Hey there! If you happened to see my last post, I said that I had a whole lot of LINE art lessons coming your way...and I wasn't kidding! Here's another one! This one is perfect for our younger students and it's a great project if you are short on time or just looking to do a review.
From what you have told me, your students LOVE Larry the Line so it got me thinking: how fun would it be if they got to have their very own Larry?!
I thought of a couple different ways you could use this free download: students could create the lines and add color with the medium of your choice, as I did here. By the way, you can find the line sheets here.
Another idea would be to print a bunch of Larrys on some brightly colored copy paper and let students pick the one they want to add lines to. This would make the lesson shorter and allow more time to focus on lines. Again, the handout above is here.
OR! Use this sheet as an early finisher activity! Slide the sheet into a sheet protector and allow students to follow the steps and practice their line drawing on the sheet protector. At the end of class, they just erase! This would eliminate the cutting portion...which I know is a separate skill that needs to be taught thoroughly! (Which I can help you with here!)
No matter how you use this sheet, I hope you and your artists have fun with Larry the Line! Stay tuned, more to come!
Before we dive in, I just wanna say that what you're about to see here is how I run my first 30 minute art class with my first though fourth grade students. I have shared a lot of videos in the past about my first day of art...and really, this one is no different. EXCEPT...I'm going to walk you thru the method behind my madness so you can understand not only HOW I'm doing something but what and why. I'm also sharing my FREE downloads with ya as well as links to the items I share. But before we dive in...
Now, I share several items in this video from my classroom. If you'd like to take a closer look at those things like my Open/Closed sign, my dry erase board and more then you can find links to all of them right here.
In my book, Art Teacherin' 101, I talk about this "cheat sheet" and how it helps me remember all that I want to cover on that first day. For this free download, just click here!
If you'd like a copy of my Getting to Know You questions, just click here!
Just a reminder: I'm sharing these with y'all so that you have a great start to your school year. Please do not sell these on TPT...I hate that I have to say that but it happens to me and other educators...a lot. It's stealing. So please don't.
Hey there, friends! Just popping in to share my second day of art class with my students. If you recall, I shared my first day here (with video!) if you are interested. My classes are 30 minutes in length and we have SO MUCH TO COVER. I filmed a video of what I (mostly) cover on the second day and thought I'd share it with you:
Now...here's what's not included in the video...after covering rules, I show my Art Room Etiquette video which is this:
It's just a fun and quick reminder of my routines and procedures. From there, I have the kids file to their seats as a reminder of where they sit. We spend short bit chatting about emergency drills. We line up for fire, tornado, room clear and an intruder drill. To end art class, we all gather around my drums (yeah, I got a drum set) and we each take a turn playing a fill. This is what the kids will play if chosen to play the clean up drums.
This insures that each child knows how to play a fill on the drums during clean up time from here on out.
Before heading out the door, I give a quick demo and chat about the Clean Up Gong which is played right after the drums...and that's it! After all that, the 30 minutes is up and we gotta go. Next art class: we be painting! I'm so ready to get to art makin' with my people.
And, just in case you missed it, here's my podcast episode all about my first days in art class!
Well, it happened...school started. Not for the kiddos (they return this coming Wednesday) but for all teachers and staff. We kicked off the new school year on Wednesday. While most days were filled with meetings, note-taking and information-overloading, on Friday, the faculty and staff at my school painted!
Recently I shared my painting of my "why I teach" mantra. You can check it out and the process of making it right here. Not long after sharing that, the vice principal at my school asked if I'd do a similar project with our faculty and staff. Like my online bookclub, the teachers in my building are also reading The Wild Card by Hope and Wade King. In that book, they talk about remembering your WHY...why do you teach? We decided to take it two steps further: not only come up with our why but to also put it in kid friendly terms and make a painting featuring our WHY.
VIDEO WITH DEMO...of me leading the PD and some how-to clips!
We decided to have this professional development this past Friday. I knew many things going in: that the teachers were swamped and mostly likely stressed with everything they already have on their plates; that this might not allow them to entirely focus and enjoy the experience; that they might be anxious about painting and feeling stress over their perceived lack of artistic skills. With that in mind, I decided to loosen up the painting portion by making it into a little bit of a game. All of the works of art that you see were created by teachers who previously would have told you that they cannot paint or that they are not creative. Check these out...I beg to differ!
Supplies: 8" x 10" matte board 6-8 colors of paint brushes Sharpies Optional: carbon paper tissue paper with patterns Modpodge
The painting portion of our activity was done right before lunch. We spent about 40 minutes painting and adding bits of patterned tissue paper. I won't go into every detail as I cover it in the video. So you should, like, watch that.
There were 50 of us so it was a packed house. My room is very big so we were able to squeeze everyone in. There were 8 painters per table. I provided 8 cups of paint, served up in condiment cups with lids.
Oh! I almost forgot the most important supply! CHOCOLATE! I almost always provide chocolate when I run a PD...I always like to sweeten the deal.
The inspiration behind our painting game was Art Workshops for Children. I just got this book in the mail and I'M LIVING FOR IT!
I think the teachers were pleasantly surprised by their paintings even if they did freak when I told them to CHANGE SEATS!
But what that did was free them up a bit...made them less anxious and got them having fun. When they returned to their board, they could make it their own.
Y'all, I'm SO doing this painting project with my students to kick off the new school year. More to come on that, I have some ideas that are still formulating but I'm SO EXCITED!
Golly, I love me some thick brush strokes. These folks were not shy with the paint and I loved it!
After lunch, teachers were to come prepared with their WHYs. They could have it in their minds, have it typed and printed out, whatever. I had prepared them ahead of time about this. The day before I had told them a little of what we'd be up to so they would know to come with a print out of their WHY.
Having a lunch break in between our painting process and adding our WHY gave folks a little time to come up with it too if they'd forgotten.
In the video, you'll hear me share the three options for adding the WHY to the canvas.
The choices were free-hand, cut and paste from the printout or use carbon paper to transcribe the WHY. The first option was the least popular and the last was the most.
Thats the reason everyone's font looks so amazing and even...the carbon paper left a ghost image that was traced over with Sharpie!
From here, my admin would like to see them framed and hanging outside of each teacher's door. Of course, I love that idea because HOW BEAUTIFUL WILL THESE LOOK IN THE HALLS?! And I love the idea that the kids will know that their teachers value art and are artists too.
But, most importantly, their WHYs will be visible for all to see, read and comprehend. I know I love seeing mine...I think it will be a reminder for both me and my students.
Big shoutout to my coworkers for stepping out of their comfort zone and making a beautiful piece that says so much about them and their dedication to our students.
Our school song, the Johnson Song, starts off with "I'm so glad I go to Johnson School..." And THIS is why!
These are truly amazing educators who teach and touch so many little lives.
I wish I could share them all but then this would be my longest blog post ever...I'll try to share more in upcoming posts!
If you decide to do something like this at your school, I would love a shout out! I love sharing lessons and ideas with y'all...but letting folks know where the idea came from so they can find it and benefit as well is ALWAYS appreciated.
BEE POSITIVE, Y'ALL!
Thank you so much for letting me overshare. Feel free to drop me a line below if you have any questions!
I thought of a couple different ways you could use this free download: students could create the lines and add color with the medium of your choice, as I did here. By the way, you can find the line sheets here. 
Another idea would be to print a bunch of Larrys on some brightly colored copy paper and let students pick the one they want to add lines to. This would make the lesson shorter and allow more time to focus on lines. Again, the handout above is here.
OR! Use this sheet as an early finisher activity! Slide the sheet into a sheet protector and allow students to follow the steps and practice their line drawing on the sheet protector. At the end of class, they just erase! This would eliminate the cutting portion...which I know is a separate skill that needs to be taught thoroughly! (Which I can help you with here!)
No matter how you use this sheet, I hope you and your artists have fun with Larry the Line! Stay tuned, more to come!
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