Portraits

I like to start the school year off with portraiture. I especially wanted to do them first thing this year because I am brand new to my school and wanted to see my students' style. I had a pre-assessment assignment where I simply told them to draw a self portrait. That was it. No more information was given.

I had lots of pictures with circle and dot eyes. Pictures with pointy noses and smile lines. Some students drew the whole body and some had a landscape orientation. In each class there was at least one that didn't even resemble a person.

My next step was to teach them a guided self portrait. I talked about portrait orientation, how much of the body is shown (think school photo), shape of the eye, shape of the nose, shapes for lips, and shape for hair. I kept telling them that the other ways were not wrong. I said the other ways look like cartoons and we were learning the artist's way of drawing a portrait. I also talked about craftsmanship and how to color with crayons.

This is the bulletin board outside of my room. I have the third and fourth grade showcased work on this board. I put laminated black paper up as the background so all I have to do now is put the artwork up with masking tape and there is an instant border. It's also very easy to switch out the artwork since it's just taped up. 

Here are the close ups. I love the backgrounds and different details the students added to their portraits.

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Science Experiment in the Art Room

I really enjoy subject integration. I feel that it helps the students' learning come full circle. Integration helps them relate particular subjects to life, especially when art is integrated because art is everywhere. My main science integration comes in when we do crayon or oil pastel resists. There are many other lessons that weave in science, but I have to say that this was not in my curriculum.

Molded tempera. What?! I have been working on color and color mixing with my students. I decided that I would just fill old baby food containers with the primary colors and let the students share them. They each get their own paint pallet and learn paint mixing techniques. I had been using the containers for about a week in a half just fine, and then one Monday I walk into this.

I like to mix science and art, but i did not expect to grow spore samples. Now before I go further, I just want to note that my paint is VERY old. It's from 1999. 

This is an image of what I mostly have next to a new bottle. I did get a gracious budget, but I spent the money on things that I didn't have at all like watercolor, oil pastels, construction paper, and a couple of bottles of purple and orange paint. The closet was FULL of all the other colors. I shook them up, tested them and they seemed OK. Very runny but no obnoxious odor or anything so I figured they'll work. Everyone I've talked to says that they would just throw them out, but if I did that we would have no paint. I make it work.

I called Dick Blick to try and trouble shoot the problem. The person I spoke with said that tempera is a great base for growing mold. I did not know this. She also said not to have multiple students dip into the same container. My thing is that my paint is too runny to put on a paper plate or magazine page. I also have multiple classes paint in a day and I don't have the time to clean out pallets in between classes. Lastly, she said that the container the paint was in, or the original bottles may have had mold spores already in them. This is possible especially since the containers were baby food containers.

My solution; I still use the baby food containers, I just don't fill them up. I put a small amount in that usually last a couple of classes. I have to fill them up periodically throughout the day, but that would be no different then if I had to make new pallets for every class. While the paint will not last several weeks, it will last a couple of days. This way I can still put the top on them and use them again.

Have you had any odd or unexpected events happen in the art room? Share in the comments!

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Yay for Pre-K: Brown Bear, Brown Bear

This year I am teaching pre-k art. This is only my second year teaching, but in all of my teaching endeavors  I've never taught an age this young. I have to say I was a touch worried as to how our time together was going to go. I envisioned paint splattered walls, glue in hair, and ruined paint brushes. That is not at all what happened. The class is calm and I have wonderful kids who love to create and are eager to learn.

Our most recent project was an assemblage based on the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr and Eric Carle.

I collaborated with their teacher and found out that they focus on one book each week and this was one of the books. I wanted to focus on a lesson that encompassed painting, cutting, and gluing. I printed a circle and two ear shapes on card stock. The first class I gave them their papers and instructed them to paint inside their shapes trying to stay within the lines.

Let me note here that all through my education of art ed I was highly against templates and tracing. As time has gone by I have become more open to it. I don't think they should be used all the time. I do however find that there is less frustration from the students and less time consumed on elements that aren't part of the lesson objectives. There is also somewhat of an insurance that the art will come out looking as intended and not just a big blob.

The next time we met they cut out the shapes and assembled them onto a black piece of paper. We counted out ten small dots for the face and three small dots for the ears. Next, they glued down google eyes. Again, like with templates and tracing, I don't always use google eyes. Sometimes the project just calls for it though. They used black crayon to add the nose and mouth. Lastly we worked on letters and spelling the word brown.

I really like how they came out. We need to keep working on the glue, but I think these look awesome for pre-k.

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Art From Students

So I love when students make art for me on their own time. I wanted to share some with you.

This is from a second grade boy who races dirt bikes and loves Fox Racing. He did this on his own in his aftercare program. He was very proud of his rainbow F.

A little first grader brought me this poster one morning. I'm not really sure what each element means and I thought it was a class project. There is one element though that was so touching.

I just thought this was so sweet. Later I was talking with her teacher over lunch and found out that this was not a class project. She did this at home on her own time.

This picture is from a fourth grader. I have been working on portraiture with all of my classes. I've been trying hard to get my students away from dot eyes, point noses, and smile lines. I've been focusing on lines and shapes for a persons face and hair. After one class, this student went home and created her own portrait using the skills I taught her. 

This is what I live for. I live for the times students are so inspired by what's happening in class, that they create their own art. We're only one month in and I can't wait to see what else comes my way.

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Batman likes art too

Bulletin Boards for Open House

Let me start by saying that I love my school. Everyone is so nice, helpful, and welcoming. We've had students now for 2 1/2 weeks and I love all of them. They are sweet kids who so far seem to enjoy art. I can't wait to see what they create this school year.
Outside of my room there are four large bulletin boards just for me. It took me a minute to get anything on them because I had been spending so much time getting my room together. About a week ago we had our open house and I knew I wanted something up before all of the parents came in.

 I wanted one board to identify that you had arrived at the art room. I had this idea of showing some of the many mediums we use in the art room and having them flow into the word art.

If you've been on pinterest then you know that I did not come up with this saying. I researched the quote trying to find the origin, but couldn't find anything. However, I love this quote. I think it sums up what life would be like without the arts. 

I've gotten many complements on my boards and appreciate them all. I still have two boards open and I think I'm going to use them for an art showcase. I'll pick a couple of the best projects and put them out for viewing. 

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The Art Room Is Finished!

. . . well, almost. I'm not sure if I'll ever truly be finished. I'll always find an image or resource that I will want to hang up. I, as well as most teachers, constantly collect different materials and art related nick nacks. For the most part though, my room is finished!

I love having a word wall. Because I have multiple grades in one day, and limited time, I put up all of my words at once. I would like to put a word up as it's introduced, but that would be a lot of putting up and taking down.

This year I also get to implement my dream bulletin board. The artist of the week board! I have wanted to do this board in the past, but I didn't have the space. Each week I will put up a new image with facts about the artist. I will also try to tie them into the lessons if possible. The first two weeks we will be working on portraiture, so this board will fit in nicely. 

I of course have the class rules posted front and center. They include being safe, respectful, and always do your best with a great attitude. 

To the left of the board is where I display the lesson's essential questions and standards. I hot glued clothesline clips to the wall so that I could easily change out the questions and standards. I write them up and put them in the red folder for easy access. I know a lot of teachers have their own system, and some are a little bit easier to use, but this is what works for me.

Can I just say right now how absolutely excited I am to have cabinets! This is something I have not had in the past. I'm such an organizer and labeler that I have put a list of contents on each cabinet door. I taped sheet protectors to the door and inserted a typed list of contents. I like to keep a running inventory and what's great about this is if I run out of a supply, like glue sticks, I can write in dry erase marker on the sheet that I need more. That way, whenever I get a chance to order supplies I'll know what I need.

View from the door.

My desk. I love my desk! From the MOMA calendar to my Batman pen holder, I love my desk. On pinterest I saw a tutorial on how to make large tissue paper pom poms. I thought they would be a great elements to hang above each table to color code them. It took me 30 minutes to make each one. I had them hanging and got many compliments. I also got an education in fire safety and was told that I couldn't have anything hanging from the ceiling. My fellow teachers will understand when I say this, but if you didn't know, flexibility comes with the job. I thought to myself, "What am I going to do with these now, cause I am so not getting rid of them?" I decided to use them to decorate my desk. I really like it, and I've gotten compliments for this as well.

This is my color board. I hand made all of the elements except for the border. It took a while, but I think it was worth it. I did however run out of border if you didn't notice. Guess who went to the teacher store over the weekend. This girl. 

Now I have to give credit to The Bees Knees Cousin. I got the idea for the style of the art element posters from her blog. I enjoyed how clean and minimal they were. I am a minimalist at heart after all. 

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