What the Art Teacher Wore #208

 This past week was our book fair and to celebrate, we had dress up days! The theme of the book fair was Enchanted Forrest and our first day was to dress in red and white for a mushroom theme. Y'all know I totally had a dress for that, right? I cannot believe I stitched it up way back in 2012! It was the one and only keyhole dress I've made. That Michael Miller gnome fabric is still my fave. Details here. 

Just a little clip of me turning my kindergarten into color mixing wizards. No bid deal.

Do y'all remember that PD I lead at the start of the school year for the faculty and staff at my school? We created a piece that stated our "why we are here". Well, my FAVORITE FUNDRAISER Artome Art Shows was kind enough to donate frames for each one of these WHY's. They now hang outside of each teacher's classroom and look simply stunning. 

 Aside from dress up days, we had a full week of art making AND open house. Which meant we had to make stuff and keep the art room on the tidy side which is a stretch. I'm super good at making messes (and I believe that's rubbed off on my kiddos) but not great at keeping the space clean. So I tidied like crazy on Monday afternoon and we had a stern "don't even think about messing this up!" chat on Tuesday before the night's events. 

Oh, and speaking of Artome Art Shows, we are having ours this December. Which means most of my classes are rockin' on their projects. We always do self portraits of some kind for Artome and this one is my favorite. We start with black glue...and you can find the complete lesson (with video!) here. 

 Tuesday's dress up theme was fairy or gnome...so I decided to go as Roy G. Biv and surprise the kids. When not wearing a beard and a rainbow hat, I was super comfy in my overalls. I THINK I'M ADDICTED TO OVERALLS. These bad boys are from Forever 21. 

Just a lil Roy action here. 

 Of course, when Roy G. Biv visits, we draw his likeness! Kindergarten did a super job of following along with Roy...

And coloring these cuties in.

 Wednesday was Wacky Sock day. I scored these from a shop in the mall that only sells socks...and they have the best selection. I don't own too many fun socks (surprising, I know) but when I spotted these, I had to have them. 

 My Unicorns are Real top is from Five Below...which is my guilty pleasure. Well, that and Dollar Tree. And in my neck of the woods, they are next to each other which means they are SUPER DANGEROUS. 

 For this year's open house, I made sure to hang two pieces of art for every kiddo. It was a lot of work and I'm excited to see it decorating the halls. I brought back my tree weaving lesson this year with third grade and I'm so glad I did. More details on this project soon. 

Usually my fourth graders do this project for the Artome Art Show but this year, I'm changing it up a bit. For our first day, we sketched thumbnail self portraits and then began creating these with bingo daubers on 9 X 12 paper. I'm so excited to see this project progress. 

 Words on a shirt day was the dress up theme for Thursday. I also had Round 2 of dressing up as Roy G. Biv for my classes that had missed out...so that meant pants again. TWICE IN ONE WEEK! Kinda crazy, I know. 

 My first graders are the kings and queens of cute with the start of their self portraits. You can check out lesson details here. 

 Friday was a half day but I had a stacked morning with five classes, kindergarten through fourth. I know my paint trays have just about run their course but were still pretty full of paint. So we did a collaborative circle painting and had a blast. All classes painted on the paper on their tables. They could only build upon the paintings that were there, not paint over them. It was a great way to spend our last day before break.

 And now it's fall break time! 

We have a lovely week off...it's glorious! I'll be home most of the week but on Thursday, I'm off to Florida for their art teacher convention...and I'm so excited. See y'all soon!

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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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What the Art Teacher Wore #206

 Hey, sweet friends! I hope your week was a wonderful one...mine started out so super amazing as I had a visitor all the way from Australia! Thank you so much, Belinda for hanging out with me and my students. They LOVED having you as much as I did!

Nearly all of my students were painting this week, from kindergarten through third grade. This was great because it meant low prep for me (aside from the initial painting prep which, as you know, is time consuming!). I love painting and I love teaching painting with my students. In fact, you can find out all about our supplies, set up and routines here! 

And, in case you are wondering, yes, my kids did draw all over this dress! Actually, they drew self portraits in the frames that was printed on this fabric and then I stitched it into a dress. You can find out more here. 

My third graders spent two art classes painting these large Chinet plates for their circle loom weaving project. On the first day, we reviewed painting routines and created concentric circles. On the second day, we painted patterns on our plates. These make me so stinkin' happy! I cannot wait to weave with these guys tomorrow!

My latest new favorite thing: lidded ice cube trays. I found mine on the Walmart website but they are available in lots of places. The reason I love them: they gonna keep my paints from drying out. I've tried egg cartons and regular ice cube trays...but the paint always dries. Hoping these prove to be the solution.

 Since we are all painting, I thought wearing this dress would be the safest bet! Loved chatting with the kids about how I created it. Details here. 

 My third graders are killlin' it with these plates and I'm so excited! I talk a lot about craftmanship in my art room...and you can read about that here. 

Kindergarten hopping on the Kandinsky train with these smaller cardboard circles they are painting for Dot Day. We totally didn't make the Dot Day deadline...and that's okay with me. These are so sweet!

 So I'm doing something crazy: I'm doing two different weaving lessons with my third graders! While one group is circle loom weaving, another is tree weaving. Before we could paint a landscape on our plates, we had to create two landscape painting sketches. These turned out so stinkin' pretty! Proper blog post on these to come...they will def be framed and featured in the halls soon!

 My first graders completed their HUGE 14" dots this week! I adapted a lesson that I shared here. On the reverse, we'll be doing something different than the blog post...I'll keep you posted. We will be hanging these like mobiles and I'm so stoked to see them up!

 Another day of painting, another painted dress by me. 

 After creating their two small painting sketches, my third graders had to pick their favorite to paint on their plate. I'll keep you posted on how their tree weaving goes! 

 YOU GUYS. LIKE, WHY?!

 I got a ton of questions on painting with children this week. So I did a blog post and have a podcast dropping later this week on this very topic!  

 Check out my new art teacherin' tool belt! Chrissie makes them CUSTOM to your interests! I love mine. You can find out more about Chrissie and her designs here. 

 FINALLY getting our Getting to Know You sculptures up. I meant to go in to school on Sunday and knock it out...no dice. 

Did y'all celebrate Dot Day? We did...we just didn't get everything up in time. Or AT ALL...and that's okay. I'm excited to see everything complete and on display. 

I cannot wait to share with you my sweet second grader's embroidery lesson. Stay tuned!

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In the Art Room: Painting with Children

 Recently, I've been sharing all of the painting projects my students are working on. Turns out, nearly EVERYONE is painting (except for 4th...they are SEWING, eep!) and my drying racks overfloweth. As I've been posting our projects and our painting set up, I have gotten a lot of questions...from what paint we are using to how the kids clean their brushes to how we keep out paint trays so neat (or try to). I though it would be best to share the answers in a video. This video features me teaching my kindergarten students on the very first days of painting. We cover how to properly hold a brush, how to clean our paint brush and how to keep our paint trays bright and colorful. Here you go:

I hope that helps! I find that I'm not a very strict teacher...nor am I very consistent...but one thing that I am pretty tough about: painting. Once we establish those proper painting techniques early on, we can start creating things like this:

To kick off the school year, my third graders are weaving. Some of my classes are circle loom weaving while others are tree weaving. For our circle looms, we are using large Chinet plates. On our first day, we painted concentric circles and on our second, our focus was on patterns. Keep you posted on this one...we are stoked to weave next week!

 In the past, I've always used either ice cube trays or egg cartons for paint trays. But the ice cube trays are a mess because I'm constantly covering them with plastic wrap and the egg cartons have holes and tend to leak. When I found that a friend on IG was sharing that there are ice cube trays WITH LIDS, I knew I had to get some! You can find these on Walmart...for the best deal.

 
 I mean...I just can't get enough!

 I wanted to share with you a view of my space...so you could see where are drying racks are. I have a drying rack positioned at the end of each group of two tables. This prevents my kids from roaming the room with wet paintings. I also try to keep a trash can near the racks so the kids can dispose of whateverness as they need. I don't let the kids wash their hands at the sink unless they are exceptionally messy...I have 30 minute art classes, I don't have time for that!

 Just a little peak at these landscapes created by my third graders...these will be for their tree weavings. I am loving the colors! They had to create two practice landscapes too...you can see one on the left. More to come!

What do you wear when everyone is painting? This ensemble, of course...and mismatched shoes cuz why not?! I hope the video and some tips help! Please feel free to leave questions on the comments, friends!

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What the Art Teacher Wore #205

 Lemme just start by saying that I'm feeling so out of sorts lately with this here sharing space of mine. FOR YEARS I've been so good about posting three times a week and lately, like for the past couple of months, I'm lucky if I post here once! I feel badly about it, I have so much I want to share with y'all...but have not been doing my best at making the time. Just know that more posts and videos are in the works so be sure and hang with me...I'm just struggling right now at finding a balance. How 'bout you?

Here's where I'm struggling: TIME.MANAGEMENT. This has always been my biggest struggle as I'm a slacker, procrastinator, time waster and then, when I realize that the proverbial doo-doo has hit the fan, I'm a panic-er. Right now, my biggest struggle is adjusting to my new schedule this year. I start earlier (in the past, I always had a lovely morning plan time which would allow me to get ready for the day). This year, that's shortened and then, on some days, my classes are back to back...I know, we've all been there. But I'm used to having a pinch of time between my classes to prep and that's now more. By the end of my day, I'm left feeling like I have no idea WHAT just happened...and no energy to prep for the rest of the week. 

Also, as soon as I get home, Mitch and I go for about a four mile hike at the local lake. I LOVE this, we've been doing it for months...but it also means that my evening is shortened. By the time I get home, around 8:45, I feel like passing out.

But I don't...because I have a terrible habit of staying up too late. Doing not much of anything. Sometimes painting, sometimes creating...when I really should be sleeping. 

All that to say...I'm planning to get my life together (HAHAHAHA! Life Coach Wanted!) and get on a regular blogging schedule. At least that's the plan. 

Okay! On with my wacky week!

Thankfully, we had Monday off...but I kinda hate shortened weeks. They throw me off my teaching schedule, put some of my classes behind while others pull ahead. Don't get me wrong, I loved me a break but now I'm left with that "who am I? Where am I?" feeling. 

Like many of y'all, my younger kiddos are all about learning LINES right now. You can check out my line unit here. 

I'm also giving Dot Day a go with my first graders. They are painting on HUGE 14" cardboard pizza rounds that I bought in a 100 pack at Gordon Food Service (Amazon also sells them). We're adding color to BOTH sides of these as we'll be hanging them like a mobile. No...they won't be ready by the official Dot Day and that's okay. Here is a blog post filled with my favorite dot day ideas.

 I'm kicking off the school year with all things fibers! Because I'M INSANE. So my third graders painting landscapes on giant oval plates for their tree weaving project. These are a work in progress, still have details to add. 

 I believe I finally remembered to take an outfit photo on Wednesday. See? I can't even keep up with that! Top from Forever 21 (size up if you get one, like everything else in that store, it runs small), skirt from Modcloth, shoes are Converse and my jacket was latch hooked by me (see top photo for the back). 

 I couldn't wait until Friday to do a Feet Up Friday...I was wiped out only after 2 days!

 How do y'all distribute yarn? I always make Yarn Monsters for my kids. Basically, I take every color in my hand, start wrapping it around from my hand to my elbow until I've lost count of how many wraps. Then I cut it all with my scissors and tie a very tight knot in the middle. The kids then just pull one string out at a time...works great! Paint splatter dress made by me. 

When I sew with my younger students, like second grade, we stitch on burlap. I got SUPER lucky at the thrift store and scored a rainbow assortment of fabric. I did have to cut and glue the edges (to prevent fraying) but was stoked to get so many options!

 I see my second graders for 30 minutes at a time. On the first day, they picked their fabric which I'd glue popsicle sticks and yarn to for a tapestry. They chose their stitching fabric and learned how to thread and knot their needle. And that was the end of the first day. By the second day, nearly everyone had mastered a running stitch which they are creating around the border of their tapestry. They are SO EXCITED about this project. More to come, promise!

 My fourth graders are making pillows: emoji pillows, pizza pillows and...donuts! So I had to wear this dress for the occasion. 

 Not sure if I shared with you but I've always had a drum set...but I've not always had it out in my art room. This year, I decided to pull it out again as our Clean Up drums. Last week, each kid learned to play a fill...now, when it's clean up time I pick on kiddo and they go play it as our signal to clean up. The kids have been SUPER respectful of the drums. I'm so glad I busted them out again.

On Friday, we started adding color to our dots! We'll finish these this week and begin painting the back too. I can't wait!

I managed to stay a little late on Friday to prep everything for next week...one thing I wasn't able to tackle:

My desk! There's always next week, right?! I'm sure it will look exactly like this if not much worse. Oh well! Have a great week, y'all!

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