Fabric Weaving

Every year, I am supposed to teach the 2nd graders to weave with fabric strips.  2 things have made this easier- 1 is a rotary cutter, 2 is a donation of 9x12 cardboard.  Some years, I teach the kids to add beads to the end, or use pipe cleaners to wrap the ends.  Last year, I taught the kids to tie it off with dowel rods, as little wall hangings.  This year, the crop of kiddos is not much for knot tying, so I had them tape the ends to the back, and then we glued them to construction paper, making frames with gel crayons.  The kiddos love their gel crayons, and it also gave me a chance to gauge their pattern making skills.    It took a fair amount of glue on the edges, and a few students carefully sitting on their weaving to make the glue stick well.  But, in the end, totally worth it!

Red Grooms-Artober

Here in Nashville, an event called Artober has started up over the last couple of years.  It is a way to highlight art events in our fine city, and encourage everybody to get out there and get "Artin".  The art teachers in our district were encouraged to use Red Grooms as our focus artist, and find a way to install work inspired by him in our school.  My K-3 students worked on a collaborative city scene, while my 4th graders worked on Carousels.  The carousels were modeled after Red Grooms' Fox Trot Carousel which depicts scenes and events from our city's history.  As October comes to a close, I thought I'd share how our installation looked upon completion, before the students start taking the bits and pieces home.

Carousels in "The Park"



The Big Finish



Kindergarten Pumpkins

If you've been teaching for any amount of time, you know that the pumpkin lends itself so well to the art room at this time of year.  It's easy enough to draw, the kids have likely visited the farm or pumpkin patch, and it translates to Halloween or Fall- whichever way  you prefer to go.  I had my kiddos use black paint only to trace a pumpkin that they had drawn on the 1st day.  On the 2nd, I gave them other colors, and we filled in.  I used tempera cakes, as my kids are still learning the painting routine.  They are so bright and cheerful- I'll have to post a few more, but here's a couple.  On a side note, I read them "Spookley, the Square Pumpkin" which I understand is a cartoon movie now, but the book is so sweet.

Fall Trees and A Rootin Tootin Art Class

 Just a little Fall Fun with my Kindergarten Class- we learned about Warm Colors, as we talked about Fall/Autumn.  A simple tissue paper collage (with a little glitter in the medium) made a lovely fall background for our torn paper trees.  We talked about outlines, and we looked at assorted leaves before drawing leaf outlines over the tissue.

So, my 2nd graders and I have been indulging in a couple of Western Themed art project.  I saw this on Pinterest, and just knew I had to give it a go.  We made "Wanted" posters.  We talked about the old time need for accurate portraits, and I demonstrated how to make a head and shoulders portrait.  We also brainstormed Cowboy details, like hats, badges, vests, bandanas- you get the idea.  The kiddos did a great job with their self portraits.  We attached them to brown paper, and worked on lettering "WANTED" along with thinking up cowboy names, and crimes.  I wanted to steer clear of actual crimes, so we chatted about humor, and exaggeration.  Our crimes are things like running in the hall, spilling milk, and reading too many library books. And, of course, we needed to offer a reward.   If you found one of my rascals, you'd be set for life going by the prices my kiddos set. I'll be honest, the writing took the better part of a class- it was a great opportunity to talk about lettering, contrast and size though.  What I did was I gave each student a card, and as they needed something spelled, I wrote it on their card.  This saved me from writing every word on the board, and allowed me to circulate better.  Today's class had a high ratio of English Language Learners- I'll be curious to see how the other classes do with the writing. We had a great time Cowboying it Up, and it was a fresh look at Self Portraits.  Thank you to whoever I pinned the idea from-it's a keeper!

Intersession/Intercession

Folded Paint Drop "Iris"- our State Cultivated Flower

Gelatin Printed Bat Monoprints- not a state symbol, but a great connection as they learned about caves.

Gelatin printed Bats with Cut Out shapes-wherever a paper bat was laid, the ink was masked.  Cool discussion on Positive/Negative Space.

Stamped Ladybugs- Our state insect

Students spread green paint around their paper, and used palette knives to scrape designs into the "grass"

Foam shapes, cardboard tubes, solo cups, pencil times were used in the stamping. 

I had been referring to out fall break enrichment classes as Intercession, until it was pointed out that spelling it in that way meant to have people pray for you.  Intersession- all S's means in-between session classes.  That's what I was teaching, although, prayers are always welcome.  I joined with 3 other teachers, and we did a "Travel TN" series.  Students learned about East, Middle and West TN, created a brochure about their findings, and with me, they explored some state symbols.  We had a great time- and I hope I gave the kiddos some opportunities that they would not otherwise get.

Post It Writing Activity



The colors have no meaning- just gave a different color to each table section.

 It's quick, painless, and there is no wrong answer.  I put up 3 landscapes for the 4th graders to look at.  They differed in land form, time of day, and overall style.  We discussed how a color scheme can affect the feel of a work of art.  I gave each student 3 post it notes, and had them write one word for each picture.  We then stuck them up over the pictures.  The students were interested in who else wrote the same word as they did ( I banned "good", "pretty" and "nice"), as well as the variety of descriptive words for each painting.  It very quickly gave me a chance to fit a little writing in, and let everyone be involved in the critique. 

Latest Projects

It's been a few days since I've updated.  It's grading season, and we all know how that goes- I'm up to my ears in projects that need to be returned, or photographed, or graded, or FINISHED!  And, I'm kind of tired of the current projects- ready to turn over to a new 9 weeks.  Kind of the typical end of the grading period stuff.  I thought I'd share a few successes.

Working with the 2nd grade teachers on some "Wild West" work- crayon/watercolor cowboy scenes-YEEHAW

2nd grade cars for our Red Groom's city.  The girl with a bow cracks me up.

Lovin' these water bottle babies by the 3rd graders- check out her highlights!

Don't know why the belt buckle catches my eye- nice paint job on this guy.

Red Headed Fireball!  LOL

You'd think he was goofing around with the paint- but he really has green glasses- the hair was a creative touch.

4th Grade carousels- We looked at "Fox Trot Carousel" by Red Grooms.

The carousels were to have school imagery on them- love the pizza topper.