Art Show

4th Grade- Cat Paintings and Clay Facades

3rd Grade- Word Art

Kindergarten-Birds on a Wire

2nd Grade- Bird Houses

1st Grade- Heart Weaving

Sign in, Summer Art Program brochures, and Artsonia Updates.

Cookies and punch- I brought in my nice plate and punch bowl-if I'm throwing a party, I try to do it right.

The music teacher and I decided to take back Youth Art Month this year.  He did his 1st and 2nd grade program, and I did the school art show.  We planned the event as one big "Arts" night.  Mixed feelings- We had a good turn out, but many parents did not bring their older kids, because they did not have a child in the program.  I did get a chance to talk to a lot of parents, and get some updated emails for my Artsonia page.  I like the idea of the arts night, but will have to think about how to entice parents in all grade levels to come, and not just because they are killing time waiting for the program.  Good thing I have a year to puzzle this out.

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!

Egg Dye Yarn??

So, my school is right nearby to a few grocery stores, and we often get random post-holiday donations.  Candy Hearts, Christmas decorations, and most recently, piles of peeps, and egg dye.  Now, the art teacher in me fought with myself.  I know that many of those egg kits come with some cool stuff, but I am working hard not to take on things that I cannot store well in the new art room.  So, I googled egg dye and found the directions to dye yarn in a crock pot with it.  Needless to say, I went down and loaded up.  Today, my 1st graders finished up with a little time to spare, so I had them rip into all of the boxes and rescue the dye packs for me.  WOW- can my kiddos tear their way through boxes.  I simply had them empty the contents into a tote tray for me, and toss the boxes.  At the end of art, I let them choose from the stickers, rub ons, and other stuff.  Cheap labor or what?  My goal is next year to dye the yarn with my 4th graders, and then do their weaving project.  That is, if I can remember where the egg dye is next year.  HAHA.

Art Show is Getting Ever Closer...

Here are a couple finished art show pieces.  They will not however be hanging in our school art show- they will be entered into the Mayor's Art Show hosted by the Frist Center for the Visual Arts.  It is a great opportunity for our students to show off their hard work, and for us art teachers to gather new ideas.  I try very hard not to send the same projects, or the same students' work each year.