Best Back-to-School Art Lessons!

Okay, y'all. It's happening! The emails from admin are rolling in, the BTS stuff is out at stores...it's already (ALREADY!) time to start thinking about heading back to school...and the lessons you plan to kick off your school year with.

When I'm thinking of my very first lessons, here's what I consider:

    * The lesson should involve not-so-messy supplies. I do this because during those first days in the art room, the focus is on the expectations, the routines of the art room and the rules. To also throw into the mix the rules, routines and expectations of said messy supply is overwhelming. So I tend to do lessons that involve supplies my students are very familiar with.

    * The lesson should be one where all are successful. I want that first lesson to really set the tone for the art room. I want all students, even those who say, "I'm not an artist" to feel as though they are. So the lessons you'll find here today are ones that are tried and true...and where all students have found success.

    * The lesson should be something that could be used for a display. Often we have an open house not long after the school year begins. To highlight the art program, it helps to have something to deck the halls. I'm often looking for a BTS lesson that does just that.

    * The lesson should be the same for everyone OR make use of the same art supplies. This one is a hot take...I've gotten some flack for this one. But at the start of the year, I usually do the same lesson with all students, 1st - 4th (kindergarten is a different story and you can find out what I do with them here). But I find that this helps me not to stress and run around prepping 5 different lessons, art supplies and the rest. I do the same thing with everyone...and in the end it makes for a cohesive display and a more relaxed start to the beginning of the school year. You have the whole year to stress! So...let's not kick things off that way!

With those things in mind, I'm going to share with you lessons that I've used over the years for BTS. Feel free to use them in your art teacherin' world! Just tap the link to visit the blog post. There you'll often find free downloads and videos. Let's go!

Back to School Banners

One way to start the school year is by creating banners for your students. I create my banners with my trusty ink-filled bingo dauber (which you can find here, if interested) and I often create them for my students to color at the END of the school year during field day. Then, when we return to school, I have them up as a way to decorate the halls and welcome students back.

However, you can make them now! They would be the perfect activity during those first days as they would get your students creating, getting to know their classmates and becoming familiar with your art room. 

When it comes to creating the banners, your only limit is your imagination. I've created frames for students to draw selfies and slogans for students to color.

I used to have a set up like this and allow my students to paint. While this was fun...it was a lot of work and a lot of cleanup after tons of kids painting all day. In the end, I switched to having my students use paint sticks...and that seemed to work so much better! The colors are just as bright...and much less messy. But, you do you!

For all the details on how I created these banners for my students, visit here!

And if you aren't comfortable creating these rolls, don't worry...I made some for you! You can find all four of them here. 

Getting to Know You Sculptures

Oh man, do I love teaching paper sculptures! In fact, this IS the lesson I do with my kindergarteners on their very first day...I just elevated it to include this Getting to Know You sheet and added some more paper folding and sculpting techniques.

This lesson makes for such a fun display and a great conversation starter as the kids share with their adults what each part of their sculpture represents. For the TWO TOTALLY FREE downloads, just visit this blog post!

Sketchbooks

I've done sketchbooks every manner of ways but the one I ultimately did with my first through fourth grade was this one! We created these sketchbook covers on the first days of school and they were always so much fun to put together and have ready for the school year. 

Inspired by the Getting to Know You sculptures, I created these decoder sheets for the covers. You can find them as a free download here. 

If you are interested in how I use, organize, store, operate, all the things sketchbooks in my art room, you can read all about it here. 

And if you'd like to check out the sketchbooks I created for your students with my friends at Prang, you can get them here!

Self-Portraits

I find that selfies are such a great way to return to school. Of course, for some students, they can seem daunting...so I like to keep them on a small scale. These wee selfies are just 3-4" squares! We went with a monochromatic color scheme but you could do these any way you like! You can find this lesson as well as a video for you and your students here. 

Of course, self-portraits can take on any manner of style. This was such a fun collaborative piece to make that we kept it hanging for years outside the art room! For more collaborative projects like this one, visit here. 

Dot Day

Dot Day is a great way to kick off the school year! Based on the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds, it is one that I read to all of my students on their first days of art. So what better way than to dive in with lots of dot-themed art projects?! To find out about this one seen above, tap here!

For a shorter Dot Day experience, my students LOVED this one! I picked up a bunch of metal pizza pans from Dollar Tree and my students explored monoprinting! You can check out this lesson here.

If you are feeling a little anxious about the idea of using tempera paint on those first days of school...I got you! Check out my blog post featuring my Top 10 Tempera Painting Tips!

If you are looking for even more inspiration for back to school lessons, I have MORE in this blog post! BUT...I'm ready for my second copy of coffee so I'll leave it here for the day.

Stay tuned...I'm working on a new video for a lesson that your students will love! It will have a couple of free downloads just for you. I hope to have it for ya next week so...until then!

How to Run Your First Day of Art Class!

Hi, friends!

Before we dive in, I just wanna say that what you're about to see here is how I run my first 30 minute art class with my first though fourth grade students. I have shared a lot of videos in the past about my first day of art...and really, this one is no different. EXCEPT...I'm going to walk you thru the method behind my madness so you can understand not only HOW I'm doing something but what and why. I'm also sharing my FREE downloads with ya as well as links to the items I share. But before we dive in...

If you just want a whole dang book to have and to hold with all of the info I'm about to share (and so much more), you can pick up a copy of my book Art Teacherin' 101 right here. 

Okay, without further ado, here's the video!

Now, I share several items in this video from my classroom. If you'd like to take a closer look at those things like my Open/Closed sign, my dry erase board and more then you can find links to all of them right here. 

Something I forgot to mention in the video is that I share THIS video at the start of that very first class! I can't believe I forgot to include that. But here it is! And you can find a blog post with more details on this here. 

My dry-erase board is handy because it's small and takes up just a little space on my desk. 

These signs can also be found at the Dollar Tree! OR...I do have an Open and Closed sign as a free download for you so just scroll down.

For my palette behavior system, I created the palettes using plastic palettes! You can find them here. 

Want to hear more about my palette system? I made a blog post and a video all about it! You can find the details here. 

In my book, Art Teacherin' 101, I talk about this "cheat sheet" and how it helps me remember all that I want to cover on that first day. For this free download, just click here!

For the free download of my Open sign, tap here. 

For my Closed sign, tap here. 

If you'd like a copy of my Getting to Know You questions, just click here!

Just a reminder: I'm sharing these with y'all so that you have a great start to your school year. Please do not sell these on TPT...I hate that I have to say that but it happens to me and other educators...a lot. It's stealing. So please don't.

For more info on how I run my very first day of art, please check out this blog post! Here I provide the videos I have created to share with my students. 

You can also find more info on my methods here. 

And you can find more here!

And stay tuned! I have much more on the first days coming your way. BUT...I also have loads of videos already on my YouTube channel you may enjoy.

Have a great week, friends!

My Top Ten Tips for Tempera Painting with Young Artists!

Hey there, friends! I hope this here blog post finds you enjoying your summer vacation if you are stateside! I know the last thing you probably wanna think about is TEMPERA PAINT...but I always find it much more relaxing to thing about art, organization, lessons and the like when I'm on a break. So I created a big ole video just for you with my very favorite tips and tricks. 

Be sure and subscribe as I have more videos coming your way! 

But before we do...if you would like to peruse some tempera painting lessons, I did put together a blog post of my 20 favorite painting projects here. Not all of these are tempera paint but many are and will, hopefully, get the creative art teacherin' wheels turnin'. Just click here!

Tip #1: Limit those color palettes!

I like to distribute paint with a couple of customized paint trays. For example, on the first day I paint with kindergarten, they all receive a tray of warm color paint. On the next, it may be cool color. This helps keep our paint trays from getting completely demolished by students who are new to learning my painting routines. This method also allows students to learn the warm/cool colors as well as the notion of analogous colors. 

As far as paint goes, I'm using Prang's Tempera Paint. You can find it here. 

Tip #2: Ice cube trays for distributing paint!

My favorite way to distribute paint is...ice cube trays! I've been doing this since my first year teaching way back in 1998. Back then, we didn't have fancy ice cube trays like these. I had to do the stack-and-sack method of stacking my trays and putting them in plastic garbage bags overnight. Thankfully, we have these neat trays that do an excellent job of keeping paint from drying out.

You can find these lidded ice cube trays, my personal favorite, here.

Tip #3: Water Containers that Don't Tip!

Nothing sucks the life out of a good ole painting party like a water cup spill. You can find dog dishes like mine at the Dollar Tree. I also found them for a heftier price tag here.

What  I love about them is that no only do they not tip but they also have a spot for my sponges. The sponge is where my students dry their brushes, further removing drippy water from their brush. What I don't love about these is that the water reservoir is shallow and I have to change out the water between classes. So...it's a trade off. If you don't use the sponges or want a deeper water cup, I also love these:

They legit don't spill!

AND they come in a rainbow assortment which is fun if you color code your tables. I also love the wavy rim for resting paintbrushes.

If you are looking for a way to have students really scrub their brush while cleaning it, you could get some of these Paint Pucks to suction into the bottom of the watercup. OR...you could also use your glue gun and put dots of glue at the bottom of the glue cup and that would do the same thing!

Tip #4: A sponge to further clean the brush!

Or, as we call it, Dirty Ole Sponge Bob. If you teach students my trick of drawing an X on the sponge, it will help them remember to wipe their paintbrush AND keep the tip nice and pointy. You can find sponges at the Dollar Tree or you can also find them here. 

Tip #5: Contain the mess with TRAYS!

Okay, so these trays are a little expensive BUT they are super thick and sturdy which means they will be able to handle the weight of the painting supplies placed on them. However, I have purchased trays from Dollar Tree on their site and was able to purchase an entire box. The only thing is that if they don't have this available in store, you will have to pay for shipping. It's cheaper if you have them shipped to the store and pick up there. The Dollar Tree trays are much thinner and not as sturdy. But I loved them for having my young students create their artwork on. Not only did it help to capture and contain the mess but it also made it so much easier for them to carry their work to the drying rack.

Tip #6: Distribute paint without the mess!

FIFO bottles are a great way to get paint to your students without lugging a gallon of paint around the room. I also love them because you can customize and mix your own colors! You can find them here and learn more about them in the video if you aren't familiar. 

Tip #7: Texture combs are a must with tempera paint!

Thick tempera paint is made for texture! And while I used to love to pick up bags of texture making supplies at the dollar store what I found is that I spent so much time at the sink CLEANING. I eventually stopped using them and switched to the ole stand by: the texture comb. They are easy for kids to use without their hands getting too messy and, even better, they are much easier for ME to clean! I love 'em and they are constantly being used in my art room. Find them here. 

Tip #8: Cover those tables with Messy Mats!

We don't have time to wash the paint from our tables! I mean, we might have time but do we really wanna spend our time that way? For me, I had classes back to back with no time for cleaning so Messy Mats saved the day with keeping our tables covered and clean. You can color code them with this railboard found here. 

I also just like the ole standby of tagboard! You can buy a pack of 100 and it will last you for a couple years (maybe longer!) here. 

Tip #9: Clean those hands and tables with these!

I like to keep a bin of soapy water and a couple of these towels on each table. The kids know that they are ONLY to use these towels during clean up...otherwise you may have friends washing their hands throughout the lesson. I show them how to wring the water from the towel before using it on their hands and table. I swap these out with clean towels and water while the students work so each class has a fresh bin of water. These towels wash up great in the washing machine! 

Tip #10: Only buy the paint colors you need...and you don't need 'em all!

Share with your students how to mix paint so you don't have to buy them all! The colors you WILL want to order are: red, magenta, yellow, blue, turquoise (or cyan), white, black and brown. I usually order my paint by the gallon so we don't run out. You can find the paint I buy as well as anything I may have forgotten here.

As for paintbrushes, when I first began teaching, I used what I had in my art room: those coarse, long-handled bristle brushes. They usually wiped more paint OFF the paper than they did put it on! Now I only have students use soft hair brushes like these. 

And of course you need a copy of The Paintbrush Ballerina to share with your students how to use and care for their paintbrush! You can get a copy here. I also created some painting practice sheets that you might find handy as you introduce your students to painting!

These totally free downloads will have your students handling their paintbrush correctly in no time. Whether they are working with watercolor, tempra or tempra cakes, these sheets will save those paintbrushes! Find them free here. 

I created a video to share with you how I would use these sheets in my art room...I put them in a sheet protector so that students can practice painting with just water! More details here. 

I also created some fancy frames and even a certificate for your artists! Those freebies are here. 

Personally...you could tell me how to paint with children all day long but until I see how someone teaches it, I just don't get it. So! I thought I'd share a series of teaching tempera painting videos here. For lesson details, check out this blog post. 

Here's another example of me sharing a beginning of the school year paining lesson with students. Lesson details in this blog post!

Here's a video of my sharing my painting set up in my art room.

I hope this big ole blog post helps you feel more comfortable busting out the tempera paint in your art room. NOW...it's summer so go put those pjs back on, grab a snack and take a nap!