What the Art Teacher Wore #207

 Howdy, friends! If you live in the Tennessee area than you know what a wet and wild week we had! I like to thought it was NEVER gonna stop raining. Which means to outdoor recess for the kids...and it was full moon week. Regardless, we were rockin' through our paintings, embroidery, weaving and sewing projects this week and I couldn't be more excited about the progress the kids are making. We also got to meet a new friend to the art room this week: Our Monster from Cotton Monster Jen!

 Last week, I had the chance to see my mom who had picked up for me some fun things for my art room: these floats! I'm using them as "flexible seating" for my third graders as they weave. 

They were in heaven. So that folks who wanted to sit in the floats could have a turn, I set a timer for every five minutes. I also have a small fort, beach chairs and plenty of pillows for them to pick from. We played music and it was a regular weaving party! If you'd like to learn more about circle loom weaving, check out my blog posts with video. 

 Even if I did look like a crazy person walking down the halls with these bad boys. I literally couldn't fit through my door!

 Since my students are involved in fiber arts projects right now, I'm thrilled to introduce them to Jennifer Strunge. This isn't the first time I've shared her work with my kids. You can see our Monster Sewing Project (with video!) here. We are voting on his name next week after brainstorming tons of ideas! Will keep you posted. 

 Another thing my mama got for me? This hilariously inappropriate and yet so appropriate t-shirt. The kids had a big laugh over that one. 

 While my third graders are weaving, my fourth graders are sewing. Some are sewing pizza pillows, donut pillows or, in this case, emojis! I'm hoping to have these complete by this coming week...ready to move on, y'all! Lesson details to come. 

 My first graders are wrapping up their reversible dot paintings. This is a revamp of a lesson I did years ago with my second graders...I love this project! I'll be creating an updated blog post about this and what we did differently super soon. I purchased the cardboard pizza rounds from Gordon Food Services but you can also found them on Amazon. 

 Did y'all know I like rainbows? What was the first clue...?

 And pizza. I'm also a fan of pizza. This HUGE pillow was completed by a fourth grader. You can check out this lesson and video here. 

 Two of my second grade classes are stitching right now...and totally rocking it. They finished them off this week and they were so proud of themselves. Lesson details to come. I love stitching with kids. 

 I think the best part of this week was seeing so many projects finally coming to fruition. It's been WEEKS and I'm so excited for these young artists. 

 I'm also STOKED that I got ALL of the Getting to Know You sculptures up because, whew!, that took a minute. 

 And that's a wrap! I hope y'all had a wonderful week...and here's to one heading right for us!

 Ah! Also happy to finally finish and hang my Paint the Town by Numbers Mr. Rogers. 

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Abstract Painting in First Grade

Last week, my first graders, who I see for 30 minutes twice a week, spent one class learning as much as they could about Wassily Kandinsky, abstract art, non-objective vs. objective and painting to music...all in 30 minutes. Whew! It was fast and furious. Here's a peak into our lesson and time together. 

My students absolutely LOVED this lesson and I cannot wait to share with you what our plan is for our paintings. In the meantime, I've been asked a lot what supplies we used for this lesson. Let's start with the paper. I ALWAYS buy 80lbs paper because it's the best paper for everything: watercolor paint, tempera, collage, you name it. I purchase about 4 reams a year for my 350 students.

 My go-to watercolor pan watercolor is Crayola's Mixing Colors. I only order the refill sets, never new sets. I order the following colors: magenta, red, red-orange, yellow, green, turquoise, blue, blue-violet and purple.

 My VERY favorite oil pastels for resist are the florescent oil pastels by Sargent. All of the supplies mentioned can be found in your art supply catalog. 

 If you watch my video, you'll notice I do A LOT of call and response. It's my number one teaching tool...I probably use it to a fault! However, it's a great way for me to keep my students attention, teach vocabulary and have them retain information and directions. It also WORKS WONDERS for my English language learners...they LOVE repeating after me!

 Also...can we talk about what amazing abstract artists these guys are?! Holy cats! I am seriously thinking of printing their paintings on some fabric. I need these masterpieces as a dress, y'all!

 I'm so excited to share with you what the master plan is for these...so be sure and stay tuned!

 What are your favorite ways to teach kiddos about abstract painting? Do you have a favorite artist that you like to introduce your students to? I'd love to know!

 Thank you for letting me share these amazing abstract masterpiece by first grade with y'all. I hope they make you as happy as they make me!

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In the Art Room: Top 15 Fave Valentine's Day Lessons!

After winter break, I always find myself in the mood to start Valentines-y/Warm-Fuzzy/Lovey-Dovey projects with the kids. When doing a little searching on my blog last night, I discovered that I've done 15 Valentine's-themed lessons over the years. I had no idea I'd done so many! I thought I'd share them with you today. May of the links back to the original post will include an instructional video. Please let me know if you do any of these lessons, I'd love to see what you and your kiddos create!

Robert Indiana Love Prints! Believe it or not, my sweet FIRST GRADERS created these a couple years ago! It was a great lesson for printmaking and definitely one I will be doing again. If you don't have printing ink, you might want to check out this blog post where I'll show you how to print with paper and markers!

James Rizzi Love Birds!  Who doesn't love James Rizzi?! These birds are based on some of his work and is a great tie-in if you've already taught Rizzi and his fun cityscape works.

 Recycled Hearts!  Last year, I had a stock pile of messy-mats from our months of painting. We used them to make these two fun works of art (see below also) and they were such a hit! What a great way to review the warm colors, pattern and line.

So much sweetness!

Chris Uphues Hearts! If y'all don't know who Chris Uphues is, then you need to! He's one of my fave dudes to follow on Instagram. His artwork is so fun, so happy and so kid-friendly. They had a blast creating these happy hearts inspired by him.

J Goldcrown Hearts! If you need a quick one day project, I would recommend this one for sure! You can introduce your students to another street artist, J Goldcrown, and have them work in chalk! This is a great project for just about all levels. 

Sculpture Hearts! Last year, I introduced my second graders to Celluclay with this project. I have 30 minute art classes with these kiddos so we had to hustle! We spent one day covering our foil hear in clay, two days painting and the last day stringing beads. These were one of my favorite projects for Valentine's day!

 My Heart Has Wings! If you want to do a feel-good project with your faculty and staff, might I recommend this one? We did it on a PD day and it was so much fun. Of course, this would be a great project for kids as well.

Candy Heart Sculptures! My fourth graders created these candy hearts last year and they had a blast. We used plaster strips which created a super hard surface for the candy. We even made giant candy boxes to display them in!

 Woven Hearts! Every year, first grade does a paper weaving and every year we do something a little new. Last year, they nailed the weaving part so well, I thought I'd introduce them to simple sewing. They did great and I loved hanging them up like a quilt.

Candy Heart Drawings! When my fourth grade early finishers were done with their candy heart sculptures, I had them move on to a drawing of their candy hearts with oil pastel.

Britto Mural! A few years ago, I had to be out for a couple of weeks for jury duty. While I was gone, I had my students work on the parts of this Britto-inspired mural. It was great because then there was a fun masterpiece to hang in the hall when I returned. You can check out the instructional videos in the link.

Valentine Animals! My kindergarten kiddos created these fun animals last year. I created an instructional video for each one which you can find by clicking on the link. 

Collaborative Heart Mural! Collaborative pieces are a lot of fun this time of year. If you follow the link, you'll see which grades created what for this huge collaborative pieces that still hangs in our front office.

Peter Anton Box of Chocolates! This might have been a kid-favorite as it involved using EVERYONE'S favorite art supply: puffy paint! Check out how we made the faux candies and boxes by following the link.

What are your favorite projects this time of year? Love to hear! 

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Top Ten Winter Projects for Kids!

It's that time of the year...where, if you live in Tennessee, that means it's 70 degrees one day and chance of snow the next (y'all better believe there'll be some ice cubes in my toilet, pj's inside out, white crayons on ALL the window sills and whatever else I gotta do to make a light dusting happen). With that in mind, I thought I'd share my Top Ten Winter Projects for Los Kiddos!

I'll actually be sharing more about my thoughts on holiday art and alternatives to that on this week's podcast. Y'all know I have a podcast, right? You can take a listen here and be sure and subscribe...cuz the sound of my voice is pretty close to that of angels singing (if they were being tortured, that is). 

Now, without further ado, lemme share my faves with you. I'll be linking back to the original blog post where you'll find the complete lesson (and sometimes video instruction!). Here you go!

1. Heather Galler-Inspired Patterned Hot Cocoa Cups! This is a lesson I did a couple years ago with my second graders...a lesson that we had to wash down with a cup of hot cocoa, of course!

2. Printed and Collaged Winter Self-Portraits! Need a good printmaking lesson for your kiddos? Try this one on for size. I did this lesson with my second graders but could def work for kids as young as first and as old as fourth grade. Also, if you don't have brayers and printing ink, try THIS super amazing and simple printmaking alternative that just involves markers and water!

3. Fourth Grade Faux Stained Glass Windows! Hey-hey, there's a video lesson included in this link! I LOVED this project and so did the kiddos...but I think that adding the layer of liquid starch would have made this much less messy. Check out using liquid starch with your chalk pastels here and prepare to be AMAZED! 

4. Charley Harper-Inspired Woodland Animals! Video instruction here! I can promise that there will be cuteness. Charley Harper has so many amazing animal-themed works of art that you'll find endless amounts of inspiration from him with just a quick google search. 

5. Kindergarten Starry Night Winter Landscapes! These are such a joy to watch the kiddos create! We learn all about tints, shades, Starry Night, collage and more. This is a lesson I bring back each and every year. 

6. and 7. Snowflakes and Snowflake Prints! I used to make oodles of snowflakes at the dinner table growing up...but kids don't really do that anymore. Time to change all that. What do you do with snowflakes once they are cut out? Well, you could use them as stencils and print! We printed on Gelli Arts gelli plates when we were finished cutting out our snowflakes. We printed on fabric and then learned how to sew to create these wallhangings. My third graders had a blast creating these. 

8. I NEVER get tired of Foil Relief Projects! I mean, really. Hang around this blog long enough and you'll find several versions of foil relieve. This was a fun way to create something magical with our paper cutouts.

9. Mural Making! What do you do when your music teacher needs a little bit of decoration for the music program? You put your students t work!

They'll take ownership, responsibility and have so much fun doing so!

Don't need a mural for a program but still want to crank one out? This one has something in it from every student in the school! You can find out the details here. 

10. Winter Guided Drawing! Let's be real, people: there's nothing more crazy than these last few weeks before school is out for winter break. I find that guided drawing really is a great way to calm kiddos and review the elements of art. Here are some of my faves...and if you click the link, you'll find more details.

What I love about winter themed projects as opposed to holiday art is that 1. IT'S ALL INCLUSIVE! I work at a very diverse school and I would never want anyone to feel left out. Therefore, winter art is the best route for me. 

Another bonus: there's no deadline! With holiday art, there's the pressure to get the artwork complete before the holidays arrive...but with winter art, if we don't finish before winter break, well, we'll return to it after the fact. 

Um, is there anything cuter than a winking bunny?!

MAYBE a scarf-wearing penguin! LOVE to hear your favorite winter themed projects, please share below...and if you have a blog or IG where you share your students' masterpieces, please feel free to add the link so we can all learn from your amazingness. Have a great week, y'all!

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