In a few weeks I will be giving a talk to my local SCBWI group (The Society of Children’s Book Writer’s and Illustrators). I belonged to this group for ten years while pursuing my dream of publishing my middle grade novel. I LOVE this group. They are the most giving of people and the encouragement I received from countless writers was nothing less than extraordinary.

Deep Space Sparkle has been my biggest love recently so my book writing days are behind me. So when Alexis called me and asked if I would give a talk on how authors and illustrators could market their books to appeal to teachers, I jumped at the opportunity.

Next to art, children’s books are my biggest love and as most of you know, my biggest source for art lesson inspiration. I combine art and literature all the time and have a page on this site devoted to art and literature connections. Occasionally, I will do an author/illustrator interview and create a lesson based on the book. Some of my favorites are:

• Monsters Don’t Eat Broccoli by Barbara Jean Hicks. Art lesson here. Author page here.
• Trucks, illustrated by Megan Halsey. Art lesson here and interview with Megan here.
• Arlo Needs Glasses by Barney Saltzberg. Art Lesson here.
• Pantone Colors. Art lesson here.

Would you like to help out? 

In order to help the authors and illustrators market their books, they need some help. If you have a blog and develop your own lessons, would you be willing to answer a few questions? If so, jot down some answers in the comment section of this post and I’ll be in contact with you.

1. If you create your own lessons, how often do you use children’s picture books to inspire your lessons?
2. Would you be willing to link your lesson to an author/illustrator’s website as a cross promotional tool?
3. Would you be willing to do author interviews?
4. Can I include your blog in a resource list for authors/illustrators? Please provide your name and blog URL and your blog name (if different).

Thanks for helping out these wonderful authors and illustrators. I’m sure many of them wold love to send you a free book to give to your readers or for lesson development.

Planning my new e-course, Beyond the Basics, has challenged not only my organization skills but my own personal comfort zone. I often wondered how teachers managed to teach a unit on papier mache…what paste they used, how they handled the storage, dealing with the mess….you know what I mean. And now I have a fairly good idea of what practices work and what I will never attempt again. And I mean NEVER EVER.

I have always wanted to try weaving…but not just paper weaving, but yarn weaving. How hard would it be? What grade levels would benefit most? And how exactly do you teach weaving? It’s not enough to see pictures of finished projects…I want to see the children work through the process.

These are the questions that intrigued me as I planned my entire 2012-13 art curriculum. Follow my journey as I introduce print-making, ceramics, papier mache, acrylic painting, weaving (and so much more) to my students.  There are over 30 new art lessons (33 to be exact!) planned for Beyond the Basics. All of them will have video instruction plus PDF lesson plans.

If you ever wondered how to start these types of lessons or if you were like me and avoided acrylics or papier mache for years, I invite you to sit back and watch how I taught the lessons.

All lessons are packaged up into tidy little PDF’s which you can print out and use for your own art curriculum.

I love happy art lessons. The ones that engage children right from the get-go. These painted paper butterflies are a perennial favorite in my art room. My first graders make painted paper and then use the paper to create butterfly wings.

I set out wing templates from my Eric Carle-Inspired Lesson Plans PDF but encourage the children to make their own wing shapes. If the children draw their own wings, they usually end up with very tiny butterflies. This is not a bad thing, but sometimes its preferable to have larger wings so the children can decorate the insides with little struggle and more freedom.

Here’s the secret to avoiding tiny butterflies: ask the children to use one template for one set of wings and ask them to create a second pair of wings of their own creations. Once the children get a feel for tracing and cutting out the larger set of wings, they can understand the scale required for the second pair of wings.

Children learn how to create texture with paint, how to blend and mix colors, develop fine motor skills, understand symmetry and learn a bit about butterflies. And did I mention that they had fun?

 Here’s What To Do:

1. Create Painted Paper on sheets of 12″ x 18″ white sulphite paper using liquid tempera paint. Cut papers in half for more manageability.

2. Place photographs of butterflies on a display board.

3. Using templates (I used the wing templates from my Eric Carle-Inspired PDF ), trace templates (or draw wings) on back of painted paper.

4. Glue wings and body to black or white paper.

First Grade Butterflies

Lesson time required: Three, 40-minute sessions

I recently introduced my Kinders to the magic of watercolor and oil pastel resist. I love hearing the squeals of delight after seeing white oil pastel appear through a wash of color. These are the simple joys of teaching art.

As with most watercolor projects, a good drawing lays the foundation for a successful project. Three directed line drawing instruction are included in the lesson plan. If you aren’t sure what directed line drawings are, I’ve included an overview of the benefits. For the children who finish early, I have 3 activity sheets for the children to color, create their own patterns on or even count the shapes.

I created this lesson for my three Kinder classes, but you could easily use them with first and second grade children. By increasing the degree of pattern details, older children can be equally as challenged.

All of the lessons require about 60 minutes of art instruction and process time. If you have an extra ten minutes, I included a few book recommendations to read at the beginning of the lessons.

Included in this 18-page lesson plan:

• 3 easy-to-draw art lessons: Elephant, Bird and Turtle
• How-to-draw handout for above lessons
• 3 activity sheets
• Teacher scripts
• How to paint with watercolor instructions
• Art supply links
• Book recommendations
• Student Gallery

Only $5

Connecting with California State Kinder Visual Arts standards: 

Students apply artistic processes and skills, using a variety of media to communicate meaning and intent in original works of art.

Skills, Processes, Materials, and Tools

• 2.1 Use lines, shapes/forms, and colors to make patterns.

Communication and Expression Through Original Works of Art

• 2.6 Use geometric shapes/forms (circle, triangle, square) in a work of art.

Purchase through Teachers Pay Teachers

There are many ways in which to design a mural but I tend to stick to a basic graph style layout. I talk about different styles in my Ceramic Mural PDF. This year, the mural will be collaborative, meaning that each child will be a part of a larger group focusing on a certain landmark. I designed the overall theme with general ideas and gathered enough visuals for the kids to draw from.  The two 6th grade classes are divided into groups of 4-6 kids. Each group will receive a landmark. Then, together they will decide how the landmark will look on the paper graph.

In two weeks, I will cut hundreds of clay tiles and the groups will turn their flat paper drawings into 3-D tiles. I can’t wait!

Here are some posts on previous murals….

Ancient Greece 2012

California Marine Life 2011

Nautical Mural 2010

The mural will be finished by the end of the school year.  I will post about the progress, so stay tuned…

A lovely surprise yesterday…one of my favorite lessons in my favorite art magazine.

Arts and Activities sent me some copies of their 80th Anniversary issue. I have used and been inspired by many art lessons from this publication and had to think which one was my favorite. In the end, I loved Lady Liberty as it opened up so many teaching possibilities. What has been your favorite lesson from the magazine? If you have links, please share (but only one or the comment will automatically be sent to my spam!)

Here are a few of my favorite lessons from the magazine:

Lady Liberty Gets a Make-Over

Lady Liberty Art Lesson

Poinsettia Art Project

Ceramic Turkey Bowls

Musical Medley

Happy Anniversary Arts & Activities Magazine!

Looking for a lesson on the Masters? Here’s a directory of my art lessons from the past ten years featuring the great artists…

Cezanne: Still-Life in Chalk and Tempera Paint for upper grades

Chagall: Marc Chagall’s “Drawing a Dream” 

Kahlo: Frida Kahlo Portrait

Klee: Paul Klee Buildings in pen and watercolors for upper grades, Paul Klee’s Cat and Bird in chalk and oil pastel for younger grades

Klimt: Gustav Klimt’s Tree of Life in tempera paint, Klimt Multi-Media Ladies for upper grade

Matisse: Matisse Goldfish in tempera paint, Matisse’s Purple Robe and Anemones, Matisse Paper Cut Dancers, Matisse-inspired painted self-portraits for upper grades, Matisse-inspired oil pastel portraits for lower grades, Matisse-inspired paper cut name panels

Miro: Painted Miro art lesson for upper grades, Miro line drawings in marker

Monet: Monet’s waterlilies for younger grades, Monet’s Tulip Fields in Holland multi-media art lesson, Monet’s Magpie Winter-scape art lesson

O’Keeffe: Graphic Flowers in watercolor

Picasso: Cubist Animals for lower grades, Easy Picasso faces in watercolor, Portrait of Dora Maar tempera painting art lesson, Oil Pastel Picasso Portraits, Primary Picasso Portrait Collage

Rouault: Rouault Royals art lesson for upper grade, Rouault Still-Life

Rivera: Diego Rivera’s Mothers Helper art lesson in chalk pastel, Rivera’s The Flower Gatherers Art lesson

Van Gogh: Oil Pastel resist landscape fro younger grades, Van Gogh’s Irises Tempera painting, Van Gogh Sunflowers in oil Pastels here and here, Landscape with chalk pastels and paint, City at Night paper and paint art lesson, Van Gogh Flowers in tempera paint.

 Now enrolling!

Beyond the Basics e-course is a 4-week online course that you can do from the comfort of your own home no matter what your time zone. This e-course is jammed packed with art lessons designed for children ages 5-12 or grades K-6 and will give you complete instructions via HD video, written lessons and printable PDF art lesson plans. Check out this post to see a snap shot of some of the lessons.

Here are the details….

Duration:

Class runs for 4 weeks. This means that new lessons will be posted on the private, password protected blog every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from June 5-July 10.  During this time, you can ask questions, get feedback on your homework and participate in the forum. After the four weeks, you will have an additional 2 months to view all the videos, print out the PDF lesson plans, post homework on our Flickr site, participate in the forums and review the material. That’s a total 3 months access!

Total classroom access: June 7-September 9, 2013

Fee:

$99 USD

Registration closes on Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Date: 

June 10-July 5, 2013

Forum and classroom opened until September 9, 2013

How do I pay?

Payment is made by clicking the BUY NOW button in this post or in the SHOP. Once you pay via PayPal or Google Wallet, you will receive a download link (Google) OR an email with a download link (PayPal) for a PDF Welcome document detailing instructions for the course. This Welcome PDF will be sent to the email associated with either account. You need to make sure your PayPal email is up to date.

Log-in information:

Your log-in information (username and password) will be emailed to you between June 4-June 7, 2013. This is your time to view the classroom, take a look around and introduce yourself in the forum. If you don’t receive an email during this time, please email Patty (patty dot palmer at deep space sparkle dot com)

Who is this class for?

Beyond the Basics is designed for art teachers, classroom teachers and parents who want to add art to their classrooms or learning environments. Project ability range from kindergarten to sixth grade with emphasis on technique rather than grade level. The e-course videos are designed for adults who teach art to children and are not necessarily for children to view as a tutorial.

Beyond the Basics explores form-based art lessons (clay, papier-mache), advanced painting, printing and drawing techniques (meant for children of course!) and color theory.

You must be familiar with how to navigate a blog (menu bars, sidebars, reading posts, watching videos, printing out lesson plans, obtaining a Flickr account, etc). Videos are high-defintion videos and work best when you have a good internet connection. This course is best watched on a computer and not a smart phone or ipad.

Unlike Teaching Art 101, this e-course will not include classroom management/organizational strategies or introductory art techniques. If this is what you are looking for, Teaching Art 101 is perfect for you!

Beyond the Basics Topics include:

• Working with ACRYLICS (on canvas and watercolor paper)
• Creating a COLLAGE
• PRINTING Techniques
• PRINTING techniques
• DRAWING Techniques
• MULTI-MEDIA/Collage art lessons
• WEAVING lessons
• Advanced WATERCOLOR techniques
• Advanced CHALK Techniques
• ARTIST exploration
• COLOR THEORY
• Working with CERAMICS (multiple projects)
• PAPIER MACHE (multiple projects)
• Over 2 dozen NEW Art lesson Plans (Videos & )Printable PDF

CLICK HERE FOR THE COURSE OUTLINE

Requirements:

• Mac or PC with strong internet connection for playing videos
• Digital camera or scanner for uploading homework to Flickr
• Flickr membership (invitation to join our free Flickr group will be offered once enrolled). Please become familiar with how to use Flickr if you wish to participate in homework sharing.
• 5 hours per week to read, watch and complete homework. Please note: Progressing through the course at your own pace is perfectly fine!

Purchase Orders for Schools: 

• I used to be able to offer purchase orders through my Teachers Pay Teachers site, but the site is not equipped to handle e-course registration like I had anticipated. If you want your school district to pay for this e-course, please follow the steps below:

1. To request a PO, email the following information to Patty (patty.palmer@deepspacesparkle.com): School or school district’s name, school district’s contact name, the teacher’s name for whom the ecourse is for, the teacher’s email address (very important!).
2. After receiving this information, I will send you a PO and a W9 form via email. I will detail payment instructions in this packet.
3. Please allow enough time for your school to process a PO. This process can take a long time as almost every school district has a different system and I’m not the best administrator for this type of thing! I can’t grant you class access until payment is cleared.

Certificate:

• You will receive a course outline and a certificate indicating course hours (20 hours). It’s not college official, but it’ll be pretty!

FAQ:

What if I miss a week?

• The e-course is designed so that you can learn at your own pace. There are no live sessions nor are there any attendance requirements. You can literally log into the classroom whenever you want during the class access time frame.

How much time should I spend on homework?

• Participating in the homework challenge will consume between 1-3 hours per week. Homework will be posted at the end of each week and due the following week. If you submit your homework, you will be entered into a drawing to win one of my PDF lesson plans. Homework is optional.

Is there a registration deadline?

• I will be accepting payments until June 4th.

My house is suffering. I haven’t seen the bottom of my kitchen sink for 2 days…but it’s my mental state that is concerning me. I’ve  forgotten one doctor and two dentists appointments in the past month.  And that’s even with the reminder call!

What’s going on?

Spiffy new site…

Pretty excited about this one. When it’s done, that is. I had planned on hiring an outside design firm to restructure my site, add a new store and spiff things up a bit, but Neil talked me out of it. He convinced me that together we could make one heck of a site…and we can. It’s just taking a LONG time. He’s a busy man. He works full time as a software engineer/director and spends his evenings helping DSS customers, assisting with homework and softball plus tackles the laundry when the washing machine is buried under a mountain of clothes. And he is also a good site engineer. I design and he codes. It’s a nice arrangement!

But don’t worry. The site won’t be that much different from the existing one. We are improving the shopping experience and navigation so you can find what you want faster.

A new e-course…

I knew I wanted to create Beyond the Basics almost immediately after launching Teaching Art 101. The first e-course was a blast and I met so many amazing art teachers. It focused on simple lessons, simple supplies and simple techniques. Teachers walked away with a fresh approach to teaching art, new ideas, new lesson plans and confidence in their own creative abilities.

I knew my next course needed to expand on the basics, so Beyond the Basics was born.  I created my yearly curriculum developing lesson plans that focused on form, the elements of art, more advanced techniques (still for the elementary school child) and different teaching approaches. I’m 3/4 of the way through these lessons and I can’t wait to show you what I have learned, what works REALLY well and what is a waste of time.

REGISTRATION BEGINS MONDAY, APRIL 15, 2013. FULL REGISTRATION INSTRUCTIONS WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON THE BLOG/FACEBOOK

New Art Curriculum Planner

This is my baby. I’ve been developing a workbook that focuses on creating your own art curriculum. I’ve created worksheets, guidelines, art timelines, lesson suggestions (complete with grade level supplements) and an approach to lesson planning that I find answers the hundreds of curriculum queries I receive. It’s a bit of a beast to produce (almost 10 months in the making) but I should have it ready to launch this summer.

Personal notes

I took a trip to Toronto last month with my daughter to visit my sister and her new little baby. To hold a little one after so long is one of life’s greatest gifts. Babies are designed to love. Their smell, squishy-ness and coos are irresistible. I was able to show Elly where I went to college. Toronto felt a little grey, cold and colorless in March, but it was fun seeing how Toronto has changed since I lived there over 20 years ago.

Art Show reflections…

Just writing this post is a bit of a breather for me. I have a long to-do list today, one of which is to go back to school and remove all the art from the art show displays. Kind of like cleaning up after Christmas. A bit depressing but cleansing at the same time!

I know many of you are gearing up for your art show. Although I’m glad mine is behind me, I’m already thinking of new things I could try for ext year. Don’t forget to write down all the things that worked for you and what didn’t. Take notes. Make a binder of instructions and then next year, it’ll all be a bit easier!

Good luck everyone!

This year’s art show will be unveiled tonight. I won’t be there. I’ll be watching my son do his thing in Ventura at a track meet. I’ll miss the excitement as the kids search for their piece of art. Pictures will be taken and parents will ask good art questions. These moments will be brief as the families rush off to visit classrooms, buy books at the book faire and grab a grilled hamburger at the bar-b-que. But the children will remember these events.

I’m so proud of the efforts and enthusiasm of my students but I’m even more appreciative of our school community. Here’s how they helped me:

• Teachers, classroom aids and parents mounted all the artwork
• The school Principal (I know!), amazing resource specialists, student teachers and anyone with an hour not with a student or in a meeting helped hang all of the art work.
• Super parent/teacher, Jennifer,  organized it all.

Yup. I’m a very lucky art teacher. None of them may speak to me tomorrow or want anything to do with art ever, ever again, but I know I’m lucky . I love how our community rallies to make these events happen for our children.

THANK YOU BRANDON COMMUNITY!!!!

Need tips in organizing an art show? Check out my post on Art Show Prep and Asking for Help: Art Show Volunteers