Well, howdy, friends! Have you started the End of the Year countdown yet? I have not...as I'm in the middle of the Art Show Countdown (Tuesday, May 15th, eep!) and cannot seem to focus on the end-of-the-school-year/light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel as I still have SO.MUCH.ART.SHOW.PREP.TO.DO. Thankfully, I'm surrounded by my amazing Art Show Mom Army who are handling the bulk of the work (matting, hanging, finding my coffee/sanity/half-eaten-burrito all at the same time). As most of y'all know, it's really just a matter of getting the kids to FINISH ALL THE UNFINISHED THINGS.
Case in point: I scored an extra hour with my doubled up fourth grade classes on Friday (doubling my fourth and third grade classes is the only way I can get them for an hour. It's busy but it's worth it!). I created a To Do list for them that I posted on my big screen T.V. Here's what was on their agenda:
That's a lot! Thankfully, it's a matter of finishing projects...so no new set of instructions was required. However, you know how this can sometimes go: THE UNENDING ASKING OF QUESTIONS.
What do I do next?
Where does this go?
Where can I find that one thing that is always in the same place every time but I'm going to ask you again just to test the limits of your sanity?
Insert waving of white flag here.
Recently, a class reminded me that they'd never "cashed in" their Awesome Artist points because their art teacher is an inconsistent hot mess. Well, they didn't say that last part but it was HEAVILY alluded to. So, I told them that the following art class they'd be able to. "What are we doing?! Are we having a party?! Will there be pizza? CAN WE MAKE SLIME?!"
No. No. ANNNNNNND no.
I don't have time for parties (c'mon, y'all. Everyday in the art room is a party anyway!), I ain't got money for pizza and IF I NEVER HAVE TO MAKE SLIME IN MY ART ROOM IT WILL BE TOO SOON. And, just 30 minutes before classes arrived...I got the idea for Maker's Kit Grab Bags. Here, let me 'splain:
If you follow me here, then you know I'm in the middle of cleaning out. I'm decluttering like a crazy person...it's been put to kind of a standstill for the sake of the art show...but the minute that's over, I'm going right back to decluttering. I've managed to knock out cabinets in the art room and corners of my INSANELY PACKED storage closet...
And I've set most of it aside for the EPIC YARD SALE I am planning to host. But a lot of it...I started thinking...the kids might want.
So I popped open 34 lunch bags (another item I have a TON of) and started throwing my unwanted craft supplies inside: popsicle sticks, stickers, construction paper in weird sizes, tubes, yarn cones, ribbon and just all the stuff that I have been donated over the years and never found a use for.
I LIVED for grab bags as a kid. Whenever I had the opportunity to buy a toy, I always sprung for the grab bag. I told my students that these were Maker's Kits. They were to inspire them to create something, ANYTHING, with the aid of supplies they might already have here at school or home. The hitch? They had to work their tails off all art class, in order to cash in their table points and score their bag. Y'all. I never ONCE had a kid ask me what they were to do next, I never ONCE had a kid off task, I hardly even heard a peep out of them. But, best of all, they started coming back to art with their creations...even sharing them with me on social media!
This was just a spur of the moment idea that I am so excited about! Next year, I hope to create a competition out of this...to really inspire my kiddos to keep on creating. As for now...it's helping me clean out and keep them motivated to the bittersweet end. Do y'all do anything like this?! I'd love to hear how it works in your art room!
So, a while back I shared with y'all that my students were sculpting art supplies. My first graders made pencils, some of my fourth graders made glue bottles, my third graders made crayons, and my second graders made glue sticks and scissors (which I've not blogged about yet! Stay tuned!). Two of my fourth grade classes made tubes of paint. We JUUUUUUST finished them off this week as I totally forgot about them in the middle of us working with clay, sewing our pizza pillows and end-of-the-year/art show madness. So, without further ado, here they are!
For this lesson, we used toilet paper tubes as our armature. We wrapped them with Activa's Rigid Wrap and created the paint with Celluclay. Here's the video tutorial I created:
Instead of having the kids paint the words on the tube, which proved to be a touch difficult for me, they came up with their own names and wrote them on a white label. That was then attached to a black strip of paper which I hot glued to their tubes.
Once the tubes were created, we did the 100 Color Challenge to come up with our own unique color for our tube. The challenge was apart of my evaluation. You can check out more of that here:
Once the kids had come up with their color, they added that and their own concoction of gray to the tube.
Dreaming up the color names was probably the best part!
With our art show just two weeks away, I'm excited to see all of our art supply sculptures on display.
If we'd had the time, I would have loved for these guys to create palettes and paint brush sculptures too...but the school year just isn't long enough for all the fun!
For our art show, we're going to have quite the mix of 3D displays: art supplies, super heroes and pizzas! I've tried to think of a way to have them all make sense together...but they just don't and that's okay.
I also coulda spent an entire year having the kids sculpt art supplies, it was so fun!
I cannot wait to share with you how are art show is progressing. I'm sorry I've been spotty here...it's just the busiest time of the year! You know what that's like, right?
To seal these projects, they were covered in Extreme Glitter ModPodge...yes, that's a thing. For the bottom, ModPodge was added and then sprinkled with silver fine glitter.
The kids and I are thrilled with how they turned out!
I'm down to just a few more days of art classes with this fourth grade bunch...which makes me sad. I've taught them since kindergarten...I hope they have as fond of memories of me as I have of them!
Thanks for letting me share this project with y'all...if you've given it a shot, I'd love to hear about it!
If y'all happened to read my last blog post, then you know that Monday was our fourth annual chalked ceiling tile event with second grade. Each year in the spring, second grade creates a legacy piece that gets a permanent spot in our school ceiling. This year, our amazing cafeteria manager, Ms Rebecca, requested healthy foods for the ceiling in the cafeteria. So we went with fruit. We created them Monday afternoon. By 8am on Tuesday, THE AMAZING MR. SCRUGGS had them all up in the ceiling. He loves this event as much as I do and always does an amazing job of placing them in the ceiling. I love his makeshift poncho from a garbage bag, don't you? GENIUS.
Here's how the event goes down: I borrow the multipurpose room from our P.E. teachers and cover the floors with bulletin board paper, unused ceiling tiles, chalk and foam brushes. It takes me about an 45 minutes to set up (if that, I've got it down) for my four 2nd grade classes. My Monday's are my lightest, schedule-wise, so I penciled them in to come in during my plan time and second grade block. That gave us an hour and a half to work. But these kids were FANTASTIC and finished their work in an hour! Here's a time-lapse of the event:
Now I have created a how-to video for the last couple years also and that really helps too. If you are interested, here is the video I created for my kiddos. We worked on the back of the tiles with chalk:
This would be a fun lesson on construction paper too! Definitely a lesson you could do in an art room, sans tiles.
My kids looked like they'd just finished working a shift in the coal mines when they were done but they were SO EXCITED with their work.
Initially, we gathered in the same area, all four classes, talked about what a legacy piece was and chatted about the others hanging up in the ceiling of our school. I let them know that a special request had been put in for healthy food for the cafeteria from our very own Ms Rebecca. The kids were thrilled that their art would have a permanent placement in the cafe!
Once the first steps were given, the kids partnered up and found a place to work. When they finished the first phase, they could sit and chat with their partner. I encouraged them to work together and help their partner if needed and requested. I had my art class playlist going...I let them know that when the music stopped, I needed their eyes for the next steps.
I did provide templates for my students for the watermelon and the citrus. Teaching a large group solo can be difficult. I wanted all of my students to start with confidence and create something they were proud of in the time that they were given.
Our final phase was adding the black outlines.
I didn't even put black in their trays...I wanted them to use that last as I know how much it can spread EVERY.WHERE.
The last step was for them to sign their name and MASTERPIECE COMPLETE!
With the help of my music teacher buddy (thank you, Kiera!) it took me about an hour to hose these down with fixative and clean up.
Once sprayed, I stacked them all on the dolly that my custodian buddy had placed them on and wheeled them down to the art room.
I left them outside the art room. I was tired and I was thinking, "eh, I'll take care of it in the morning."
Come Tuesday Morning, Mr. Scruggs already had them up in the cafeteria ceiling BEFORE 8am!
Y'all, the kids were so proud. I told them, "now you'll have THREE places to find artwork at the art show: outside your classroom, the art room and THE CAFETERIA!"
We always host an Ice Cream Social during the art show which takes place in the cafeteria. So they'll be able to show their artwork then.
BIG SHOUT OUT to my admin for the support, my specials team for lending me their kiddos and their space, the second grade team for JUST.BEING.AWESOME. And, of course, MR. SCRUGGS!
AND, last but not least, the hardest working second grade artists I know. Love all y'all!
Well, here we are...it's that time of the year, y'all. Time for ALL THE THINGS TO HAPPEN ALL AT ONCE: Clay Week, Art Show Prep and our fourth annual Chalked Ceiling Tile Event!
That's right...it's been four years now that my second grade kiddos have created legacy ceiling tiles to be permanently displaced in the ceiling of our school. What started out as an "alternative project" has quickly become a school-favorite and an annual event. You see, four years ago, I had a visiting sidewalk chalk artist come to our school with the idea that my students would also chalk outside right along with her. But on the big day, rain was in the forecast so we had to improvise. My admin had been requesting painted ceiling tiles...knowing that, I had my custodian buddy Mr. Scruggs (see here!) get me a tile and I played around with drawing on it. After fiddling with the front of the tile, I realized that the back actually worked better as it wasn't as porous. And that's how our Chalked Ceiling Tile Event was born. You can read all about our first event here and here.
So what do you need for an event like this? The following supplies: * Faber-Castell Chalk I used to swear by a brand called KOSS but I can no longer find it. So we started using Faber-Castell and it turns out I like it better! The colors are so vibrant and the shorter size is perfect for my student's hands. * Ceiling Tiles We always have a ton on hand as we do this every year. We ALWAYS use the backside of the tile. One tile per kiddo. * Foam Brushes These ceiling tiles are huge and would be much too difficult for the kids to blend colors with their bare hands. We use foam brushes for blending. I've had the same set of brushes for years now. * Baby Wipes This is a messy task, not gonna lie. But with me being in charge of four classes of second graders, I'm not about to let them all loose on the bathrooms. So baby wipes it is! * Bulletin Board Paper Again, this is messy...like having rainbow dust everywhere. So we try our hardest to control that by putting paper down on the floor of the multi-purpose room. * Hairspray I always fix the tiles when we are finished by dousing them in hairspray. It will dull the colors slightly. However, the spray doesn't matter too much...the tiles are in the ceiling and therefore no one will be able to touch them and cause them to smear.
So, how does it work? Well, I usually create a video to walk the kiddos through the process. This saves my voice in a loud space like this big room. I block out about an hour and a half to two hours of time for the kids to spend on their piece. I pool all of my second grade classes together and, well, we just go for it! It's loud, messy but beautiful and so much fun!
Usually the classroom teachers will take 30 minute shifts during this time or my specials team will help out. Really tho, it's an easy event. Once all the kids are rolling and understand what to do, it's just fun to watch them roll up their sleeves and create.
Every year, we do something a little different. Our first year, we did the butterflies. The following year, we created flowers and last year, we made fish! You can watch the action here:
Here's the video I used to teach last year's tile:
This year, Ms. Rebecca, our cafeteria manager, has requested healthy foods for the ceiling tiles. We're going to be creating fruits for our tiles...you'll have to stay tuned to see how they look!
These tiles will remain on permanent display. I've been asked before how the kids react to this, knowing that they won't get their artwork back. We spend a lot of time chatting about what a legacy is and how important it is to "leave your mark". I've not had a student yet get upset about having their work up in the ceiling.
The only wear I've noticed from the tiles is some slight fading on the first year's butterflies...but I think that is hardly noticeable. Thankfully, Mr. Scruggs loves to hang these tiles. I hung the ones that are up in my art room and I ended up with a ton of chalk in my eyes!
He does a beautiful job of spacing these out and getting them up!
On top of this big event, I also have first graders painting their clay projects and third graders FINALLY finishing their plaster crayons...the art show is quickly approaching so we are in "wrap it up" mode.
