Art is Basic-- Art Teacher Blog

3rd/4th grade Clay Projects

2012-03-10T18:49:00.000-08:00

My 3rd/4th grade class made clay pots. We looked at the Mimbres pottery of the Southwest Native Americans, but I did not require them to use any of the imagery in their pottery. They could choose to add glaze designs however they wished. These are all coil built pots and glazed with Amaco Stroke and Coat glaze.

My trip to the NAEA conference!

2012-03-08T08:49:00.001-08:00

Here is a slideshow about my trip to the NAEA conference in New York!

NAEA No Video

I also submitted a student artwork to the Artsonia Big Screen Plaza exhibit, which is shown in the video below.

Inside-Out Designs-- First Grade

2012-03-07T08:27:00.000-08:00

This is a favorite project of mine, because I love how the designs look!
I have written about this project before and you can see the tutorial HERE.

Sculptural Dolls-- 1st Grade

2012-03-05T15:42:00.000-08:00

The first graders made these lovely sculptural dolls! You can see the tutorial here. Some of the pieces were attached with hot glue. I have an older student who is my helper during that class.

Update from New York

2012-03-03T05:42:00.000-08:00

Wow, I have been non-stop busy! I try to pack in as much as possible at the convention, because I figure I can sleep when I get home. Some of the highlights so far are hearing Peter Max speak, meeting Barney Saltzberg who wrote Beautiful OOps, hearing an awesome presentation about a year of kindergarten lessons, meeting art teachers from all over the US and Canada, catching up with many old friends from college, trying out lots of new art supplies and perusing books from the vendors, buying things from the artisans, walking around and avoiding getting hit by taxis and so forth.

I have not been able to update about my days as much as I'd like, because the internet connection in our room is ridiculous and basically every 2 minutes the screen will freeze up. So I've just been quickly checking my email in those 2 minute spans and then having to log off and restart. I figure when I get home I will do some picture-heavy posts and explain everything in more detail.

Last night I was able to meet Phyl from There's a Dragon in My Art Room. That was a great time! We went out to dinner and walked around to souvenir shops. I also got to "meet" Mr. E from Art with Mr. E!

Today I am going to hear Chuck Close talk, Olivia Gude, get a Journal Junkies book signed by the authors, pop on over to the MOMA for a bit, visit more sessions... then we have an Illinois State Art alumni meetup at the bar...

I am here!

2012-03-01T13:07:00.000-08:00

I'm in New York! I made it to the National Art Education conference!

Proof:

I already went to a bunch of sessions and am thoroughly exhausted. More updates and pics to come!

Castles with Pen and Watercolor-- 5th/6th grade

2012-02-28T07:30:00.000-08:00

5^th/6^th grade Castle Drawings

The 5^th and 6^th graders have been studying the Medieval time period in their Social Studies class. For this project, the 5^th and 6^th graders looked at pictures of castles and drew their own castle using pencil and pens. Then, they added watercolor washes to the picture.

Some of the students discovered that it looks really nice when the castle is left white.

Art Show

2012-02-27T08:56:00.000-08:00

We had our Youth Art Month regional art show at the mall this week. The reception was yesterday. The judges pick one artwork from each teacher to go on to the state art show at the capitol building, which will be held during the actual Youth Art Month (March). Here are my students' artworks:

Penguins in the Snow-- Kindergarten and NAEA convention

2012-02-26T08:53:00.000-08:00

Hello! Can you believe there's only 3 days left until the National Art Education Conference in New York? woo hoo! Each day I am planning to give a short update in pictures and words recapping what I did all day. I know I will be so super busy though, so we'll see if that actually happens! Today is also our regional art show, so I will have pictures of that to show you later.

The kindergarten class studied penguins in their classroom and I thought a painting project would be a fun tie-in. This was a project that I saw on Artsonia. On the first day, we drew and painted the black penguin. On the second day, they added white acrylic paint on top of the penguin and to show snow in the sky. Eyes and hats were cut from construction paper.

Chinese Calligraphy-- 3rd grade

2012-02-24T07:44:00.000-08:00

The 3rd graders have been learning about China in their social studies class. They practiced brush painting with Chinese calligraphy brushes. These were made into a little accordian book. Watercolor painted covers were glued on to the front and back.

Winter Landscapes

2012-02-23T07:12:00.000-08:00

2^nd Grade Winter Landscapes

For this project, we read a book about Grandma Moses:

Grandma Moses (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists)

We discussed how to draw a river or road showing depth (by drawing it converging to a point in the distance). We talked about using size variation to show distance while drawing houses and other objects.

The students cut out mountains from gray paper and a snowy patch from white paper (I walked them through this step-by-step). Houses were cut from construction paper and details were added with crayons. Trees and snow were painted with watercolor cakes.

Arctic Animals

2012-02-21T08:44:00.000-08:00

The 1st graders studied the Arctic in their Language Arts/Social Studies class. In Art class, they chose an animal from the Arctic to depict in a print. They made impressions on styrofoam printing plates using regular pencils. Then, they inked the plates using a brayer and printing ink. These lovely prints are the result!

Tips: Set up printing stations and watch a small group print at a time. The other kids can work on a drawing while some are printing. Use ink retarder to slow drying time.

Snippets of Art

2012-02-19T19:04:00.000-08:00

Another collaborative artwork.. by 4th/5th graders

And the last collaborative artwork, also by 4th/5th graders

A very cool dish made by a 4th grader

This page contains 8,000 stick people. Well, I didn't count them, but that's what the student said. They are drawn on both sides. A 6th grader brought this in to show me, isn't it cool?

front page of stick people.. Each block is 100 people.

close up of stick people groups

back page of stick people

Value Scale

2012-02-16T08:25:00.000-08:00

I made a Value Scale worksheet for an upcoming project. Use it if you'd like!
I use this for kids in grade 3-4.

Tell me if you have trouble downloading it. This is the first time I've embedded a pdf.

DOWNLOAD FILE

Value Scale

Art Teacher Meme

2012-02-15T17:58:00.000-08:00

I had just posted a blog entry about how we should make an art teacher meme... and one of my friends JUST uploaded one on facebook! Awesome!

Map of My Heart-- Kindergarten

2012-02-13T15:03:00.000-08:00

The kindergartners made Maps of their Hearts! They included things that were important in their lives. We drew with permanent markers first, then watercolor painted them in..

I got this idea from the book "Playful Learning" which would be a great book for a classroom teacher. It was interesting to read, but most of the activities are math, science, reading related.

Third and Fourth grade collaborative circle paintings

2012-02-10T19:52:00.000-08:00

I was so excited to see this idea of Circle Painting!! I first learned about it at Barbara's Thought of the Day and then at We Heart Art. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. for this wonderful idea. We are making several collaborative canvases with this technique and they are going to be raffled off at our end of the year school FUNdraiser. The kids had a blast creating these paintings. This is the first video I have edited using Imovie! I'm planning on making two more canvases with an older class to keep at school for display.

After School Art Class-- Finished Projects

2012-02-10T18:56:00.000-08:00

This week, the after school art class kids added marker and doodling to their spray painted pictures.

They also finished their abstract paintings! Here are a few examples:

Valentine's Heart paintings-- 2nd grade

2012-02-09T10:12:00.000-08:00

We had fun painting paper and then layering construction paper hearts and doilies on top. We used gel pens to decorate the hearts.

I got this idea from We Heart Art!

American Landscape Paintings--3rd/4th Grade

2012-02-08T08:13:00.001-08:00

American Landscapes The 3/4s learned about Colonial times and Westward Expansion. The students watched a video about American landscape artists during the 19th century and they painted their own landscapes. One of the goals was to use inspiration from the environment to create a painting. The students chose a landscape scene from pictures of America. Painting lessons include how to add texture with a fan brush, how to mix colors and how to add shadows on a mountain.

I showed them my painting of a rolling hills landscape and demonstrated how I created those textures through sponges, fan brushes and using the edges of a flat brush.

African Adinkra Stamps

2012-02-06T09:19:00.000-08:00

The 5th/6th grade class has been carving stamps from soft cut blocks. They used acrylic paints to print their stamps on muslin cloth! The students read about the African Adinkra symbol stamps and created their own symbol.

Egyptian Profile Pictures-- 4th/5th grade

2012-02-03T20:05:00.000-08:00

Egyptian Profile Paintings:The 4/5s have studied ancient Egypt in their social studies class. In Art class, they are using the standard proportions of the human face to draw each other in profile. Then, they are adding typical ancient Egyptian headdresses, clothes and jewelry to their portraits. Finally, they are drawing some hieroglyphics to finish the picture.

After school class

2012-02-01T15:35:00.000-08:00

I am teaching an after school art class for two sessions. We are painting abstract paintings on canvas with acrylic paints!

We are also experimenting with spray inks and stencils! Next session, we are going to finish our abstract paintings and then add designs to our sprayed pictures to tie them together.

Weaving on Styrofoam

2012-01-31T08:22:00.000-08:00

Weaving on Styrofoam was a recent project with the 1st graders. A restaurant supply store near our school had a huge package of styrofoam plates for very cheap. Slits were cut at the top and bottom of the styrofoam and string was placed in these slits for the loom. The students used ribbon and fabric to weave over and under the string. Suggest to the kids to choose a variety of colors and textures. I put out some colored wire, chenille stems, feathers, ribbons and straws. There are so many materials that can be incorporated into a weaving!

Where to obtain yarn: I don't think I have paid full price for any yarn in the 6 years I have been at this particular school. Hit up yard sales, church garage sales, thrift stores, Craigslist.org and Yahoo Freecycle groups. You will be amazed at what people will give away for free. Send out notes to your parents that you are always looking for bright, colorful, textured and snazzy yarn. I found that if I don't ask for "fancy, textured or bright colored" yarn, I receive a whole bunch of faded, dusty, gross yarn. By best yarn has come from members of my knitting group. Since I knit in my free time and belong to a knitting group, I have told the members that I would be interested in any of their scrap yarns and leftover skeins for my school. I suppose you could find a knitting group online (such as a local group that has a Yahoo group) and put out feelers for yarn for your school. If you offered a small price, I'm sure some of the members would be happy to sell you their leftovers or even donate them.

Sponsorship-- Worth Ave. Group

2012-01-30T15:21:00.000-08:00

I am excited to present to you my first sponsor. Worth Ave. Group provides educational insurance policies for K-12 schools and colleges. Worth Ave. Group has insurance policies that protect student and staff laptops. They will work with schools to provide individual or group coverage. They also have an educational grant giveaway going on now. If your school is in need of technology funding this would be worth checking out.

Sponsorship Information:
I've noticed a lot of craft blogs have sponsors and thought it would be fun to open up my blog to sponsors. Education and art education especially can always use support. Lest you think I will be getting rich off my blog, I can assure you that any and all money from the sponsorships will be used to purchase art supplies or educational art books to enhance my teaching. :)

I am accepting sponsorships such as

artists looking to sell their art
etsy shops
online workshops or e-books
educational businesses
arts and crafts related businesses

Contact me to start.

Pricing:
$10 per month: One sidebar ad on my blog, size 125 x 125 pixels
$15 per month: One sidebar ad on my blog, size 150 x 250 pixels

Included in this price is a blog post highlighting your sponsorship with an image link to your site.
All billing will be processed through Paypal.

Giveaways and Reviews:
In addition to advertising, I enjoy giveaways for my readers. If you would like me to facilitate a giveaway for your product, feel free to contact me. You would be responsible for shipping the product to the winner. I would also be happy to write up a product review if you sent me a product to try out.