Hello, friends! I've been packing and preparing for my upcoming trip to Chicago for NAEA and I'm so excited. While I do love me some art teacherin' conferencing, I don't love the multi-day sub plan preppin' it entails. The subs I've lined up are super-fab and I know they will have fun creating with the kids. However, they aren't art teachers by trade so I do like to have sub plans that are not only easy for them to follow but ones they can do with all my classes. This means less confusion for them and less supply prep for me! I think I've come up with a plan and I thought I'd share it with y'all in case you wanna use it too.
It's an autobiographical three-dimensional star! Our school-wide art show is coming up and I love to have the kids do a little writing about themselves. What better way to let their star's shine than with this fun project?
I mean, check out that three-dimensional star, y'all! I created both a sub video AND a photographed step-by-step. This way, if technology-town decides to be uncooperative, my sub-o can use the visuals. I'm printing each of the following photos with directions and plan to have them posted for both the students and the sub to refer to. But, before I get to all that...LET'S TALK ABOUT NAEA 2016!
I'll be presenting a handful of times and meeting y'all at the AOE "Meet the Bloggers" event! Here are the deets... * "Come Blog with Us - Three Art Ed Bloggers Share Tips" Thursday, March 17th // 12 - 12:50pm McCormick Place, North Building, N426c, Level 4 A presentation I'll be doing with some of my fave bloggy friends, Laura Lohmann and Phyllis Brown! Thursday, March 17th // 12 - 12:50 // McCormick Place, North Building, N426c, Level 4 * "Dress Like a Masterpiece: Needle Felting Wearable Art!" Thursday, March 17th // 1:30 - 3:20pm McCormick Place, Lakeside Center, E272b, Leve 2 PLEASE NOTE: This is a ticketed event. It is currently sold out. Sorry, buddies! * "Leaving a Legacy Without Losing Your Mind" Friday, March 18th // 8- 8:50am McCormick Place, North Building, N227a, Level 2 I'm so excited to present with Janine about something we are both passionate about: school-wide collaboratives! For some reason, NAEA has me listed as Cassandra Stephens (which, technically, is my name but I ain't fancy so I never use it!). * "Meet Your Fave Art Teacherin' Bloggers!" I'm super excited to meet y'all and my fave art bloggers! Here are the deets in a super cute graphic that I didn't create (thanks, Alecia and AOE!)...
I'm seriously cannot wait to see/meet/chat/high five all y'all! But until then, let's sort out these subbie plans, shall we? Below is the video I am leaving with the sub. I don't anticipate that she'll get thru the entire lesson while I'm away. However, this will be a super great way for me to ease back into things, what with the kids all working on the same project. I like a mellow-comeback after being gone for a spell, don't you? Here's a wee list of supplies used in this here art makerin':
* Copy paper cut to a square 8.5" X 8.5" * Sharpies * Markers * 12" X 12" black construction paper * Metallic markers * Glue * Chalk
This project was inspired by my current obsession with Sly and the Family Stone and the song Everybody is a Star. Take a look-see!
And here's my sub plan video! (By the way, in case this sub plan doesn't suit your fancy, check this one. Also, I'm always sharing video'ed plans here so you might wanna subscribe). Sidenote: I am going to have my sub create a stockpile of these stars for my kindergarten friends and for any kids who have a hard time following the directions. We don't wanna leave any artist behind!
(Please ignore the crazy image...and the fact that I have blue chalk smeared on my cheek for about 1/8th of the video). In case the video isn't the best format for y'all, I also snapped step-by-step photos because I'm such a giver. Here you go!
1. Fold copy paper square in half.
2. Be sure to press the fold down firmly.
3. Each corner has been labeled (my apologies for the blurry photo).
4. Take corner C and bring it to the middle of the line segment between corners A and D.
It should look like this. Press the fold firmly.
5. Then bring D up and fold a small triangle.
Press firmly.
It should look like this!
6. Now bring the left hand side over to the right.
It might be difficult to fold all of those papers. Be patient with yourself and your paper!
It should look like this.
7. Now, using a pencil, put a dot in the corner of the two angle lines on the left side...
and another dot on the other side just a little below the middle of that line segment.
Like this!
8. Connect the dots with a cut line and...
Snip!
9. Open it up and you are now the proud owner of a three dimensional star! Congratulations!
10. Now, using a Sharpie, start in the middle of your star and trace each creased line that you made with all of that folding.
You'll end up with ten sections to your star. Each section you can decorate with a different pattern and design.
Here are some ideas for you!
11. Draw your designs in each section.
12. Use markers to add color.
13. Once you are finished, place your star in the middle of a piece of black paper and trace it.
Your pencil lines will be barely visible and that's perfect!
14. Let's write about what makes us a star! As you write, be sure to hop over the outline of the star. You might want to begin each sentence with "I am a star because..."
Fill up that whole page!
15. To get your star to pop out, all you have to do is fold along the long lines of the star.
The long lines of the star should be folded up (that's called a mountain fold) and the short lines of the star should be folded down (that's called a valley fold!).
16. Add a tiny dot of glue to each tip of the star.
17. Press each tip of the star and hold for about 10 seconds to get it to stick.
18. Use chalk to color on your pencil line of the star.
Which should look a little like this when you are done.
19. Use your finger to push the chalk away from the star.
20. Let's do the same thing to the outside edge of the square! Color...
Then smear and viola! You are finished and YOU are a STAR!
Art teacherin' friends, I do hope to see y'all real soon! PLEASE feel free to use this lesson. I'd love to see what your kids create. You can always snap a pic and share it on instagram (you can find me here) with the hashtag #everybodyisastar.
Hello, my most amazing artists! (this is how I greet my students every class to which I've taught them to reply "Hello, my most amazing art teacher!"...makes an art teacherin' type feel good. Y'all should try it, it's fab-u-lous!). I'm here today to share with y'all some masterpiece head-toppers I recently created. I've been plotting and planning my ensembles for ole NAEA 2016 and while I would just love to have the time to whip new 'fits, I'm just gonna have to go with some ole favorites. For that reason, I made hats to go with my wacky wardrobe! This one is for my Mondrian coat and dress.
And this one for my Lichtenstein pop art dress! I was inspired by my Target sweater for this one. In other news, I thought I was gonna POP a blood vessel while the 4th graders were painting their 3' long pencil and crayon sculptures today. I might have gotten impaled by a giant No. 2 pencil more than once...it wasn't pretty.
Here's my lil mini-collection all complete. I've been dying to make more hats since making my donut hat last year. I know these lil guys aren't technically hats as they don't do much head-coverin'. They're more like headgear.
{shivers} Okay, not THAT kind of headgear, praise the Lord! That'd be what 12 year-old me wore whilst opening my birthday prezzies ('twas my birthday yesterday! I turned 41 which I was totes okay with until one of my students told me his grandma was the same age.) In other news, WHAT KIND OF PARENTS MAKE THEIR KID WEAR HEADGEAR ON THEIR BIRTHDAY?! AND get them an office chair?! Y'all better believe I was all about that office chair, I have one just like it in my art room. I mean, look at me all batting my baby bro Kris away from my seat. It's DELUXE, son! Back the funk off!
Oh how times haven't changed. I'm still wearing headgear. Thankfully this one doesn't make me look as sad and tweenie. Or maybe it do, I dunno!
So I created these hats with these hat-starter thingies I found on Amazon for like a buck each. They pretty much look like what I shoved inside my bra as a teen (okay, still do) with clips on the back.
I busted out the Mondrian hat first. I began by using regular ole craft store felt cut to a larger size than my hat.
And commenced needle felting like crazy.
Look, ma, I made an egg hat! Squares and rectangles were added in primary colors.
And outlines in black. This hat came together super fast.
From there, I hot glued the needle felted design to the hat/bra padding thingie.
The can was done totes differently. I needle felted it as a flat label. Then I turned the needle felted label right sides together, stitched then flipped it right side out. I added a can lid to the top (as well as the peeled back lid) and stuffed it from the bottom before attaching it to the hat.
Laziness prevented me from adding a plate under the can of soup.
Here you can see how the top looks. I thought a flat can would be boring so I opted for the peeled back lid look.
CAN you dig my SOUP-er hat? How 'bout my puns?
This one is my fave, can't wait to wear it out!
This hat is the biggest one and prolly my least fave because of it. I tried to make the letters smaller but they just didn't have the impact when I did. This hat really only looks good from the side tho I am thinking of trying a big ole beehive and putting it at the base. That should work, right?
Yarn really came in handy with this hat. I used it to outline the letters and the blue shape.
I've had so much fun making these (and spent so much less time than I do when I make clothing!) that I'm sure to make more. I've already got a sketchbook full of ideas...I just need me a spring break to bust 'em out. Till next time!
What you see here is my final installment of printmaking lessons for the firsties thru thirdz. We started our printmaking units many moons ago and we've been having a big time since. You might recall my lil printmaking pep talk here...
You can check out the first graders printmaking lesson here as well as second grade's here. Fourth gradeland is currently in the midst of a collaborative/legacy/sculptural project that meant they were left outta the printmaking loop. I'm hoping to remedy that before the school year ends. I'll be sure to keep y'all posted. Until then, let's talk about these beauts...
I am so in love with how these printed and collaged cityscapes turned out, y'all! The kids had a blast printmaking...but where really thrilled to see their cities come together.
Lemme tell you what each kid created: * After creating their own printing plate (demo'ed in the video below), each child printed a minimum of four prints on colorful copy paper. They were to do two prints in white ink and two in black ink (or the reverse of that, depending on what was available at their table). * The following art class, the kids learned about wax resist, warm/cool colors and watercoloring a skyscape. Each student created a warm and cool colored sky (with a sprinkle of salt for added effect!). * Finally, each kid got back their warm and cool skies along with their prints. They then assembled their printed, painted and collaged landscapes with a layer of cardboard in-between for added depth. This resulted in TWO finished pieces by each student, as you see above!
This was such a fun and successful project for all students. Here's a list of supplies we used:
* Scratch-Art Foam (tho styro plates would work in a pinch...they'd just create a rounded landscape which could be totally amazing!)
I hope these videos are useful as I'm too tired to type out the directions (lazy much?). I have found that all kids can be successful with printmaking IF you teach them correctly and IF you are a stickler for proper printmaking techniques. I found that having the kids work in pairs really helped them hold each other accountable, even the littles.
For example, we learned that you don't need a barren to rub the back of the print, just use a good back massage. No pounding necessary. Unless you wanna take a time-out break (eyebrow-raise, head-tilt, teacher-face).
Every print pulled was magic. However, not gonna lie, the first prints are usually stinkers. Not enough ink, not enough "massaging" the back of the paper, etc. I told the kids to NEVER throw a way a print. If they didn't like it, they were to figure out what was wrong with it and learn from it. Blurry? Then you moved it accidentally. Can't see your lines? You used too much ink. Faded looking? Not enough ink. That's why we did a million prints. So we'd at least have a handful of successful ones.
In other news, I cannot take any credit for this perspective drawing or that amazing use of letter reversal. This kid's just rockin' it!
Once all the prints were made and backgrounds painted, the kids were given a 9" X 12" piece of paper. They attached their paintings to the top and were told to CUT OUT their skyscape. Oh, the whining, y'all! "I can't cut out all those small shapes!", "This is gonna take forever!", "My hand is cramping, can you help me?!" Nope. You do it.
And then they did.
I threw the option of adding a rectangle of cardboard between the cities out there. Most kids opted to do it as they loved the depth it added.
I think if I were to ask them what one of their fave things this year has been, they'd def say printmaking. The magic of it is addictive!
Next up: rolling their printing plates thru the slab roller with clay! I'll keep you posted on how their ceramic cities turn out. Til then, what are some of your fave printing projects, y'all?
