I asked readers to share their top tips for starting … Read more... →
Lines are an excellent starting point for lessons with Kindergarteners. To begin this line unit, we read the book Lines That Wiggle. The students used colored tape to make straight lines across their paper. We talked about horizontal, vertical, diagonal and ziz-zag lines. During the next class period, the students used tempera cakes to paint a variety of lines: wavy, loopy, dotted, dashed, squiggly, spiral, jagged and more. Aren’t these lovely and expressive? After the painting project, we moved … Read more... →
The main purpose of the key signature is to limit the number of flats & sharps noted in the music.
Angles Art : creating mathematical artwork with a protractor and angles. A fun STEM art project for kids
ART VOCABULARY Art Elements & Principles (Prezi) The ELEMENTS and PRINCIPLES of art/design are the building blocks used to create a work of art. The Elements of art/design can be thought…
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An elementary art teacher blog with art projects and lessons, DIY projects and outfit photos as well as clothing I have made myself.
Well, I'm back at it: picking up more things from the Wooden Thingies You Can Paint aisle and goin' to town. I've painted paddles into paint brushes, a picket fence into a stack of pencils and now this fun Tints and Shade sign! The other day, I was at Hobby Lobby and spotted this fun little fence. I picked up two of them and used a coupla coupons to bring the price down a pinch. I wasn't sure what I'd do with them until the idea of creating a value scale of tints and shades came to my mind. Over a couple of evenings, I managed to get this bad boy complete. It was very similarly to my Stay Sharp pencils. I will say, mixing up a gradient is no joke, especially when you do it over the course of a couple of days. I did struggle a couple of times getting colors to great an even value scale. Once the pencils were complete, I added the lettering and the fine lines. I love using black and white lines to give things a cartoon-y look I was going to go with "value scale" or "gradation" but those aren't words we use a lot in my art room. We do talk a lot about mixing up tints and shades...so this was what I went with! Don't be throwin' no shade now, y'all. I also had a chance to hang my Color Families display today! I used Command Velcro strips to hang these and my Tints and Shade sign. Because I want to be able to remove the crayons and use the as teaching tools, I used velcro dots to add them to the crayon boxes. You can see them in the secondary color box. Now I did mention that I purchased two of these wooden thingies...the other will go over the door to the left of my clock. I plan to paint that in a rainbow gradation...but not sure what I'll write on it yet, if anything. I'm really excited about this area of my art room now! I am loving the new look so much...I am slowly working on giving my entire art room a make over! This is an area that the kids see a lot so it gets first priority. I even painted my easel to match some bookcases I recently redid. I'll have to give a complete tour once complete...although who knows when that will be! Until then, this will have to be my happy place! Thank you for letting me share!
I usually start the year with kindergartners learning about and using lines. In previous years we have made line paintings and line sculptures with wire and pipecleaners. Another fun project we made was line windsocks by rolling up line paintings and adding tissue paper streamers. We’ve done line drawings (check out what my old blog used to look like before I moved it over to this website.) This year I was reminded by Cassie Stephens of a project I used … Read more... →
Some of the topics of our art curriculum, the "building blocks" of good art: color families, the art elements This is where each gr...
A Picasso-inspired preschool shape art project is a great way to have young students practice using a gluestick while creating stunning art!
"Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?" is about as perfect as you can get. I racked my brain coming up with the best way to teach art skills.
Trash becomes art! My 7th grade students made these beautiful low relief sculptures with paper towel and toilet paper cardboard tubes! After measuring and cutting the tubes into 1/2″ rings, s…
A fun way to teach line to grades K-3 is the Crazy Hair Day project. I start by reading the book “Crazy Hair Day” by Barney Salzburg, (or I let Salzburg read the story to my students vi…
Trash becomes art! My 7th grade students made these beautiful low relief sculptures with paper towel and toilet paper cardboard tubes! After measuring and cutting the tubes into 1/2″ rings, s…
I have an addiction. Or three, maybe four. 1 kuai colored paper double-sided tape custom printing (with unique fonts) ...
In Part One of the Art Elements Review, we worked on Line, Shape, Color and Form. This post will talk about Part Two, which is Value, Space and Texture. VALUE: the kids illustrated a value scale with either crayon or pencil SPACE: This was shown through overlap, perspective, positive/negative space, filling the page, etc. TEXTURE: The kids used texture rubbing plates and crayons to show texture. All of these element exercises were on small pieces of paper and we taped them into our sketchbooks. Right after I finished teaching this, I saw this post by Monument Valley Regional Middle School, which turned out very cool. I will have to try that next year! See... they are in circles... they are a work of art!
