Sunday, September 2, 2018

What the Art Teacher Wore #204

Hey there, friends! I come to you just as excited as this photo from Monday because...it's a three day weekend. Here's to staying in my pj's all weekend, watching The Office for the umpteenth time and working on all the projectzzzz. I hope you all are livin' it up and partyin' hard like me!

To kick off the week, I wore my needle felted Kandinsky inspired dress to inspire my third graders as they started painting their plates for our Circle Loom Weaving unit. I've got several weaving videos on my YouTube channel if you are interested in bringing fibers to your art room. Just search my playlist Fibers!
Many of my grades are kicking off the year with fiber arts projects like sewing, weaving and fiber applications. I'm so excited about that, here's just a peak. MANY more details to come, I pinkie swear! Of course, I share tons of sneak peeks here. 
 On Tuesday I got all set to teach some of my classes about landscapes. They are getting ready to do my Tree Weaving project which means they gotta paint a landscape first. 
 I was feeling all sorts of prepared. We partnered up and looked at the landscapes in those clear plastic sleeves. The kids had to work together to find the horizon line, the back-, middle- and foreground. It was a GREAT pre-assessment. Then we went over the vocabulary and corrected our mistakes. I chatted about scale, perspective and atmosphere. We were just getting ready to paint when the fire alarm went off.
C'est la vie. After being outside for 10 minutes, we were hot, bothered and not ready to paint. So with our short class, we each took our turn playing the Clean Up Drums instead. More on the Monet Dress here. 
Many years ago, my husband scored me a drum set for my art room. I haven't pulled it out of the storage closet in a couple of years...but decided to this year. It's our Clean Up Drums...an incentive for awesome behavior. One student is picked at the end of class to play a fill. I teach all the kids how to play a fill so that when it's their turn to play, they'll know. On our first intro do, we each get our chance to learn and play a fill...it's a lot of fun. 
 My fourth graders are gearing up to sew. Once class is stitching emoji pillows and they are SO EXCITED. I had to wear my needle felted emoji dress for the occasion. 
Teaching sewing means teaching good sewing habits. I created color coded sewing kits for each table. The kits include a color coded needle book (the felt piece with the button) and a color coded felt backed magnet for pins. I'll keep you posted on their progress!
 Another fourth grade class is stitching pizza pillows! So OF COURSE I managed to leave all of their supplies at home. SMH. They were great and the rolled with our alternative project instead...sewing next time!
Third graders from Monday had a bonus art class on our half day Friday. I was excited to see the patterns they added to their plates in just 30 minutes!
Since my younger students have really been focusing on line, I have been introducing them to the work of Kandinsky...which means I got to end my week on a Kandinsky note too. Hope y'all have a long and relaxing weekend! 

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Sunday, August 26, 2018

What the Art Teacher Wore #203

Hello, favorite friends! I hope everyone had a super duper week! Mine was pretty good...got my school picture back! This would explain why the photographer said, "Well, if that's the face you wanna make." IT'S THE FACE I WAS BORN WITH, BUDDY! One only a mama could love. 
Monday! I'm wearing my new Keith Haring shirt from Uniqlo and a skirt from the thrift store!

This week wrapped up our second week of school. We watched our second video...this one titled Art Room Etiquette. I like to meter our my rules and routines to give the kids time to create and not be bombarded with information. After that quick video, we learned about SCISSOR SAFETY with my giant scissors I scored at the flea market!  
 This week I also busted out the Quiet Critters! It was kindergarten's second time in the art room...a perfect time to establish working quietly, staying in our seats and raising our hands. These lil fellas were certainly helpful!
 If you follow me on Instagram, than you know I scored a bunch of artsy shirts from Uniqlo. Their shop and website is full of them! My skirt is from Anthropologie.

We wrapped up our Getting to Know You Sculptures this week and while I love them...they are everywhere!
You can find out all the details on this super fun project here. It's been such a hit with my students and other art teachers. I so love it when y'all let me know that you are using a lesson of mine. Thank you! 
 This week also marked the introduction of two new things in the art room...my mike and my director's chair! Y'all don't even know how much this has made read alouds more fun. I LOVE reading to the kids while they work...this has been the perfect thing!
 In case you didn't know...I'm a bit of a Chuckhead. I counted...I have 11 pairs of Converse. I'm not proud. I just love them so. And these pride rainbow-bottomed ones just had to come to my art room. I mean, c'mon!
 Mission for next week: HANG ALL THESE SCULPTURES. Please pray for me. 
 One of my very favorite dresses because I love the print so stinkin' much! All the details here. 
Now that the sculptures are done, we are ready to move on to bigger and better things...which means supply prep! I spent my Friday afternoon trying to wrap my head around everything that I would need to have ready for the kids. Stay tuned, I'll keep you posted on what we'll be up to!
 Feet up Friday was lookin' SOUPer with these Chucks! 
 Friday! Top from Uniqlo and skirt from the flea market!
 Folks been asking me, "where you keepin' all those sculptures while the kids work on them?" ALL ALONG MY MILE LONG CABINETRY. It's insane! There are so many of them! I'm surrounded!
Friday afternoon, nearly every surface of mine looked like this. The kids managed to clean their tables so that part looked great! Meanwhile, over on my desk. Ah! Sorry of my life. I hope y'all have a great upcoming week!
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Thursday, August 23, 2018

In the Art Room: Getting to Know You Sculptures, Part 2

We are wrapping up week two here at my school and it's shaping up to be a wild, crazy and colorful start! I decided to add another layer to our Getting to Know You Sculptures with another sheet!
You can find the free downloadable link right here!  

I was excited to add this second layer to their project. It allowed me to spend a little time continuing to teach our rules and routines...while still providing the kids with a much needed creative outlet. I was also able to share three NEW paper sculpture techniques. Creating a tab, cutting OUT a spiral and making fringe. I have a short video of me teaching this to my third graders so I'll be sure and share super soon. 
Until then, you can probably take a look at these sculptures and figure it out! Now the one question I've been getting a lot of is...HOW ARE YOU STORING THESE?!
Answer: ALL OVER THE FLIPPIN' PLACE! Seriously, I may have not completely thought this through. Story of my life. They are going to be hung up super soon so that will get them outta my hairs. I also plan to do a follow-up activity with these next art class...I'm thinking a "Can You Guess the Artist" game or some sort of Gallery Walk...the idea is still coming to me so I'll keep you posted. I'm also working on LESSONS for next week as we're all moving on from this. Yikes! What are we even gonna do?! I'll keep you posted (which is code for Y'ALL KNOW I DON'T EVEN KNOW!). 

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Monday, August 20, 2018

In the Art Room: A Glimpse Inside my First Day with 1st and 2nd

Ohhhh-whey! Don't mind me, it's just the second Monday of the new school year and I've already got my feet up and I'm surrounded by Getting to Know You Sculptures. Last week, I shared with you a video where I talked you thru what I do my first day with my 1st and 2nd graders for their first 30 minutes. Today I thought I'd share with you a video of myself with my kiddos to give you more of a visual. So, here you go! My very first art class with some of my very favorite people:
Now, if you need more explaining about my very first 30 minutes and why I do what I do, you can check out this lil clip:
I love seeing how other art teachers teach. I am loud, annoying and definitely not for everyone...but that's me. That's who I am and that's how I teach. I really think finding your voice in your classroom is the best way to be your best teacher. So while I like to share what works for me, it's by no means me saying that you should do it too. It's just an offering of ideas and a little peak inside. Y'all are always welcome to my art room! So pull up a chair, roll up your sleeves and...GO CLEAN SOMETHING for heaven's sake. This place is a PIT!

All kidding aside...stay tuned...I've got more videos coming your way this week and a follow up to our sculpture lesson. Love y'all!

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Sunday, August 19, 2018

What the Art Teacher Wore #202

 First Day of Art, 2018! I had to wear this costume I scored from Amazon. Y'all, it's THE WORST COSTUME. If you follow me here, then you saw what a limp (ahem) paintbrush I had. I seriously had to clip a small hole in the brush and insert a thin dowel rod into it. As for the palette, it is too small (it IS a kid's costume so there's that) and I'm not even sure if I'm wearing it right. No matter tho, the kids LOVED it!
Happy first week of school with kiddos to me! To celebrate, I thought I'd share my school photo from third grade. This is pre-glasses and pre-(much needed)braces. I'm obviously channeling the sister-wife look with my Holly Hobby get up (you 80's kids know the reference) and my long hair. Can you believe that blonde? I'd love to have that cornsilk hair again!
My week back was filled these rules and routines and this Getting to Know You sculpture lesson. It was a super week back and I'm excited to start next week!
 For my older students, next week will be their second art class...for my littles, it will be their third and fourth. This coming week will be our last to work on our sculptures before each grade level dives into their start of the school year projects. Brace yourself, we are going to be doing some exciting things.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT THOSE THINGS ARE YET. 

But I'm pretty sure they'll be exciting. I hope. And pray. 
Wore my Coloring Book Dress this week. It's crazy to think that the kiddos who colored most of this dress, who were in kindergarten at the time, are now in 3rd grade! I love wearing this dress and hearing them remember laying on this fabric while it was on the floor and coloring all over it. The fabric is from IKEA and we used fabric markers. 
 I was super thrilled, humbled and excited to be featured in Scholastic Teacher's Cool Teachers feature. I'm far from cool but I was stoked that they think I am. Thank you so much, Scholastic!
 Each year, I try to make a Back to School Dress...and, sadly, this year, I totally dropped the ball. Why? What's wrong with me? Honestly, I think that summer went to fast and the school year started too soon. Can I get a do-over? When's fall break again? This one was made a couple years ago from a pattern I've not repeated. Those giant shoulder wing things were a one time deal. 
 With all the kiddos doing sculptures my art room is quickly becoming a land mine of sculptures. I'm all WATCH YOUR STEP, PEOPLE to anyone who dares walk around my room. 
 So I'm trying a couple new classroom management thingies this year and this is one of 'em. I plan to share my fave management techniques this week, right here, so stay tuned. For now, I'm just sharing a snapshot...any guesses how I plan to use this?
 I can't even explain the face other than I was born with it. This dress was created from my all time favorite IKEA fabric. A sweet art teacher sent me a remnant and I created a dress with every scrap! More details here
 Mid-way through the week, I switched the background paper to black and I'm LOVING it. I plan to display these in a checkerboard pattern and I'm beyond excited.
 I have an ever-growing list of things I wanna do/try/work on/expand upon this year. Growth mindsets is at the top of my list. I'm re-reading The Growth Mindset Coach and loving it. This month, we've got a mantra to kick things off. 
 I realized after wearing this dress that it's pretty much like Art Teacherin' Camo...I nearly blend right in with my art room. Also...if you know me at all, you know I don't love washing my hair. It takes time that I'd rather spend sleeping in! So on this particular morning, I decided to just do a half bun thing or...what I decided to dub...
 My Art Teacherin' Mullet: business in the front, party in the back. After getting to school, and seeing myself in the mirror, I realized I was channeling my inner Jonathan van Ness and okay with that!
After a week of school (and MAYBE dealing with this!), Mitch and I took a quick trip down to Disney for their Not-So-Scary Halloween event. Halloween is our FAVORITE time of the year so we hit the parks a lot. It was so much fun and nice to get away for a hot minute. Back to reality tomorrow. I've got lots coming your way next week so be sure and pop back by!
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