Next week, I'll be heading to the Big Apple for the NAEA convention (you can check out the dates/times/topics I'll be presenting and co-presenting here). In preparation, I've been working on my sub plans which, as you know, is always a really good time. Because I'll be presenting on folk art, I decided to base my sub plans around that theme. In particular, my students will be learning about the Mexican folk artist Kerri Ambrosino.
I'm a sucker for color and pattern. I am using her work to also reteach the elements of art and introduce the principals of art. While I am gone, my students will tackle the first half of the sub plan video and we'll do the rest together when I return. Cuz there ain't no way those kids are using puffy paint without me! I'll be doing this lesson with all grades. When I create sub plan videos, I often do this because it is so much easier for the sub. They become experts at the lesson and don't feel flustered going from one lesson to the next, switching out visuals and supplies. A Happy Sub means Fewer Flubs! Here's the sub video. Feel free to use in your art teacherin' adventures:
Supplies needed:
* Popsicle sticks. I have ONE TRIZILLION popsicle sticks. I always get them donated and I never know what to do with them...until now. Of course, they aren't necessary for this project but they do add a fun three-dimensional element.
* Matte board/cardboard. This will hold the weight of the sticks. I have a surplus of card and matte board as well so this was a good way to use that up. I cut it 4" X 7".
* Construction paper. In various colors, also cut to 4" X 7" to serve as the background.
* Scrap papers. For the vase and flowers.
* Foam flowers. Again, another art room surplus. Let's use 'em up! They'll also add that fun third dimention.
* Puffy Paint!
While I'm away, I hope that the students will get all of their sticks decorated and glued to their background. For my 30 minute classes, they might only get the sticks complete. For my hour long classes, they should have no problem knocking that out. We are also creating large scale flower still lives for teacher appreciation...so my early finishers start on that with their decorated strip for the table.
Kerri's work is just wonderful! I love everything about it and I think my students will as well. I'm excited about these small masterpieces. They'll make a great addition to our art show and the perfect presents for Mother's Day...which I know is far off but I always procrastinate. Not this time!
I will be certain to share a follow-up blog post.
If you give this lesson a go, I'd love to know! Special thanks to my P.E. buddy Ali for working out the kinks of this project with me.
Hey, y'all! Just thought I'd pop in and offer up this Dot Day activity sheet I created for my students. I was out last week and created this activity for my students to use with the sub. If you'd like this free downloadable PDF, then here you go! When I write lesson plans, I try really hard for my sub to do the same lesson with ALL of my students, kindergarten through fourth. This makes my sub's life so much easier and that's my ultimate goal. I have a TON of sub plan videos on my YouTube channel (you really should subscribe! I'm uploading videos all the time!). I also have a whole lot of blog posts all about how I prep for a sub. In fact, there's a blog post of my very favorite sub plans!
For this lesson plan, the sub notes were simple: 1. Read The Dot to the class. Engage the students in questions about Vashti, the main character of the book. How did her attitude toward creating change? How did she share her new outlook with another potential artist? 2. Take one sticker dot and place it anywhere inside your swirly frame. What could your dot become? A flower? A face? A sun for a landscape? A piece of fruit for a still life? Draw with pencil. Add color with crayons. 3. Like all artists, don't forget to SIGN IT! And that's it! My classes are only 30 minutes in length so that was about all my students could manage. I sent these works of art home with the students but they could have been a great chance to chat about their ideas or share their work. Have a wonderful week! Pop back by here tomorrow when I'll be sharing my favorite Dot Day lessons!
Hey, friends! I feel like it's been forever since I chatted with y'all...we currently have no internet at my house (long boring story that we hope to remedy soon!) which means I've not been able to share with you. So I'm staying late this afternoon to post a recent lesson I created for my students (this is actually a sub video! My sub and the kids LOVED it!).
I was inspired by a lesson that Mr. DeWilde shared on his blog. In fact, you can purchase his lesson plan (which is different than mine and, honestly, probably better!) over on his page. DO IT. I saw his kid's projects on Instagram and immediately knew my kids would love doing it! So here's my version...feel free to use in your art teacherin' world:
My sub and the kids did a great job with this! They created their sketches first and then started creating. Most did not finish...which means that next week, they will be wrapping up their big mouth's with me before heading off on Thanksgiving Break!
Leaving videos for my sub that s/he is able to use with ALL grades is one of my most favorite things ever. It means one lesson for them to remember, one set of art supplies, one easy day! I have a TON of sub lessons on my blog and my YouTube channel...you are more than welcome to use in your art teacherin' world. Have a great week, y'all!
First Day o' Feb Monday: Are you kidding me? I've been counting the days until I could bust out my heart-tastic, LOVE-ly wares, y'all. heart print top: Buffalo Exchange; belt and palette print skirt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; hat: New Orleans; tights: Target; shoes: Fluevog
What's happening, my friends? I feel like it's been ages since we last chatted even tho it was only Tuesday. I do try my hardest to see you here three times a week but sometimes the week gets ahead of me and the next thing I know, it's Sunday. How does that even happen? Time flies when you are a procrastinator, y'all.
In other news, Monday was the first day o' Feb and I was beyond ready to bust out some heart-y/love-y outfits. I also am leaving you with my latest filmed sub plan! I had to pop outta town for a coupla days and I was thrilled to have my same sub from jury duty land. She was very excited when I told her I had another filmed lesson ready for her. Hopefully, her day went well. I thought I'd share it with y'all in case you need a quick fun project for Valentine's Day!
Until next time, love y'all!
This lesson is based around the book Love Monster by Rachel Bright. I don't own the book so I had my sub read aloud the youtube video below and then dive into my sub video you see above! For this lesson, the kids needed Lost Love Monster sheets, glue, scissors, Sharpies, googley eyes and paper to create hearts.
The story is super sweet and one that my sub could play for all of my kindergarten through fourth grade kids. For kindergarten, there was a modified worksheet that didn't entail as much writing.
Sadly, I forgot to save the word doc of the sheet or I'd share it with y'all here! But I did make a couple of examples that I had on my white board which shows what the copy at the bottom of the sheet said. You can also sneak a peek in the video. If you wanna keep up with my video'd lessons, you can subscribe here, kids!
Love and Kittens: I made this dress (and matching sweater!) a coupla years ago and it's still my fave V-day, kittentastic look. I can't believe I didn't stitch up a single Valentine's dress this year! My lil sewing machine is gather dust at the moment, boo. dress: by me, here; belt: amazon; boots: Hunter
Jim Dine Heart Dress: Okay, let's be honest: Valentine's Day in art teacherin'land is also known as Jim Dine Projects Day, amiright? Love this artist so much I needle felted this dress dedicated to him!
Color Wheel Skirtness: I realized the other day that I'd never worn this bad boy to school! The kids loved it but mostly the big bow. The lady at the bank was not as impressed by my big bow, I'll have you know. Color Wheel Skirt and Top: DIY here
If you follow me on Instagram, then you've seen this photo already! We did some color mixing experiments in first grade this week and they loved it! I thought I'd share with y'all how. I used three clear cups for the mixture of each secondary color. In front of the kids, I put an inch of water in all three cups. Then I put drops of food coloring in the outer cups. In this case, yellow and red. I folded a paper towel up (I used Viva paper towels, if that matters), placing one paper towel from yellow to the clear cup and another paper towel from the red to the clear. Immediately, the colored water began to creep up the paper towel. To help the process, I raised the height of the outer cups with stacked CD's. By the end of art class, the kids saw some progress but the following day yielded the best results. They loved it and it was so easy!
100 Day of School!: I forgot to share with y'all my outfit for the 100th day of school...or, as I should call it, Any Excuse to Wear My Rainbow Wig to School. The kids were curious about the rotary phone pattern so we busted out my old phone and played on it! wig: Gothic Lolita; dress: ModCloth; hat and cherry pin: vintage; faux fox sweater: DIY made by me here
Well...something super duper and magical happened to me this weekend while I was taking a little trip to Orlando...I got to met Chris Uphues and Jennifer!
You.Guys. I have been WILD AND CRAZY for these two for a while now. They are simply the best. SERIOUSLY. I mean, look at this amazingness first of all...
And having met them, I can tell you, they are just as bright, happy and loving as each and every heart you see right here. Seriously, y'all. My mom and I sat down with them, totally interrupting Chris' mural painting time, and they made us feel so welcome, happy and warm just to be around them. I've never met two people who were as cute and kind as these two. I could literally hang with 'em all day!
When I discovered through some excited messaging with Jen that we'd be in Orlando at the same time, I knew I wanted to make a meet up work. I mean, I've been creating lessons and sharing my love of Chris' work for a while now!
Since I'd be meeting them...I decided to have my students learn about Chris while I was away. So...Chris taught art for a pinch while I was gone, even if he didn't know it.
Sweet baby Jesus in the manger, there is nothing, NOT A THING, I hate more than prepping for a sub. Can I get an amen up in here?! THAT being said, I did create some drawing sub plans for my kids and I thought I'd share 'em with you. My students and I LOVE Chris Uphues and I am so excited to share this drawing lesson with them. When I'm out, I like to keep my sub life easy: so a lesson for ALL GRADE LEVELS with LIMITED SUPPLIES AND PREP it is! Yippie! Happy sub means happy classroom to return to.
I told my sub that the classes that only have 30 minutes will probably only get to the dry erase board sketching. They're also reading the book The Shape of my Heart at the start of art class. For my hour long classes, they will also sketch and then, after a short time, meet again on the floor to view the rest of the video. What's up next for these drawings? Just you wait and see (which is code for I HAVE NO IDEA BUT I'M UP FOR SUGGESTIONS!).
Also...stay tuned. I'll create a post in the next day or so with free downloadables of the handouts I created. Until then!
Monday, You Ain't Right: I have a super hilarious coworker who loves to tell me, "Stephens, you ain't right!". To give her credit, this was after I explained to her that, no, my stockings were not purchased this way but created with a little creative tucking. It's no wonder that I usually get a side-eye and a head-shake from my work budz. crayon hair clip: made by me, DIY here; crazy sweater: vintage; dotted dress and tights: Target; flats: Payless; shoe clips: made by me, DIY here
So a while back, I got a big thick envelope in the mail. The return address looked boring and official so I threw it on the dining room table where it sat for more days than I'm willing to admit. "You better open that letter soon," el hubbo warned, "It looks pretty important."
Turns out it was. I've been summoned for el jury duty-o.
Looks like I'll be outta the art room for five days spread across two weeks. Now, I've slapped together I'm-so-sick/night-before/please-don't-vomit-on-these sub plans before but that was when I was in a pinch and knew I'd prolly only be out for a day. However, knowing that I'd be missing this much time with the kids, I really didn't want to deprive them of a fun and art-ucational experience. So, my Friday afternoon looked a lil like this:
If you follow me on Instagrammerz, you already know that I decided to create a video'ed sub plan! I've been showing my students videos of myself lately which has been super awesome because 1. it allows me time to prep; 2. it allows me not to forget anything that I'm supposed to say; 3. [truth be told] it allows me to kick back and drink my fourth cup of coffee. There. Cat's outs the bag. After sharing this photo, I had a lotta questions about what the lesson entailed, which, fingers crossed, will be a Romero Britto-inspired Pattern-tastic Heart Mural Collaborative! So I thought I'd share it with y'all! PLEASE keep in mind that this is me addressing my first through fourth grade students. I promise I don't talk to adults this way (well, okay. I do. And, for that, I apologize).
Now. I've never done this before. I do plan to go in every morning of my JD to prep the technology. Thankfully, the courthouse is just a couple blocks away from my school so I have the luxury of popping in and doing a little prep. I also created a two minute video of myself chatting with the sub so he/she knows what our routines are and some housekeeping biz. I'll be sure to keep y'all posted on how it goes. Until then, back to the What the Art Teacher Wore (or shoved in her hair) show!
When I shared this DIY with y'all a while back, my sweater got more interest than my hair clips! It was quite the conversation starer with the kids as well. One said, "it's like you have crayon worms crawling all over you!" Yikes, kid. That's the stuff of nightmares.
I actually have a wee shoe clip problem. And a love for making stuff outta Sculpey. You can see this DIY here.
Thank You for Being a Friend, Tuesday: Thank y'all so much for the very positive feedback on my art teacherin' videos! My goal is to share more videos weekly so if you wanna stay in the loop, you might wanna subscribe to my channel as my videos go up before they appear here. Smooches! sweater: thrifted; eyeball top: Urban Outfitters; scissor skirt: Modcloth; tights: Target; shoes: Dolls by Nina
#OnWednesdaysWeWearArt: Y'all check out my awesome "I like to ARTY hard" shirt? It was created by artist My Friend Court (Courtney Pilgrim). Court is a former art teacher turned full time artist. Her work is as happy, bright and colorful as she is (if you don't believe me, just scroll thru this Instagram account, kids). Each Wednesday, Courtney does a lil #OnWednesdaysWeWearArt where we can dress with an artist in mind, snap a photo and use that hashtag on ole Insta. I decided that Court was my muse by wearing her shirt! top: My Friend Court; skirt and belt: PinUp Girl Clothing; dotted tights: Target?; shoes: Sofft
But What Will You Wear?! Thursday: So, I've been letting my classes know about my upcoming absences. Which led to a nice chat about jury duty and civic duties. I could tell I was making real headway when I was asked, "But what if they find you guilty?!" Once that issue was resolved, ahem, this convo went down:
Kid: What will you wear?
Me: what do you mean?
Kid: uh. Like. Will you be dressing like how you always do? Like (with a wave of the hand) that?!
Kid 2: She only has crazy clothes, what do you think?!
Couldn't have said it better. sweater and dress: thrifted and vintage
Gone Cuckoo Friday: Anytime I've procrastinated the daylights outta my life, which always means my Fridays are a mess, I go a lil cuckoo. So what better day to wear this number, eh? sweater and tights: Target; boots: Anthro; belt and crinoline: Amazon; cuckoo dress: made by me, DIY here
Recently, I shared that my students in fourth grade are working on creating their own Tiny Art Show. Because I was going to be out of school for a couple of days visiting the art teachers in Vermont, I needed a lesson to keep my students engaged. I created this Tiny Gallery of Gratitude sheet for my third and fourth grade students. I hope they enjoyed it (I'll find out tomorrow!) but fingers crossed they did. If you think your student would like it too, here's a link to the FREE PDF.
I gathered these books for my sub to start the lesson with. They are all wonderful books to introduce the idea of gratitude. Because my sub would be with my students for a couple of days, I asked that she read a book at the start of each class...but I let her decide which ones to read.
As for supplies, I set out pencils, erasers and color pencils for my students to use. I asked that the sub save the work so that we could return to this drawing as a sketch for early finishers. I also want to see what they drew! If you are interested in other projects that show gratitude, here you go:
This Gallery of Gratitude lesson was a HUGE hit with the entire school with all creative hands on deck. I cannot recommend doing this lesson enough!
I recently did an updated version of the Gallery of Gratitude and I love it even more! We used modeling clay and did a bit of writing out the faculty and/or staff member we were grateful for. Lesson here and here.
Helping my students understand what gratitude is and how to show it is very important to me. Do you have lessons that you love that help spread gratitude? I'd love to hear about them!
Fall means art teacherin' conference time which I so totally love. What I don't love is prepping and planning for taking those days off. I mean, I gotta create content that's educational and engaging both for the sub and the kids all while using materials that aren't too difficult for someone who just might not have an art background. I recently shared with y'all a bunch of my sub videos. Because I'll be out for the next couple of days attending an art conference in Wisconsin (can't wait, y'all!), I created this lesson and thought I'd share it as well.
It's been my goal this year to introduce my students to contemporary artists with a focus on street artists. I recently did that with our wings mural project. This go-round I wanted my kids to meet the street artist who goes by the name Phetus.
I think my students will love his colorful and humorous monsters...and hopefully be inspired to create their own!
My hope is to display their monsters in a grid-like manner such as this. We're calling our display Monsters of Creativity. This will be showcased right outside the art room. Kinda fitting, no?
I had so much fun creating my own examples for this project. I just love these!
Tomorrow, in Art Teacherin' 101, I'll be sharing with y'all just how I prepare for being absent and what I believe to be the essentials for a sub.
Fingers crossed my subbo has a great time and that the kids create monsters...and not behave like them.
I'll be certain to share a follow up to this blog post and let y'all know how it all goes. Until then, put that tongue back in your mouth and...
