Favorite Fall Lessons!

It's the time of year, my very favorite time of the year: fall! We are gearing up for some fun fall art makin' stations and I thought I'd share a bit about that as well as my favorite fall lessons. Many of these links include videos for you to share in your art room. Let's start with this one, a fourth grade favorite: Spooky Starry Nights!

Now I just mentioned art makin' stations which has become my new favorite thing of late! With 30 minute art classes, it's been a fun way for my students to really roll up their sleeves, move around the room and explore several different art makin' activities. You can find out how we did stations for Dot Day here and here and how we are doing it for learning the elements of art LINE here and here...all with videos for you to share in your art room and some videos that are just my tips and tricks for YOU! Here's a blog post about the stations I did on Halloween in my art room here.  I plan to do a week long stations this year so all of my classes can experience the fun. The above pumpkin prints is one I will be adding to the mix. I can't wait!

Monsters are always fun to do during this season and my students LOVE creating them! This lesson, with video, is one I know your students will love!

This one is fun for all ages especially if you want to introduce color mixing, painting, printing and collage. Another lesson with video right here!

Speaking of fall trees, check out this amazing weaving lesson! If you've never woven with your students, I recommend doing a short paper weaving first before diving into this activity. I would give this a go with fourth grade and up if students are new to weaving. Lesson and video here!

Speaking of weaving, my students love this weaving project! All the weaving details can be found in this blog post!

Wanna do printing with your students but don't want to deal with the mess? This leaf printing lesson with just markers and water is sure to be a hit! Here's more.

Speaking of printing...check out this Warhol-inspired sunflower print idea! You'll love it!

How about more monsters? Maybe even ones that glow under black light? All the details and videos can be found here!

Need more monsters? Look no further...than here!

Before Gelli-Plates and the like, we had to make our own sort of gelatin printing plate. 10 years ago, I posted this lesson and it's still one of the most visited on my blog. However, I no longer make the stinky gelatin (not to mention, it's not vegan friendly...I'm not a vegan, but I don't like using it) so you may want to try the same method but with the longer lasting plates. Here's the details.

Another super popular lesson that always yields amazing results is this one! I've done a variation of this type of lesson with students of all ages. More info here. 

Have fun, friends!

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We Are Woven Together!

I've been thinking of new art lessons to bring into my art room this coming school year. I always want my lessons to have a focus on kindness, acceptance, empathy and love because, to me, that's what art is all about. I have put together a list of my favorite books to use when teaching and I thought I'd share it with you. 

As for the weaving project, you'll need a piece of white and black paper; yellow, red, white and black paint; a paintbrush and a cup of water; scissors and glue. Here we go:

I've been getting a lot of questions lately on how I plan to approach these types of lessons in my art room. Honestly, I'm going to be spending my summer reading, listening and learning. I don't know the answer to that question...yet. But I am open to learning. For now, this is my starting point and I thought I would share. 

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Summer Vacation Week!

 It's officially summer! My summer vacation began last week but I'm going to continue to teach live art classes one more week! Here is our line up for this week. I go live every week day on my Instagram and my Facebook page. You can of course catch my videos afterward over on my YouTube channel. New videos are added all the time so be sure to subscribe! 

Here is our line up for this week. We'll kick things off with a Summertime Selfie!

It wouldn't be a week of creating with me without Salt Dough Clay!  

 Last week, the kids really loved origami so I decided to do another origami project! 

 On Friday, we'll sail away to other adventures and beyond in this hot air balloon pop-up! 

See you soon!

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Let's Draw a Disco Ball!

Got markers? Then you have all you need (well, you'll also need paper, a plate or bowl to trace, a cup of water and a paintbrush too) to create your very own disco ball. Throw some crayons in there and write a little message under your ball as well. This project is fun, easy and SUPER COOL! Let's boogie, y'all!

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Under the Sea Week: A Coral Reef Relief Collage

 Yesterday, as apart of our Under the Sea Week, we created Coral Reef Relief Collages! If you want to create your own, grab the following supplies:

And now, let's create:

This one is so much fun and the possibilities are endless. 

If you want to join LIVE art class today, here's what you'll need! You can find me LIVE on my Facebook page, my Instagram or join the fun later by tuning in to my YouTube channel. Be sure and subscribe, new videos are added all the time! 

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Let it Glow: Monsters in the City!

A lesson that I was sharing a lot of images from on my Instagram got a whole lot of love and questions this year and that was this Monsters in the City project! After learning about the artist Kudu-Lah, my students began by designing their cities and creating a series of monsters. I thought I'd share some images from our project but also create a video to walk you and your students through. Because these works of art were going to be apart of our Glow Gallery, I'll be sharing my favorite glow products from Pacon. With my students, we used 24"X36" sheets of paper for the cities and 12"X18" paper for the monsters. I'll be working half that size for the video. And my paper of choice is Pacon's Mixed Media paper. Here you go:

If you are doing this at home, try using a permanent marker to draw your cities and monsters with. Then add color with crayons, markers, colored pencils or paint! 

 In my thirty-minute art classes, my fourth graders spent two days drawing their cityscapes. 

The following day we used fluorescent oil pastels and watercolor for the sky. 

Then we created TONS of monsters! I had them make as many as they could to really loosen them up. I love the variety they achieved! 

 We used our fluorescent paint to make them glow!

Then we cut them out to add to our cities! We used a little bit of foam and cardboard glued to the back of the monsters to make them pop up from our cities. For a sneak peak of last year's glow gallery, check this out:

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Dinosaur Week: Pop-Up Dinosaurs Love Snacks!

Our Dinosaur Week adventures continued on Thursday with this super fun activity: Dinosaurs Love Snacks! Here's the supplies suggested:

And here's the video so you can create along with me!

Have fun!

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Superhero Week: Super Pop-Up Card!

Wow! The artists who joined me live yesterday really had a lot of fun with this one: a Super Pop-Up Card! If you've not made a pop-up card before, you really outta give this simple project a shot. Here's the list of supplies you'll need:

You'll need two pieces of paper, one for the card and the other for your buildings and superhero. And here's how you can create your own card:

The possibilities of what you can create with this simple pop-up concept are limitless! If you want to join us today, here's what you might want to have on hand:

You can watch LIVE today (and every weekday) on my Facebook or my Instagram. You can also watch all videos the next day on my YouTube channel. New videos are up all the time so you might want to be sure to subscribe! 

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Zany Scientists! Exploding Beakers and Floating Chalk Prints!

Yesterday we did one of my favorite art projects so far: Exploding Beakers! We followed that up with a fun science experiment of making floating chalk prints. In case you missed the fun, no worries, here's the video:

In case you need a list of supplies, here you go:

 If you want to join the fun today, you can do so here on Facebook or here on Instagram. Be sure and subscribe here on YouTube so you can keep up with all of our Zany Scientist happenings! You can also catch all of the Robot Week videos there too! 

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Zany Scientists! Scientist Selfie and Bubble Prints!

 What a fun turnout we had yesterday for Zany Scientists Week! In case you missed it, I'm doing a LIVE art and science class every day this week! You can join the live class two ways: my Facebook or my Instagram. And, if you miss any of the live art classes, not to worry as they all get posted to my YouTube channel! I have a ton of art makin' videos there and upload new ones often so you might want to subscribe. If you missed any of Robot Week, you can find all of the videos there!  

Watch here!

Here is the short list of supplies needed to follow along with this art and science activity. And if you'd like to join the fun today, here's what you'll need: 

Hope to see you there! 

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Art Teacherin' Extravaganza!

Hey, y'all! If you follow me on Instagram or you have signed up for my email newsletter, then you've heard the big news: I'm throwing an Art Teacherin' Extravaganza! I'll be sharing more details here but if you just wanna jump on board and reserve your spot, go ahead and do so here!

 I've been working on putting together this experience for the last couple of months although, to be honest, it's been on my mind for years! So often there are not professional development opportunities for art teachers or when we do have them, they don't offer what it is we really need and want: hands-on creating! Here's a little more:

But, really and truly, the real reason I created this extravaganza is that I want to see you. I want to spend time with you. I know in my bones...IN.MY.BONES...how lonely teaching art can be. I spent the first ten years of my teaching career carrying around that shadow of loneliness. I know I've chatted about it at length on my podcast which you can hear here:



Knowing of my experience with loneliness, I wanted to carve out a time for you and me this summer to spend time together, meet other like-minded folks, make new friends and, best of all, create! Here's where the extravaganza will be held:

Montgomery Bell State Park has so much to offer! There's canoeing, fishing, hiking, swimming, horseback riding and much more. This might just be a great little vacation for you and your family this summer. While you are hanging with me, they could explore the park and all that is has to offer. Not to mention that Nashville is just 45 minutes away and is a buzz with stuff to do! For those attending, I'll be creating a list of my favorite things to share with you soon so you can plan your trip!

The Inn at the park has a very limited amount of rooms set aside for attendees. However, there are a ton of hotels just five miles down the road in the town of Dickson. I included a list of those hotels here. I'd recommend getting in on Thursday night so you are ready for everything on Friday morning. I'm working on creating a Facebook group for attendees to chat with friends and meet potential roomies to lower the accommodation costs.

 

I tried my best to think of every question you may have but I am sure I've forgotten something. So feel free to drop me a line! You can email me at artteacherin101@gmail.com. Love to hear from you and, hopefully, see you real soon!

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