Shape Castles in Paint, Chalk and Oil Pastel Inspired by Paul Klee and Mary Blair

Recently I shared that my students were doing Shape Stations (or centers) in the art room. I did this after the success of both our Dot Day and Line Study stations. I'm loving the exploration the kids are able to do and the kids are loving it...for the same reasons. Not to mention, it's just FUN to try a whole bunch of new ways to create in just a few art classes. Here's a look at our Shape Stations:

And what we did during our Line Study:

And some behind-the-scenes tips on these stations:

Here is a look at the Dot Day stations that started it all:

And since we did two days worth of fun:

Once we finished creating artwork from our line study (lessons which I've yet to share here!), I ventured into shape. Currently, I'm doing shape stations with 2-4th only as kindergarten and first are in the middle of other projects. I do think that these shape stations would work for k-1st except maybe the radial symmetry design. But it's always worth throwing the idea out there to see what the kids come up with, right?

Here's a little look at what the back table in my art room looked like after I began prepping for our shape study. Initially we were going to do some shape stamps (seen in the upper left hand corner) but after giving that a run through with one class, I decided it was too similar to the sponge stamping. We switched to the bleeding tissue paper shapes in the end. 

Now when I'm working through these station ideas, I also gotta start thinking: what are we gonna do with all of these papers and things we create? Here's a little look at what I've come up with...

First grade is currently working on the self portrait in the upper left hand corner. This is a lesson I've done many times, you can check out the lesson here. As for 2-4th, well...I am currently having them all work on those castles! We will all do printing with our stars...and do some embossing too...but as of right now, we are all learning about Mary Blair. Here's the video I created. 

The kids are enjoying working with chalk and oil pastel. I'm excited to give them another opportunity to really explore a variety of supplies. 

Above is my example and below is a class of I think thrid graders examples. I will say this...stations means the kids will often work quickly and not always at a slow and 'careful' pace. I'm fine with that. However, I did have a small handful of students later decide the wanted to redo theirs, knowing it was not their best work. I allowed that too. 

So far, we've gotten the castles chalked in and now we are ready for the oil pastel. 

Our backgrounds will be our bleeding tissue paper. Since winter is coming, we are turning it into a winter wonderland with snow...and a little bit of sparkle on the frame. Oh...and PUFFY PAINT. Everyone's favorite!

Favorite Winter Art Lessons!

It's December 1st! Which means it's time to embark on all sorts of fun, colorful and winter-y art projects around here! Today I'm sharing with you some winter-y greatest hits lessons that I've done over the years. Be sure and click on the link to each as many of these lessons have instructional videos...all free, of course! 

Let's kick things off with these black glue outlined stained-glass inspired trees my fourth graders created a couple years ago. If you need a review on line and color with an introduction into the world of stained glass, than this lesson is for you and your kiddos!

Nothing says cozy like a delicious cup of hot cocoa! My second graders created these collage paintings inspired by the artist Heather Galler. This is a lesson I did last year with my kindergarten and they used Model Magic to create marshmallows! You can find this lesson right here. 

A HUGE hit with students and fellow art teachers alike is this project inspired by the artist Jen Aranyi. Check out the video and share in your art room! 

Printmaking and portraits make for a fun collage project in this lesson I've done with first and second grade! You can check out the details here. 

These kindergarten snowmen are the cutest! And they had a blast creating them. All the details (and a video!) can be found here. 

And if you think those snowmen are cute, check out these penguins! First grade created these and they are so adorable! Another video lesson for y'all!

My fourth graders loved creating these snow globe cities. Read all about it and check out the video here. 

One thing I've really missed this year is having my students work closely together on projects like murals. We have been making it work tho! We recently created a massive school mural (oh, y'all, I cannot wait to share here!) and with some outside-the-box thinking and spreading WAY out, we have made it work. You can check out details on creating a winter mural here. 

If you are looking to add a little fiber arts to your art class this winter, you might want to try on these printed and stitched snowflakes on for size! 

Kindergarten snowy landscape collages are always a hit and cover so many lessons in painting, cutting and gluing! More here and here! 

Check out these snowflake reliefs! Always a fun one, details here. 

Need a bunch of lessons that are a little on the shorter side? Well then look no further as this blog post has plenty!

Happy creating, y'all! Stay cozy!

In the Art Room: First Day of Art Projects!

BIG NEWS! My podcast is now available on Apple Podcasts! I'm so excited. If you want to keep up with me, be sure and subscribe. Also, a rating and a review would be super duper. Thank you, friends!

I have been talking A LOT here lately, both here and on my podcast, about heading back to school. It's right around the corner for me (next week, ACK!) so it's all I've been thinking (and nightmaring) about. In case you've missed it, I've been sharing about my rules and routines for my art room. Next week, I'll be talking about the three consequences I use in my art room, why students might misbehave in our room and the one classroom management tool I use like crazy. But today...I thought I'd share my very favorite art projects to do on the very first day (follow this link for videos and more)!

FULL DISCLOSURE: I try VERY HARD on those first days to do the SAME project with ALL of my grade level kids. Why? For my sanity, y'all! I gotta work up that stamina again. AND because my focus is rules and routines. Doing the same and simple lesson with my students allows me to focus on the rules and routines...while they are creating. So what I'm sharing with you here today are projects that can be done with 1st-4th (and sometimes kindergarten too but I usually start here for them). The exception to this is when I've done Dot Day projects at the start of the year, where each grade does something different. You can find my fave Dot Day lessons below.

Last year, this lesson I created was a HUGE hit, both with my students and fellow art teachers. I know the link for the sheets has been broken forever but GUESS WHO FIXED IT! That's right...finally. Follow this link for both FREE downloadable PDFs. You and your kids will love this first day activity!

While storage was a little tricky, once these guys were finished and up they made for quite the beautiful display. You can see how we displayed them here. 

Who's to say kids can't paint in art class on the very first day?! I created these Welcome Back banners for my students to paint at the END of last year...so I could hang next week. But you could make them now, let the kids paint them and hang them up for Open House or just to brighten the halls. More details on how these were created here and here (with video!). 

I'm a big fan of having my students create collaborative pieces at the start of the school year. Why? Because they can help establish a culture of community! And they are so pretty. We created this piece a couple of years ago and it was so well received that we have since painted a bunch more for our school library. More details here and here!

Of course, you cannot go wrong starting off your school year with The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. I have done a BAZILLION different Dot Day projects, many complete with instructional video. I put 'em all into one big blog post right here. So, need some Dot Day? I got you covered!

This here is an oldie that I've brought back a couple of times now...three times to be exact! I've created a popular video that you are welcome to share in your art room. You can find the lesson details and video here. 

Having done this lesson a couple of times, I've found different ways to display them. Here's one and then here's one where we took our faces and created a world!

This lesson has been a HUGE hit on my blog with so many folks bringing wings into their school. It's a super way to start the year. I've got a video just for you (that's free!) right here. 

Big ole collaborative murals are my fave thing for my kids to create! This one really sends home a message that I want my kids to receive.

And this big ole beast, inspired by the author Todd Parr, makes me so happy that I've yet to take it down!

There are truly so many ways to start your school year...but I would encourage you to START SIMPLE. I know these projects may not seem to be simple. That's because you are just seeing the final results. On that first day, it should be RULES AND ROUTINE city, okay? With some creating mixed in. If you do the same lesson with everyone, then you are making your life a little easier. And when your life is a little easier, then you can focus on rules, routines and getting to know your kiddos (my favorite part). So find what works, have fun, enjoy those first few days by keeping your life easy. Remember, a happy person makes for a happy art teacher. Go easy on yourself and have a wonderful start to your school year. 

More details on these trees here!

2018-19 Art Room Tour!

Well, it's that time of year: Back to School Time! I know what you are thinking...already?! Yes. On my end of the universe, we head back August 1st and the kiddos return about a week after. For once in my life, I decided to get my room together EARLY so as not to be running around right before the kids walk in the door. I thought this might leave me some more time to lesson plan...or stay in my pjs until 1:35pm as I am currently doing. But, whatever! This place is GOOD.TO.GO. Here's just a lil time-lapse of all that you can accomplish when you drink two POTS of coffee:

Yeah, I was so motivated! I wanted to get as much done as possible in just two days and managed to knock out the bulk of it in one. I have been working this summer to declutter and clean closets...and while I have not completely finished those, it was nice to walk in to a tidy-ish space. That made setting up so much easier. The second day, I did finish organizing books, sorting supplies and clearing off my counter. If the kids walked in today, I'd be ready to teach! WHAT I'd teach 'em, I dunno...but we'd be ready. Here's a quick room tour:

I will most certainly give you a detailed tour of each space next week. So stay tuned, y'all! This week, I'll be posting on all of the DIY decor I've created since last year. My room was looking drastically different just one year ago. 

 For the curious, I have pulled up my room tours from years past! This should be interesting:

This is from 2016...right before the fire marshall came in and told me to take down all of my fun stuff. This video was created for my kindergarten thru second grade kids...so pardon me for talking to you like a little. 

And this one is from 2014. I've gone thru some changes, y'all!

 Having been in this space for 15 years, I was ready for an update. I was tired of just hanging up posters and silly stuff on my walls in an effort to just decorate the space. In the end, it just looked junky and cluttered. It was not a happy or calming place...not that it's calming now but I can say it makes me happy!

The magic of a couple of cans of paint and rainbows. Like I said, I'll be posting A LOT of info on how all of these were made this week...and next week, a more in-depth tour of each area. However, feel free to leave me questions below if you have any!

 It's getting to be a packed house, even without the kids! 

 Thank you so much, y'all, for letting me taking you on a tour. Best of wishes getting your art rooms to their happy places!

It can be an overwhelming task. Just take your time and enjoy that journey. Listen to what the kids respond to and go from there.

In the Art Room: 2017-18 Art Show, 3D Displays, Part 2

Hi, friends! A couple of days ago, I shared with y'all Part 1 of the 3D displays at our school-wide art show...today I thought I'd share Part 2! The theme of our art show was Superheroes and so every project created by my 1st through 4th grade kiddos was superhero inspired, including the backdrop!

While I was attending NAEA, I created a sub plan for my kiddos introducing the artist James Rizzi. When it came time to create a backdrop for our superhero city, I reminded my students of this artist. Using bingo daubers filled with diluted India ink and construction paper, they created these fun cities. They made the most epic backdrop for all of our superhero projects. 

Here's a time lapse of our big night!

 I feel like I've been in go-mode every since returning from the art teacherin' conference in March. We hit the ground running with clay projects right after spring break. Normally, I create instructional videos for my clay lessons but this time around, I just didn't have the time. So...I'll be sharing the projects with you but just know that more details are to come. 

 To kick off our superhero theme, my second graders created onomatopoeia plaques. We have 30 minute art classes so on the first day, we created the background piece and painted it with glaze. 

The following day, we added the middle piece and the lettering. Once out of the kiln, we glazed the lettering and fired again. While waiting for the firing, we created Model Magic beads for the hanger of our plaques. More details on this project to come!

 My second graders also created these sweet superhero selfie statues!

 I had two classes come at once so that I could have an hour of art with my second graders. We created these in that amount of time.

 Complete details (hopefully with video!) to come, promise! We used cone 06 Amaco clay to create these. Once out of the kiln, we glazed with Amaco's Teacher's Palette glaze.

I only have three rules when glazing: do not glaze the bottom, NO WHITE SPOTS and be sure and glaze everything a minimum of three times. I love that this superhero has a sidekick!

 Third graders created superhero CARS! This was easily my favor project to teach and see come together...each one is so different and so fun. I cannot wait to share with you just how easy this project is. Every kiddo was completely excited and engaged!

 From drag race cars to sports cars, jeeps, limos and more, they came up with everything. I had originally planned for them to also create a 3D pop up city to display their cars in...but we simply ran out of time. 

One fun thing we did was add alphabet noodles to the license plates of the cars (or anywhere else the kids wanted). This was a fun way for the kids to personalize their cars. The noodles burn out in the kiln, leaving behind their impression.

Don't tell...but this AMAZING drag race car is my absolute favorite thing of all time! The imagination and invention on this kid...such a show stopper!

 My fourth graders created bobble head superheroes. We created bobble head pets last year in fourth grade. This was a variation on that project. 

 Some of us created self-portrait style bobble heads...

And some of did not. And I love both!

Every year, I love these bobble head projects more and more.

Now don't you go telling anyone, but the first grader's projects just might be my favorite. 

 And they were easily the most excited bunch. We started by creating super cities in our 30 minute classes. After they were fired, I dunked them in diluted black tempera paint and the kids added metallic paint on top. We also used clay to create a flying super selfie!

 These were painted with tempera cakes and sealed with sparkle Mod Podge.

Super shields were also created...I cannot wait to share with y'all the details of those projects. But that will have to wait. Thank you so much for letting me share our Superhero portion of the art show!