Now that the art show dust has settled and I'm able to have my life back (like I have much of one in the first place), I thought I'd share our art show with you! I've been giving a ton of sneak peaks over on my Instagram...but have not really given a proper tour. So, let's get started! I created a video tour of the portion of the art show...I hope you enjoy it!
I know the video tends to sweep over the projects and displays so I thought I'd share an overabundance of photos here. Sorry not sorry, y'all. This show was epic!
The theme of our art show was Pirates! That's right, we had a Pirate Art Show and it was easily the biggest and bestest one yet. I cannot wait to share with you all of the details that went into this show...but there is so much that I'm going to spread them over the course of several blog posts. To summarize, our art show was a showcase of three galleries: The Pirate Art Gallery (which I'll be featuring in this blog post), The Glow Gallery (our first black light gallery that was a HUGE hit!) and our Grade Level Galleries which feature every work of art that the kids have created all year long.
My art room, shown here, was the Pirate Gallery. Each year, I use my art room as a gallery to feature our 3-D projects. You can see what last year's Super Hero themed gallery looked like here, here and here.
This display is one that was seen upon entering my art room. Normally, this area is used as our "early finisher" area with a foam rug and lots of building activities such as blocks and sculpture toys. About a month before the art show, I packed up the carpet and started prepping displays in that area. This first display showcases the work by all of my fourth graders and two classes of my first grade.
My fourth graders created these Coral Reel Relief projects from kiln fire clay. This was a one hour clay project that they totally rocked. I've not had a chance to share the lesson details or a video with you but hope to very soon. Instead of glazing these, I decided to have the kids use metallic craft store paint. I started by dunking the bisque fired pieces in diluted India ink (any brand works great) and having the kids paint them with inexpensive craft store paints. The results were so pretty!
The fish were glazed and had to be fired on metal stilts as they were glazed on both sides. The base was dunked in diluted sand-colored paint and the kids painted the bases with the same metallic paints as the fourth grade pieces. Then I had the pleasure of gluing together with a hot glue gun and a chopstick!
At the bottom of the table are the fourth grader's Pirate Ships in a Bottle...another lesson I'm excited to share with you soon. More closer photos in a moment...but let's move on from here and over to the next couple of displays.
I created these giant banners a month before the art show. I plan to tell you how but here's a little secret: they were easier than they look. In a future post, I'll also share how I hung these to the wall. This was a great way to add more excitement to the pirate art show AND hide that big mess of an art room behind it.
Under the treasure chest banner was a display of my second grader's treasure chests! This project was easily everyone's favorite and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you. These second graders were STOKED to take these home.
The treasure chests were created from boxes covered in plaster and decorated with Model Magic details. We even created "gold" coins from scraps of cay and metallic paint. Each student got a "loot bag" that I stamped with a Jolly Rodger. I just happened to have a bunch of draw string bags in my stash so that worked out perfectly.
My third graders created two clay projects, one of them being these pirate ships!
The ship lesson is actually one adapted from my clay book! You can scoop up my clay book here...it's written for kids who don't have access to a kiln. So if you are a kilnless art teacher, this book is for you! BUT many of the lessons can also be used for kiln fired clay. So it's an equal opportunity book.
The ships were also dunked in a terra cotta colored paint and sparkle was added with metallic.
Sails were created from...can you guess? Toilet paper tubes! The kids had to hole punch through the tube to slide the straw down. I had a stash of paper straws in my closet for us to use. I did have to hot glue the sails in place which didn't take too long.
Around the corner from the other displays was this one. This display featured the work of my second and third graders.
My second graders, in addition to creating their treasure box sculptures, they also made these Pirate Parrots! These are pinch pot birds with fun dangly legs.
Some had made their parrots with eye patches, pirate hats, you name it. Each had a wonderfully fun personality, just like the artist!
Third grade, in addition to their pirate ships, they also made these coral reef relief.
These were created similarly to the fourth graders pieces but on a smaller scale. They were also painted in the same manner.
When finished painting, the kids used Twisteez wire and beads to create a hanger for their piece.
Around the corner, we had more second grade treasure chests, more first grade fish and more third grade pirate ships.
Fourth grade also created these ships in a bottle which were a lot of fun. We used cardboard recycled from the cafeteria, painted papers and Model Magic for the boats. More lesson details to come!
This project was a big hit with the kids!
A lesson that I'd definitely do again.
To display, I simply hot glued them to the bottom of the paper table cloth.
The last displays I'm sharing featured the work of my kindergarten, more treasure chests by second grade, more pirate parrots by second and some fish by first.
My kindergarten actually created two clay projects...one was displayed in the glow gallery and I'll be sharing that in a future blog post.
This is a clay project from my book also! I've been doing it for years with my kindergarten kiddos and it is ALWAYS a success for each child. Gotta love that!
Thank you for joining me on this tour of the pirate art gallery! Be sure and pop by at the end of this week...more videos and tours to come!
Two years ago, our school reformatted our field day. I'm not sure if your school does a field day but, previously, the field day activity time took place during our students' specials class. Now, the kids do field day all day, rotating, by class, from one activity to another every 15 minutes. Most activities are outside. Our first year, I was placed in the sidewalk chalk activity and, ya'll, lemme tell you, it was THE LONGEST DAY OF MY LIFE. I was hot. The kids were hot. We ran outta sidewalk. We ran outta chalk. We ran outta patience. At the end of the day, I decided never again. The following year, rain was predicted but the show had to go on. I decided to do a different activity indoors. Last year, we painted Welcome Back banners to be hung at the start of the following school year. You can read all about it and watch a video here.
This year, I decided to change it up again...well, really just add more to it, by having multiple painting stations for my students. Here's the set up:
I created 3 painting stations and, just so there was no confusion, overcrowding or the normal mayhem that ensues on field day, I numbered the tables with the amount of kiddos who could create there. They had to pick a spot and stay there. No chairs. Just grab a brush and go. Here's a little video with more of a look-see:
The day was so much fun and it seriously flew by! We worked on three things: 4 Welcome Back banners for the new school year, 4 2'X3' giant canvases for the school library, 9"X12" canvas board alphabet and numbers 1-9 for the library also.
Last year, during field day, we made this sign...and our school librarian loved it so much, she promptly claimed it and requested a series of paintings for the library. It only took me a year to get around to doing it with the kids...but they are complete, thanks to field day fun!
We painted with tempera paints on the canvas. The canvases were purchased with funds from our school (not my art budget!). The morning crew of younger kids painted the flat colors while the older students painted the patterns.
Once the kids were done painting for the day, I went back over my black lines and added the white pops of paint.
The kids did paint on top of my black lines...which I wasn't worried about. I just touched them up.
I love how happy and whimsical they are. I cannot wait to see them in the library!
I also retouch the banners but those I do with a bingo dauber so it goes really fast.
These will get rolled up until August!
It's a great way to jazz up the otherwise boring walls when we return to school.
Out of everything we worked on tho, these letters and numbers might be my favorite. This was actually a lesson I did with my third and fourth graders...as well as a collaborative I'll be sharing this week! I simply give the kids two paint trays, one filled with warm colors and the other cold (tempera paint is what we used, Sax Versa Temp is my go-to!) and ask them to pick one color family for the number and the opposite for the background.
They painted as much as they could and then the next class just picked up where they left off. They were to use dots, dashes and dabs of color.
Aren't they the prettiest?! I need a set for my home too. What field day activities do you all do? I'd love to hear more!
This year marks our fifth to do the chalked ceiling tiles with second grade. I can't believe it's been five years...and I'm happy to say that this year's was by far the easiest and least stressful. I guess I've finally learn a thing or two after all these years! In case you aren't familiar with this project that we do, it's a legacy piece that my second grade students create on the back side of a ceiling tile. We use chalk and have a different theme each year. This year, we created tigers because we are the Johnson Tigers! I always get a ton of questions when I share this project on my social media platforms. I thought I'd try and answer them here and also share the last four legacy projects we've created. Be sure and click on the link as many have instructional videos!
Why do you use chalk and not paint? We use chalk because of the history of how we came to doing these tiles. You see, this was an accidental project. Initially, we were going to do a sidewalk chalk project with a visiting artist (more here). But on the day of the event, thunderstorms were predicted. I was at a loss of what we would do until I remembered that my principal had been asking me to have our students decorate ceiling tiles. So I got one and drew on it with the chalk...we had all the chalk prepped and ready for the sidewalk chalk event, so I was determined to use it. The problem was, the chalk didn't work well on the front of the tile. So I flipped it over and, what do you know, it worked perfectly...just like a sidewalk. And that's how the whole thing got started.
Why do you use the back and not the front? I found the front didn't take to the chalk as well...but the back is perfect. There are numbers on the back but the chalk covers it up.
What brand of chalk do you use? Doesn't it get everywhere? I really like Faber-Castell chalk and Sargent chalk. We do a lot of coloring with the side of the chalk, not holding it like a crayon. This helps fill in large spaces. These two brands make very vibrant chalk colors. Yes, it's super messy...especially since we work on the floor. I tell the kids to wear their play clothes and come ready to make a mess. But, honestly, look at that floor! It's not even that bad. Having a paper banner under their work really helps.
So...how does this work? How do you teach this? On the day of the event, I have all of my second grade classes come to the multipurpose room. I lead all of then in this activity. I don't ask for additional help or teachers to be in the room...I'm kind of a solo act. This year, I did things in a way that I think worked the best: I had my classes all in rows, by class. Each had an assigned spot to cut down on any behavioral issues. Then I lead them, guided drawing style, in the creation of their own unique tiger. It took us an hour and a half. I happened to have a plan period so this worked out well and my other classes still had their art time.
How do you seal the chalked piece when it's finished? I just use hairspray. Yes, some of the chalk smears when it's placed in the ceiling...but not enough to tell.
Do you do a different theme for the chalked drawing every year? If so, how do you decide what to do? Yes, I do a different theme. It's sometimes based on what the kids are learning about (butterflies) or I also take requests. For example, the cafeteria manager wanted healthy foods, so last year we created fruit tiles. This year, we did tigers as that's our mascot.
What will you do when you run out of ceiling space? Retire. Below is a sampling of what the kids have created over the last 5 years...the links have videos too, including clips of the set up and kids working if you are interested.
