First Project

This student went to Germany and Austria!

I have tried multiple types of 'first projects' over the year - names, portraits, just jumping into projects and others.....

I *think* I may have found a solution - a project I really love for the first day of art class.

This is the 3rd year at these two schools and I really do love all my kids - so much that it bothers me I can't talk with each and everyone about how awesome their summers were.  Which inspired this years first art project - well that and pinterest.

This student went to a water park (I love how he started off the page)

I found this awesome project on pinterest, and while the page is in German - the pictures explain enough.  Each student gets a square piece of paper with a quarter circle on it, they then decorate it and when assembled together the quarter circles form a large circle.

I used the pinterest idea and made my squares with a quarter circle on them.  Then in class I spent 5-10 minutes calling on kids and having them tell me something about their summers.  I wrote it down on a LARGE word web on the board.  It was fun to see what states they went to, what water/amusement parks and all sorts of other cool things.

I then explained that I was going to give them a square with a quarter circle.  I asked them to rotate their paper till the arch would work with their assignment.  Their goals were 1) FILL the space  2) Use pictures that represent their summer  3) use colors that make sense.  The catch is that they needed to USE the arch in their picture and not just draw over it.  They also only had that one first class to finish it - which turned out to be anywhere from 10-20 minutes.  I encouraged them to either pick one totally awesome thing to draw or combine as many things as they wanted!!!

The braces this student got over the summer is the sun!

This project was totally awesome!  Not only did I hear highlights from my kiddo's summers, then get to hear even more while I walked around - but ALL kids succeeded in their very first art project.  There was no, 'I can't do this' 'this is stupid' blah blah blah.  All the kids were excited to draw about their summer.  It also provided me with a quick glimpse on abilities of my new students, how attitudes have changed over the summer, and the work habits of the students.

At the end of class I made sure to have students write their name and teacher on the back - then I put them on a bulletin board.  I love that there is already artwork up in the halls, and MANY teachers stopped to look and express their happiness of having artwork up as well!!!

Top Left: A baseball game  Top Right: One of those scary funnel water rides and camping.  Bottom Left: Plane rides and amusement parks.  Bottom Right: The Zoo and Mackinaw Bridge.

1-5th Grades -- Stop Motion Animation (Week 1)

I have always wanted to do a stop motion animation project with students but was overwhelmed the the amount of equipment I would need -- cameras, tripods, computers, computer software, a computer lab.... times however many groups I would have.

Then came iPads and iPad apps.  Sometime during the summer or fall I found an app called 'Stop Motion'.  It's a .99 cent app that is super user friendly that creates stop motion animation -- you can do all sorts of things directly in this app to have a full video of awesomeness.

Now that I found the app I just needed enough iPads - which was almost as overwhelming as needing ALL the extra equipment.  Lucky for me our building purchased a few iPads for teacher/student use.  I claimed the iPads for two weeks in May to try out stop motion animation!

I waited.  I planned.

May came and suddenly it was time to load up the iPads with Stop Motion and pray to the art teaching gods that my lesson plan would work.

The week before I drew out some backgrounds on some old file folders and asked students to color them when they were finished with work.

I also took some GIANT white paper, an iPad, and a ruler to grid out the sight lines of the camera.  I had students color this grey.  

The day came to put all my planning to the test - about 20 minutes before my first class walked in I tried to download the .99 app only to find no way to purchase the app and download it on each iPad.  (rightfully so, the school ipads did not come with a credit card on file).  I started to panic.  Would I really need to buy 10.00 gift cards for each one for a 99 cent app?!!?  Then I got smart.  I gifted Stop Motion to myself 4 times and redeemed them on each ipad.  WHEW.  That was close.




How I set it up:
3-5 kids in a group depending on how many students are in class (I had 6 stations)
1 Large white paper with grey trapizoid
1 background
1 iPad loaded with Stop Motion
Pattern blocks
1 ruler to angle iPad

I explained how the app worked, their job, how to rotate through being the director, and stressed as much as I could to NOT MOVE THE IPAD OR THE BACKGROUND.


One student is the Director at a time.  The director's job is to make sure all body parts are out of the shot- take the picture - then tell group to move pieces.  I set a timer for 2 or 3 minutes (depending on group size).  When the timer goes off directors change.  The director doesn't get to boss around what the movers do - their only job is to clear the picture of body parts and take the picture.  The group works together to make ONE long video - the video DOES NOT change when the director does.

The lesson worked even better than I expected.  The kids used the app with little help or instruction.  I did find that the older students did a better job being patient and moving pieces a little at a time - the younger kids seemed to get excited and make larger movements between pictures.

Towards the end of class I have groups clean up their stations while I collect their iPads and turn on the projector.  When everyone is cleaned up we watch their movies on the digital projector.  (All you need is an adapter that goes from your iPad to VGA cable for the projector).

Overall the lesson was a complete success - I have parents e-mailing asking what app it is, students are begging to do it again next time (which I already have planned!)

Paper Weavings (k,1,3,4)

Weaving was one of the classes in college that made me realize that I wanted to be an art teacher.

Weird, right?


Weaving was the first class where everything made sense.  It was the first class I had ever had that I didn't struggle to understand processes, concepts, or anything else.  In my entire school career it was the first class I had where I felt smart.  I have some learning disabilities that make retaining oral information difficult for me - so most classes are tough and lectures were a nightmare.  Weaving was the first class where everything was explained with examples and showing/doing it -- it totally made sense to me.  It was in my weaving class where I realized that other kids who learn just like me are actually smart and they need a space to feel smart - where it doesn't matter if letters move, or you can't read fast, or if numbers just don't make sense.   Art is for everyone, but especially for those kids who aren't 'smart' based on their state test scores.

I could go on -- but back to our weavings.

So, for as much as I LOVE weaving - I have never woven with students.  The idea seemed overwhelming to me.  I struggled with how to organize the materials and be available to help students as they had questions and needed assessment.

At last I decided to jump in and see how it went.

It went WAY BETTER than I expected.

Kids are born weavers.

Kids that I expected to struggle with weaving because the struggled with other art skills -- SOARED and kids that I expected to breeze through it struggled a bit.  Why?  I am not completely sure.  I think it has something to do with the combination of fine motor skills, ability to recognize patterns, willingness to correct mistakes, and other crazy brain functions I can only pretend to know about.

For the Kinders and 1st grade kids I made very simple looms.  I provided students with their "warp thread" precut and attached at the top.  I gave them strips of paper they needed to weave over, under, over, under until they filled their paper.  We then either glued down the flaps or I taped the flaps on the back. Students LOVED seeing their weavings get longer - many even made patterns with the paper they picked.

For the 3rd graders - I had them make their warp threads.  We spent a class with rules and pencils to make sure their warp threads were even and in the right spaces.  A few students had to redo theirs when they quit and did it halfway trying to take the easy way out -- instead they had to do twice as much work.  Once their loom was done I left them pick which design they wanted from some patterns.  I showed them how to read the pattern one line at a time, then weave it -- next line and so on.  Many students caught on after a couple of lines, a few students needed some extra help.  They did GREAT!

4th graders made their own looms as well, but instead of weaving a pre-made pattern, I had them create their own.  Each student got a sheet of paper with 3 grids on it.  Students colored in full squares to make their designs.  Once all three designs were complete, students picked their favorite to weave.  Again, I showed students how to read their patterns one row at a time - off they went.

Now, after our first rounds of weaving I have decided that I love doing paper weavings with the younger kids and yarn weaving with the older kids.  While the grid weavings are neat - they were frustrating for many students because the paper moves around a lot, causing their patterns to distort. I had students glue them down in the end - but it was hard to glue flat without warping their weaving.  Although, I have to admit that the students had very little issue with the grid weaving concept because of Minecraft.  I had TONS of creepers woven.

Rain Rain Go Away

I don't know about your area of the world, but mine has been filled with grey skies and rain for the last WEEK!  It has rained almost nonstop since Monday.  I am feeling drained and slow moving.

Since spring has decided to take the longest drink of water, I decided to try and jump start it with some Van Gogh inspired flower pots.

This lesson is not new, but is a GREAT one day project to fill the hallways with spring.

We started by learning a little bit about Van Gogh - looked at his paintings, discovered his small brush strokes and use of multiple tints/shades of a color in one area.

I had the kids make a flower - any flower, could be real, made up, or even from Super Mario brothers as long as it looked flower-like.  Many of my boys took advantage of this and drew man eating plants, or ice flowers.  All my girls were excited to draw roses and lilies.  Ha!


I showed them how to draw a simple sunflower (circle and then triangles around the edge, add a stem!)  Then we talked about using short strokes and multiple colors for each spot.

While students were working I drew and painted a pot sitting on a table.  When students were done cutting out their flowers I would arrange them in the vases.

I have received MANY compliments on how much people love them.  I think everyone needs a little sunshine.

Group Murals -- All Grades

I, again, saw a lesson on Pinterest that grabbed my attention.  An art teacher, Katie, had her students make group murals at the end of the year to hang on the bulletin boards right away in the fall for the next year.  I thought, 'WHOA! Why didn't I think of that?'  The idea and lesson seemed simple enough.

I had originally planned to do this lesson in a few weeks, but with Art Show and Open House next week - I thought we should do some for open house!  I immediately started to plan.

I went and ripped bulletin board paper in different colors, laid them on the tables, poured some black tempra and waited for my kinders to walk in.

There are two rules for the black painting:
1) Your shapes can't touch each other.
2) You can't paint over anyone's work.

I had my kindergarten kiddos draw lots and lots of circles at their tables.  When their paper seemed decently full I gave them the next instruction: connect the circles with different types of lines - leave big spaces between lines.

Amazingly, this took almost all class and my room was almost completely silent - it was weird.

I found random spots around the room for these to dry for the next few classes.

After lunch I pulled them back to the tables with a plan: Have 1st graders paint them.

I told the kids their rules:
1) You can't paint over anyone's work.
2) Stick to one color (you get what you get and you don't throw a fit!)
3) Spread out where you put your color.

I made sure to make each student have a different color of paint - even if it was simply making it a tint or a shade.

 The students started at their own tables painting in spots and shapes.  I set a timer for 2 minutes and when that time was up they rotated to the next table.  The timer helped keep their attention, because each table's mural was unique - but it also spread out all the colors.

Again, the students were focused and quiet while they painted.

I plan to make more of these this week with words like "MUSIC" "ART" and so forth.  I can't wait!

K and 1 - Piet Mondrian

This lesson started out for one of my Kindergarten classes that tends to work a lot faster then rest of my Kinders.  I needed a lesson that had merit, but that wouldn't take weeks to complete.  I had not originally planned on having other classes do this project until it was clearly a fun and impressive project for the kids.

We started out by watching a video while looking for shapes and colors.  

Immediately after watching this video I projects some of Piet Mondrian's paintings.  I asked the kids to raise their hand when they could tell me a color and a shape.  Once all the kids had their hands in the air I asked them to whisper their ideas to their table mates.  I then brought all their attention back and I asked them silly questions about there being triangles or octagons - oranges and purples.

Next I gathered the kids around the table for a demonstration.  I showed the kids how to use their ruler (straight edge) by holding it down and keeping their fingers out of the way to draw a line with their Sharpie.  We problem solved if the ruler moved or if their fingers got in the way - because you can't erase Sharpie.  I split up my paper into squares and rectangles until it was 'right'.  I asked the students if there was a special number of squares and rectangles to make it 'right' - they said no.  I asked if theirs had to be like mine to be 'right' - they said no (quite enthusiastically I might add).

When my paper was split up I was ready to paint with primary colors.  I asked a student to pick what color they wanted me to start with.  I painted all the shapes I wanted that color without washing out my brush.  When I wanted to change colors I showed/reviewed how to clean out my brush, dry my brush, and start with a new color.  Before I sent the kids back to their seats we problem solved common issues with tempra paint -- brush not cleaned out all the way, not drying the brush, water too dirty.

I then sent the kids back to their seats and passed out paper, Sharpies, rulers, water, and primary tempra paints.

When the students were done they put them on the drying rack!  The next class we outlined their Sharpie with black tempra paint.

These turned out very Piet Mondrian while still being very unique.

Tornado Safety - 1st Grade

I originally found this lesson while browsing "Adventures of an Art Teacher".  I pinned her tornado safety pictures to my 'Art Lesson' board on Pinterest.  I have since been eagerly waiting for spring to try my spin on this idea.

The very first day we didn't discuss tornadoes at all - instead I had the students close their eyes and imagine they were driving up to their home.  I asked them to think and look at their home and proceeded to help them think through what their home looked like:
- is it a house?
- is it an apartment?
- do you live in a condo?
- do you live in a trailer?
- How many windows do you see?
- How many doors?
- Where are the windows and doors?
- What color is your home?
- What shape is your home? - tall and skinny? short and flat? square? rectangle?
- Are there shutters by the windows?
- Is there a chimney?

After this I asked students to draw their home LARGE on a sheet of paper.  They then outlined with sharpie and colored it with crayons.  I did my best to stress they color their house the color it is - apparently there are some rainbow and duel colored homes out there. ::wink wink:: If students got this far then they cut out their house and glued it to a piece of dark grey construction paper.

Next class students and I discussed Tornadoes - what are they, how do they form, what to do to stay safe during a Tornado.  This discussion was pretty informative for them and for me.  After we talked for a bit I explained the plan for the day.

After a quick demonstration on tearing paper  - We pass out their homes, black paper for the tornado, sentences about how to stay safe around tornadoes, and oil pastels.  Students ripped their construction paper, glued it down.  Next, they cut their sentence to fit in the tornado, being careful to read the sentence back before gluing it down.  After this was completed students used oil pastels to finish out details.  Again, we are working on making color choices that make sense - ie: magenta clouds aren't very tornado like. 

Most of these turned out AWESOME and I love the diversity in homes, tornadoes and even details that got added in later! 

Thanks for the idea Adventures in Art!

Jim Dine -- All Grades

It happened - Jim Dine invaded the art room!  Hearts are everywhere!

Due to my district's schedule and a snow day - my Monday kids are a WHOLE unit behind everyone else, so I am filling my Friday schedule with some quality one day art lessons.  I hadn't really planned on using Jim Dine, but he kept popping up on art blogs and pinterest that I couldn't ignore his amazing hearts any longer!

So, off I went to google to find and save images of Jim Dine's many marvelous hearts to make a slide show.  I talked a little bit about the Pop Artist before the slide show, and explained to the students that their job during the slideshow was to find something about his work and raise their hand.  They could raise their hand when they knew a color, a texture, what the subject was, something all the pictures had in common, something the pictures didn't have in common or anything they observed.  I made sure to wait till ALL hands had something to share.  I called on students until anyone that wanted to share got to share at least once.

Next, I explained their job was to create their own version of a Jim Dine heart.  I broke down and wrote on the board what choices they needed to make:
1) How many hearts? (We talked about any number they were willing to color: 1,3,7,59)
2) What colors? (random, hot/cold, favorite, sport team colors, school colors)

Then we discussed what they needed to have no matter the number of hearts or colors:
1) Whole paper filled with color.
2) Coloring with purpose and not scribbling in whole thing.
3) Using the TIP of the oil pastel and NOT the side (sides don't have as much color and the coloring goes far too fast)

I passed out paper and oil pastels and let them to it.  I let students get pencils if needed, but I encouraged them to jump in with oil pastels.

These turned out great!  I had some students struggle with the freedom of this project, but most of them loved doing it and asked to do more than one.

Now, in classes that had more time to work I offered another step to students that wanted it.  I let them "batik" their papers.  Now, this isn't a true batik as we didn't use wax resist and plan out our colors lightest to darkest.  Instead it is more of a inspired look from batiking.  Those that wanted to crumpled their paper into a ball, then smoothed it back out - they did this 3 times.  On the their crumple students kept it in a ball, dunked it in watered down black paint, rinsed it in the sink, blotted it dry.

I let students pick if they wanted to do the last step because the idea of crumpling your work is too much for some students to handle - though MOST of my students were excited about being a little rebellious.

This Week in Organized Chaos

The break was wonderful, and it's nice to be back.  This weeks was a week full of new beginnings in the art room - lots of painting, drawing, brainstorming, and critical thinking!

Kindergarten students were introduced to "printmaking" this week.  We broke the word down into "print" and "make".  The students agreed they know how to "make" things without a problem.  I then asked them about "print".  Students told me that they print things off the computer and they print with stamps.  We talked a little bit more about how both those things are used to create the same image over and over again!  I explained that is exactly what printmaking is - making the same print or picture over and over!

I did a quick demonstration on how to load the brayer with paint, roll it on pre-cut pieces of bubble warp, and 'print' the bubble wrap on their paper.  You would think I was performing magic the way they responded to the print!  I then explained a few more things including procedures for clean up and sent them off to their seats!

These turned out beautiful!  I have no idea what we are going to do with them, if anything.  I had originally thought to use them in a collage next class, but I am also thinking of leaving them the way they are.  I will have this all figured out by next class.

1st Graders learned about "profile portraits".  We started out by looking a short slideshow filled with examples of profile portraits.  I asked the students to raise their hand when they could tell me something ALL the pictures had in common.  The students then told me that all the people were facing off to the side.  So, next I asked how they knew they were facing sideways.  You could almost hear the gears turning in their heads with quizzical looks on their faces trying to figure out both how they knew that and how to explain it.  Sure enough, they needed a little help.  I asked them to show me on their fingers how many eyes they SEE.  I told them to count the eyes they SEE.  Most kids had one little finger up, a couple of two.  We then counted the eye together - sure enough there was one!  I asked them if the person was real and they turned to face the class how many eyes would they see? -- TWO!  an Ah-ha moment for sure.

We talked a little longer about profiles - I traced one of the faces on the board to show that the nose points off the face in the direction it is facing, along with only seeing half the mouth.  I had the students do some guided practice by drawing a series of pictures on the board and the students showed me on their fingers which one picture,out of three, had a correct profile.

There was a lot of excitement when the students learned their profile portrait was going on a tooth fairy!  I will post the whole lesson after the pictures are done!

2nd Graders are working on using visual texture in their artwork.

We started out by reading the book "Where the Wild Things Are".  I told the students that their job during the story was to pay close attention to the wild things!  At the end of the book I had the students share what they noticed - quickly they share that each wild thing is made up of different types of animals!  We then discussed how the scaly body looked bumpy, but the page didn't feel bumpy.  Ah-hah - visual texture!

This book was the inspiration for their own "Wild Thing" - more to come.

3rd Graders did some serious critical thinking this week.  As soon as they walked in I told them I was going to write a question on the board and I wanted them to think about it - not talk, but think.  They needed to decide yes or no as their current answer.

I wrote on the board, "Can people who are blind understand color?"

I asked them to think about if they had never, ever seen any type of color - could they understand that an orange was orange, or that the sky was blue, or their favorite color was green?

I let them mull it over, had them put down their heads and we took a quick poll.  In most of my classes it was overwhelming "No".  Students that wanted to share their reasons were allowed (well at least for a while - we only get 50 minutes!).  Next, I asked them if someone was deaf could they understand music?!  Students jumped all over using other sense to understand music - reading it, watching it, feeling it.  Slowly they started to connect that maybe if a deaf person could use other senses to understand music - maybe, just maybe someone who was blind could use other senses to understand colors.

Next, my favorite part, we conducted a little experiment.  I told students I would need a volunteer that would be willing to be blindfolded, then handed an object that they needed to report the color on.  It always amazes me how many kids want to try this infront of the class!  I do my best to pick equal numbers of boys and girls, though not everyone gets a chance.

The first students come up, I blindfold them. I ask them to make sure they can't see - it won't work if they can see!  Then I tell the class that the only way it will work is if the WHOLE class can stay quiet!  If someone blurts something out or makes a comment it might ruin the experiment.  Next, I hand my blindfolded student an orange.  Almost immediately they can tell me that it is an orange and it is the color orange.  I asked who they figured it out so quick -- they generally said the shape, texture, and the smell!  We continued this for a few rounds making the materials harder and harder to guess!

We then read an awesome story called "The Black Book of Colors" in which a child who is blind, Thomas, describes colors to us using his senses.  All the pictures are on black paper and have no color - but instead can by felt by the finger tips.  The story is also written in brail across the top of each page.

After the book I told students we were making our own "Black book of Colors".

The next steps proved to stretch the thinking of the third graders as they were asked to describes colors through - taste, smell, sound, and touch.

I will post more when we are further in the project!

4th Graders decorated paper for collages we will be starting!

This summer I was walking the streets at Royal Oak's "Arts Beats Eats" and found an artist that I was fascinated with.  I came home and found her website knowing I wanted to do a project inspired by her work.

Students used pre-picked color groups to make their papers.  I asked them to layer their paint and experiment with paint brushes, texture boards, toothbrushes, combs, and q-tips.  The results are BEAUTIFUL!

5th Graders are pumped out their project!  We first looked at a slideshow of Logos.  I had the students tally on their hands how many of the logos they knew - of course they knew them all!

I had a slide with a few different companies and how their logo has changed over the years - more simple and more unique at the same time thanks to computer graphics!

Next, I explained they were going to make their own logos, personal logos made out of their initials.  The 5th graders were PUMPED!  I originally did this lesson with 8th grade students, and these 5th graders blew my socks off with their ideas.

I passed out a brainstorming sheet that helped them create different forms of their letters, thus helping them create something completely original and personal.