A City of Warm and Cool Colors

As an art teacher I am always looking to change out a lesson to just do something different or more exciting. The internet has been such a remarkable source of inspiration for all of us. And that is where I found this lesson a few years ago when I was looking for another way to teach my students about warm and cool colors.

I found this lesson here on There's a Dragon in my Art Room, a blog written by Phyllis Levine Brown. I've had the opportunity to meet up with Phyl during NAEA conferences.

Here's a photo from New York 2017. Phyl, Rachel Hessing Wintemberg who blogs the Helpful Art Teacher and me.

This is a really good lesson to get students thinking about perspective. And while they don't completely get the concept (tricky concept for elementary students.....) it helps a little.

Here is my storyboard, something I started at the end of last year. While technology is wonderful, I believe my students benefit from a constant visual to look at.

 

You can see just how easy each of the steps are. I did have students practice in their sketchbooks before doing it on the large paper with Sharpies. That was a big help.
        Students start out with arrows, extend the line to the bottom edge.

 

 They add windows, I did point out using parallel lines to make the windows, some got it and some didn't. Then add the concentric circles.

 

Decide whether to use the warm colors on the buildings or the sky. Then use the cool colors on the sky or the buildings. Students used crayons, I went over the color wheel with them. Included all 12 colors and we decided red violet would be warm and yellow green would be cool. I had the colors separated and we started out by using only the warm colors until they understood the assignment.

   

 

 

 

I just did this lesson with my 2nd graders and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. And since it was so close to Halloween when we started the project, students added their own holiday flourish to their art.

 

Thanks Phyl for a really great lesson!

How do you teach warm and cool colors? I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks for Reading!

Choosing a "Big Idea"

Last week was spent in Pennsylvania at an extremely interesting, out of state, in-service.

I spotted the above info on Facebook, thanks to somebody sharing it on the Art Teacher page. It never occurred to me that I would be the only one not connected to the state of Pennsylvania or Penn State. But, that was never an issue, EVERYONE was open, friendly and I was never made to feel like an outsider. I am now officially connected! Thank you Tina!

Soooooo at some point there were a few of us having a discussion about Big Ideas. And it turns out that my Big Ideas are different from their Big Ideas.  Confusing to say the least. At this point I really need to insert Phyllis Levine Brown's timely rant on Jurassic Jargon.

Anyway it turns out that the BIG difference is whether it's tangible or abstract. I learned a Big Idea is a life centered issue and NOT about art skills or techniques. (Dr. Christina Bain)
The first photo is what I found after doing a little research, the website is at the top. The second photo is from my district's website.

 

Sooooo it is the complete opposite of what I learned at my district............ Quite the dilemma.......
I am open to learning new things, so it is not an issue.

I will now present another one of the wonderful activities I learned last week.  We were instructed to pick out a piece of art work, figure out how to connect it to an assignment, then explain the why and what to our Admin. This is what I picked:

 

 The Big Idea is either Identity or Critical Thinking and Reflection. Depending on your district...

My assignment was for students to do a self portrait. But, obviously not your typical self portrait. They were to do a little thinking and reflecting about themselves to show the person who is looking at it something about their identity.  Us creative types can always get that jargon to fit!

Since I decided to do self portraits the first week back to school, I really like the twist of this one. I am planning to do a sample and will need to simplify for my 4th and 5th graders. I am going to approach it as a work of Contemporary Art. Which I learned a bunch of ways to classify thanks to Olivia Gude's  Postmodern Principles.  Olivia was a guest speaker and such an inspiration!

I will be using a mixed media approach and cut outs from magazines along with drawings and words that will give viewers some insight about me.  In describing this assignment to admin I will point out the higher order thinking involved in this project. And how important it is for students to be able to really think about who they are and what they want others to know about them.

I like the direction of this project because everyone's work will be different. And believe me that's a another blog post! Play vs School Art!  Next time!

Thanks for reading!!

Carousel of Bloggers

Elementary Carousel of Learning: Teacher Art Blogs- WOW! It was a blast!
From left to right is Laura Lohmann of Painted Paper, Phyllis Brown Levine of There's a Dragon in my Art Room, Cassie Stephens of What the Art Teacher Wore, Jen Dahl of Jen Dahl's Art Room and me, Sheryl Depp.

 The room was set up with tables, with a different blogger at each table. The way it worked was similar to speed dating. You would enter the room, choose a table to sit at, listen to a short presentation and then move on to the next table.

 

   

By the end of the session you had the opportunity to meet and learn something different from each of us. Since I was so busy talking, I didn't get to listen and learn from all the other bloggers in the room.

   

   

But I believe Phyllis spoke about navigating around the tabs of your blog. Cassie spoke about finding your passion and then writing about it. Jen got into the technology of setting it up and I went into my thought process on how I got started.

 

 

 

The event was overwhelmingly  successful and was attended by other established bloggers. I got to meet Nic Hahn from Mini Matisse. She has me linked on her blog AND as soon as I figure that out, I will be making a list of bloggers for you all to check out!

 

 

This wonderful event was coordinated and hosted by Nancy Walkup editor of School Arts Magazine.

AND later that same day...............

The Art of Education had a Blogger Meet Up! AMAZING!!

I am feeling incredibly inspired by all the wonderful people I met during the 2015 NAEA conference.

OH AND I ALSO GOT TO MEET THE "SELFIE" LADY!!!

 Last November, my blog was inspired by a video from The Art of Ed summer conference on Selfies.

What person has inspired you?

Now I'm gonna get some rest, so that I can get back into the real world and return to work tomorrow!!

Thanks for reading!!!