Down on the Farm

This was the first project I did with my 2nd graders this year and last year.  It is a good starting project to see the skill level of each student.  We do a follow the leader drawing and I am the leader drawing on the board.  A farm scene is the theme and although they are very similar to each other, there is some creative freedom.  The goal for this project is that students do their best to follow along by listening and watching closely. 
After knowing my students for a year now, it was interesting to me to see how their drawings match their personalities.  Teachers also commented on this as I was hanging the drawings in the hallway.

Easy Breezy Sub Plans?

I was out sick yesterday and although not quite feeling up to par today, I'm just going to suffer through it.  The sub plans I left were fairly easy, or so I thought, until I returned.  Maybe my directions and examples left weren't clear enough because I was in a hurry to get them done and go home and get back to bed.  Or maybe perhaps I am just too picky and want things done my way.  Regardless...does anyone have any easy one day projects that a sub can easily do regardless of what they know about art???  Help!

Remembering 9/11

I wanted to do some type of art display to remember 9/11.  I was in 8th grade when 9/11 happened, so I realized that very few of my elementary age students would know a lot about it, having been very young at the time or not even born yet!  However, I was determined to do it anyway. 
I thought a fun way to remember would be to honor America, and this idea also fits into my theme "Around the World and into Outer Space".
My 6th graders and I discussed what symbols are and then went further into the idea by discussing symbols that represent our country.  Students then created a sort of drawing collage of things or ideas that represent America.  I wanted the collages to be original and was impressed by some of the ideas and symbols that came up in discussion.  Overall I was very pleased!  The project took 3, 30 minute class periods and was one class longer than I expected so right after they finished on Friday, they went up in the hallway just in time for the anniversary of 9/11. 

Mural Project Experiment

I was asked by my HS principal to do a test run experiment of painting a mural on the brick building.  The whole idea of his was to do a test run to see if as a school we could do a class competition mural project during homecoming week which is coming up soon.  I was unsure about all of this, especially with the timing of the 2nd full week of school...I hardly know some of my kids at this point!  But I agreed to do it anyway, more because I felt I should.  And now I know that with this particular principal, sometimes you just have to say NO!
Overall the end result isn't terrible but the process along the way made me want to pull out my hair!  The kids weren't thrilled with the idea to begin with especially because we were doing general "school spirit" murals.  Plus, it has been over 100 degrees every day we have been outside!  And on top of that, the sprinklers have been coming on washing off/fading/making the paint run!  It was also frustrating because there wasn't enough space in the 6 foot murals for all of my students to work at the same time.

We used mixed powder tempra because my principal wanted it to be able to wash off eventually.  Little did I realize it would come off basically right away because of the silly sprinklers!
I also used technology enlarging the drawn images on my smart board.  And then creating a large grid.  Most of my students knew how to do the grid at this point, but it was new to some of them.

I'm not sure how I feel about the results...I think they look cool but could be much better with more time and more cooperation from my students.  However, under the circumstances we dealt with we were ready to move on and move back into the classroom!

6th hour Mural

8th hour Mural - Let's Go Buffs!

Powder Tempra

Does anybody use powder tempra?  I inherited a TON when I moved into my rooms last year and haven't used it.  I experimented the other day mixing it and it seemed to be quite runny although the color was pretty saturated like regular paint.  Any suggestions/hints/tips?

Back to School!

It's been a rough few days transitioning from summer to long days with kids but school is back in full swing!

I have taken a few photos of my bulletin boards and door for the beginning of the year in the elementary building.

Good Behavior Bulletin Board: If the whole class is good, the rocket ship is moved to a new planet. 
At the end a recess or free day is earned.

Close up of class rocket ships :)

The outside of my door into the art room

My first "big" project for the year is a school wide display of Pinwheels for Peace on the front lawn of the school.  Pinwheels for Peace celebrates International Day of Peace on Sept. 21st.  I will have more info and pictures to post later.  Here is a bulletin board I created for it:

Close up of Pinwheel examples I created.

After a nice break...getting back into the idea of school

After a summer break from here, I thought I'd share some upcoming ideas that I have in mind for the school year.  I have 2 weeks until meetings/inservice days and 3 weeks from today the kids come back to school!  I'm not quite ready but once the kids will be in the building I will be.

I am looking forward to the upcoming school year and not having to go through the "firsts" of everything like last year.  My schedule has some moderate changes that I am also looking forward to, hoping I will have more time for planning, grading, and hanging art around the building at the elementary school.  My afternoons are basically the same, but my mornings will drastically change for the better!  My K-6 classes will be shortened from 40 minutes to 30 minutes and I will now have the same grade levels on the same day.  I have 2 days with 4 elem. classes, and 3 days with 2 elem. classes.  This gives me 3 days a week with plan time which is a welcome change to last year!  My JH and HS classes will be the same.

Last year my elementary art theme was "Wild About Art!"  This year I am going to attempt "Around the World and into Outerspace" focusing a lot of project ideas on different cultures from across the globe and throwing in a few fun space projects along the way.  Although this will be my focus, it will not be everything that I have planned. 
My goal for this school year is to focus more on basic foundation ideas for each grade level from Kindergarten all the way up to my High Schoolers...perhaps I am biting off more than I can chew, so we will see how the vision in my head turns out.  

Although my planning has just begun for the year, I am excited to post in the future such ideas as Pinwheels for Peace, The Buffalo Stampede (a spin-off of The Cow Parade), and many more! 
I am excited to venture around the world with my students and would welcome any culture/diversity lesson plans anyone has to offer!