Creating Line-Making Stations in the Art Room

Hi! I shared earlier this week that all of my students, kindergarten through fourth would be doing line-making stations for 2, 30 minute art classes as an introduction for some and a review for most. I created a short video to walk them through each station and you can check it out here to see what we were up to:

On my Instagram, I got some questions about where I got the line spinner and the other resources I used...I made them! And it was so easy, I thought I'd show you how I did it in case you are interested. So here's the how-to video:

I've already decided what each grade level will do with their collection of line-making papers and I'll share soon. In the meantime, I'm already thinking of ways to expand on this idea of stations. The kids are loving it and it really helps with the wiggles. We have the need to move and this helps. Although a balance of calm days will definitely be sprinkled into the mix! 

Because my students do stations in PE, this concept was something they easily understood. Honestly, the only thing holding me back on doing this sooner was...me! I'm not great with change but this year, I am excited to try all sorts of new things. It's helping me get outta of my burnout that I was experiencing since 2020.

I think that's one of the reasons I slowed down so much on blogging this last year: I just felt stale. I'm feeling excited now...and I think the kids are too.

Anyway, I just wanted to share how we created these centers in case you are interested. I hope you have a relaxing weekend!

In the Art Room: Cassette Tape Sculptures!

I've not shared details from our art show yet...I've just been enjoying my summer vacation a little too much, I guess! But we had a themed art show, as we usually do, and this year it was 1980s themed! 

I came up with the theme after winter break but got the idea for this project a little too late in the game. We ran out of time to create these cassette tape sculptures but I did create a video...and I thought I'd share it with you just the same. 

The boxes were ones I happened to have a surplus of in my storage closet. But they look like they probably came from here, if interested. The plaster strips are from here!

And the video is here! Have fun!

Let's Make a Black Light Disco Ball!

Our school-wide art show is coming up and our theme is 1980's! And, I know what you're thinking: aren't disco balls more of a 1970's thing? Well, I suppose although I do remember them in the skating rinks growing up and loving them. So I thought my fourth graders would enjoy creating them as their contribution to our Glow Gallery! 

The supplies we used are the following:

* Cardboard pizza circle, found at restaurant supply stores

* Permanent markers

* Silver paint

* Neon tempera cakes

This is a quick lesson, perfect for my 30 minute art classes. We spent the first class drawing and tracing with a sharpie with just a few who started painting. Next time, we'll wrap these up and hang them from the ceiling in the glow gallery. Here's the video you are welcome to use in your art teacherin' world:

Clay Mugs for Kids!

Hi, friends! My students are wrapping up one of the clay projects they created and I thought I'd share. Last year, my first through fourth created clay mugs and it was easily everyone's favorite clay project. When I shared that we were working with clay again, a few weeks ago, their first question was "are we making mugs again?!" I had already planned on it...so they were excited to hear the answer. Once mugs are complete, we celebrate by drinking hot chocolate out of them...so it's a whole lot of fun. 

This year, I created a video to share with them. Because I have 30 minute art classes, I only showed the pinch pot portion and a bit of coil making for the first class. The second class, we did a brief coil making reminder and then watched the portion about creating a handle. The video helped them trouble shoot and get their mugs completed in just two 30 minute classes!

This week, we started glazing! They were told they could use any two colors of glaze, one for the inside and one for the outside. They were to do at least three coats of their chosen colors and not to glaze the bottom. Once complete, they could join me at the splatter glaze station!

When my students were finished glazing, they could help a friend or work on the large banners I created to announce our upcoming art show! 

We used Prang's Creativity Street Tempera Sticks to color these with.

The glaze we used are from two companies and I like them both: Mayco's Stroke and Coat and Amaco's Teacher's Palette. Both are food safe and fire to cone 06.

When introducing clay to your students, you might find this video fun to share:

20 of My Favorite School-Wide Collaborative Projects!

Collaborative projects! Collaborative projects are one of my favorite things. I love them at the start of the year and the end. I love doing them with the whole school or just a grade level. I love using songs, themes, artist-inspiration...you name it. I just love collaboratives!

We've done a TON over the years and I thought I'd put them all together in one big ole blog post. So, here you go: my 20 Favorite Collabortive Projects. Be sure and click on the links, many of these have how-to videos. 

Check out this blog post on how we created several canvases in this style for our school and the school library!

Students worked in table teams to create these positive four-letter words to describe our school! 

Here's a simple, fast and fun project using clothes pens, paint and words that describe who we are!

A fun mural based on the book You Be You was created by nearly all of my students. You can learn about the process of creating our fish here. Read all about the making of the mural itself here!

Another book we used for inspiration is the book by Todd Parr called It's Okay to be Different. You can check out how we created these collages here!

The Our School Has Heart mural was a piece with a contribution from each student in the school. You can see the breakdown of who created what in this blog post. 

Our clay collaborative mural is a bright and shiny beauty that hangs in a prominent place in our school. Each student contributed something to this piece...you can read more about the process here. 

One year, we created a Village of Kindness as apart of our art show! Each student upcycled a milk carton that our cafeteria queen cleaned in the dishwasher. The students made little doors that opened and said kind words to those who peeked inside. Students worked together to create the landscape on the bulletin board. 

I love to do collaboratives at the start of the school year. I especially like ones where students celebrate our school and that set a postive tone. That was the idea behind this collaborative!

Another fun way to start the school year is with some selfies! We've created them for a monochromatic mural. You can check out the video here. 

Inspired by the artist Romero Britto, this mural was created by my students when I was out for jury duty! My sub just played the video and when I returned, I assembled the mural!

A collaborative mural that definitely made the rounds was this one! The kids loved creating the feathers and it was a beautiful thing while in the hallway but I will say...it was a lot of work to assemble. All the details here. 

My fourth graders created this collaborative one year that lives at the front entrance of our school. We even 'wrapped' it for Christmas and brought out admin out for them to unwrap it as it was hung on the wall of our school. 

We kicked off this school year with our What a Wonderful World collaborative mural. Details and video tour here. 

Here's another look of our school mural. Above that, you'll see our Learning for All collaborative!

During our field day one year, my students rotated through many art stations. One of them was this alphabet and number series. My librarian requested them and we just love how they turned out. Click here to see them framed and hung in our school library. 

Much like our monochromatic collaborative, this map collaborative was created with a self-portrait of each of my students! 

We are the tigers at my school so we do tiger-themed artwork every so often. This mural was created by first graders of all of their tiger drawings. You can find a how-to video right here!

In table teams, my third graders created a Rizzi City inspired by the artist James Rizzi. 

One year, we did super-sized works of art inspired by Andy Warhol and Vincent van Gogh! When these came together, they were stunning. All the details can be found here. 

Are You an Art Teacherin' Workaholic?

Pop quiz time!

* Do you forego bathroom breaks so you can fill paint trays despite your about-to-burst bladder?

* Do you eat junk food for lunch because it's fast and easy and that kiln ain't gonna load itself?

* Have you given up your own creative pursuits because you 'just don't have the time' but spend hours after school hanging a bulletinboard? 

GUESS WHAT?!

You just might be an Art Teacherin' Workaholic!

The other day, I made a comment in an art teacherin Facebook group (my first mistake). Someone said they were having headaches and I suggested they drink more water. Every time I am overwhelmed and stressed (usually during art show prep time), I start to feel sick: headaches, dizziness, I stand up and ask ‘who turned out the lights?!’ before feeling like I’m about to faint. Went to the doctor and was told: you are dehydrated! So now I think water is the magical elixir (cuz it is). But when I suggested that this art teacher drink more water, another said (paraphrasing here): who has the time?! Who has the time to refill on water and then have time to relieve the bladder when there is so much Art Teacherin prep to do?

L👀K...I get it. I survived on granola bars and Diet Coke (terrible, right?!) for lunch my first couple years teaching and, up until last year, frozen burritos (frequently consumed still mildly frozen) and Halloween candy because I just thought 1. I don’t have time and 2.  My health can wait.

If you are doing that, you are an art teacherin workaholic.

What to do about it? Well, let's talk about it. I'm chatting all about it on my podcast today, take a listen right here. 

You can’t be the best art teacher you can be if you don’t take care of yourself. So! For heavens sake, drink water and go pee. Love y'all! Mean it!

Art Class Happy Hour: The Office!

I know so many teachers and art teachers are creating video content for their students right now...with that in mind, I decided I needed a bit of adult creating time! So I decided to do a little something called Art Class Happy Hour with a weekly draw. I've settled on The Office for my inspiration. I hope you will draw along with me and have fun! You might want to subscribe to my YouTube channel as more videos like this (as well as my usual art making videos for kids) are uploaded almost every day. Alright, here we go:

Prison Mike...so cringe but I love him!

Okay, Kevin spilling his world famous chili is easily one of my favorite scenes from the show. I laugh til I cry every time!

And my very first Happy Hour drawing was from the very first episode of The Office!

Let's Make a Star Pop-Up!

Need a fun project for Mother's Day or any day? For this Glow Gallery star project, I'm using supplies by Pacon. You can shop their entire glow store here for all of your glow art show needs! I am using their Pacon paper and their Creativity Street Tempera Sticks. You can check out the video here:

I did this project years ago as a sub plan, if you can believe that! Here is what we created then and the supplies we used:

You can see more about this project in this blog post. Also, here is the video for this lesson:

Have fun!

Snack-tastic Chefs Week!

Who is ready for another week of art-making! I'm pretty stoked about this week as it is based on my favorite thing: snacks! And, despite the fact that I'm not such a great chef myself (have you even seen Season 3, Episode 3 of Nailed It!?), we are going to be BAKING COOKIES on Friday! Which is all kinds of funny as the judges spit out my cookie that I made on T.V. Let's just hope y'all don't do the same. 

So get read for another fun week and be sure and share this with friends and family so they can join the fun too. We'll kick things off with a Chef Selfie!

On Tuesday, I'll be sharing a lot of paper folding and paper sculpture techniques in this Hamburger Sculpture project. 

 On Wednesday, let's make a Salt Dough Pizza! 

On Thursday, I'll show you how to draw a 3-D cake! It's a piece of cake! 

And on Friday, we are gonna bake! I'm so excited about this!

To join me live, you can find me on my Instagram and my Facebook page. If you miss the LIVE session, no worries. You can catch the video the next day on my YouTube channel! Be sure and subscribe. I'll be sharing lessons there (in addition to these) all week for Mother's Day! 

See you real soon!