Showing posts with label art day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art day. Show all posts

Friday, November 30, 2018

In the Art Room: Jen Aranyi Inspired Landscapes

Working on a fun new landscape lesson with my third grade kiddos that I'm so excited about, I just had to share...even if we have not finished them yet! We are learning about the artist Jen Aranyi who I discovered on Instagram and I LOVE. Turns out, so do my students! They are so excited about this project. 

We are working on cardboard pizza rounds that I have purchased from Amazon, Gordon Food Services and any restaurant supply place. I usually get a box of 100 for $20. They come in a couple different sizes and I let my kids decide if they wanted a large 14" circle or a smaller 10" one. 

Unlike the video, I actually had my kiddos use a pencil and THIS DRAWING SHEET first. Having this sheet really helped serve as a reminder for my kids after I'd gone thru the landscape directions. They drew in pencil first and then traced with Sharpie. Next week, we'll start the watercolor skies!

Here's the video I created just for you and my kids! Feel free to use in your art teacherin' world. Be sure to take Jen and I on IG when you do this lesson with you students. We would love to see!
Thank you to Jen Aranyi for her sweet words and support about this project. Her work is simply wonderful. Be sure and check her out!
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Monday, November 26, 2018

In the Art Room: Fourth Grade Fauves!

I just wrapped up a super fun and VERY COLORFUL Fauve-inspired self-portrait lesson with my fourth grade kiddos. This lesson included so many things: drawing a cartoon or caricature version of ourselves, using chalk pastel in an unusual way, creating pattern and design with oil pastel for a watercolor resist. It was mixed-media to the max with beautiful results. Here's a quickie lesson I put together just for you and your kiddos:
Lemme just say this: I DO NOT enjoy teaching self-portrait drawing to my older kids. They are so stinkin' hard on them selves that it is painful to watch. We will do a more in depth selfie drawing later this year (if time allows) but for now, this was a fun way to ease in to it. These works of art will be featured in our Artome Art Show and therefore have to be 9" X 12"...I really think this would be a great lesson on a bigger scale as the kids could achieve more detail. 
 Normally, my lesson for fourth grade and Artome is this Romero Britto one. While I love that lesson, it does take forever. Also...I have a group of kiddos this year that would just be frustrated with that lesson. I decided to create a lesson based around their interests (working big and bold!) and their attention span (I know my people, what can I say) and this proved to be it. Each kiddo was super proud and successful. 
 Day One: Each kiddo had a bingo dauber filled with slightly diluted India ink. After doing some quiet sketching for the first five minutes, we gathered and chatted about creating simple selfies on our paper. Because of the large line of the dauber and the small size of the paper, the kids learned quickly that they had to work big and without tiny details. They also were not to use pencil first but to just GO FOR IT. I only had one rule: YOU CAN MAKE AS MANY AS YOU LIKE...but if you start a selfie, even if you think it is a "mess up", you must finish it. Each kid ended up with between 3- 5 to choose from for the next class. Extras will be used in upcoming projects. 
The following art class, we started using chalk and "elephant snot" or liquid starch. I get my Sta-Flo liquid starch from Walmart. The best chalk pastels I have found are made by Faber-Castell. The colors are just so bright!
Day Two: Chalk and starch those bad boys! If they finished one, many kids asked to work on their other drawings. I was totes cool with that!
Day Three: Create a background! Using our Sargent bright oil pastels, we drew patterns all over the background of our selfies. Then we used liquid watercolor over that. Each is just as beautiful as the next! I cannot wait to see these at our art show. Will keep you posted on what the other kiddos are creating!
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Monday, November 12, 2018

What the Art Teacher Wore #209

Hey, Pencil Dress! You can find out all the details of this dress, including where I scored the fab fabric right here

HOW DID IT HAPPEN THAT IT IS NOVEMBER ALREADY?! Like, who allowed that to happen? Who gave this year permission to fly by at the speed of light leaving me behind on all things! Y'all I know I say this all the time but MY HEAD IS JUST BARELY ABOVE WATER...maybe it's because...well, I'm in the midst of finishing my SECOND BOOK
Sweater from Urban Outfitters, skirt by me, details here

That's right! This one is the same format as my Clay Lab book but it will be all fibers. Coming up with over 50 fibers projects for kids has been a feat. Y'all know that I love to teach fibers and have been doing sewing, weaving, felting and more with my kids forever...but coming up with even more projects has basically fried my brain. It was a small brain to start with. And now it's basically burnt to a crisp. 
And I feel bad because I know I've missed out on sharing so much here, on this blog. This is such a fun place for me to share lessons, what I'm wearing and what I'm creating...but I've had to give up some of that to push on with the book. I know I'll be happy in the end (like, when I'm DONE!) but right now, it kinda bums me out that this space has been neglected. I'm sorry! More videos and posts to come. By the way, these Loud Mouths were created by my KINDERGARTENERS and you can find the video lesson here
Found this old photo of me back in '81, totally rockin' the teacher bun! AND kinda lookin' like a hostess from Shoney's. 

I've also been busy hitting fall state conferences! Last month I went to Florida's conference where I was one of the keynote speakers and presenters...y'all. It was such a blast! Florida knows how to conference! I'm excited to be heading to Connecticut this weekend to speak and present there too! 
I've also been getting ready for our Artome Art Show! I'm doing a new lesson with my fourth graders this year and I'm so excited about the results. I will DEF be sharing this lesson with you as it was one that the kids and I really enjoyed. 
Crayon sweater needle felted by me, details here!

Also...it seems that I don't often share that I have a podcast so I'm just gonna throw this out there as a reminder! A new podcast airs each Thursday and I'd love it if you gave it a listen. Also, if you have any suggestions for podcast topics, I'm always open. Feel free to drop me a line in the comments.  
After saying all that...I guess I can see why I feel like my head is just above water! In other news, check out these cute suns that my kindergarten created...it inspired one of my fourth graders to stitch up this sun pillow during her recess/stitching time. Isn't it the cutest?
The suns were created for these cuties. I'll be sure to share this kindergarten lesson with you soon!
I hope y'all have a wonderful upcoming week! Check out my pencil dress here
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Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Greg Mike LOUD MOUTH-Inspired Lesson

Hey, friends! I feel like it's been forever since I chatted with y'all...we currently have no internet at my house (long boring story that we hope to remedy soon!) which means I've not been able to share with you. So I'm staying late this afternoon to post a recent lesson I created for my students (this is actually a sub video! My sub and the kids LOVED it!). 

I was inspired by a lesson that Mr. DeWilde shared on his blog. In fact, you can purchase his lesson plan (which is different than mine and, honestly, probably better!) over on his page. DO IT. I saw his kid's projects on Instagram and immediately knew my kids would love doing it! So here's my version...feel free to use in your art teacherin' world:
My sub and the kids did a great job with this! They created their sketches first and then started creating. Most did not finish...which means that next week, they will be wrapping up their big mouth's with me before heading off on Thanksgiving Break!
Leaving videos for my sub that s/he is able to use with ALL grades is one of my most favorite things ever. It means one lesson for them to remember, one set of art supplies, one easy day! I have a TON of sub lessons on my blog and my YouTube channel...you are more than welcome to use in your art teacherin' world. Have a great week, y'all!
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Monday, October 29, 2018

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. 
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Monday, October 22, 2018

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. 



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Saturday, October 13, 2018

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!
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Sunday, October 7, 2018

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!

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Thursday, October 4, 2018

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. 
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Tuesday, October 2, 2018

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!
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Tuesday, September 25, 2018

DIY: Top Favorite Fall Crafts

Fall is my very favorite. Halloween is my very favorite. If you've been around this blog for a couple of sessions then you know that it's this time of year that I'm usually firing up the hot glue gun, busting out the Celluclay and creating things that go bump in the night. This year...well, I'm just a little busy with other things to craft any spooky goodness. However, I do believe I'm pretty well stocked in all things frightening. So I thought I'd put them all together in one big ole blog post! All links will take you back to the original post which, more than likely, will have a how-to video. Happy Crafting!
1. Probably one of my all time favorite fall creations were these Zombie Head Planters. This was at the height of Walking Dead/Zombie popularity (remember when EVERY movie was a zombie movie?! Not that I'm complaining but, really, how many zombies movies do we need?!). I loved creating the expressions for these dead dudes!
2. These Halloween miniature pieces were fun to craft on an afternoon. The pumpkin dude was created from paper clay found at the craft store. And the little painting was a copy of a vintage Halloween creation. 
3. UGH, THIS PHOTO MAKES ME LOVE HALLOWEEN SO MUCH! I created these creepy heads with Styrofoam head forms found at Joann's, cheesecloth and liquid starch. That creepy mummy just might be my favorite.
4. The things you can do with that liquid starch and cheesecloth combo, y'all! This was a vintage music box thingie that I transformed into Frank and his Bride. Can I get a gig where I just sit around and make Halloween stuff 24/7? BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE AMAZING! 
5. When I found this old jewelry box at the thrift store, I KNEW I had to make it into a book of spells. Weird? Probably! But I'm telling you, Celluclay is magical and you can make just about anything with it!
6. On that same thrifting trip, I found a bunch of bottles and decided to craft potion bottles from them!
7. I've got my eye on you. All of 'em! How-to video included in this creep-tastic EYE POPPING blog post...sorry, I had to. 
8. What I really love most about creating is taking something boring and transforming it into something insane. This was a little "Country Store" bird house type thing...that I completely spook-i-fied. I love the little light at the top! Details here. 
9. Wow, you're such a chatterbox! Did I mention that I love creating with Celluclay? Okay, lemme tell you what it is: it's basically a paper pulp type of clay. It comes in dry form and all you do is add water. I love to add it to an armature, whether it be one I made or one I've thrifted. Once the creation is dry, I usually paint them all black and dry brush the color on top...I love the antiqued look it gives. Details on these guys can be found here. 
10. Yes, in case you are wondering, that IS a candy corn tree. More deets on that in a second. First, can we talk about that eye-popping dude? Loved creating those creepy skulls!
11. Gangster Bats! Beware...they'll give you an offer you can't refuse. 
12. The Halloween creation that started it all...these guys! I made them back in 2015 and they are still my most favorite thing! LOOK at those faces, so silly and happy. Details here.
13. The Bride has ALWAYS been my favorite...mostly because I find the actress, Elsa Lancaster, so striking! This was so much fun to paint...I need to paint more, I miss it. Mixing all those different tones tho? NOT my favorite!
14. Is it even fall without Day of the Dead creations?! I think not...they speak to my love of color on these cloudy days filled with crunchy brown leaves. These planters were so fun to paint!
15. We travel a lot during the fall...mostly to our haunted house events. I love to have a craft on hand to work on and embroidery is usually my go-to. This reversible necklace was created during one of our Halloween adventures.
16. Hosting craft nights is one of my favorite things...something I don't make the time to do right now...but hope to in the near future! My artsy friends and I created these guys on a craft night a couple years ago and they are still my favorite. 
17. Decorating a candy corn tree counts as a fall craft, right?! This tree is from Treetopia and it's just about the best thing ever. I have a rainbow version in my art room!
18. I've never officially blogged about my Hitchhiking Ghosts painting inspired by Disney's The Haunted Mansion because I felt like I never finished it! But I kinda don't mind it in it's ghastly ghostly state...and I'm pretty sure I'm just too lazy to finish it.

And there you have it! My Top 18 Fave Fall Crafts! I'll be continuing this lil series with my fave fall art projects for kids and, of course, my fave fall ensembles. Yay! It's fall, y'all! 
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