People can tell me how they run their classroom all day long and I do love to hear about it because I am a person who LOVES to try new things. I like to throw EVERYTHING at the art teacherin' wall just to see what sticks. But what REALLY helps me is seeing it in action. Sure I can imagine what Call and Response or a behavior management plan my look like but it's so much better to see it happening. So...that's why I love to share what it looks like in my art room. For that reason, I'll be sharing my first day teaching kindergarten right here!
If this video looks a little familiar that's because...I have been running my first day of kindergarten the very same way FOR YEARS. If it works, stick with it, right? And I'll be adding links to more blog posts with videos here.
This blog post breaks down the lesson and why I teach certain routines on that first day.
If you've been hanging around this here blog lately, then you know I've been sharing quite a few redecorating of the art room posts. For many of these art room flips, I have the Fire Marshall to thank. What previously was in this space were some super fun things hanging from the ceiling. You know, the usual art teacherin' decor: a disco ball and extra large plastic crayon piggy banks. Need I say more? The FM was not a fan because, let's be honest, FMs hate all things happy, colorful, fun and ceiling-dangily. Yeah, yeah, their fun-zapping ways save us from a fiery doom but whatever. They cramp our art teacherin' style.
Or do they? It was after I removed, let's be honest, the clutter, that I started to think of what I could use this space for. I remembered that my buddy Michelle created a large scale visual of lines for her students in her art room. With that in mind, I decided to create my own version in my art room. Allow me to share my (big pain in the behind to create) Line and Color Wall...hugs to Michelle for the inspiration!
Supplies: * Picket Fence Posts Y'all know I have issues with going in to the Paint All The Wood Thingies aisle in the local craft joint. I found these guys there and I'm assuming they were supposed to be fence posts? Whatever, to me, they looked liked pencils so I picked up seven. With my teacher discount, of course. * Duct Tape I didn't want to paint my wall because 1. I didn't want to ask permission to do so and 2. I didn't want to even attempt to paint over that lumpy bumpy brick. Did you know that they make thin duct tape?! It's the best thing ever when you are creating a line and color wall, y'all!
Now, when coming up with my lines, my biggest problem was space. There's not a ton of space above my white board. So I had to keep that in mind when dreaming up what lines to showcase.
With that in mind, I went with the following: bouncing, zigzag, thick, thin, dotted/dashed, curvy and parallel lines. Not even gonna lie: this was NOT my favorite art room decor project because it took forever...but it is my new favorite thing to look at in my art room!
AND it's totally not coming down. Sorry not sorry, sweet FM! Okay, let's be honest, if they ask, I'll take it down. But words will be spoken. Most unpleasant ones, at that.
Okay, so. I've covered Lines, Color Order, a Color Wheel in my art room with my new decor...but now I'm perplexed: I want to showcase shape an form. How so? Love to hear your ideas!
Hi, friends! Well, it's been one of those Wild -n- Crazy art teacherin' weeks and I didn't manage to snap a single What the Art Teacher Wore photo (tho, if you follow me here, you'll see what I'm wearin', what I'm making and what's goin' down in the art room, daily). However, if YOU did, please be sure to send it my way at cassieart75@gmail.com for the What the Art Teacher Wore/Back to Art Teacherin' Contest! You're good-looking face will not only be featured here but, if chosen, also in School Arts Magazine. AND the winner-winner-chicken-dinner will get a free subscription to School Arts. So get dressed, snap a pic and send it to moi, s'il vous plait. Gracias!
In other news, if you are an art teacher with other art teacherin' buds on Facebook, then I bet your feed is just blowing up with photos of back-to-school/freshly-deocrated art rooms. I absolutely love it because it is art teacherin' eye candy! I've shared several snaps of my art room (with a blog post about my first days here) and was asked about my Line poster. If you've been around this blog for a pinch then you know that I use this poster with my kindergarten friends in my unit on line. I created this and accompanying poem years ago. It's been a great tool for me to teach line with a bit of rhyme and a whole lotta fun. So, without further ado, here's the Larry the Line poem!
So that you don't have to watch this video a million times, here's the Larry the Line poem in it's entirety.
NOTE: This poster and poem were both created by me. Please feel free to share this with your students and colleagues (credit thrown my way would be greatly appreciated). This may not be reproduced by you for profit. I feel sad that I have to add this disclaimer...but I do.
Larry the Line
Is a friend of mine
(creating a snake by opening the fingers of your hand, puppet style and there's your snake!)
He can make three
(hold up a three with your fingers)
Straight lines for me!
Ver-tickle
(create a vertical line with your forearm)
Diagonal and horizontal!
(pantomime each)
Any curve, he can learn
With a twist and a turn.
When he's out of his tangle
he makes a great...angle.
(created by placing your hand on your hip and pointing to your elbow)
Any line, he can make
After all, he's a snake!
And here's how I go about teaching the creation of line sculpture to the kids!
From there, my kindergarten friends create line sculptures like this. I have a super silly way of teaching this which I will share on my youtube channel this week. By the way, if you subscribe to my channel, you'll see my videos before I share them here!
I'm not gonna lie, sometimes after the whole Larry thing, the kids are bananas. To bring them back down, I'll often do this activity called palming. It works magically!
I love this unit on line and it's made so much more fun with this goofy poem and carnival snake! What poems and songs do you use when teaching? I'd love to have a whole collection! Too bad my songwriting skillz are seriously lacking.
.jpg)
