It's gotten pretty spooky here on the blog...what can I say, I love me some Halloween. And, by the way, you ain't seen nuthin' yet as I have so many Halloweenie DIY's to share! I'm beyond excited...but, for now, I'll take a wee break to share this super fun, art-ucational and easy SUB PLAN that my kiddos have been working on.
That's right, a couple of weeks ago, I was out of town for a few days and needed to leave my sub and my students some fun plans. I created the following video for her to share with the students:
I try my hardest to request the same subs when possible so that they know my students and they know the drill: show my video up to the portion that the kids will be creating that day and get them rolling. If I'm gone a number of days, then I have them continue with the video on the following art classes.
Often times, when I prepare sub plans, I'll have the sub do the same project with nearly all of my classes (in this case, my friends in kindergarten worked on something else). I do this for a couple of reasons: less prep for me as far as materials and supplies goes and less prep for the sub. My subs are usually not art teachers so I like to keep their life simple. A happy sub is an art teacher's BFF...and in this case, mine was so happy, she left me an email saying she cleaned my tables for me. THANK YOU, MS. SHORT!
When I returned to school the following week, I was created by these beauties! The kids worked on 9" X 12" paper. You can read about the supplies used here.
By the way, looking for sub plans? I've got a ton and I'm happy to share. You can find them here. Also here you'll see how I set up for a sub...when I have the time to do so.
And if you'd rather just listen to this ding-dong talk sub plannin', well, here you go! But now, let's get back to the sub plan at hand, shall we?
My students have felt so much pride in their work since I taught them how to draw in the third dimension. They are now pros! I love their fun and funky villages.
Reason #3 I LOOOOOOVE having every grade level do the same project when I am away: because when I return, we just drop in to finishing it off! That means I don't have to scramble to see what it was we were previously doing and I don't have to prep new plans for the upcoming week. I can simply return to school, drop in to the pre-planned lesson and relax knowing that the art educatin' still goes on...with little stress from me.
This also gives me time to see where we left off on previous projects and where the next couple of art classes will take us. It's like a moment to breathe. And who doesn't need that?
While I'm breathing (usually into a paper bag), my students are wrapping up their drawing and coloring. Once complete, they use liquid watercolors to add patches of cool colors. A light sprinkle of table salt adds the fun effect you see.
I'm so excited to display these along with the other landscape projects we are currently elbows deep in.
By the way, I'm a huge fan of Sax brand liquid watercolors. Last year, I liked them so much, I also purchased their fluorescent watercolors. Meh. I'll explain my feelings on those in uno momento.
But first let's ooh and ahh over this salt-sprinkly goodness, shall we?
So the Sax brand fluorescent paints were just weird, I don't know how else to describe them. I most def would not recommend them. They were more like a weird watery-soapy tempera than they were a watercolor. The kids liked them. I was not a fan.
I tested the waters with a few classes and then promptly switched back to the ole tried and true.
The paintings still looked fabo so no complaints here. I work with some seriously awesome artists, what can I say?
One of our words of the week was VARIETY...I requested variety of houses, sizes, patterns, colors, you name it. And they delivered.
It was pointed out to me by several of the kids which house was mine...needless to say, it was always the craziest. Aw, shucks. They get me...every.single.art.class. Poor kids!
They say the eyes have it, y'all. Well, I'm excited to say that not only do they have it but they have bows too. Yay! Balls and bows, my favorite! Wait, uhhhhh. Scratch that. Eyeball ornaments with bows are my favorite. That sounds MUCH better.
I created these Eyeball Ornaments for my Halloween tree (yes, it's a thing) that will be revealed right here on October 9th so mark your calendar in Candy Corn, witches, cuz it's a Candy Corn Tree! I was tasked by Treetopia to not only decorate said tree but come up with a theme. I've been sharing sneak peeks here but you'll have to wait until October 9th for the full reveal. Until then, I'll be sharing the DIY's I created for the tree. Today, that means there here ornaments. Here's my wee how-to video:
Here's a wee list of the supplies I used: * Foil. I hit up the Dollar Tree for this one. Did you know they sell a box of 30 sheets of foil for...you guested it...a dollar?! That place is my sanctuary. Don't judge. * Rigid Wrap. Which is plaster wrap. You can find plaster wrap at craft stores but I really like Activa's Rigid Wrap. The stuff just seems a little thicker and more sturdy. You can find it here. * Acrylic Paint. I'm a fan of the cheapo craft store stuff. Cuz I'm cheap and crafty. At least that's what the boys say.
Before these cuties hit my tree, I displayed them for all to see. If you are curious where I scored my Halloween decor, I'll gladly spill the beans: Nancy Drew book collection was from a gullible neighbor kid I knew when growing up; EEK signs scored at 70% off at after-Halloween sales last fall; paintings by yours truly; beakers from the craft store and the rest was thrifted.
Oh! I forgot to mention, after the eyeballs were created, I thought they needed a little touch of cute and fun so I added the bows. I used ribbon found at the craft store. After shaping them in to bows, I simply hot glued them to the top.
About that Haunted Mansion painting...I've never blogged about it because I never finished the thing. And I don't know if I will. The spider webs are strategically placed to hide my unfinished'ish'ness.
I REALLLLLLY cannot wait to share my Halloween tree with y'all. Any guesses on the theme I went with? The big reveal will be next Monday, October 9th!
On a different note, is it weird that I'm itching to paint the covers of the Nancy Drew books and hang them in my house? I want a whole wall. I am living for the paintings on the cover. I might have to do some painting over fall break...which is next week...not that I'm counting the MINUTES.
Oh! And not only have I been decorating my home but my art room as well. I'm excited to share what's new in that hot mess express, choo-choo!
Until then, Jeepers, Creepers! Where'd you get them Peepers?!
Happy October 1st, guys and gals! I'm SO EXCITED that my favorite month which is also home to my favorite holiday is FINALLY here! I've been sharing my favorite DIY's for the season as well as my favorite art projects for kids...and today I'm sharing my TOP TEN SPOOKY ENSEMBLES! Can you tell I'm excited based on my excessive use of the caps lock and the exclamation points? Sorry, I just can't control myself.
But before I go any further, I have some super spooky and fun news to share with you: I've been chosen by Treetopia to one of their 2017 Halloween Queens! What does that mean? Well, that they sent me a CANDY CORN CHRISTMAS TREE which I've just spent the last 48 hours crafting and decorating. And you'll be able to catch a sneak peek right here tomorrow on October 9th. I'm so excited to also share that I'll be hosting a HUGE giveaway then. Ya'll won't wanna miss this!
I will admit, I'm mighty nervous...I mean, check out this line up! If you are not familiar with these DIY rock stars, then hop on over to their blogs! BriteandBubbly is an ABSOLUTE DOLL, y'all have to check out her blog. 100directions blogger Jen is a girl after my own heart: her blog really is going in 100 directions and I love them all! Chloe at CelebrateandDecorate has such a fun and colorful blog that I cannot wait to explore more. If y'all are looking for some fun DIY's for yourself to create for your home, Natalie at Natalme has some amazing ideas. CraftyLumberJacks is AMAZING...I just got lost exploring their blog and all of their amazing ideas for Halloween. JenniferPerkins is where I get so much inspirations...she's a girl after my own heart with her love of anything vintage, weird, colorful and...well, weird. I'm thrilled to be in such good company!
So be sure to pop back by tomorrow on October 9th for some fun news! Until then...let's talk Spook-tastic Ensembles!
Zombie Dress! I found this amazing Walking Dead-esque fabric at Joann's last season and knew I had to make a dress! I wore it to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios. Mitch snapped the photo...knowing full well that there was a psychotic chain saw gal with great hair creepin' up behind me. More details on the fabric and the dress pattern used right here.
Needle Felted Haunted Mansion Eyeball Pants! Okay, I know that's a lengthy description but that's exactly what these bad boys are. I found the stretchy pants at Target and knew right away that they'd make the perfect Haunted Mansion pants...as the print reminded me of the creepy-eyeball wall paper at the place. The Haunted Mansion at Disney is one of my most favorite things ever. I was so excited to create these pants. And, PANTS! I never wear 'em. In fact, I have three pairs and this is one of them. More details here.
El Dia de los Muertos Dress! I've actually made a couple...I love all things Day of the Dead. These planters were super fun to paint as well. I'm excited to wear this dress this year. But I'm on a heels boycott so, sadly, I won't be wearing the dress with those super cute heels! More dress and planter details here.
Monster Mash Dress! I think one of the reasons I love Halloween so much is because of the music. It's like Christmas music in that we listen to the same songs every year...and they bring back so many fun memories. Monster Mash makes me think of bobbing for apples, trick or treatin' and wearing our costumes to school. This fabric inspired me so much, I needle felted a matching sweater! More here.
Classic Horror Movies Dress! The classic Universal Studios horror movies are my favorite thing ever. Well, maybe not the movies so much as just looking at the posters, the movie stills and photos Boris Karloff getting into so many amazingly spooky characters. This fabric is some of my favorite and I always get stopped when wearing this dress. You can read about it right here.
The Scream! Granted, this dress wasn't intended to be a Halloween dress, but I'm gonna stretch and say that it qualifies as Munch's the Scream is spooky as all get out. Not to mention, despite the fact that this dress is sleeveless, it's COMPLETELY made of felted wool on the front thereby making it the hottest sleeveless dress in history. It's been confirmed. Read all about it here.
Another el Dia de los Muertos Dress! I had a lot of fun adding the colorful pompoms to the bottom of this dress. I'm telling you, seeing the colorful art of this holiday makes me so happy. I wish I had more of it in my home! For now, I'll have to settle on this here dress. Read all about it here.
Black Cat! I knew as soon as I spotted this curtain fabric at IKEA that it was coming home with me and becoming a dress. I now am ruined for fabric because of this dress...because now all I wanna sew with is big and bold print (preferably from IKEA because it's so incredibly inexpensive!). More about this cat-astic dress here.
Naughty Kitty Club Jacket! Okay, so one could argue that this is not Halloween specific but I disagree. If you know your vintage Halloween cat decorations (what?! You don't!? Shame on you!) then you'll recognize this cat. He's the one on most vintage Halloween decor. I loved him so much, I decided to needle felt him onto the back of this cheapo jacket. More here.
Spooky Owl Sweater! Have you noticed a trend? In the fall, I LOVE to get back into needle felting! Every season, I return to it and don't stop stabbing stuff (ahem) until spring. I'm excited to get back into needle felting soon...just don't know what I'll be up to yet! More about this simple project here.
Now y'all have a super start to the best month ever! AND remember to pop back by here tomorrow for a HUGE giveaway and some exciting fun-ness to share. Until then!
Hello, party people! I'm excited to share with y'all today some things that are goin' down in the art room...namely, just how my students are using their sketchbooks! I see my third and fourth grade students for an hour (my other classes are 30 minutes in length). For that reason, I decided to introduce them to sketchbooks this year. We created our own sketchbook covers on the very first day of art and had a big time doing so.
Here's a blog post explaining how they are created. We did these a couple of years ago...and while the kids loved making them and sketching...I dropped the ball. I wasn't super sure how I wanted the kids to use their sketchbooks. Here was my initial thought a couple of years ago:
This time around, I decided to make some changes to how we use our books. Here's the plan: * We will be taking a journey through art history with our sketchbooks! Every other week, my students will sketch in their books. We will do this every other week so as to not eat into regularly scheduled creative time. To make this process of distributing and collecting sketchbooks easier (because I have two classes at once and things can take a little longer/get a little hairy if I don't have a solid system), I created this video with the help of my awesome co-workers. My kids FLIPPED when they saw their teachers cutting up for the cause. Here's the Do's and Don't's of Sketchbookin':
* On sketchbook days, my students will watch two 1-minute videos. The first one will be a Hot Minute of History (which I've shared here before) and the other will be a sketchbook prompt based on that history. Here's our first installment!
* As they view the videos, students are to silently take their sketchbook from the bin and pass the bin. They did this beautifully. Here's their sketching prompt video:
I made my rules very clear: Silent Sketch Time and One Page at a Time. I then set my timer for 7 minutes and the kids went to work. I was so loving their first sketches! I thought I'd share...
We used texture plates and fabric for the rubbing. I did end up swapping out the vine charcoal for black oil pastels as the charcoal did not work very well on the oil pastels.
I had one student say they had "messed up" and that they wanted to start again on another sheet. I said, "If you were a cave artist, you wouldn't ask for another cave wall...you would make that drawing work!" And they did. It was a fun lesson on beautiful oops'ing!
One of the main reasons I thought it would be good to sketch through Art History is that it is one area that I often fail to teach. There are SO MANY THINGS TO TEACH IN ART that I find I have to squeeze in as much as I can. This is one way I hope to do that.
I introduced A Hot Minute of Art History before (more details here) but then it was just me chatting...and I tend to be long winded. Not only that but it didn't really resonate with the kids as they didn't have a creating-connection. So, hopefully, this will help. I am showing the one minute videos to my first through second grade students...they just don't do the sketching portion.
I also created a song to go along with this journey. You can find the song here (it's a work in progress). Here's a clip of me teaching it to a group of third graders a couple of years ago:
We still get up and sing the song...but now we do it with a before video and a sketching intro!
I was so excited by the sketchbook drawings and I know the kids were too. I can't wait to share our next Art History video with them!
I also loved the variety of drawings. I did do a quick google search of cave paintings and placed a couple of simple sheets on each table for inspiration. My students are used to these Idea Sheets, as we call them. I know that I work best when I have some inspiration so I always provide that for my students.
As I create the lyrics to the song, I've been working on paintings myself. Here's my take on Cave Painting:
These paintings will later become posters to hold the lyrics of our Rockin' Art History song!
You can find the pdf for this here if you are interested! Feel free to use in your art room. All I ask is that you share your source when other's ask. I would rather not post what I share to TPT...I would like to continue sharing. However, it is sometimes sad to see folks not give credit where it is due...especially when they got the information for free. So I ask politely and say thank you!
Getting back into sketchbooks with the kids meant finding a place to store them. Earlier this year, I found this great bookcase that was in an abandoned classroom. After a little bit of paint, I was happy with the result.
My bins from Target are the perfect fit! It really helps to have the folders divided by class and gender as that makes passing the sketchbooks our much faster and easier.
I'll be sure to share our sketchbook adventures as they continue!
