Sunny Lines

This lesson was inspired by the Pinterest photo below. Students thought since we started it around the time of the solar eclipse that the eclipse was the inspiration. I went with the flow on that one, because I love a good cowinkie-dink.  Now as much as I enjoy a good Power Point to introduce a lesson, it doesn't work when a student is out of the room. So I have started making these storyboards for students to find out what we're doing. And what's great is other students can explain it to them.

My goal was to introduce and/or review lines with my students. (We have a lot of new students this year.) I shared a few pages from this book with them. It is available on Amazon here. We did all sorts of lines and the different directions they can go in up on the white board.

 I already had circle tracers from a snowman project. So all I needed were some trapezoid shapes. Students were told they had the option of "breaking the border" by leaving some of the circle tracer off of the paper. They were also instructed to draw different lines in each shape on their paper. And they could create patterns with both lines and shapes. I did this lesson with my 1st, 2nd & 3rd graders.

   

   

They used crayons and then the second week they painted over the crayon with watercolor paint. Crayon resist is always so magical for children.

 

  

 

In addition to learning about lines, I wanted to teach/review the procedure for painting and the clean up process afterwards.

 

I know drying racks are important in the art room and I'm lucky that I actually have one I like. It has wheels and I have been known to roll it around the room to wherever it is needed. It is also easy for students to use and I train them to put their work on the rack starting at the bottom and working their way up. I also made labels that hang on a paperclip to show me where each grade has their work drying. I only have one class of each grade level a day. And the next morning the dried work is put away.

Great teacher moment: I have lunch duty this year and a student just had to share with me the castle top line on his lunch snack!! Oh yeah!! I rocked that lesson!

Suggestion for Open School night. Put out a list of supplies you would like for the art room next to the sign in sheet for parents. Each post-it had a different supply on it and some great stuff is coming in!

Hope everyone is off to a great start for the new school year. 

Florida has had it rough lately, but we'll survive!

Thanks for reading!!

Inspiration: The Art of the Brick

Sooooo, I'm home blogging as all hell is breaking loose (lots of rain & some wind) in the form of Hurricane Irma. While I live an hour north of Tampa I am in a NO flood, NON evacuation zone. I am hunkered down with my husband and 3 dogs in a concrete block home and should be good. School was closed on Friday to open up shelters and as of now it will be closed on Monday & Tuesday.

Soooo, instead of what I have done in my art room check out the fun exhibit I took my grandson to titled The Art of the Brick by Nathan Sawaya and presented by The Vinik Family Foundation. Thanks to Jeff and Penny Vinek the exhibit was FREE!

And it was amazing, one room after another filled with inspiration. In the words of the artist Nathan Sawaya, "Undeniable, art is not an option."

Check it out!

 

 

 

 

The entire exhibit was on display as a mini exhibit! How incredible is that?
There's even a brick vocabulary.......

And to think it all starts with just one brick!!

 

Absolutely amazing!

 

 

My grandson told my daughter, "Nana took lots of photos." And boy did I! I did share them with his 2nd grade class and a 5th grade that came afterwards. They were in AWE! I plan to put together a mini slide show and to share with my other art classes. This would have made a great field trip, just not enough time to pull it all together. So students will have a virtual experience instead!

I do regret not seeing it earlier in the summer and getting the word out there. It closed on Labor Day. I did find a video on you tube which really highlights the whole exhibit, click HERE to see it.

Florida peeps-STAY SAFE! It's time for me to do some hurricane snacking.........

Also before I forget, I updated my last blog post. You might want to check it out. 

Thanks for Reading!