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!