In the Art Room: Valentine Animals!

JUST A REMINDER! Join me this evening over on Facebook LIVE at 8pm CST. We'll be sharing ideas on what to do with those kiddos who finish early. Come with your tips and tricks and I'll share mine as well. Looking forward to chatting with you tonight!

In an attempt to introduce my younger students to printing, reinforce the elements of art, work on our fine motor skills (we really need it, y'all!) and spread a little LOOOOOVE, I created a series of videos called Valentine Animals! Initially, I was going to put all of the How-to-Draw tutorials in one video but there were a couple of problems with that notion. First, the video would have been close to an hour! Long vids take too long to upload (and download when you want to use them in your art room). Second, I wanted to be able to find particular How-to's easily and having them in separate videos proved to be the best way to make that happen. 

So I present to you a series of four Valentine Animal videos. Feel free to use them in your art teacherin' world. I'd love to hear from you (and see your students' work) if you do!

This really started when the first grade team at my school approached me about doing a 101 Dalmatians art project for the 100 days of school. I came up with the project on the left. The firsties had just finished their weaving project so it was the perfect time to start something new. I thought the project brought so many elements together that it would be a perfect fit as a lesson for my kindergarten friends as well. 

The panda video is the only one where I walk you through the steps to creating the heart stamps for printing. It's also the only video that I share how to carefully cut out and adhere the animal to the background paper. I didn't want each video to repeat so I only put those directions in this video. 

Because my students are starting these this week, I don't have any finished ones to share...but I'll make sure to share when they are complete!

 So the fox might be my fave. Here's the video:

As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm currently working with Faber-Castell so you'll see me using their supplies quite a bit. I'm excited to work with this company because I love their products. You can check out my review of their oil pastels here. 

Did I mention that I've been recruited to dress as Cruella Deville for the 100th day? Oh yea, buddy! Here's the puppy video:

In case you are wondering why I did so many different animals, I am planning to have each kinder class do a different one. This will add more variety to our hallway display. 

 And last, a bunny!

This one is probably the easiest. 

And there you have it! Have fun!

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Art Teacherin' 101: Episode 23 KINDERGARTENLAND

Ah, yes. Kindergarten. If it's one group of people that have my complete respect, it's the kindergarten teacherin' crowd. K-town comes to us all over the place: some have been in school, others have not; some know how to follow directions, others would rather roll around the floor (I mean, who wouldn't). You get the idea, it's a Big Ole Mixed Bag o' Fun. Ish. Ness. So I thought we could talk about that herd of cats we call Kindergarten in this week's 101. AND I thought I'd give you a sneak peak into a 5 minute chat with a group of 'em: 

What works the best for me: Call and Response. I use that trick with EVERY grade level, kindergarten up to fourth. It really works wonders for grabbing attention and getting kids to remember vocabulary, directions and steps to follow. Here's how I introduce it to the kids:

With kindergarten, I really like the happy/sad board. It's an instant visual and it's something easy I can keep up with. Again, I use it with everyone...but I notice I reference it most with the littles. By the time they are older, I hardly use it unless one of them reminds me. And then I'm all, "sure, would you mind keeping track of it for me?" I'm all about the distribution of power (aka, getting someone else to do my job). Here are the deets on that:

Another method I use with the wee ones is palming. I mention this in the video but you can see it in action here: 

Because we're chatting about kindergarten in this here post, I thought I'd share my most favorite lessons as well. If you've been around here long enough, you've heard my Larry the Line poem that I start my kindergarten school year with:

Larry the Lines leads us to our very first art project: Line Sculptures. From there we continue with a unit on line. You can find that entire unit here. 

I love using books with kindergarten, as I know many of us do, and one of my favorites is Mouse Paint. It's a great way to introduce color theory...and review lines to create shapes like these sweet mice! 

I love to introduce a unit on shape as you can see here. One of my favorite self portrait projects come from the artists in kindergarten land and you can see more of that here. I almost always do a variation of this landscape lesson each year. 

When it comes to clay, I LOVE introducing textures into clay creating. Check out these fun birds! We also had a lot of fun creating these clay butterflies. 

I'd love to hear what some of your favorite kindie lessons are. They are a group that is NEVER short on excitement...and if you can harness that, you've got gold. By the way, I often update my YouTube account before I share here so if you subscribe, you can get the latest, if you like! 

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What the Art Teacher Wore #139

 Closing in on May Monday: I just cannot believe it. How can the end of my school year almost be here? We get out at the end of the month and I'm in tooootal denial as my kids still have so much to do! dress: vintage, Buffalo Exchange; belt and tights: Target; boots: old, Seychelles; necklace: Anthropologie

Y'all. I've been living in total denial. About many things (my hoarding problem; my issues with not-wanting-to-behave-like-a-responsible-grown-up; my strong addiction to dark chocolate...first thing in the morning). But most importantly, I've had my head in the sand over the fact that the end of the school year is so stinkin' near. And while I know many celebrate such (look, I love my summer daze, don't get me wrong), it inspires nothing but pure white hot panic in me. I get all, OMGaaah, we have so much left to do! HOLY COWZZZ, I had so much more I wanted to edumacate! And, biggest panic of all, GOLLY GEE, this means the art show is creepin' up on me like a kindergartener with a palm full of paint about to plant it on my behind (um, it's happened people. Like, more than once). Deep breaths. It's a-gonna be okay. Me thinks.

I hope to be back with you later this week with a DIY. Although, right meow, it'z lookin' like a hot mess. In which case all y'all will get a double dose of some art room goodness. Regardless, I hope to see ya soon! Have a fab week, kids!

 Having the opportunity to write for Nashville Arts has been one of the coolest things that has happened this school year. I love that I've had the chance to participate in cool opportunities (recording studio, anyone?!) and write about it, all thanks to Nashville Arts. In this month's issue, I wrote about my students chalking experience. You can catch a glimpse of the complete article here.

Doncha Donut Tuesday: I wish everyday was donut day. The kids did as well. They had as much fun with this project as I did making the hat! sweater: ebay; dress: vintage; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; tights: Target; shoes: thrifted; hat: DIY here

 "Look, I made Homer Simpson's donut!" That you did, girl. Complete lesson here, y'all.

 Bring on the Spring Wednesday: I'm so ready for it, y'all. Sadly, my yard is beyond ready for it. I spent countless hours just working on the front yard alone this weekend. I do love it to a certain extent. Although, I gotta admit, there are about twenty things I rather be doing. Like not pulling One Million Weeds for starts. dress: vintage; neon fishnets: free!; shoes: Clarks

 Holy moly, could these kindergarten self-portraits be any happier? Or cuter? Or wide-eyed and toothless?! I love 'em so.

 Stripe-y Spring Thursday: I have decided to bust out my spring dresses for this mild weather. I can only wear these spring color'd and long sleeve'd bad boys during these mild spring days. Pretty soon it's gonna hit 90's and never back down until November so I've got a small window to wear these lovelies. dress: vintage, Buffalo Exchange; shoes: Jeffery Campbell

Oh! So speaking of ceiling tiles, just one of my third and fourth grade classes had the chance to chalk ceiling tiles as well. The day of the chalking event, I still had my afternoon classes so for my sanity's sake, they worked in chalk as well. Since I have them for a shorter class period, these are progressing a little slower. I can't wait to see them complete as they are going to be installed in my art room!

 Me Made May Friday!: So, I'm super stoked because I've never, like neverrrr, been able to participate in #MeMadeMay. For those of y'all not in the know, it's this thingie where you wear something you've created for the entire month of May. I've never been able to participate because I never had enough me-mades...until now. So, for the rest of the month (and the next four-ish What the Art Teacher Wores), you'll be seeing me in my own creations. Like this here number...dress: DIY blog post here; sweater: thrifted; crinoline: Amazon; flats: NOLA 

Speaking of MeMadeMay, here are some me-mades I started this weekend! If you follow me on instagrams, you've already seen these works-in-progress. After seeing a million dollar vintage dress on etsy that had a lovely play on stripes, I decided to try my hand at that number on the left. I'm totally winging it which will prolly be the dress's demise. As for the number on the right, I'm using a vintage pattern. Both have a long, stitching road ahead of 'em so I don't think they'll be making another appearance here for a wee while. 

 Me-made Saturday! I thought I'd share with you one of my fave dresses that I just can't wear to schoolin'. The "hot as hell" sauce that's printed on the fabric makes it a lil NC17-ish. But I had to share it with you in this me-made month! Sadly, I was in nothing but hiking/gardening clothes all day today so no me-made post for ya'll. Try not to act too fake-disappointed. Until later this week, I hope it's a good one, kids!

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In the Art Room: Kindergarten Reindeer!

This giveaway is now closed. Kindly click on my name at the top for the latest post and giveaway. Thank you!

Alrightie friends, as promised, today begins my lil 10 Days Til Christmas Giveaway madness (and I say "madness" because me attempting to stay on top of blogging each day AND giving y'all stuff is going to be nothing short of a Christmas miracle). As I blabbered about yesterday, each day I'll share with y'all a post (I'm super behind on sharing what's been happening in the art room and some DIY's, so brace yourself for the barrage) AND giving away some giveaways (oooooh, so that's why they call 'em "giveaways"! I always wondered). So, without further ado, here's what's up for grabs today...(no, not a brand new car, silly. I ain't Oprah).

Daw, some super cuteness Christmas fabric, yay! Each piece is about 1/2 of a yard so they would be perfect for small DIY projects (totes adorbs stocking, anyone?) or, if sewing ain't your thang, use it in collage projects (how cute would a Christmas cookie recipe book covered in this fabric be?!). I'm currently using that top fabric for a dress and the middle fabric was used in the creation of this Christmas light-up number. The bottom fabric was thrown into the mix for the fun of it. 

So just how do you go about scoring this goodness? Kindly do the following: 

1. Please follow this here blog. You can do so by clicking on the "Join this site" button on the right of your computer screen. Already a follower? Thank you so much!

2. Leave a comment below about your thoughts on directed drawing projects (which is what this here post is all about. That and giveaways, of course). Or, for my non-art-teacherin friends, what you'd do with this fab fabric!

3. Do leave your email address so I can let you know that you're the Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Winner will be announced tomorrow afternoon along with tomorrow's giveaway item (it's another good one!). International friends, you are welcome to play along! Tomorrow, not only will the new item be up for grabs but I'll have slightly different requirements for y'all. I hope you'll pop back in to see if you won and what I'm giving away!

Until then, let's chat about these here Kindergarten Reindeer, ermkay?

I had my lovely kindergarten kids for the last time before break recently. They had just completed their Winter Collage Landscapes so I was in need of a one-class project that would hold their attention and teach 'em some new skillz with an art supply that is new to them: oil pastels!

To begin, I greeted the kids in the hallway and told them that they'd be going shopping for one clipboard and one sheet of paper, their choice of color. After the kids reported to the floor, they were to place their paper and clipboards in front of them to give me the Super Duper Special Signal that they were ready to learn. At this point, I projected a photo of a giant buck that my husband had caught a photo of on his deer camera. The kids loved seeing the deer and talking about all the parts of his body and face. My hubs loves to hike in the woods near our house and has found a couple of deer antlers there. I allowed the kids to touch the antlers and we talked about texture. I also told them how deer lose their antlers in the spring but grow new ones later. One smartie said, "Oh, like us! We lose our teeth but a new one grows back!"

After that chat, the kids were excited and ready to draw a deer of their own. I told them that'd we be using a lot of round shapes and rounded lines for this drawing. Step by step, I walked them threw the directions you see above. Once the deer was drawn (with the option of making Rudolph or not), the kids were sent back to their seats to do three things: draw snowflakes, add a black line for (optional) Christmas lights, use red and green tempra cakes to add finger printed lights. 

Of course, this guy's name came up a lot (painted my lil ole me a while back). Our word of the week was "nonconformity" (which is a lot for a 5 year old to comprehend). I explained how different Rudolph was and how that made him special. When doing guided drawing, I always emphasis how unique each of our drawings should be. Even though we are following the same steps, we are all different (like Ruddie!) and thus should have reindeer as unique as us. This takes the pressure off the children who are concerned that their drawing doesn't look just like mine or their friends. I always remind them that if I had wanted all their drawings to be alike, I would have simply given them a coloring sheet. And what's the fun in that?!

By the way, this isn't my first time down Reindeer Lane with the kindergarten set. These guys were created a couple years back. You can read all about 'em here. 

I'm curious to know where y'all stand on guided drawing. I'll usually do one (occasionally 2) with kindergarten and first grade during the school year but for the older kids, not so much. One of the reasons I enjoy teaching it is that it helps reinforce that everyone is an artist and everyone is unique. I had one special needs student who was so thrilled with herself that I got permission from her teacher to walk her around after art and share her drawing with anyone she could find. She stopped nearly everyone in the hallway with, "Do you like my drawing? I'm an artist!" It was simply the best.

However, I know there are some that are strongly opposed to directed or guided drawing. Perhaps it's too much instruction. Maybe it's restricting creativity. I know for my TAB friends, this is nails-on-a-chalkboard worthy. I hosted a wee bit of a debate on my blog last winter about this very topic and touched on it again in this post about craftsmanship. 

I wonder, why is this topic so polarizing amongst art teachers? I think, when taught right, directed drawing can simply introduce children to one way of drawing something (in this case, a reindeer) while reminding them that there are many ways to go about it. 

So just how did we end the lesson? With kindergarten, I love to take them on end-of-the-class gallery walks where we look at everyone's work, give e'm a complement and a round of applause. In this case, I borrowed a sleigh bell from my neighbor and we went on a sleigh ride around the room cheering on all of our friends. 

Looking forward to hearing from you, friends. And, good luck!

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