Field Trip!

Yesterday, I was invited to go on a field trip with our ESE teachers to the Cummer Museum of Arts and Gardens. This trip was special because it was the VSA Arts Festival. The VSA Arts Festival, a nationally recognized program, that provides hands-on art experiences and the chance to view original works of art to over 2,300 children with disabilities, ranging from mild to profound disabilities, over a four-day period and utilizes the time and talent of nearly 1,200 volunteers. Public school students from the surrounding five-counties Exceptional Education/Student Services (EESS) program rotate through eight art stops in the Museum's galleries and gardens to create hands-on art projects, view The Cummer's art collection, listen to live musicians and storytellers, and learn about art appreciation. The event permits all students to participate in the creative process at their individual level of ability.

Our students were wonderful! Not only were we well behaved, but our students created wonderful works of art! It made me really proud to be their art teacher. As they were working, I kept hearing students say things such as, "You taught us this!" "My artwork looks this good because of you!" Wouldn't this make any teacher proud of their students?

Finished! Dias de los Muertos!

Esta Magnifico!

These turned out wonderful and of course my students had a blast! After paper macheing the face template, students mounted their skull to matte board. Next, after viewing many different images from Dias de los Muertos in Mexico, students decorated their masks acordingly.

Kokeshi Dolls

It's been a while since I've las posted, but no worries, here comes some goodies!

This year I developed a new lesson for my 3rd graders (although this would probably be better for 5th graders). 3rd graders are learning about the arts of Asia. In studying Korea, we learned about their Kokeshi dolls. We decided to create our own...only using plastic water bottles and and paper mache plastic shopping bags for the head. Our steps:

1. Pass out empty waterbottles. Have students cut out the top of the water bottle off.





2. Next, pass out plastic shopping bags. About 5 for each student. Have students stuff four bags into one. Then, shape the bag into a ball and tape it to the bottle. Make sure it is secure.





3. Next, paper mache the entire bottle.





4. Once dry, have students paint bottle. Discuss symmetry and different faces.





5. Finally, pass out ribbon and fabric swatches. Apply as needed.

This lesson is best with a small class. Be prepared to hot glue anything that falls off. The students LOVVEEE the finished product and I have yet to seen this lesson done anywhere else. Enjoy!

A Full Moon Rising

How could a tell today was a full moon? By the wonderful odd children that poured into my classroom today. Here are some of our full moon characteristics:

• My classes produced beautiful work today....actually more beautiful than normal.


• A child was stung by a bee today...while in the art room with windows and doors closed. When I asked if he was allergic he responded, "I don't know. I've never been stung before." Excellent.


• A kindergartner strolled into my art room 20 minutes late because he was "lost". (He wasn't actually lost. He was in the bathroom when his class left for art. So he decided to wander the school to look for his class.)

Everyday is an adventure as an art teacher.

Dias de los Muertos

4th graders at Whitehouse Elementary are enjoying creating skulls in honor or the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead. We are learning about distortionl, symmetry, line, and colors. This is one of Whitehouse Elementary's first paper mache projects. I think these are turning out beautiful. Check back for the finished result.

Texture Burgers

Mrs. Stoker's 3rd grade class created "Texture Burgers". This was a great lesson to teach about texture and color all in one lesson. The students had a great time making this project too.

1. Pass out white paper. Have students paint 3/4 one color and 1/4 another.



2. Next, pass out brown paper. Have students trace a circle the cut the circle out. Next, cut the circle in half.



3. Paste the half circles on the painted paper. Now in between the half circles, have students find different textures and paste in between.

Fall Leaves

Last year I did the same lesson with Kindergarten and it came out great! We are create fall leaves which will be displayed as one large tree in the cafeteria. This year we are only using fall colors and the shape of our leaves are different per class.

1. Pass out leaf template. Have students trace around. Cut out leaf.



2. Next, pass out colored tissue paper. Have students tear the tissue paper and place the pieces one by one on their leaf until there are no white spots.



3. Finally, have students use watered down liquid starch to make the tissue paper adhere to the leaf.

Mr. Mondrian

Every year I love teaching about Piet Mondrian. One reason is because I love his artwork. Another reason is that almost every grade is capable of creating a beautiful Mondrian. Last year I taught Mondrian to 4th graders and we painted. This year first graders are discovering Mondrian. Instead of painting, we are using colored tissue paper. Our vocabulary words are:

• Primary Colors
• Squares
• Rectangles
• Vertical
• Horizontal
• Outline

For our black lines, we used big fat black crayons. These always look greate displayed as a large cluster.

Open House 2010

This year I welcomed parents to Open House in our brand new art room! I was very pleased to meet some of the parents. Those that stopped by the art room were able to discover what their children are working on and what type of donations the art program is looking for. (i.e. bottlecaps, plastic bottles, liquid starch, newspapers, etc.) It is going to be a fabulous year!

Teacher of the Year

Hey everyone! I was elected Teach of the Year for last year! Who gets it on their first year...but I did! Thank you Whitehouse Elementary for my award!

Project Board

In the front of the room on our whiteboard, I post our current projects and my examples. One of my favorite parts about being an art teacher is I get to create the examples and what it is each class is going to do! Some projects our classes are working on are:

• Kindergarten: Watercolor Landscapes
• 1st Grade: Primary Colors = Piet Mondrian Collage, Underwater Fish, Tissue Collage Windsock
• 2nd Grade: Warm and Cool Colors = Abstract Hands, Gyotaku Fish, Warm Sun / Cool Moon, Leaf Printing
• 3rd, 4th, and 5th: We are all creating portfolios to store our work for the year

Art No No's

Now that school is bang in swing, I thought I'd share my new board in my room. This is our art "No No's". I'm sure as art teachers or even if you are a classroom teacher, we have all encountered these. When I first put this up, most of the children did not understand what was wrong with these drawings, but after we went through each one and explained what was right and what was wrong, students now have a better understanding about what to do in art class.

Tour of the Art Room

This week the kids are back at school. Wednesday is our first class of resource. I am so excited to start teaching again. I have many projects, almost all brand new, planned for this 2010 - 2011 school year.

This summer and last week I have been working hard to set up my brand new art room. I was so excited how it was turning out, that I recorded a video tour of the room. This video is mostly up to date with what the room looks like.

Enjoy!

Cultivating a Community of Excellence

Today was my first day back at Chets Creek Elementary. This year's theme is "Cultivating a Community of Excellence". Once again the school looks beautiful. Everywhere you turn, you see a teacher's touch of decorations such as giant butterflies, caterpillars, six feet sunflowers, and cows. I feel that adding a theme to the school year to year not only excites the students, but also motivates the teacher to remain active and enthused year to year. Today, I loaded up my art cart with goodies and also did a bit of decorating. My cart this year fits the farm theme. It is ants at a picnic, but instead of stealing food they are stealing art materials.

Another thing that is different this year is that I will be displaying student artwork. Last year, I would let students take home their artwork as soon as it was complete. This year I will select a few of the best works of art to display on my apple tree in front of the art room. Students will still be able to receive their artwork, but it will be displayed first. Displaying student artwork rewards the students for their hard work and their creativity. It also motivates other students to strive for the best. Here is a look at my apple tree:

Goodbye Summer, Hello Art Room!

This week my husband and I worked to get the art room up and running for the new school year. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done, but right now it is starting to look beautiful! Makes me wish I was in kindergarten again! Here are the updated pictures:

I can't wait to see the students' faces on August 23rd!

Beginner Art Room

This year Whitehouse Elementary has an art room! This week I have started to re-locate all of our art supplies to our new art room. I still have a lot of work to do. I am very excited to have an art room this year because it allows student to explore new media, work larger, and it provides more safety. Here is your sneak peak at the art room!

Egyptian Names

Although school is over, I am still posting things from the 2009 school year and things to come for the 2010 year. Before we left for summer, 3rd graders were learning about Egyptian culture. For this lesson we learned:

• Hieroglyphics
• Profile
• Proportions
• Frame
• Outline
• Texture
• Symbols

3rd graders loved to learn about Egyptian culture. We found out that Egyptian culture has similarities to American culture. We also learned that symbols are an important way that artists can represent something without writing it. Here is our video:

School Is Over

Well...it's official. My first year of teaching is over. What a year I've had! I've learned more this year that I've learned in any other job I've ever had. Teaching elementary students has opened up my heart and has show me how much I truly care about art education. On the last day of school me and Ms. Padlan had some fun dressing up and going around the school and having fun with the students.

Here is Ms. Padlan dressed as an Indian Queen:



I hope everyone has a great and safe summer. Check back for more posts about art lesson plans.

Green Landscapes

Students at Chets Creek created landscapes using their crayons. I did this lesson in kindergarten and first grade. We studied color and how artists don't just use one color. Our art words were:

• Value



• Shape



• Line



• Harmony

Students worked hard to color their entire paper in. Some students work really hard and colored their paper two or three times so that they did not show any white spots. The results: BEAUTIFUL!

Here is the video of our work:

Way to go Chets Creek!

Picasso Portraits

Students at Chets Creek this week learned a little bit about Pablo Picasso. Students were to create a portrait in the style of Picasso. For this lesson we learned about:

• Art History



• Line



• Outline



• Background



• Abstract



• Portrait



• Visual Texture

Here is a video montage of our work on Picasso! Great job Chets Creek!