Creating and teaching art requires a sense of humor and an understanding of organized chaos - as there is no way to create something original without spreading out supplies and getting a little messy.
I was wondering if any of you have wonderful, fantastic elementary art videos to share - either that you use for instructional purposes or educational entertainment.
I used Shaun the Sheep: a herd of claymation Sheep with their trusted dog herder and owner. I like these videos because they are each 7 minutes long with school appropriate story lines, no words, and lots of comic relief. These are great for days when projects run unexpectedly short or days when there are no art subs to be found! K-5th grade students are fascinated by these films.
I also love Pixar Shorts: these are the short cartoons before each Pixar film. They are humorous, sometimes touching, and always kid friendly. The students enjoy these because they are familiar with them, but still enjoy watching again.
There is also a sneak peak on my Mary Poppins DVD about the Broadway show. It is a great and amazing clip where they are on the roof tops with the chimney sweeps. All ages are glued to the lights, sounds, and costumes. I generally use this clip after their show and we talk about performing arts and how they did everything that they just watched in a Broadway show. They sang, danced, had costumes, performed on a stage for an audience, had a set, had a background, lights, and mics! It is a great way to show that they too are performing artists!
Since high school I have been crewing for a local hot air balloon company, Buzzards Glory. When the weather is clear and the wind is calm I assist in inflating the balloon, chasing it around town for about an hour and then helping it land, deflate and put it away. It is a wonderful hobby!
This summer the pilot/owner of Buzzards Glory asked me if I would like one of the old balloons for my classroom to cut up and use for projects. Again, like the CDs, I said YES!
Somehow - I'm not really sure how, the huge balloon bag made it into my classroom. Students immediately started to ask me what it was and why I had it. As I tried to explain the hot air balloon I had a lot of students tilt their head in confusion. At that point, I realized what an abstract concept a Hot Air Balloon is if you have never seen one -- so I asked Sue if she would be willing to come out to school and inflate for the students - she was excited to do so.
After a couple mornings of trying to do it and having it be too windy - we finally landed a perfect morning. I made a video that played on morning announcements to give the students some basic information and history about hot air ballooning.
The whole school came outside to watch. It was VERY exciting. The below video was taken by two 4th graders armed with a Flip video camera (the excitement in their voices and the screams of delight from the school is just awesome)
I picked a handful of 4th grade students to help inflate the balloon (they even got to stand in the basket!) and then another group of students to help deflate the balloon and put it away! The whole school had a blast and our building was a ballooning buzz for the next couple of weeks.
Unfortunately the weather got cold fast this year and I was still trying to figure out what kind of project I wanted for this balloon fabric. I spent the year cutting the balloon into smaller pieces - this took MUCH longer than I expected. Throughout the winter I had lots of ideas, but none easy enough for the students to do the majority of the work. Ripstop nylon is awesome stuff - but it isn't easy to sew, glue doesn't really hold it -- so any project I thought of just wasn't going to work for a whole school of kids.
There was one idea I kept coming back to - a windsock. I went through many different thoughts about how this would work, how would the kids make it, what would I need to do..... I had a hard time trying to figure out what the ring part would be and how to attach the fabric. I thought about bending wire - too many students. I thought about cutting two liter bottles -- too many students and a lot of my time to cut all the bottles - besides it might be sharp. I couldn't come up with a solution and then BAM it all made sense. The students were going to be decorating CDs -why not use that?! So I made a prototype to see how hard my idea was... it was beautifully simple. Students would use skills they either already have, or need to master anyway. The hot air balloon windsock idea was born.
First class the students decorated their CDs. For the 2nd class students picked out three strips of hot air balloon fabric to decorate with Sharpies. I encouraged them to use lines and shapes - however the only rule was that everything had to be school appropriate. A lot of students chose to do words or activities. I would have liked to see them be more decorated - but this project was really about them and their choices - so as long as it was school appropriate I accepted. The 3rd class students tied their fabric around the CD using square knots (most already know this from shoe tying, and those who don't should learn how). At the end of the 3rd class the majority of students took home their unique windsocks! Success for all!
<---- This one was done by a student for his mom it says "Love Never Fails"
The Art Teachers Guide to the Internet always has great videos about art and creativity. I found this one to express a lot not only about art, creativity, but the diverse and strongly subtle impact it has on our everyday lives.
I wanted to do a weaving project with my older kids that was more than a tapestry, or a woven plate - and so this lessons was inspired by that and my love of summer camp, weaving, and colored friendship bracelets.
While I was working at a summer camp I noticed a lot of campers doing a type of friendship bracelet that I had never seen before. One day it was rainy and cold and most of the outdoor activities had been canceled so I asked one of the campers, Rachael, to teach me how to do it! I found it to be easy, fast, and look really neat! I made countless bracelets, necklaces and anklets that summer.
As I planned for this unique weaving project for my 4th grades I searched for some printed directions to help my students work through the steps if I was busy helping someone else. I have directions but they are different than how I teach the students - so I don't tend to use them.
Once I figured out how I was going to teach how to weave the bracelets I had to organize the use of embroidery floss -- I had a vision of a massive pile of wasted string somehow tangled in a massive ball! To keep my vision from happening I placed out small butter tubs (with lids) - one for each table in each class. I separated the embroidery floss to give each table the same set of colors. When each tub was filled I put the lid on and labeled it with their teacher and their table color. This way if blue table in one class used all their pink string the first day it wouldn't affect anyone else - or if they tangled their orange so badly they couldn't use it - again it wouldn't affect anyone else. When introducing the lesson I explain this to them - that way there is not "HEY WHO TOOK OUR BLACK?! or people coming over to ask to use another table's orange since theirs is tangled.
The day of the lesson I explain to them our plan for the day. I emphasis that some of them will understand this right away because either they have done this type of bracelet, they have done others like it, or maybe they are just good at spacial things like this. There will be other students in class that will feel confused and frustrated for most of class. I ask if that is okay - is it okay to be frustrated and confused?! They say 'yes'. I ask if it's okay to give up -they say no. I explain that I will travel around the room but that I can only help one or maybe two students at a time -- they will need to be patient. I prepare them to understand that they may only start to understand and get it today - but that we will do it again and they will master it before we are done.
Next is to show them how to weave their bracelet. I show them how to measure out 3 pieces of embroidery floss at 2 feet. Then they are to tie ALL the ends together - they should get a loop. Tape it to the table and separate the loops. Make bear claw hands with fingers pointed towards the table. On one hand put a string on the middle finger and another string on the pointer finger - on the opposite hand put the string on the middle finger. Take the string-less pointer finger and go over, under, over the strings on the opposite hand - grab the very outside string and pull through. So the string on the middle finger will transfer to the weaving pointer finger. Then move the string from the pointer finger to the middle finger and repeat to the opposite hand. Repeat until the loops are too small for fingers.
The next class up the difficulty and I let the students pick from 3-7 strings. I show them how to weave with 7 strings -- it's the same process just with more strings. If students are still uneasy with everything they can stay with 3 strings!
The first day of this project is a little rough since there is only one of me -but the students handle it well and there are generally enough students that catch on fast enough that they can help their peers.
After the first day they ask/beg to make friendship bracelets at every class!
I, like the story he tells about Jillian Lynn, had an epiphany in the arts - only instead of being a dancer/choeographer I became an Art Educator.
Sir Ken Robinson has two books about creativity - both of these books will be used in different classes that Jessica is offering through "The Art of Education" that I posted about earlier.
After my lesson on "The Black Book of Colors" I introduced my students to Esref Armagan - a blind painter. The youtube video talks about Mr. Armagan's genetic mutation that caused him to be born without eyes - yet he can paint with perspective - something he shouldn't be able to do according to science. (More on Esref Armagan)
I had the students watch the above video - in which they were in complete awe. After the video I explained that they are going to try and paint like Esref Armagan - blindfolded with only their fingers. I did a quick demonstration on how to use their fingers to try and keep track of where they have painted. I paired the students up - one got a blind fold and the other is their spotter. The student who is blind folded is to try their best to draw a simple picture. The spotter's job is to make sure they don't paint someone else and to guide them to the color they want. After the student who is blindfolded is done - they switch spots.
The students were eager to try. Many students found it much harder than they thought it would be.
I originally explored light graffiti with my middle school students. After working with only elementary students for a year, I thought I'd give it a shot - see what they could do with some flashlights in a dark room.
Next I used black paper to cover all the windows and doors in my room - make it nice a dark. We had a bunch of flashlights we used for the musical earlier in the year, so I borrowed those from the music teacher. I then contacted a local theatre and asked to have their theatre gel scraps (thin plastic they use to color lights in the theatre). I gelled a bunch of flashlights for different colors. Last, but not least I checked out a digital camera from the computer lab - set the correct aperture on manual setting (by trial and error). I hooked up the camera to the TV in my room so that the students would get immediate feedback.
The students and I watched the videos - then we gathered around the open space in the room - I had students in pairs pick out flashlights and move around in front of the camera. Each pair of students got two turns. The first picture they see immediately on the TV - they can actually see what they drew. The second turn is almost always better - the learning curve. The students not only learned by doing, but by watching each other. One class a student moved up towards the camera and then back - creating something the class hadn't seen - after that the students were much more curious and adventurous.
We did light graffiti for two cycles. The second time the students came we tried to make pictures. I had slips of paper with words like: cloud, tree, house, mountain, sun. Each student was in charge of making that object. In a group they had to plan out their picture. We drew them on white boards, practiced in the air and then did them for the camera. Some were more successful than others - but they enjoyed trying.
All these light graffiti pictures were made solely by K-4 grade students!
I was wondering if any of you have wonderful, fantastic elementary art videos to share - either that you use for instructional purposes or educational entertainment.
I also love Pixar Shorts: these are the short cartoons before each Pixar film. They are humorous, sometimes touching, and always kid friendly. The students enjoy these because they are familiar with them, but still enjoy watching again. 
