That Little Art Teacher

Baby Glue Dots

2012-01-22T10:20:00.000-06:00

Glue on your hands, glue on the table, glue on the floor? I hate it when glue gets in places where it just shouldn't be. If students are not taught how to use their glue correctly or in some kind of manner, it will typically end with a razor blade scraping it off the table. Here's how I solved this problem.

My students use these steps for gluing.

1. Open the glue by making the tongue disappear. (We also stick out our tongues and stick em back in)

2. With the top up, squeeze gently to make sure it's breathing. If air comes out we're good to go.

3. If no air comes out then we have to open close, open close and pick out the glue boogers!!!

4. Then we flip over and gently squeeze one "Baby Dot" onto our finger.

I have them do this exercise in grades K-2 every time we use glue to make it sink in in the upper grades.

A "Baby Dot" fits in the center of your finger. If they learn this early with their tiny hands, the dots stay small and it seems to stick with them in the later grades.

We also compare it to a Momma Dot and a Daddy Dot.

"What will happen if we use a Momma or a Daddy Dot?"

"It will go smooosh!"

If a smooosh does happen we leave it to dry clear. If we leave it and kids don't like it they are sure to try not to do it again.

5. To get the glue off our finger we rub our hands together and "Turn it to DUST!"

Kids love this and it's great because we don't always have time to wash everyone's hands.

Below are some pictures of the first activity I do with Kinders in the Fall to teach them this technique.

We are making a mosaic with many pre-cut shapes. The shapes are small which makes it great to teach why we use Baby Dots and not Daddy Dots. This activity is definitely more about the process than the product.

Trays of shapes.

Great Baby Dots

It doesn't matter to me whether the students put the dot onto to back of the piece they are gluing down or directly on the paper. I really feel like it depends on the project as to which way is best.

How do you glue?

Pinteresting

2011-11-12T17:23:00.000-06:00

I apologize to all my loyal followers and web surfers. My absence should not be excused, but PINTEREST has taken over my life. If you would like to check out some lessons I'm thinking of trying and just what is going on in my head at the moment please take a look here. I have broken up my interest "boards" in to grade levels!

Until next time, when I have loaded batteries into my old camera to take some pictures of the happenings in my classroom, I will talk to you all again soon.

Patterned Shoe Prints

2011-09-08T21:22:00.001-05:00

First graders used LINE and PATTERN to create shoe prints.

Students learned the 5 types of LINE by singing our Line song and drawing them in the air.

Then, we discussed PATTERN by using different materials to make patterns.

Each table had different materials to make patterns. It was a great assessment tool.

Next, students worked together to trace their shoes with a black crayon.

Time to draw the LINES. Some students wanted to draw the actual lines that were on their shoes.

Crayons were used to show PATTERN.

Finally, students cut out their shoe prints and glued them to colored construction paper.

Great Inservice Opportunity in the TN area

2011-09-06T20:09:00.000-05:00

You've heard me preach about "The Clay Lady Way" of teaching clay. Now here is your chance to learn from (in my opinion) one of the best. My good friend and fabulous teacher Danielle McDaniel is offering a

How to Teach Clay the Clay Lady way workshop in Nashville, TN

here are the details:

After 15 years of countless How To Teach Clay...The Clay Lady Way teacher inservices, I can say this with certainty - the information I teach is still current, relevant and useful to art teachers on every level. I can also share with you that to increase my enjoyment of teaching this same information, I plan to add on different information and shake up the curriculum this year! So before you say - been there, done that!- look below for the current offerings for 2011!

How To Teach Clay...The Clay Lady Way teacher inservice Saturday, October 1st, 8:00-4:30 to be held at The Clay Lady's Studio, Artist Co-op and Galleries ~The Educational Facility at Mid-South Ceramics in Nashville, TN.

Fee is the same as past years - $150 (or $100 for returning teachers).

Learn The Clay Lady Way: make and decorate successful clay projects in one-sitting with a single firing to complete.
Tour our manufacturing warehouse and learn about raw materials and how they are mixed to make products. Learn the difference between low-fire, mid-fire and high fire supplies.
Enjoy a hands-on clay Clay Lady Workshop to experience The Clay Lady Way as you use our products to make projects.
Tour and enjoy visiting with several of my 20 artists in residence and see how making projects can turn into a profession at The Clay Lady's Artist Co-op and Galleries.
See a project demo and learn how to design your own projects.
Learn my 8 week curriculum, my clay camp curriculum, my K-12 project curriculum that works with your county's curriculum , my teen/adult handbuilding and sculpture lesson, class management techniques and hands-on kids wheel lesson.
Learn about kilns: how to load and to program for no-explosion firings!
Enjoy us providing your apron, your lunch, your certification for inservice hours and your enlightening day!

Feel free to forward this email to all your art teacher contacts - I heavily rely on your goodwill and good reviews!

Contact me in any way that works best for you and I will get your name on the list for this year's inservice. I am limiting the amount of registrations to increase personal interaction and provide plenty of time for questions and diversions from the schedule! It's going to be a good time!

Be An Artist in Everything You Do!

Danielle McDaniel~The Clay Lady

The Clay Lady's Studio, Artist Co-op and Galleries

~The Educational Facility at Mid-South Ceramic Supply

1416 Lebanon Pike, Bldg C

Nashville, TN 37210

phone 615-242-0346

fax 615-244-3191

email danielle@theclaylady.com

www.facebook.com/danielle.theclaylady.

www.theclaylady.com

www.midsouthceramics.com

Clay Lady Documentary

Behavior Board

2011-08-22T23:47:00.000-05:00

I was asked to explain more about my behavior board, and I am more than happy to. Art class would not be able to carry on smoothly without it. It's very important to me that my students have fun, but to understand that Art still has rules that must be followed for the fun to happen.

First the expectations of my students are to

Be Responsible

Be Respectful

Be Kind

Be Safe

Here is a picture of my board at the end of today.

Each teacher has a pocket and each student has a 3"x6" index card in the pocket with their name on it.

When an expectation is not met (rule broken), a student in 1st - 5th grade must pull their card and clip them to the consequence. I have also had them put the cards into a consequence pocket, but I wanted to change it a bit.

1st consequence GREEN WARNING

2nd YELLOW 5 minute time out (when a student goes to time out the time is marked in my roll book)

3rd RED 10 minute time out

4th BLACK teacher's choice (detention, office, or written communication log home)

I have a good behavior art party (fun art activity centers) at the end of the semester. If students have not had time outs then they will be able to participate the whole time. If they have had time out (say 10 minutes total during the semester) they will have to sit out 10 minutes at the party. In other words, whenever they are in time out, they will have it again at the party. It hits them twice so that they hopefully will never misbehave bad enough to go to time out

Kinders are given reward pockets for the whole class behavior: Green for Great Day, Yellow for okay day, and Red for bad day. Individual Kinders are given a verbal warning and after that are sent to time out for 5 minutes any time they break a rule after the warning. Kinders don't have good behavior parties because the class set up is different. See Art Centers

As with any behavior plan, it is a very effective system as long as you stick to it.

I also have a whole class system seen here.

Here we go again!

2011-08-20T22:12:00.000-05:00

Sorry I've been away...... I've been occupied by this little cutie.

Meet Rosco our adorable little Dane mix.

I love getting my classroom ready for the new year! Some things stayed the same and others have changed. My school kept the same theme as last year which was "Wild About..." so I at least changed my color scheme around. Last year was many cool colors and now I'm onto warmer hues.

Sorry for the blurryness... I need a new camera.

Here we have the Behavior Board. Each teacher has a pocket and every student has a card with their name on it. If they break a rule they move a card. Warning, 5 minute timeout, 10 minute timeout, and or detention and note home. Students also lose time at their good behavior art party if they go to timeout. It gets them twice so hopefully they will never have to pull their card for that consequence.

This is the Art History board. I also have an envelop with crit cards for when we go into deep discussions.

The table buckets are ready to go. Each table gets 4 pencils, erasers, scissors, and glue. When I pencil breaks they bring it to the broken jar and pull out a sharp one. I also have students hold up the erasers at the end of class so I can see everything and see that nothing has gone missing.

Found this huge palette a and decided to do something different. The Art Marks chart will go to the right of this.

The reading area. I plan to have stories and demos with Kinders here and students may read books after they have finished a project on the carpet.

Free Draw shelf area... I really need more books... I also plan to add more activities when more funds come along.

Landscape, Portrait, and Still life along with Toothless the room mascot.

More to come! Stay tuned.

Avery Give Back to Schools

2011-08-17T22:06:00.000-05:00

I wanted to take this time to let you all know about an awesome opportunity for your school. My school was very fortunate to have won last year and we received $10,000 in supplies for our school.

Avery Give Back to Schools program is an online voting contest that will reward the top 5 vote-getting schools with $10,000 in Avery school supplies, $1,000 in Bonus Box Tops for Education and an additional $1,000 in gift cards for teachers to purchase additional school supplies. The next 25 vote-getting schools would win $500 in Bonus Box Tops for Education. The contest ends September 16.

Click here for the Avery Give Back to Schools and register or vote for your school.

To Dump or Not To Dump... That is the question

2011-07-16T17:38:00.000-05:00

Hello fellow art teachers and followers,
I have a question... When painting do you let your students "dump" their water when it gets too dirty? Or do you have them keep the same water all through class?

I hate having dirty water when I paint so I wanted my kids to be able to have clean water for as long as possible. My first year teaching we used these cups that would only hold about 1 1/2 cups of water. Students were having to go to the sink constantly. Especially when we used liquid tempera or acrylic.

Now, I use huge buckets of water for painting. They are used dog treat buckets which hold about a quart of water (we fill them halfway). The buckets never tip over because of their size, they are still easy for kids to pick up, and they may have to be refilled once during a lesson. I used to ask kids to raise their hand for me to check if the water was too dirty and tell them to "dump" or not. That became too much. So now I tell the kids to dump their own water when it turns to mud and they can no longer see their brush when pressed against the inside of the bucket.

This water needs changing!

So, my fellow teachers, what do you use as water containers and when do you "dump"?

Abstract Warm-up

2011-06-23T13:05:00.000-05:00

The first day of class with my 6th graders can be a bit overwhelming. I preach rules, procedures, and expectations. They are usually surprised at the new things they will be expected to do in "Middle School" art and can be a little timid.

After all the speeches are said and done I like for them to start creating. I always begin 6th grade with Abstract Art. I try to find an interesting youtube video to show that gets the kids excited. I won't tell them what abstract art is though. I ask them at the end of the video to tell me. 9 times out of 10 they will get it.

It is now time to create. As wide a topic and endless the ideas for abstract is, I have always found that it is hard for most students to begin an abstract work. So I help them along with this abstract warm-up:

Materials:

Markers, crayons, oil pastels, colored pencils, or paint.

12"x18" paper

Teacher reads the directions as students follow along.

Please be sure to allow at least a minute for each step.

Abstract Warm-Up:

1. Turn your paper in any direction

2. With your marker make three straight lines anywhere on your paper, but start each line on an edge and end on an edge. Lines may cross if you wish.

3. Make three dots any size, anywhere on your paper. Remember to color your dots in.

4. Place the tip of your marker on one of the dots. Now make a curved line or a lot of curved lines that go in any direction as long as they go to an edge.

5. With your marker make one circle that touches something else on your paper.

6. You may add to your design by making more lines and shapes if you wish.

7. Complete your abstract work by adding as many colors as you wish. Remember to leave only one space blank on your design.

Abstract warm up with steps 1 - 5. I always use oil pastel on black paper.

Wish I had taken more pictures of this lesson... The students always have great success with this project because they are given a little "push" into the creative process. I find that it builds their confidence.

If you liked this warm up and would like some more ideas, send me your email. I have 3 more equally as popular with the students and greater in difficulty.

Special thanks to Pam Hickman who gave me these abstracts when I was student teaching.

Sand Pyramid?

2011-06-08T10:52:00.001-05:00

I am currently on vacation on beautiful Hilton Head Island, SC. My family and I have been coming here for 21 years and counting. This year was the first time that I set out with a goal that did not include completely draining my head of all thought and just relax... Well, I will of course still do that, but onto the goal.

I wanted to build some kind of sand castle. I have never made one. I thought it might be too hard to pull off and the rest of my family really didn't seem too interested. I don't blame them, because it is a lot of work. My wonderful husband who is what I would call a "Craftsman" set out with a plan. He also has an engineering mind so I just smiled and nodded when he showed me the plans.

We decided on a pyramid! Here are some process photos. In the pictures are me, my husband Wes (in the hat), and my cousin Mica.

1. Build the foundation.

2. Level and smooth.

3. Stair steps that begin at the top. Our approaches to this were all different. My strategy was to insert my tool (plastic putty knife) vertically and and then rotate down (like pulling a lever) so that the tool lay horizontally. This would cut the step and then pack down the sand for the top of the next step. I think my husband would cut in vertically and then cut in horizontally and scoop out. (My way went a lot faster)

4. Make an entrance by building up more sand and smoothing.

5. Carve stones in entrance way

6. Feel proud of a job well done!

7. Even though our steps were not all perfectly level and smooth, it gave our pyramid a nice ancient look.

This little crab stayed with my cousin the whole time and then decided he would move in.

If you're going on a beach vacation and want to.... Build a sand creation and share it!

Happy Building!

Art Test

2011-05-27T16:35:00.000-05:00

The end of the year was fast upon us. 1st grade had one more day of art class before the "Good Behavior Art Party" day. Should I have them watch a movie or free draw.... Neither.
I decided to see what my little 1st graders had learned from the year. In 1st grade we begin to apply the "basics" to projects that reflect around the Elements and Principles. We concentrate on drawing with pencils, coloring like an artist, painting, and collages. So I decided to test them to see how much they had retained. Will they remember to draw lightly? Swish, wipe, and blot? Let's find out...

Students were told that this was a test. I wanted to see if they remembered elements, principles, procedures and processes we had worked on all year in class.

Create a flower: Any kind. Real or imaginary.
You have 3 choices of how to make it: Drawing and coloring with crayon, Collage with scissors and glue, or draw and paint.
All students were given 9"x12" white paper. All materials they needed were out and ready. The rest was up to them.

Tracing the drawing with a black crayon to make it "POP" when it is painted.

Some students made two types and wanted to turn in the best one. Here you can see paints and crayons out.

Correct paint procedure setup!

When I asked this student where his sky would stop he said, "All the way to the ground SILLY!"

Me: "Why is this flower so much bigger?"

Student: "It's in the foreground!"

This student went on to paint the rest of the sky blue and leave the clouds white. It made the cloud shapes more organic.

One student creating a collage and another one coloring. Notice how her petals are in a stack. She stacked the papers together and cut them all at the same time. "Why did you do that?" I asked. "Because I wanted them all the same." she said.

Many imaginary color choices!

This little girl pointed out to me that she let one color dry, painted something somewhere else, and then came back to paint beside the first color. She remembered that the colors may bleed together.

Paint setup for two. You can tell that they did some good blotting on their paper towel.

I was very pleased with all the results. Only 2 students forgot a couple of things. I believe I will now give a test at the end of the year similar to this for all grades. It was a HUGE SUCCESS and the students loved showing me what they learned. One even told me that this should be on the TCAP!

ART SHOW 2011

2011-05-08T18:58:00.000-05:00

May 5th, 2011 marked our 2nd Annual Art Show. Here is how it all went from start to finish. (Thanks Phyl for getting my brain engaged with your post.)

I am very fortunate to have the use of the school’s all purpose room (playroom). Think mini gym without the basket ball hoops and no bleachers. With the help of some close friends and parents the show went up without a hitch. I am not given release time to hang the show so my parent volunteers and I will have the classes that I have that day help out. I send home volunteer letters at least 2 weeks ahead.

I have the show in the Spring because I want students to have lots of work to choose from for the show. This year the Kindergarten teachers and I have struck a deal. The Pre-k and K registration is the Monday after the Thursday evening art show. They always decorate for registration and now I have taken care of that. They want the art show left up as decoration and they will have their teacher assistants take the whole thing down the following day!! No take down for me!! We're going to keep this arrangement next year.

I display the work of all students. They choose on portfolio review day! About two weeks before the show. The art show is not a competition. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. I do however have door prizes. I have a volunteer take names at the door. They register students for the prize they wish to win. I draw names once the show is over and announce the next day at school.

I send flyers home with students two weeks before and little art tickets the week of. I also have a giant poster that I staple to a display board that I put out for car riders to see at arrival and dismissal the week of the show.

The walls are concrete. I use 2” masking tape to hang everything. 2 – 3 pieces of tape to hang each work. My 5th grade class that morning makes tape rolls and places them on drawing mats for us to use while hanging. Because of this, I saved about an hour during setup. I do have 6 display boards which I staple work to. I also use hot glue to attach to those less tape friendly services. As you can see below. It's our climbing wall with the floor mats hanging from it.

I don’t mount, just not in the budget… I write the students’ names on the bottom right hand corner of their work as they choose their art show piece.

The highlight of the show is always the slideshow. I create a slideshow of students working during the year and display it with a white board, laptop, and projector which is set up on a table.

Last year's show was a huge success and I was anxious to have a good turn out this year. I really talked it up to the kids, made art show “tickets”, a countdown calendar, and displayed the door prizes that could be won (Thanks Erica!). I had a guest book for people to sign in so I would know the numbers. A donation jar is also set up outside the entrance to the playroom.

I serve fruit punch and cookies. This year I asked teachers to bring in one package of cookies!! Thanks Mr. E for the idea. A volunteer or two mans the refreshment table.

Turn out was a bit lower than last year's, but we still raised a lot of money in donations. The families that attended thanked me for having a such an event. Next year, I may have the show on a Friday evening and include art activities.

Display Ability

2011-04-28T15:01:00.000-05:00

One of the key ways to show that ART is important and that it does matter in your school is to have it be noticed. What good is an art program when the school and community can't see the results? I told my student teacher that to show people that art is important, let them see it.
This brings me to DISPLAYS! When I began teaching I wasn't sure how I was going to display work. I wanted the work to be noticed and plus I wanted to show the school that this new teacher did know I thing or two about what she was doing. At first I only displayed a handful of the "good" projects from each lesson for each grade. (notice photo below) This was okay.... for about a day after I put it up. Once all the students had a chance to walk by and notice that his or her artwork was not on the wall, I started getting "the questions". "Where's my fish?" "Mine wasn't good enough." "Did you lose it?" and the worst of them all.... "Only the best get to be put up." My heart was broken. But what can I say? I did it to myself. I was only putting the best up. I failed myself and my students.

This display antic lasted one time and one time only. After that all the work from a class was put up. I didn't care how bad it looked. The only time I ever stray from this is when work is not finished. I also explain this to the students when I announce that their work will be going up on the wall. Helps when some students are working too slow.
This brought me to another dilemma. How on earth would I keep track of which class's turn it was to go up on the wall? Or when to put up what grade next. The answer was clear, make a list with all grades and teacher's names. Once one was put on the wall, put a mark next to it and so on. I even put a number beside it so that when all the classes in one grade had a turn I could see which one would be next in line. So which class goes up first at the beginning of the year? That's easy, the one that is finished first, and so on. Doesn't matter which grade. After the first from each grade is up I go by the list.

I always put up a sign with the title and sometimes a summary of the project, should one be needed. I also have a black card with the teacher's name and grade that created the work. I create these cards at the beginning of the year. It also helps when I make my "pile" of work to grade. I simply put the class's card on top of their work pile. No need to keep work separated if there's a sign that tells me what the next group is.

Most of these signs were made last year. They are laminated so I can keep them from year to year. Some changes will always need to be made or added of course. They are also ready to be put with the art show displays when the time comes.

My project display signs are made either by hand or on the computer. I keep a "Display Sign Template" on file to alter and print when I need a new sign. The signs are kept in the filing cabinet with the lesson's folder.

Though these tips work great for me, I have two big irritations.... Notice the silver display rails below. They are a great idea for a regular ed teacher maybe... I can't always work around them. So they tend to limit my creativity when it comes to displays. And when you put work in them it falls out when someone walks by!

This is why I have come to love MASKING TAPE!! Simple 2" wide masking tape. Holds up nearly everything except 3D work. I will put the work into the display rail and then secure the bottom of the work with one piece of tape in the back. If the work is not put into the rail, I use two pieces on the back of the work at the top. The tape also comes off easily from most papers. I am a whiz at tape rolls. I even put up all posters in my room and art show work with masking tape. It was tedious in the beginning, but soon a tape rolling machine was born.

How do you display your work?

Here is a wonderful site to get ideas for displays: Bulletin Boards to Remember

Thanks Yall!!!

2011-04-11T16:57:00.001-05:00

That means "Thank you all" in Southern slang!

Thank you to all my followers and fellow bloggers. My "Little" blog has hit

FOLLOWERS!!
I have achieved my goal to help other educators in their art endeavors. Whether you teach Kinders, art, or are a stay at home parent I appreciate your support.

Big thanks to Ren at Dali's Moustache for becoming my 100th follower! Also, a shout out to Ms. Amy who teaches Kindergarten from my hometown for being a very faithful follower so I have heard from a source :)

I have been really busy these past few weeks and have not been able to blog. I have been working with a wonderful student teacher as well.

(Mrs. Matthews in action)
I will have more to blog about when I have more time.
Here's a sneak peak!

Hide-n-Seek Animals

1st grade Self Portraits

Laurel Burch Cats

Picaso Faces

4th Castles

2nd Big Fat Hens

Stay Tuned!

Wag Your Tail for William Wegman

2011-03-30T21:49:00.001-05:00

Every year my 5th graders create awesome collages based on the work of Romare Bearden. It is usually the hit project. This year because of our "Wild" theme I decide to do the same lesson with a different artist.

Introducing:

WILLIAM WEGMAN!!

Why do we love him?

Because he takes pictures of DOGS!! What kids don't love dogs? Not many..

We discussed photography and how a photographer was also an artist. We also talked about Wegman's work where he creates scenes with his weimaraners in costume.

Objective: To create a William Wegman collage by drawing, using magazine cutouts, and painting. The main focus was to find animal heads and paste them onto human bodies. The bodies could be drawn or cut from the magazines.

My wonderful librarian saves magazines for me at the end of each year and I hold on to them for various projects. Especially this one.

I placed the magazines on my demo table. Animal magazines were in one box, then I had a pile of "boyish" magazines and "girlish" magazines. Tables could get 6 animal magazines at a time and one other magazine for each person. When I announce "Trade Time" students could swap out magazines as they pleased.

First, students could either draw a background in pencil or find their animal/human hybrids.

Students had some great finds!

Pictures were then glued into place and drawings were traced with black permanent marker. (Don't forget to put a mat under your paper!)

Finally our collages were made complete with watercolors.

I love their imaginations!

More pictures to come.

Art Marks Update

2011-03-24T21:41:00.000-05:00

This has been the best classroom management tip I have ever used. It came from Mrs. Brown's Art Class. Here is her facebook page where she describes her lessons in better detail.

The competition is fierce!

All classes have a good behavior art party at the end of the year, but only one from each grade will have a surprise party! The class in each grade that has the most GREEN DAYS will win an Art SURPRISE PARTY!!

I have many ideas that include ice cream, splatter paint outside, water balloon fight, and many more. But I want more ideas!!

If you could throw an ART surprise party.... What would you do?

More on this topic click here.

Random Name Calling

2011-03-12T22:20:00.000-06:00

A few years ago I observed a teacher in the middle of her Grammar lesson. She was asking questions and then pulling out a popsicle stick with a student's name on it to answer. I thought it was such a great idea. Completely random!

Alas, I thought I would never be able to do this with my class. What would I do? Write all 500+ students' names on popsicle sticks and then have a cup for each class? I could, but can you imagine the time it would take to do that? So I left the idea alone.

Then, one day when I was looking back through my blog at this post on my Art Helpers, and I realized that I could bring my random idea to life.

Ta-Da introducing my "Random Name Calling" system!

A set of 4 popsicle sticks for each of my 7 table colors
Each set is dipped into the 7 colors of my tables
The sticks in the set have my helper codes written on them:

Monkey 1

Monkey 2

Zebra 1

Zebra 2

This randomized system has made Q&A time so much fun for the students. I just ask a question then pull out the stick and call out, "Monkey 1 Orange Table" and so on. I have also used the system to help with changing up the seating chart. I'll have students come in the room and draw a stick to see where they'll sit. If I need a helper to assist with something and too many hands fly up, I'll just pull a stick and so on.

I love randomness!

Pre-K & Kindergarten AHHHHH!

2011-03-06T15:26:00.000-06:00

I love that the big topic this week has been teaching art to Kinders! This is a subject that I enjoy discussing because I love to teach them. I would like to refer you to my previous post on Teaching Kinders with Art Centers before reading further.

Kinders aren't so bad once you understand them. I have taught whole group instruction with this age during my student teaching and it was not too successful. I was constantly losing them! Not to mention that some would be done in 10 minutes and I still had 30 more minutes to go. And I didn't feel like constantly finding things for them to do. I would even create projects that were tedious that they ended up hating rather than learning something from.
When embarking on my quest in my own classroom, I looked to the first book that I ever bought when I decided that I wanted to be an Art Teacher : The Art Teacher's Survival Guide by Helen D. Hume. It was and still is my bible. Along with her other great book: The Art Teacher's Book of Lists. Hume lists characteristics of children at each grade level. Here are some that she lists for Kinders:
Unable to sustain any activity for terribly long
Leave out things that are not important
Allow students to experiment with materials
Give skills and media lessons step-by-step

A Kindergarten Matisse Snail

With this knowledge I devised my plan of teaching Kindergarten with Centers. Their class period is 50 minutes long so I divided my time accordingly.

3 centers, 15 minutes each with 5 minute clean up and line up.
- 2 centers are "do-it-yourself" which need little supervision
- 1 center is the Project center where the main lesson is taught
Once again please refer to my earlier post for Teaching Centers details. The art lessons are kept simple and are broken down into step-by-step directions. Most of the time I use lessons that are based on experimentation. I cover lessons on the elements and principles, and apply them to projects that will cover most art techniques (Collage, Crayon, Paper, Painting, Sculpture, etc).
I even teach Pre-K for 45 minutes!! The Centers are more like 12 minutes with this time frame. I don't have standards for Pre-K; therefore, all of their project lessons are experiments with different types of art and how to correctly use art materials. I have Pre-Ks that can "Swish, Wipe, and Blot" a paint brush during painting better than some 2nd graders! Pre-K is also made easier by having their lovely assistant Pam with them. She supervises the "DIY" centers while I spend nearly all my time at the project center.

Classroom Management
- I use the "Give Me 5" signal to let students know I need their attention. (Eyes Watching, Ears Listening, Mouth closed, Hands free, Feet still) I do this as soon as I close my door. Students are sitting quietly at their center with hand up or I will not let them begin. I can then check to make sure they are at the correct center.
- I clip color cards to my shirt or apron for whole class behavior and will change them if need be:
  Green - a good day - no or one warning
  Yellow - okay day - noise and direction reminders
  Red - bad day - lots of noise and direction reminders
Please refer to this Post for why I do this.
- Individual behavior problems are warned first and then sent to time out for 5 minutes on the next offense. One trip to time out is usually enough to fix the issue. If not, they go back for longer time and I inform the teacher.
- For final cleanup the project table will be given damp rags to clean the table if need be and I will ask a helper from each table to bring me the supplies.
- The table that is the quietest and cleaned up first will line up first, second, and so on.
- The "Quiet as a Mouse" game is the best one to play when lined up!
- I give them their "Art Mark" when their teacher arrives.

I know it may be scary to teach these little ones and we all teach differently. My suggestions may not help some of you, but this method is what works best for me. The best advice I can give is patience. My management methods don't work every single time, but as long as I stick to my plan everything will work out in the end.

Here are some links to others who have addressed this issue:
Art for Itty Bitties
The Teaching Pallete
In Art Class
Barbara's Thought of the Day

What color is your Dog?

2011-03-05T16:33:00.002-06:00

I look forward to this all year because it peeks students' interest in Modern Art as well as gives me a look into their interests.

To begin the lesson I introduced students to the artist and creator of Blue Dog, George Rodrigue with this great video from CBS on YouTube.

The students were hooked. In a 3rd grader's eyes, nothing is cooler than a dog project. After a little Q & A session I read the book, Why is Blue Dog Blue? by George Rodrigue. This book really jump started some ideas! So to prepare for the painting students had to complete this sentence: "When I think of ______, I paint blue dog _______."

To begin, students followed along while I demonstrated how to draw Blue Dog. I really enjoy drawing lessons. I always try to use key Element of Art words to help guide students through the process. After the drawing lesson some students were disappointed in their drawing. They thought that since their drawing didn't look just like mine that it was no good. "On the contrary," I explained. "If everyone's drawing looked the same then our drawings would look pretty boring. What's fun and interesting about seeing the same thing?" The students began to understand and loosened up. Their personalities began to shine through as they continued to draw the background.

Next class time, we discussed how to make our Blue Dog "POP"! George Rodrigue uses a bold black outline around Blue Dog to emphasize the importance of the image. Plus is makes our dogs "POP"! We traced our drawing with black tempera cake paint. The tempera cakes allow us to have a better sharper outline. Plus, it dried very quickly and allowed us to continue to paint right away.

We then continued to paint Blue Dog with the tempera cakes. This step took two days.

Students loved this project because it was a way to express themselves which made the students take their time and do their best. Students always do their best when it is a project that peaks their interests.

This lesson was taken from Arts and Activities Magazine, April 2009 issue
What Color is your Dog? by June "Sam" Compton

Plast'r Craft by Pacon Fish Sculpture

2011-03-02T20:51:00.000-06:00

Thanks to the wonderful Pacon company, my 6th graders and I were given the opportunity to try out an awesome product!

Plast'r Craft!

Plast'r Craft is a plaster impregnated gauze that you have to wet in order to mold. The students were so excited to try out this new material that we decided to use the Plast'r Craft to help study sculpture and form by creating a fish out of recycled materials.

On day one and two of our 50 minute class, the recycled bottles were used for the basic structure of the fish. Bottle caps, cone cups, recycled cardboard, and masking tape were used to create the fins and eyes.

Once the body of the fish was built it was time to bring it all together with the Plast'r Craft on day three and four. The packaging was a great design that allowed us to pull the gauze from an opening on the side of the box and then easily cut with scissors.

Each table of students placed their gauze on a styrofoam tray along with newspaper and scissors for less mess and easy transport.

Newspaper was laid in front of each student to place their fish on while applying the Plast'r Craft. The gauze was cut to fit the largest areas of the fish first. Students dipped the gauze into a bucket of warm water that was sat at each table. Creating very little mess, each piece of gauze was dipped into the water as students used only their fingers to slide down the gauze to cast off excess water.

Students would then place the wet gauze over a section of their fish and rub it with their fingers to set it in place and cover any tiny holes that were left in the gauze. Once the large areas were covered, they continued to cut, wet, and mold the Plast'r Craft to the other parts of the fish. The fins and mouths of the fish were the hardest areas to cover, but the Plast'r Craft was easy to cut and mold around small areas. Students made sure to overlap each new piece of plaster and smooth it out to create a nice sleek fish body.

Most students were able to complete their fish with one layer of plaster. Some cut small square pieces of gauze to cover any tiny areas that were left.

Day five began the painting process, which took two days. Acrylic paints were used to create the vibrant colors. Students painted their fish with at least two layers of paint for the best coverage.

Overall, I am thrilled that Pacon gave me and my students this wonderful opportunity to try this great product. There was little to no mess, it could be distributed easily, the plaster set in about 15 minutes, and was very easy to paint. The plaster fish sculpture has now become THE favorite project!
Thank you, Pacon for letting us try Plast'r Craft!

Like Pacon on their Facebook page!

Putting it into Perspective

2011-02-24T22:01:00.001-06:00

The school day is now 45 minutes longer due to snow days. Instead of using the 35 minute extra art time for each class to continue to work on their current classwork, I've changed my perspective and decided to give each class a little challenge!

2nd grade class #1 dove into perspective after watching a cool Reading Rainbow video on 1 point perspective. I borrowed an Elmo (document camera with projector) from their teacher to demo this lesson. . . I shouldn't have borrowed it because now I'm foaming at the mouth to have one.

I copied off my own "Complete the Picture 1 Point Perspective Railroad Track" page. The picture had a horizon line, vanishing point, one diagonal line for the train track, one small telephone pole, and one large telephone pole. Students completed their pictures while I demoed on the Elmo.
Supplies: "Complete the Picture page"
ruler, pencil, and eraser.
Vocabulary:
Horizon line
Vertical, Diagonal, Curvy lines
Vanishing Point
Foreground, Middle ground, Background
Diagonal line
Construction lines

Awesome results!

2nd grade class #2 watched the same video, but this time I let them follow along with the artist that drew the 1 P.P. train track. Sorry no pics from that one. The students liked it so much I decided that we should try some shapes.

So we drew our Horizon line, vanishing point, and four shapes (square, rectangle, triangle, and circle). I told them we were going to use the same technique with our shapes and they would follow along while I demoed. Students connected points and curves of their shapes to the vanishing point. Once two shapes were done together, students caught on and I let them continue on. Some even added more shapes with some stencils from the Free Choice Shelf.

Stylish Blogger Award!

2011-02-23T21:53:00.001-06:00

Rule # 1 Link back to the person who gave it to you:
Phyl from "There's a Dragon in my Art Room". She is so wonderful! I enjoy her blog so much and consider her a mentor in the blogging world. Thank you Phyl!

Rule #2 List 7 things about yourself:
1. I am currently working 45 more minutes a day to make up for snow days... Doesn't sound so bad, but I am exhausted everyday I come home. Hence I haven't been blogging a lot lately...

2. I got married this year to the most wonderful man in the world! Wesley!

3. I love to cook, but I'm no good at it. I can't even begin to tell you why I'm no good at it, but trust me... I am. So this is my cooking Bible that Wes bought me as I joke one year.

4. I really want to try out decorating cakes.... When I have time to... This is one I made a Christmas. I may have blogged about it before.

5. I love to read.. or rather listen to books. I have a 30 minute drive to work and it helps me pass the time and tiredness by listening to books.
6. I have very wide range of book interests. I love anything from Harry Potter and Sookie Stackhouse to Emily Griffin and Brent Weeks.

7. I almost majored in vocal music. I have been a broadway junkie since I was 5. I used to dream of being the next Bernadette Peters!

Rule #3 Pass the award on to 5 favorite blogs:
I love all 75 blogs that I follow! But these are the ones I have been referencing a lot lately: Congrats ladies!
1. Jessica at The Art of Education
2. Ms. Wilkinson at Wilkinson's Wonderful World of Art
3. Krystin at Her Dabbles
4. My good friend Crystal at Mrs. Jahnig's Art Space
5. Pam at Panther's Palette

Thank you to all the bloggers out there for sharing your wonderful art worlds!

Watercolor Animal Weavings 4th grade Part II

2011-02-19T22:54:00.001-06:00

We left off here.

Day 3: We discussed weaving with the Warp and Weft. All students had finished painting one of the two drawings and were ready to create the warp of their weaving.

Place painting horizontally facing up and fold "hot dog" style. Place on the table with the opening of the hot dog at the top and the fold at the bottom! (very important)

Line up a 1 1/2" paper strip (or rulers) at the top of the hot dog and trace a horizontal line.

Turn paper strip vertically and line up under the horizontal line. Trace vertically across the paper.

Cut along vertical lines and STOP just past the horizontal line. (we stop just past the line so that we have some wiggle room)

Students that were not finished painting their second drawing continued to paint while the others finished the weaving.

Create the Weft with your second painting. Turn the painting over to the back and place it vertically on the table. Now, trace the 1 1/2" paper strip vertically across the paper.

Cut painting apart along vertical lines.

Arrange painting back together like a puzzle and take away the top and bottom strips if your painting was drawn horizontal, or the left and right strips if your painting was draw vertically. (we will not have room for these two pieces)

Take the first weft strip and weave it over and under through the warp. Tuck it into the correct place in the picture. Continue with the next weft strip, but this time start under and then repeat over under till finished. Proceed with remaining weft strips.

Usually 5 to 10 students completed this step on Day 3. Normally I would worry because many others still need to finish. However, this was a great way to see student mastery. All students that finished on day 3 were my teaching assistants on the forth and final day of weaving. I was so pleased with the students results and my assistants were wonderful "Little Art Teachers"!

Overall I am very pleased with this lesson. I do think that next year I will have students paint a simple one color background, but I am still so pleased.

Artist Trading Cards with Art Enrichment

2011-02-16T20:49:00.001-06:00

I am lucky to have a school that allows us to provide many types of enrichment programs for our students. Today was the first day of the after school Art Enrichment class. The class is opened for 20 6th - 8th graders in the Fall and 20 3rd - 5th graders in the Spring who truly enjoy art and want to further explore their art making skills.

For our first class we created Artist Trading Cards. I got out all the crafty "extras" like sequins, ribbon, beads, google eyes, confetti, etc... The cards were to reflect the artist.

"When I look at these cards I want to be looking at a piece of you."

Students were to create two cards. One card will be kept and the other will be traded.

Supplies: poster board paper cut to 3 1/2"x 4 1/2" cards, glue, scissors, tape, crafty extras, colored pencils, crayons, and makers.

I love letting the kids have the reins. Look at their great ideas:

Watercolor Animal Weavings Sneak Peak!!

2011-02-08T21:02:00.000-06:00

This is why I teach!

This student finished his project one day ahead of the others. He was so excited that he finally "got it". Yes, he rushed, but he was so proud. This is a student who doesn't always do the best in school and it was amazing to see him so happy with himself. I am so proud of him too. I told him that next week he would be my assistant so we could both teach the rest of the class how it's done. Here is his wonderful watercolor animal weaving.

To see part one of this lesson click HERE.
Stay tuned for part 2!

Student Teacher

2011-02-07T21:18:00.000-06:00

Student teaching was one of the most stressful times in my life. Not because it was a bad experience, but I wanted to do so good that I think I pushed myself and stressed out way too much. I had two wonderful teachers teaching me. One was Mrs. Pam Hickman who taught me all of my organization, and teaching techniques. The other Mrs. Buchannan taught me how to be organized.... because her room looked like a bomb hit it. But in her defense it was an organized chaos that she could handle... I couldn't. I also had to learn the hard way that you have to have good classroom management no matter what age you teach. :)

I am barely into my third year of teaching and I always thought it would be wonderful to have a student teacher... I just didn't think it'd be any time soon..

Needless to say I was stunned when my principal came to me and told me I would have one in March! "Can I do that", I asked.

"I don't see why not."

"But I'm not experienced enough yet."

"You came highly recommended and I agree that a student teacher would be honored to have you teach them."

I don't like to brag on myself... It feels weird. In my head I was thinking.... "was I the last resort?" Her comment made me feel like I have accomplished something. I, the art teacher, have been noticed and appreciated. I love my job and I can't wait to spread that influence to someone else.

I am already preparing. So far I have typed up all my classroom procedures for her to be familiar with. Of course I want her to try some of her own stuff out to. I liked having pros and cons told to me by my teachers, so I have created a sheet that I can right pros and cons down for her on each day. I believe in constructive criticism and positive reinforcement even for college students and I think this will be a good tool.

So now I ask you:

What are your tips for preparing for a student teacher?

What are your good or bad experiences?

What would you as the teacher have done better to prepare them?

What did you like when you were student teaching?

Back in my student teaching days Fall 2008

Love how I'm the same size as the 5th grade students

Some things never change, hence the name "Little Art Teacher"!

Watercolor Animal Weavings 4th grade Part I

2011-02-05T11:55:00.002-06:00

I am so excited about this project! I have never done a watercolor weaving and really wanted to try it out with my forth graders.
Objectives:
The Student Will draw two pictures exactly the same of a real or make believe animal using pencil and black crayon that fill 80% of the space.
TSW paint both pictures using watercolors with one picture painted using cool colors and the other painted using warm colors.
TSW cut one painting into 1 1/2" strips, horizontally for the Weft.
TSW fold the second paper in half "hot dog" style and cut 1 1/2" sections apart vertically for the Warp leaving an inch at the top and bottom.
TSW will weave the Weft papers through the Warp papers to create a watercolor weaving.

Here we go
Day 1: We got warmed up by drawing a few animals to get the students in the mood. I made folders with simple "How to draw Animals" sheets for each table. Students didn't have to use the sheets, but this did help with those who were "stuck".

Some students even combined two animals!

A Liophin!

Students drew the first drawing with pencil and then traced it with black crayon. The second paper was placed on top of the first so you could see through the paper to trace with black crayon once again.

Viola! Two identical drawings!

Day Two: Use watercolors to paint one picture with warm colors...

and the other with cool!

I am so proud of the 4th grade drawings and I can pledge that I didn't touch 90% of them!!

Stay tuned for Part II!

Finished Snow Globes!

2011-02-05T09:51:00.001-06:00

For Part 1 Click HERE

Almost finished!

To finish our snow globes we did a fun little "Exercise" review. We jumped into the foreground, jumped into the middle ground, and jumped into the background. I was naming spaces at random and the kids were doing so well jumping into the right places. They really got the concept. We also review what we drew that was in those spaces.

Then, students finished coloring with construction paper crayons. I didn't care what color anything was as long as it was colored!

Finally, I gave each student a 4 1/2"x 6" rectangle for their snow globe base. We did this step all together by placing the based under the globe till we didn't see top corners. Traced the bottom of the globe onto the base lightly. Remove base and glue "Baby Dots" above the smiley face line. Globe goes back on the base and we are finished.

Simple Kinder Snowman Painting Part 2 along with Snow day updates

2011-02-03T21:33:00.001-06:00

After painting our snowmen in Simple Kinder Snowman Painting Part 1, the paint has dried and we are ready to finish up.
The kinders learned that Construction Paper crayons are special crayons we use for colored papers. Students drew simple details to make their paintings come to life.

Now for the snow days update:

Tennessee was fortunate to not be hit by the massive snow storm that rocked most of the country this week. But we have had 17 snow days since December. We may actually make it one whole work week. But alas, they are calling for snow mid day tomorrow. :(

We were only allowed 13 snow days. To make up the extra days we are using teacher inservice days, and President's day. Then today, the big decision was made......

We will be going 45 minutes longer for 9 days to make up for each day that is left to be made up... We'll see how this pans out.. I am concerned that I may not be able to have my after school art enrichment program. I'm not sure that parents want to have their kids stay longer after already being at school 45 extra minutes... I am interested in seeing how the school day schedule will be worked out.

So I will look on the bright side of things, which is that I will be able to complete more projects in this extended time. Maybe even have students keep an art journal which I have never really had the time for. I have to say, I don't think the students will mind the extra ART time :)

Simple Kinder Snowman Painting

2011-01-27T19:44:00.000-06:00

Just a reminder that my kinder art lessons are done in 15 minute centers. This one was done at the painting center and will be finished next week at the crayon center.

Supplies:
12"x18" any color construction paper
white paint
brushes
Q Tips

First we paint the ground with a long Curvy Line.

Then paint 3 circles for the snowman.

Paint the snowman.

Next add snow flakes with Q tips.

Students love to make it look like a snow storm!

Stay tuned for Part 2 with construction paper crayons!

When students are finished they place the work on the drying rack and then grab some damp wash clothes to clean their hands and then their table. They love to clean!!

Space with Snow Globes Part 1

2011-01-27T10:43:00.000-06:00

(project not finished)

To begin this lesson we looked at the art of Georges Seurat

Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte

This work gives a wonderful example of Foreground, Middle Ground, and Background.

Explain what each word means and then discuss what and who from the art work are in the different Spaces.

Who is in the Foreground? "The lady with the big bottom!"

How do you know she's in the front? "She's big!"

As we continue the discussion we also talk about Small, Medium, and Large.

I then pick a few students to stand in each Space in the room. I move around the room while the standing students stay in place to show how the Space they occupy changes as the viewer moves around the room.

The students quickly get the point.

Now for the lesson.

Space with Snow Globes

Supplies: any color 9"x12" construction paper

4"x6" brown or tan construction paper for the base of snow globe

circle template to be traced for globe

scissors

glue

pencils

black crayons

construction paper crayons

Begin by having students select their color paper. Trace the circle template for their globe and cut out. Students help each other by one student holding the template and they other tracing and then they switch. Name and Code on the back.

Drawing: I demo each step on the board and the students follow along.

Draw what's in the Foreground first. The snowman sits at the bottom and his head comes to the middle of the globe. I use a lot of shape words to help students draw.

Middle ground Trees: Put finger on the snowman's belly and move to the side. Draw a standing up rectangle for the tree trunk and a triangle for the top of the tree. Do the same for the tree on the other side, but maybe have this tree start to the side of the snowman's neck.

Background mountains: Draw a horizon line to show where the ground stops and the mountains begin. When you draw your line make sure you stop when you hit something, then pick up, and start your line on the other side. Now draw zig-zag lines for the mountains. Show snow on your mountains by adding more zig-zags.

Students add details and trace drawing with a black crayon. (I left this part out in some classes just to see which I liked better)

Use construction paper crayons to color your globe.

Stay tuned for the finished project complete with base!

(Whenever I get back to school that is...Snow day #16!)

13 Snow days later....

2011-01-20T16:50:00.000-06:00

13 snow days later I am feeling overwhelmed... Two weeks ago my Principal calls me over the intercom and tells me to, "LEAVE NOW, THE SNOW IS COMING!" I quickly gather my things and head out. Why does she call me and tell me to get out? I live 30 minutes away from my school. I drive West and the weather always comes in from the West.

   I get home just in the nick of time. The snow turns into 7 inches and counting for my area of Tennessee. The childhood joy of knowing that I will awake to a snow day in the morning makes me jump. Though I am still an apartment dweller and have no yard, snow is still awesome.... Until I realize that in my quick departure I left one of my most important possessions..... my planner!!
   The snow event turned into 7 snow days. We had 6 before on the heels of Christmas break. I finally drove the 30 minutes back to the school to retrieve my book and get things prepared in my room on the one day they opened. I was relieved to see many other teachers there who had also caught cabin fever.
  Now 13 snow days later and and gazing out the window of the third snow event to hit Tennessee I give you a glimpse into my planner....

Now with 13 snow days and more to come, we are out of days!! We will now begin to tack off days of our spring break. Many of you in the North may wonder what the fuss is about.

It doesn't snow much in Tennessee. I mean that it doesn't snow constantly. It was odd to have snow days in December. We often get hit maybe once with a huge snow event that happens in late January and early February. Therefor, our state and counties do not spend tons of money on huge equipment to clear roads. Not worth it if it doesn't happen that often. So we have many built in days. My school system even goes 30 extra minutes everyday just to be able to have the # of snow days we are allowed.

So I may not have a Spring break this year, but at least I came home prepared for the long spring semester!

Fundraiser II

2011-01-13T10:51:00.000-06:00

   I am lucky to be at such a great school that has a nice art budget, but it is always nice to do a little fundraising to take your art program to the next level. I always plan for two fundraisers a year. Fall Festival clay pinch pots and the art show. This post is going to be all about Fall Festival.
   At the end of last year I had a lot of extra clay in a bag or two which equaled to about 25lbs give or take... Fall Festival was just around the corner and I had an idea. Take the extra clay and have kids make them into small pinch pots for fall festival! As you would recall my last post about The Clay Lady and her make and paint all in one seating program. I would use this same program for Fall Festival. Here's how I did it:

1. Ask for some help! I have asked teacher friends who didn't have a booth and my husband to help out. Even parent volunteers.

2. Roll extra clay into small fist sized balls. (I don't have to wedge my clay because I use the clay lady method of firing that insures no blow ups) Keep in closed bag with damp cloth during festival.

3. Arrange your classroom for Stations. I do a kinda L shape
Here is how the order goes:
  A. Paying station: tickets or cash (teacher friend Kristina with clay examples)

B. Making station: show how to make the pot, put name & grade on bottom of pot, place on a small paper plate with grade

C. painting station: I have warm colors on one table & cool on another.

D. Drying station: Clay drying rack

E. Sink for washing hands (notice I placed the drying rack next to the sinks!)

4. When all my leftover clay is gone.. It's over! I have older students come and help wipe down my tables and rearrange my room.

With the Clay Lady Way firing I have the clay pots dry to bone dry at least a week. Dip in Clay Lady glaze. Fire in the kiln one time but it's a two day fire process. I put the pots into the kiln by grades so if they don't all fit at once I can at least get a few grades done. When all pots are finished I will make announcements at the end of the day for students to come down by grades to pick up.

Was it worth it? YES! HUGE SUCCESS! 96 clay pots made! I made enough to pay for way more than what the one 25lb bag of clay costs and 1/4 of each color of my clay paints were actually used. I also bought one package of small paper plates for $2.96. The longest process was rearranging my tables so that parents and students wouldn't just wander around the room.

Thank you Clay Lady!

2011-01-09T01:30:00.000-06:00

I am so grateful for the generous donation of all our clay supplies by Danielle McDaniel "The Clay Lady"

The Clay Lady adopts a school each year. Normally we only have enough money in our budget for a few grades to do clay. The students were so excited to hear that they would all get to do CLAY!!

Here is why "I teach clay The Clay Lady way!"

The projects are made and decorated in one sitting. There is only one firing per project load. After only air-drying the project, you can glaze and do just one firing to complete, enabling you a 7-10 day turn-around on projects. The Clay Lady Way® of firing guarantees no blow-ups!

http://www.theclaylady.com/products_info.html

Check out The Clay Lady for yourself.

Made in one class and being painted with Clay Lady Clay Paints

You can also make in one class, cover in plastic and then continue another day.

Air dried projects.

Glazed and fired one time!! No blow ups!

(these pics are from my cell phone. Sorry for the quality.)

Paint vs. Paint

2011-01-05T19:54:00.000-06:00

I love painting projects! Though it comes with it's highs and lows. I haven't always been a fan of tempera paint. I think it has to do with the feel of it. The hard egg shell feel makes me think of a chalk board. EEK! But I do like the results and use it all the time.
The tempera cakes are brought out for nearly every painting lesson except for the lessons that just need a few select colors. The cakes are easy to use and get ready for a class. The only bad thing about them is you can only get really good results on white paper. If you paint them on color construction paper you will have to apply many coats.

When I have a lesson with just a few select colors I go for the student grade liquid tempera that I dispense into palettes or small clear plastic cups on a tray.  I love the results here too, but I still like how you can just pull the tempera cakes off the shelf and just go! Dispensing the liquid paint takes class time and so much prep time. Though all prep time is a labor of love.
   Acrylic would have to be my favorite, but it is so pricey and wastes quick! My after school Art Enrichment class is the only one that uses the acrylic.
   I am also toying with the idea of purchasing new paint pumps. I like using big gallons and being able to dispense them quickly and easily for whatever purpose. I currently use this little trouble maker.

I can't stand this THING! It clogs all the time. I can't clean them fast enough.

I am wanting to purchase one of these. I feel like it will be much easier to use. Why all the fuss? I want to know what's the best for your buck! What do you use in your class rooms?

Finally!

2011-01-04T21:24:00.000-06:00

   Finally, I am creating for myself again! I am not the best artist. I can't find my own inspiration. I always need a prompt. Well this Christmas gave a lot of prompts. First, I drew my husband's aunt's name for Secret Santa. She told me (before she knew I drew her name) that she had always wanted something made by me. So pressure was on.
   I have not truly created my own stuff in a long time... maybe a year or two! I was determined to get back in the game. Fortunately, mother nature helped me out by giving my county lots of snow days before Christmas! So, bored and stuck, I got to work.
  The aunt has two of the cutest dogs and they are like her children. I love those two doggies to death. I'm a huge animal lover, which sort of inspires me. Her husband emailed me some pics of the pups and here is what I came up with:

Sammie, acrylic, 8"x10"

Becca Ruth

Meet Sammie. She is a loving girl. A mix breed of some sort, but she doesn't care. She is laid back and has the softest fur of any dog I know. Sammie makes me think of warm colors because of her personality. The background is a mix of yellows and oranges. I even took an old picture frame, primed, and repainted it to look a bit distressed.

Emma, acrylic, 8"x10"

Becca Ruth

This is EMMA! Emma is a happy happy puppy. A Jack Russell Terrier that really lives up to the breed. She loves her "babies" or toys rather and will do anything to keep them away from Sammie. She also loves her Momma Jennifer. Emma's coloring is a unique blend of browns, grays, and white. She also looks sassy in her pink collar. My favorite part about painting this picture was her wirey fur. I just love texture!

If you're wondering why I didn't center these two pics, it's because I don't like to put the subject of my works in the center. They would have looked more off center if I would have remembered that I only had 8x10 frames.... I painted the portraits on 9x12...

Lastly, I made my first cake!! I love the craze with all the cake shows on television. The Cake Boss is my favorite. I was given a cake decorating set by my brother and his family last Christmas and have been practicing off and on ever since. So after many You Tube tutorials..... here it is!!

Not the Next Great Baker.... but not too bad for my first. I can't wait to make more!!

New Year

2011-01-03T11:02:00.000-06:00

On the last day of my winter break I'm thinking of and; I'm not gonna lie, dreading tomorrow. I love my job, but breaks are wonderful. Those who do not teach don't understand the wonderful joy we educators take in our breaks. Teaching young minds is the greatest opportunity in the world and the breaks are just a bonus. I wouldn't trade my job for anything.
This school year has already been crazy! My wedding took most of my time from August to October, but I never let my job nor my duties slip. I am proud of the work and lessons taught during the first semester. I am still a "New" teacher and of course I am always wanting to improve my curriculum. So I constantly scan blogs, read art education books, blog and develop new and exciting lessons. I can't wait to see what 2011 brings.

Here are some New Year's resolutions for my classroom:
More 3D sculpture projects
All classes get to do clay this year! (Thanks to Dainelle McDainel The Clay Lady)
Wild About Art themed Art Show in May (my first year to take on a theme)
Constant good classroom management
Maintaining the school website ( I am one of the webmasters)
Making the rest of this year count!

There may be big changes with 2011. My husband graduated last May and is on the job hunt for his great career. I know he will be great at whatever he does. With his possible career opportunities may come a change in location. New doors may open. I would miss my students horribly and this is why I want to give them my best for the rest of the year.

Here's to all you Art Eddys out there! Raise your glass to a wonderful 2011!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I'M FINISHED!! Now what?

2010-12-20T12:32:00.001-06:00

How many times have you heard, "I'm Finished!"? We all know that shrieking noise that sounds when a student has finished a project. Usually the louder ones are those that complete their assignment quickly. I have the worst trouble with the "quickies" early in the year. Some of my students love to finish projects fast because of what they get to do when they are done.
"FREE CHOICE ART!"
Free Choice Art in my room is only for students who have finished their work completely and have not rushed through their work.

Free Choice Art Rules
1. Finished work check by teacher (I provide constructive criticism at this point and inform the student if they can improve upon some objectives. This has really cut down on my early finishers)
2. One free choice activity at a time
3. Only 1 drawing paper or 1 drawing activity paper
4. You may use your pencil and crayons only

All Free Choice activities are on a shelf in the corner of my room. This picture is from last year and doesn't include some of the choices I now have.
Choices include:

Free Draw with one piece of paper, pencil, and crayons
Stencils
Texture Rubbings
Rulers
Drawing books (NO TRACING)
Reading books
Puzzles
Drawing Activity Pages

One of my rules that I never waiver from is the 1 free draw or 1 drawing activity page. This cuts down on waste and forces the student to think about what they are doing. If they only have one paper they are less likely to waste their time.

I see some of the most amazing things from my free choice centers. Here is a "Wild Thing" from a 5th grader

My favorite Free Choice Art would have to be the Drawing Activity pages. I found an awesome book from Books A Million on sale that had 1,000 pages of drawing activities and ideas. I recommend this book to all educators to use for student Free Choice Time. Here are some examples of pages. Enjoy!

"That Little Art Teacher"

2010-12-17T13:11:00.001-06:00

Hello all!
While surfing the internet one day I ran across the blog Mrs. Art Teacher! Sound familiar? Yes I know the name of my blog used to be Ms. Art Teacher... I love the other Mrs. Art Teacher's blog! I noticed that she had been at this blogging thing a lot longer than I have and I felt bad for having a name so similar.
Thus, I have decided to change my blog name to "That Little Art Teacher". Why that name you may ask? When I meet new people in my profession and ,they can't remember my name, they almost always refer to me as "That Little Art Teacher". Not that I'm tiny or anything... far from it... but I'm short and I still look like a teenager. Not a bad thing, I know, but the title seems to stick around. I guess I'll stick it on my blog!

Kindergarten: Teaching with Art Centers

2010-12-14T14:52:00.001-06:00

So what class scared me the most when I began teaching... Kindergarten!!
I just didn't see how I was going to get 20+ Kinders to focus for 50 minutes!! But, the art teacher whom I had replaced left me a few ideas. She used ART CENTERS! I had heard of CENTERS in the regular classrooms but had not thought about them in the art room. After some research I discovered that Centers make Kindergarten so much easier to teach. After all, it's how they are taught in their own classroom. Small group learning is the key. Here's how I do it.

3 groups of 6 to 7 students (depends on class size)
Each Art Center is 15 minutes long (this leaves 5 minute cleanup at the end)
Students use "Table Talk Voices"
I use a bell to ring 2x for center clean up and sitting quietly. Then I ring the bell 1x when I see everyone is ready, to change centers. Repetition is key to nailing the clean up and center change.

CENTER 1: PLAY-DOUGH

Play-Dough is great for fine motor skills, sculpture, and responsibility.

Most days are free choice, but others we learn how to make forms and other fun things. I don't always give students tools. I like for them to use their hands.

Keep play dough in zipper zip lock bags and add a little water each week to make play-dough last! Store all bags of dough in a plastic container.

Center 1 Rules:

GermX before you play!

No eating, throwing, or sharing your playdough

1 color

Clean up by mushing up your crumbs and putting all play dough into your bag, hug bag, and zip. (this is to get the air out of the bag)

CENTER 2: BLOCKS

Students love to build with blocks. I love to watch them working together as a team. Blocks are kept in 3 plastic shoe box sized containers. Best blocks are the soft foam blocks because there is no noise when they fall. I found that a pack of 100 blocks is perfect for a group size of 6 to 7. I hope to purchase a rug so students may do this center on the floor.

Centers #2 Rules: Sit on your bottom

Get 1 block out at a time

Share when you are not using a block

Build no higher than your head

CENTER 3: PROJECT CENTER

Drawing, painting, collage and more! This is the center where I spend most of the time. All my art lessons are conducted here. 15 minutes is the perfect amount of time to teach short attention spans. This project center involves a short instruction that is broken down into the simplest of directions. You may even have students make the project step-by-step along with you. Also, this center is always closest to the sink for washing hands. My project table may even be 2 tables next to each other if it is a project that involves a lot of materials or more space is needed. I sometimes use a small dry erase board to hold examples and demo. If we don't have time to finish a project then we will continue the next week.

As you can see, it is easy to fit 3 baskets of any material on my long rectangle tables. I may even use 2 tables next to each other if more space is needed like this picture >

This center is by far the favorite especially when paint is involved.

More about Art Centers

Depends on class time
Try simple centers the first time so students will get in the groove and learn the center rules.
Each group always starts class at the same center and learns through repetition what center to go to next. After week 3, most have this down.
Use signals for cleanup and when to change tables. (I use a bell)
I choose tables that are cleaned up first and sitting quietly to line up at the end. I also choose an art helper from each table to put supplies away.
Two centers will need to be simple do-it-yourself if you will be spending most of your time at the third center. Never turn your back to the other 2 centers. Always keep vigilance. Walk around to check up on them when project table is working well on their own.

The centers above were the 3 main ones I use, but here are

MORE ART CENTERS

printing
collage
puzzles
reading
games
chalk boards
art toys
origami
etc....

GLUE! What do you stick with?

2010-12-14T11:06:00.002-06:00

Glue is a huge must have material in the art room. Have you had love hate relationships with glue?

I love the old stand by of the Elmer's liquid School Glue for 1st - 8th grades

My students learn to use "Baby Dots" and not "Big Daddy Dots"

If it gets on our hands we rub them together and turn it to "Dust"

I buy the glue gallons for refills.

Downside: Messy and clogs

I teach students to get rid of their "glue boogers" when they close their glue. hahaha

I also use Elmer's Stick glue for all grades. Student's learn that we just want to see "A Peak" of the glue when we roll it up. It's also a good tool to teach Right and Left.

Downside: wasteful ( you can't keep your eye on every child to see that they only use a peak of glue)

I buy more stick glue than anything throughout the year.

WORST GLUE!

I don't think they make it anymore thank goodness!

Dick Blick stick glue! I don't usually put down Blick's materials, but this one was awful! It dried out after the first use!! even when used and closed correctly!

Now I want to know.... What are your thoughts on BEST and WORST glues?

Gingerbread Houses 2

2010-12-14T10:45:00.000-06:00

I wanted to revise a wonderful lesson because, after all, do we ever teach a lesson the same? I hardly ever do. I'm still a "new" teacher, so I am always revising. Here are a few new steps and pictures from a favorite lesson.

(I will add more pics once I finally go back to work from all these snow days)

This is my example that is kept in view on the board. I am not against showing examples. I instruct that they do not have to copy, but they may get some inspiration.

SUPPLIES NEEDED

12"x18" white paper

1- 9"x12" piece brown construction paper cut in half for each student

(house and roof)

1 green scrap paper for tree tops

many other colors of construction paper

(I let my kids dig through the "scrap box" for this project.)

Elmer's glue

pencil

construction paper crayons

DISCUSS

What collage is and show an example

We discuss that to create a collage we will have to draw and cut out a lot of shapes. I draw different shapes on the board and they students shout out what they are as I go. I pretend that I am trying to stump them! I go back over geometric, organic, and freeform shapes.

This would be a good time to read a great Gingerbread type story.

DEMO

Before I demo anything with this project I teach gluing!!

Gluing!! I teach my students to use "Baby dots" spread apart and not right on the edge.

I show what to do if glue gets on your hands or drips out. If it gets on your hands, rub them together and turn it to dust! (They love turning it to dust, but not enough to do it on purpose because their hands get real hot when they rub) If glue leaks on the paper, use a paper towel to wipe away.

I teach that when you create a collage you need to glue down the background (what is in the back) 1st!

HOW TO MAKE THE GINGERBREAD HOUSE

(Steps 1 - 2 are demoed on the board and done together)

1. use your two brown pieces of construction paper to make the house

Glue down one for the house

Cut a triangle out of the other one for the roof, glue and put above the house

I tell students that their roof can look different from mine but they have to make it out of the other piece of brown paper.

2. Use the scraps you have left from the brown and make two rectangles for the tree trunks.

3. Use the green scrap piece and draw your tree tops. Tree tops could be triangles or organic shapes.

4. Students may now create the rest of the house themselves. Remember to DRAW, CUT, GLUE!!

(they have already done this process along with me and understand why it is easier)

4. Go through the scrap box and find papers for: windows, doors, people, trees, decorations, etc.

I call one quite table at a time to go to the box and once every table has scraps they may go get another as they need it. :)

5. Draw, cut, glue what's on the house

6. Draw, cut, glue what's beside the house

7. Finally, use construction paper crayons to complete your collage

Again.... I am thrilled and honored

2010-12-02T22:35:00.001-06:00

I set out to create this blog to inspire and help others just as I had been when I stumbled across an Art Education blog for the first time.

I am honored to be recognized by THE E-ADVISOR BLOG for being one of the

50 Amazing Blogs for Elementary Educators!

I never even imagined that my blog would become what it is, and I am so glad that I am fulfilling my blogging goal.

Thank you to my followers and thank you E-Advisor Blog!

Please enjoy our school Christmas tree. 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th graders created all the ornaments!!

A Disaster... So I thought...

2010-10-31T12:09:00.000-05:00

One day I decided that I would challenge my 1st grade students with a lesson I had not done before with this age group.

Lesson

Symmetrical Ghosts with positive/negative space

I said I knew it was going to be a challenge, but I don't think I was quite prepared for what I ended up with. By the end of the period I rushed the kids to finish out of sheer frustration of the numerous questions I was asked. I just couldn't understand why they didn't get it. I was so tired of hearing my name at the end of the period, I could have screamed. While leaving for bus duty I took this parting shot.

After bus duty I had some time to cool down. Like I'm sure we have all gone through, I realized the problem was not the students but me. I was wiped by that time in the week and with all the "wedding stuff" I'd had to do, I really didn't need to try something new without preparation.... but I was bored and went against my better judgment and did it anyway.

When I was finally able to look through their work, I was surprised. I don't know what blinders I had on during the class.... But they got it! In their own way... but they got it! I just didn't take the time to explain every step (hence all the questions) but by the time I had answered all of them... "By George they got it!" Take a look

notice the violet and black one :)

Majority, got it...

The reason for this post was to show myself that you should never be unprepared. If you are, then be prepared for the frustration and take what you get. Don't ever come down on your students for something that is not their fault. 9 times out of 10 it was something that you could have done better. And never give yourself more than you can handle.

Art Sub Plans? HELP!

2010-10-30T13:13:00.001-05:00

I always dread it when I have to be away from work. (Though my honeymoon was well worth being away) I always dread getting substitute plans ready which I'm sure most of you do too.
Normal game plan for my subs for an unprepared absence:

Assignment: Because of the time and preparation it takes for most art lessons, I like my sub plans to be simpler!
Students may “Free Draw” with no more than 2 pieces of paper front and back (located on the free draw shelf under TV). Students may use their pencil and crayons only! No scissors or gluing! They will try to use them.

NOTE: (I have student helpers in each class and they know who they are)

Procedure: Ask the Helper #1s to get a basket of crayons and Helper #2 to get paper for their table. Then call one table at a time to come to the shelf to get one material. (to avoid a traffic jam)
Instruction: As they work, they may get another drawing material after they are finished with the other. They do not have to draw. They may read or write. Be sure to go around the room and look at their work!! They may want to draw things they shouldn’t. Ask them questions about their work. They love to talk about it! All papers may be taken home.
Closing: With 5 minutes left at the end of class, ring the Bell 2x and ask Helper #1 to put away crayons and ask the students to give their materials to the Helper #2 to put away. Choose quiet tables to line up.
At line go over the “Art Marks” chart on the door. If they had a good Art day color in the next square by the teacher’s name GREEN, Okay day gets YELLOW, and bad day gets RED. Then grades K – 3^rd may sing you the “ART SONG” and the older grades like to play line-up games.

"Free draw" is my go to for those sick days I don't plan to miss. Like yesterday (I had strep).
During the week I missed for my honeymoon, my sub plans were much more detailed. The sub I had was wonderful because I had the chance to meet with her and go over my plans so all my students could stay on track. Which made all the difference. I would always suggest that if you are able to meet with your sub, do so. And request a specific sub (if you are able) to be the one they call first to sub for you. Though they may not always be able to get that person. But, my ultimate goal is to have a folder full of exciting one day "easy" art projects with simple materials for any sub to do.
Unfortunately I have to be gone for some inservices this coming week and am not looking forward to having my students fall behind. So here is my plea:

What are some good sub plans you have used that went well for both substitute and students?