Hey, y'all! Just thought I'd pop in and offer up this Dot Day activity sheet I created for my students. I was out last week and created this activity for my students to use with the sub. If you'd like this free downloadable PDF, then here you go! When I write lesson plans, I try really hard for my sub to do the same lesson with ALL of my students, kindergarten through fourth. This makes my sub's life so much easier and that's my ultimate goal. I have a TON of sub plan videos on my YouTube channel (you really should subscribe! I'm uploading videos all the time!). I also have a whole lot of blog posts all about how I prep for a sub. In fact, there's a blog post of my very favorite sub plans!
For this lesson plan, the sub notes were simple: 1. Read The Dot to the class. Engage the students in questions about Vashti, the main character of the book. How did her attitude toward creating change? How did she share her new outlook with another potential artist? 2. Take one sticker dot and place it anywhere inside your swirly frame. What could your dot become? A flower? A face? A sun for a landscape? A piece of fruit for a still life? Draw with pencil. Add color with crayons. 3. Like all artists, don't forget to SIGN IT! And that's it! My classes are only 30 minutes in length so that was about all my students could manage. I sent these works of art home with the students but they could have been a great chance to chat about their ideas or share their work. Have a wonderful week! Pop back by here tomorrow when I'll be sharing my favorite Dot Day lessons!
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.
Because I'm a world renowned over-sharer, it may come as a surprise that there was a time, not that long ago, when I didn't blog, post videos, share on social media or present...anywhere. I honestly didn't think that what I had to say was important, valid, and/or worthy of being listened to. It wasn't until it was pointed out to me that I should share, that I had ideas, methods and projects that some might find useful, that I finally did. But only after years of folks gently coercing me to do so. If I could travel back in time and have a shoulder-shaking moment with myself, I would say, "just do it! And do it right now!" And I'm here today to deliver that same message to you, if you find yourself on the "should I? or shouldn't I?" fence. Here, let's chat:
Now that I've hopefully got you convinced that you are amazing, you have a voice and you have ideas that need to be shared with the universe, let's chat about some of the finer details:
* Where to Share? That's one that deserves serious thought...and is totally up to you, your time and your favorite means of communication. Are you a visual person? Try an Instagram account for your art teacherin' outlet. Love to chat and interact with other art educators? Twitter might be your jam. Facebook is kind of a combo of both and the most popular...therefore a great way to reach many parents and peers. Make videos for your classes? Consider sharing them on YouTube. Blogging, well, I'm not gonna lie, that one requres a lot of time and effort to reap the reach-of-desired-audience rewards. Be honest with yourself. Do what you know you will enjoy...because that is what you will stick with.
* Give It a Test Run. If you are going to start an Instagram account or dive right into blogging, might I recommend a test run. What I mean by that is this: keep your blog posts or social media accounts private for a pinch. Type up at least four blog posts; line up no fewer than a dozen IG posts and keep them private. Then step away from them for a few days. Did you enjoy typing up those blog posts? Is that something you think you'll enjoy doing on a continual basis? Great! Now you have four posts all lined up and ready to roll out. This will make it so you have some breathing room and don't feel like you have to crank out content and not enjoy the process. As for your social media, like Instagram, look at those images before making your account public. Do your images make sense together? Do they look like they belong with one another? Do they have your "mark", so to speak? It takes time to develop a "look". Be patient with yourself and pursue who you are. This will help you carve out your very own niche.
* Beware of Being a Lookalike. When I first began blogging, it was way different than the blog you see here. Back in 2007, it was a blog created to sell my Etsy creations (many moons ago, I created ceramic belt buckles), not share my art teacherin' pursuits. I had no idea what I was doing. I had just read on some Etsy forum that if you wanted to sell your wares, you should have a blog. So I had a blog. With no direction, no look, no vibe, no clue. I turned to my favorite blogs for inspiration...which became gentle copying, shall we say. I tried to fit myself and my blog into a box that I thought others would enjoy. Needless to say, it felt unauthentic and I quickly dropped out of the blogging scene. Not until 2012 did the blog you see here come to life. It was at that point, I was ready to be myself and use my true voice. I threw the notion of what other folks might think out the window and just went for it. Staying true to my voice and my interests is what has made me a blogger for the last 5 years. Regardless of what social media path you take, follow your voice. If you feel something is off, if you feel untrue to you, stop. Change it. Be you.
After all, YOU have something to share! So YOU should do it. Present! Post! Do what suits you. Just know that you have something powerful to say. And we want to hear it. Congratulations to...Kimberly Schultze! Kimberly, please email me at cassieart75@gmail.com so we can chat about getting The Growth Mindset Coach Playbook in your hands!
Last Tuesday my school hosted their first ever Artome Art Show and I gotta say, it was FABULOUS! If you are not familiar, Artome is a fundraising company for the arts. To join the fun, you simply call or email Artome and let them know the number of students you have participating. In return, they send large sheets of paper that students can either create directly on or artwork can be added to. Also on the paper is a place for you to add the student's name, artwork title, grade, teacher's name and school. Once artwork is complete and the form is filled out, Artome provides you with a UPS shipping label. Slap that label on your box of artwork and ship it on to Artome. Then, two weeks later, THIS happens!
Two hours before our art show/winter program/book fair (we specials folks like to do ALL THE THINGS, ALL AT ONCE), two sweet Artome dudes showed up and set up our displays. The artwork could be organized anyway I asked...so I decided to mix it up a bit. Instead of having all kindergarten artwork together, I had them mixed with other grades. This added variety and also made it so folks went through the art show more thoughtfully.
Here's how the fundraiser portion works: Artome is paid $19 for each framed piece. Whatever amount you up charge is what you take. For example, we asked for $25 for each piece making our profit per work of art $6. We have about 320 students at my school and sold over half of the works of art. We did really well!
I think next year we will do even better. Our program was for our 2-4th grade kids so many of our younger students were not in attendance. If there were, I think we would have sold even more. And, actually, we have...Artome allows a week of post-show sales for families who missed the show.
Any unsold pieces will be removed from their frame and sent back to me to return to the artists. Also, this was so helpful: any artwork that was not completed in time to be shipped could still be framed the day of. That helped me out tremendously with my friends who were absent on art days. Overall, it was a seamless fundraiser that resulted in happy artists and parents. Who could ask for anything more? Love to hear if you've given Artome a go and what your experience was like.
