It's gotten pretty spooky here on the blog...what can I say, I love me some Halloween. And, by the way, you ain't seen nuthin' yet as I have so many Halloweenie DIY's to share! I'm beyond excited...but, for now, I'll take a wee break to share this super fun, art-ucational and easy SUB PLAN that my kiddos have been working on.
That's right, a couple of weeks ago, I was out of town for a few days and needed to leave my sub and my students some fun plans. I created the following video for her to share with the students:
I try my hardest to request the same subs when possible so that they know my students and they know the drill: show my video up to the portion that the kids will be creating that day and get them rolling. If I'm gone a number of days, then I have them continue with the video on the following art classes.
Often times, when I prepare sub plans, I'll have the sub do the same project with nearly all of my classes (in this case, my friends in kindergarten worked on something else). I do this for a couple of reasons: less prep for me as far as materials and supplies goes and less prep for the sub. My subs are usually not art teachers so I like to keep their life simple. A happy sub is an art teacher's BFF...and in this case, mine was so happy, she left me an email saying she cleaned my tables for me. THANK YOU, MS. SHORT!
When I returned to school the following week, I was created by these beauties! The kids worked on 9" X 12" paper. You can read about the supplies used here.
By the way, looking for sub plans? I've got a ton and I'm happy to share. You can find them here. Also here you'll see how I set up for a sub...when I have the time to do so.
And if you'd rather just listen to this ding-dong talk sub plannin', well, here you go! But now, let's get back to the sub plan at hand, shall we?
My students have felt so much pride in their work since I taught them how to draw in the third dimension. They are now pros! I love their fun and funky villages.
Reason #3 I LOOOOOOVE having every grade level do the same project when I am away: because when I return, we just drop in to finishing it off! That means I don't have to scramble to see what it was we were previously doing and I don't have to prep new plans for the upcoming week. I can simply return to school, drop in to the pre-planned lesson and relax knowing that the art educatin' still goes on...with little stress from me.
This also gives me time to see where we left off on previous projects and where the next couple of art classes will take us. It's like a moment to breathe. And who doesn't need that?
While I'm breathing (usually into a paper bag), my students are wrapping up their drawing and coloring. Once complete, they use liquid watercolors to add patches of cool colors. A light sprinkle of table salt adds the fun effect you see.
I'm so excited to display these along with the other landscape projects we are currently elbows deep in.
By the way, I'm a huge fan of Sax brand liquid watercolors. Last year, I liked them so much, I also purchased their fluorescent watercolors. Meh. I'll explain my feelings on those in uno momento.
But first let's ooh and ahh over this salt-sprinkly goodness, shall we?
So the Sax brand fluorescent paints were just weird, I don't know how else to describe them. I most def would not recommend them. They were more like a weird watery-soapy tempera than they were a watercolor. The kids liked them. I was not a fan.
I tested the waters with a few classes and then promptly switched back to the ole tried and true.
The paintings still looked fabo so no complaints here. I work with some seriously awesome artists, what can I say?
One of our words of the week was VARIETY...I requested variety of houses, sizes, patterns, colors, you name it. And they delivered.
It was pointed out to me by several of the kids which house was mine...needless to say, it was always the craziest. Aw, shucks. They get me...every.single.art.class. Poor kids!
