In the Art Room: Teaching Scissor Safety

There's nothing quite like finding a pile of clipped hair in the art room just as your email inbox pings with a not-very-happy message from a parent of a child with brand-spankin' new bangs. In a miserably short and asymmetrically style ("But I hear it's all the rage on the runways right now...?"). Who knew we were hosting Beauty School Dropouts up in the art room?! NOT ME!

Look, I learned long ago that with kids, you gotta teach EVERYTHING. Like, EVERY-shouldn't-you-know-that-already-THING. And how to use scissors properly, safely and correctly in the art room is one of them. So, here's my scissor chat with my kindergarten as they prepared to cut out the clouds to add to their rainbow collages (lesson details to come!).

Here are the three things we cover when it comes to Scissor Safety:

1. SCISSORS ARE ONLY FOR PAPER. Not people, hair, clothing, applesauce, pizza, eyelashes (yes, that's happened)...just for, REPEAT AFTER ME, paper! The end. 

2. When scissors are not in use, they are closed. For some reason, I hate seeing scissors sitting on a table open. It looks like an accident waiting to happen.

3. Scissors have a HANDLE. It's where your hands go! That's how it got it's name. When HANDING someone scissors....HAND them the HANDLE. 

Additional pet peeve: do not walk around with scissors. They stay at your seats. With you. And your paper. That you are cutting. With said scissors.

 Kids these days, y'all, they don't know how to hold a pencil let alone scissors. I blame technology. I pretty much blame EVERYTHING WRONG WITH THE WORLD TODAY on technology...but I don't say that too often for fear of sounding like an old lady (which, hello, I am). But, for real, have you even seen how kids hold scissors these days? If it strikes you as odd...then guess what, chicken butt? IT'S YOUR JOB TO TEACH THEM! Remember, we gotta teach them everything. After all, they've only been on the planet for, like, 5 years. 

So, here's how I teach Scissor Usage:

1. Your dominant hand (the one that pretty much does EVERYTHING) is your scissor hand. It's job, when cutting, is to ALWAYS FACE OUT. Never toward you, but away from you.

2. All that hand does is open and close those scissors while FACING OUT (stress this...otherwise you gonna find kids with clipped clothing). Now, that hand that usually does NADA MUCHO? When cutting, it does almost all the work. 

3. The "lazy hand" turns the paper for you! Pretend glue your cutting arm to your side. Put it in FREEZE mode so it only faces OUT. Remember, all it does is open-close-open-close those scissors. That other hand does all the paper-steering like mama does when she drives a car.

Y'all. I know it is a lotta explaining. But, seriously, you'll thank me later. And LOOK at how beautifully they cut out those clouds! And I'm happy to report that not a single one ended up with one of those asymmetrical bobs! 

P.S. Giant scissors came from a flea market...but a fake pair could totally be made with cardboard and a brass roundhead fastener thing. DO IT. 

In the Art Room: Guided Drawing, Part 2

In light of yesterday's post, I thought I'd share a follow-up blog post. One reason I find most folks argue against guided drawing is the following:

It is too restrictive.
It leads kids to believe that there is only one way to draw.
It puts too much pressure on the kids.

AND I AGREE...if guided drawing is a tool used incorrectly in the art room, it can be all of those things. So I thought I'd share some tips and tricks that I use in my art room that eliminates the pressure, the restrictiveness and the notion that there is only one way to create.

I tell the kids that we are all unique and our artwork should reflect that. 
We have a little pep talk before drawing: each of us is unique and that's a wonderful thing. We are all going to hear the same directions...and each of our artist's brains are going to hear and translate those directions differently...and our artwork will reflect that. 

I tell the kids that if I had wanted copies of artwork, I would have just MADE copies. But I want to see their artistry, their work of unique art. 

I call our Guided Drawings, Practice Drawings. 
I tell the kids that this drawing that we are doing together is just practice, not perfect. If they aren't happy with their drawing, DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT, IT'S JUST PRACTICE...and you can do another one next art class. This eliminates the pressure of trying to be perfect (and how is?!).

I also tell the kids that they are not to throw away that drawing. If they do decide to redo their drawing the following art class, they are to use their initial drawing as their guide...and keep it. Take it home, color it, give it to mama, give it to me. But the trashcan is NOT an option. 

I've also noticed that by the time the second art class rolls around, most kids have forgotten what little thing bothered them and are happy with their drawings.

ALSO...having kids practice on dry erase boards as they draw along with you makes a big difference. Then they can take that drawing to their seat and copy from that onto a piece of paper. 

When we draw on the floor, we either use pencils with no erasers or Sharpies. I don't want the kiddos to use their art time erasing holes in their paper. 

We talk about Beautiful Oops! 
What a great time to talk about all the endless options you can do if you draw something unexpected. It's a happy accident. Let's see where it takes you!

WE KEEP IT SUPER SILLY...
And that really helps release the pressure the kids may feel. I recently recorded myself teaching my kindergarten how to draw Roy G. Biv. If you are interested, you can see how I try to keep it silly, fun and light for the kids. 

Art Teacherin' 101: Thoughts on Guided Drawing

 I often times feel like there are these notions in art education that you have to pick a side. TAB vs. not TAB. Project-Based vs. Non-Project Based. Guided Drawing vs. Guided-Drawing-is-the-Devil.

Here's why I HATE when I'm forced to feel like I have to pick a side. 

1. It pits art teachers against one another. 

Look, everyone's end goal as an art teacher (at least I hope) is for our children to realize the power of their imagination and creativity. It can boost their self-confidence, give them mental strength and allow them to see all of their creative potential! How we, as teachers, get our students to that point, varies. We are all in different situations, with different schedules and different standards and curriculum. What might work swimmingly for me and my diverse students, may not work well for another in their setting. Does that make them wrong? Does that mean they are doing their students a disservice? Something tells me that if an art teacher is giving it their very best...not their most perfect because that's just unattainable, but THEIR very best...than isn't that enough? Should we really beat them up if their best looks different than ours?

2. It paints a black and white picture of art education...in our beautifully colorful world. 

How we teach art is not black and white. You don't have to pick a team or a side. I like to think of all the wonderful ideas on art education as tools in my toolbox. When I use a variety of tools: guided drawing, open studio, center time, project-based, etc., I notice that I'm able to reach ALL of my learners. If I only used one tool in my toolbox, like guided drawing, for example, then my students would only become good at following by example. There's only value in that type of learning if we combine it with other types. This allows our students to see the importance of what they are learning and how they can apply it to their creative life inside and out of the art room. 

With that in mind, I really feel like Guided Drawing gets a bad wrap. I use guided drawing as a tool in my toolbox with MANY other tools. Here's why I value guided drawing and how my students enjoy it with success, confidence and happiness.

So, what are your thoughts on guided drawing? Or any other method of art teacherin'? I've been teaching art for 20 years. For new teachers, I can only imagine how confusing and difficult it must be to hear all of this art edu-jargon. Just know that if you feel you are trying your hardest and your students are responding, you are doing alright. Trust me...your students aren't going to remember some fancy edu-jargon...they are going to remember that you loved on them, created with them and encouraged them every step of the way. And, fingers crossed and knock on wood, that will be enough to have them realize the power of their own creative potential. 

If you are interested in seeing more of my guided drawing lessons, you can use the search bar on this blog...or you can check them out below!

Heather Galler Flowers!

Many of my guided drawing lessons are VERY open ended so the kids can really explore with confidence.

There are MANY MORE lessons on my YouTube channel if you'd like to check them out! 

What the Art Teacher Wore #208

 This past week was our book fair and to celebrate, we had dress up days! The theme of the book fair was Enchanted Forrest and our first day was to dress in red and white for a mushroom theme. Y'all know I totally had a dress for that, right? I cannot believe I stitched it up way back in 2012! It was the one and only keyhole dress I've made. That Michael Miller gnome fabric is still my fave. Details here. 

Just a little clip of me turning my kindergarten into color mixing wizards. No bid deal.

Do y'all remember that PD I lead at the start of the school year for the faculty and staff at my school? We created a piece that stated our "why we are here". Well, my FAVORITE FUNDRAISER Artome Art Shows was kind enough to donate frames for each one of these WHY's. They now hang outside of each teacher's classroom and look simply stunning. 

 Aside from dress up days, we had a full week of art making AND open house. Which meant we had to make stuff and keep the art room on the tidy side which is a stretch. I'm super good at making messes (and I believe that's rubbed off on my kiddos) but not great at keeping the space clean. So I tidied like crazy on Monday afternoon and we had a stern "don't even think about messing this up!" chat on Tuesday before the night's events. 

Oh, and speaking of Artome Art Shows, we are having ours this December. Which means most of my classes are rockin' on their projects. We always do self portraits of some kind for Artome and this one is my favorite. We start with black glue...and you can find the complete lesson (with video!) here. 

 Tuesday's dress up theme was fairy or gnome...so I decided to go as Roy G. Biv and surprise the kids. When not wearing a beard and a rainbow hat, I was super comfy in my overalls. I THINK I'M ADDICTED TO OVERALLS. These bad boys are from Forever 21. 

Just a lil Roy action here. 

 Of course, when Roy G. Biv visits, we draw his likeness! Kindergarten did a super job of following along with Roy...

And coloring these cuties in.

 Wednesday was Wacky Sock day. I scored these from a shop in the mall that only sells socks...and they have the best selection. I don't own too many fun socks (surprising, I know) but when I spotted these, I had to have them. 

 My Unicorns are Real top is from Five Below...which is my guilty pleasure. Well, that and Dollar Tree. And in my neck of the woods, they are next to each other which means they are SUPER DANGEROUS. 

 For this year's open house, I made sure to hang two pieces of art for every kiddo. It was a lot of work and I'm excited to see it decorating the halls. I brought back my tree weaving lesson this year with third grade and I'm so glad I did. More details on this project soon. 

Usually my fourth graders do this project for the Artome Art Show but this year, I'm changing it up a bit. For our first day, we sketched thumbnail self portraits and then began creating these with bingo daubers on 9 X 12 paper. I'm so excited to see this project progress. 

 Words on a shirt day was the dress up theme for Thursday. I also had Round 2 of dressing up as Roy G. Biv for my classes that had missed out...so that meant pants again. TWICE IN ONE WEEK! Kinda crazy, I know. 

 My first graders are the kings and queens of cute with the start of their self portraits. You can check out lesson details here. 

 Friday was a half day but I had a stacked morning with five classes, kindergarten through fourth. I know my paint trays have just about run their course but were still pretty full of paint. So we did a collaborative circle painting and had a blast. All classes painted on the paper on their tables. They could only build upon the paintings that were there, not paint over them. It was a great way to spend our last day before break.

 And now it's fall break time! 

We have a lovely week off...it's glorious! I'll be home most of the week but on Thursday, I'm off to Florida for their art teacher convention...and I'm so excited. See y'all soon!

In the Art Room: Sketchbook Covers

Well, better late than never ever, amirite? My students are just now getting rolling on their sketchbooks tho that's no fault of their own. I've been doing sketchbooks with my kids for years now ... and had a pretty fool proof way that worked for me and the kids. But there was always one thing kind of bothering me...that I never had a way for them to add informational pages to their sketchbooks. You know, like an Elements of Art reference sheet or, what I'm really excited about, some Art History Rocks sheets. So this year, instead of using manilla folders with pages stapled inside, my kids are using pronged folders that we can add pages to!
Because my students are working on their weaving and sewing projects right now, they are all finishing their work at different speeds. While allowing time for the kids to finish AND providing my early finishers with a quality drawing lesson, I created this sheet. It worked GREAT! My students drew lightly with pencil first on their folders then showed me their drawing before going over their lines in pencil. If you'd like this sheet, you can download it here. 

 This is the work of a couple third graders after they finished their weavings. They were so stinkin' proud of their work! The ABC sheet is one I found online. You can find it here along with a great video. 

For the background, we looked at the work of Jen Stark and talked about creating a repeating line pattern. The kids chose a line and simply repeated it in any way they liked. Again, they were working independently so lots of options were open to them. color was added with markers. 

The kids are so proud of their covers so far. They'll continue adding to these as an early finisher project. I CANNOT WAIT to introduce them to our first Art Rocks theme and get them rockin' in these books. Stay tuned!

DIY: Roy G. Biv Costume!

As y'all might recall from my last post, my kindergarten is in the middle of what I'm calling Rainbow Bootcamp. We've been learning the order of the colors in the rainbow in many ways...always kicking off our lesson with my very favorite They Might be Giants song Roy G. Biv. 

Well, next week is Spirit Week for our Scholastic Book Fair at our school. What that means is each day this week, we are dressing up in accordance with the theme for the book fair. The theme is Enchanted Forest...which has made for some very interesting dress up days. One of them being "Dress like a Gnome or a Fairy Day". Now. At first I was like "wait, whut?! What in the world am I supposed to dress like on that day?!" 

Oh. Duh.

Making this costume was so easy that I thought I'd share the process. The supplies I picked up at the craft store where:

• Martha Stewart plates at Michaels! Those were used to create my prism wand. I sandwiched a dowel rod between two plates with some hot glue and viola!
• Dowel rod
• Fabric for the beard
• Quilter's batting for the beard
• Elastic or a ribbon to tie the beard
• Poster board for the hat
• Sparkle rainbow adhesive foam for the hat

Lemme tell you, I was not looking forward to making the prism...I initially had a foam block and a lot of glitter in my cart. But when I saw those Martha Stewart plates, I thought those would be so much easier to assemble! Also...I started out with sparkle ribbon for the hat. But each roll was $5 and that was getting expensive. Turns out the adhesive glitter foam was much better and, at only a $1 a sheet, much cheaper. 

I'll keep you posted on how the kiddos react! Oh! AND for the rest of the outfit: overalls and top from Forever21; socks from Sock It to Me; clear boots from my bestie!

In the Art Room: Painting Rainbows with Kindergarten

This week, I took my lil kindergarten friends on a trip to Rainbow Bootcamp! We watched the Roy G. Biv video by They Might be Giants (on YouTube and every bit of awesome!) and then we dived in to painting our very own rainbows. Here's a clip of the lesson I shared with my students:

I have 30 minute art classes with my little friends. This was how I introduced painting rainbows with tempera cakes on that very first day. My kindergarten friends have been painting up a storm with watercolor, tempera paint and now tempera cakes! I like to use Alphacolor's Biggie Cakes for tempera. They have all the colors EXCEPT purple...which I show the kids how to make by painting a second blue stripe and painting red on top.

By the time our second 30 minute art class rolls around, we are ready to add our sky. We use chalk for this portion and learn how to blend the chalk in. So much fun! Next up, we'll create clouds and a sun to finish off these masterpieces. 

We wouldn't be learning about rainbows without some wild and crazy ensembles. Stay tuned to how this lesson progresses!

SIDE NOTE: For some reason, many of my videos are being hidden on my channel under "restricted mode". I have no control over this and YouTube ain't gonna do nothing about it because, honestly, they don't care. So, if you are unable to see some of my videos, try turning off restricted mode on your device and you'll be able to view a ton. Sorry for the inconvenience! Thanks for understanding. 

Teaching Kindergarten: Vincent van Gogh

Teaching kindergarten is currently my most favorite thing. Maybe it's this particular group, maybe it's because I've finally caught up to being just as crazy as they are...I dunno but I do like it. I've been sharing a lot of videos of myself teaching kindergarten (as well as those older kiddos) on my Instagram but I'm limited to only sharing one minute clips. I thought it would be fun to share the longer version here. I LOVE watching other teachers teach...and I have a feeling you might feel the same. I always learn SO MUCH! I also learn SO MUCH from recording and watching myself (1. I talk too much and 2. I talk too much). I totally recommend you give it a shot. Several of my classes were learning about Vincent this week and I thought I'd record my intro...so, here you go! 

If you enjoy this video, you can find more like it on my YouTube channel. I'll keep you posted on how our lesson progresses!