Heart Art and Kindness Challenge

 

Happy Valentine's Day!! Last week I read the book In My Heart by Jo Witek to my kindergarten and first grade students. It's a book about feelings and it sparked some really interesting conversations with my little ones. They also connected the feelings in the book to the movie Inside Out. While both the book and the movie had many of the same feelings there were different ones as well. It was interesting to hear them discuss it.

Sharing this book with them is not my usual game plan for Valentine's Day. We usually make cards. I like teaching them symmetry by having them make hearts. I also do a little positive/negative intro with them after show them how to cut out the heart.

But, I found this book in Target last Halloween (had to go check out all the Day of the Dead stuff the art teachers were posting) and I thought it would be something a little different. Each page shows a girl with a heart inside a larger picture. Inside a house with all the other feelings, inside a red cross because her heart is broken, inside a wolf because she is scared and so on.

The above student is feeling creative-her heart is in a palette.

Above, he was feeling like having a pizza........

 

 

I really enjoyed the art the children were making to express themselves. There was one boy who did a picture of himself watching the Super Bowl, he was feeling lazy..... Unfortunately I neglected to get  a photo of that one. Students used oil pastels and could make their own heart shape or use a tracer.

On a another note- a few weeks ago we had a Kindness Challenge for the students, organized by our guidance counselor. I was asked to have students make posters. I used the flyer below and turned the items on the list into separate statements to inspire the children's posters. They got to pick the sentence they would illustrate.

 

   

 

I'm hoping the success of that week carries throughout the school year! It's so important to show kindness to one another.

 I know some of you do Valentine projects-I would love to hear about them

Thanks for reading!!

Substitute Angst

I have been a substitute teacher. Memories of those days still have me cringing. Doors were closed in my face. Students made fun of me. And bad behavior was always at an all time high. Students dancing on tables required me to get help from the teacher across the hall. I NEVER subbed in middle school after that day.

OH and let's not forget the directions to get the textbooks out of the cabinet, that was LOCKED and there was NO key. OH AND trying to figure out the gizmos to show a movie, back in the '90's. It was a nightmare....... It got to the point where I made sure I had with me a variety of easy lessons that I could do with students.

It is with having had those experiences that I plan lessons for my substitutes. The advantage of being an elementary art teacher who sees students once a week, is that the same sub plans will last for 5 days. So the plans I am writing for Tuesday I can use in October when I am out for the FAEA conference on a Thursday and Friday. AND I will still have a Monday and Wednesday to use those lessons.

For my primary students I like to leave a book for the sub to read which can jump off to an open ended drawing/coloring experience.

The book above is still available on Amazon. Is about a cat trying to find inspiration for his next painting. The illustrations are very bright and beautiful. Many discussions about what the students are looking at, feeling or how they get inspiration can be had during the reading of this book. Afterwards students are given paper and crayons or markers to make some art.

Another book I've used is Sylvie. Sylvie is tired of eating the same thing everyday and decides to try new foods, which turns her into different colors. I put together step by step directions for drawing a flamingo for the students to follow. And then they decide what she has had to eat and color her accordingly.

 

Also, this book where all the neighbors decide to make their house "The home of their dreams". Students can then make their own dream house.

  

I will be out on Tuesday to be trained as the PLC facilitator for the singletons on campus. In other words the liaison/team leader for Music, P.E. and Art. Should be interesting, perhaps a future post?

I decided to leave plans for the sub to read the book Matthew's Dream. It is about a mouse who wants to be an artist. I think it will be perfect for the beginning of the school year because of all the colors and shapes used in the artwork. You know connecting to the Elements of Art.

 

 

Now, while the books work for the k to 2nd grade set. It won't cut it for the older kids. Some of those projects need to be more of a follow the steps type of deal. What's in the Box? (Check out the resource page for a photo of the directions.)  Is fun, students draw things inside and then can decorate the outside (back of the paper) as if it was wrapping paper.

 

 Making up or using a ready made glyph works really well.

I have had these plans for so long that I have no idea where they came from. Or if I made them up? I also like to leave a copy of Shel Silverstein's poem "What's in the Sack?" Students can then draw a sack and fill it up with anything they want. Or fold their paper, book style, draw a sack on the front. Then draw a special item inside. AND to add a writing component have students write clues as to what's inside. They can then partner up and share.

There are many wonderful resources just a few clicks away! Gotta show you all what I found to leave for my older students. A Lego Person! Check out the link to download your copy.

 

Not sure how rolling a die will work with this, I really think students will want to draw the Lego person their own way. However, this will fit in nicely with  the self portraits we are working on.

Being in a new room and doing a few things a little differently then before I have had to write up new directions for the sub as to how to manage the classes. It will include where to find things, who to contact for help, seating charts, schedule and how to use Mona Lisa to get student's attention. Which by the way worked really well last week. With the exception of one class where a student called out "There is NO Mona in this class!" With a little more practice..........

It's really great when I find a person who follows my plans and everyone is happy. It doesn't always work out that way. It was a nightmare last November when I took a week off for my son's surgery. He is fine and when I returned I certainly felt appreciated.

I learned from my subbing experience to make sure my plans are written clearly, I use images if possible. I over plan for students to have options if they finish early. And I try really hard not to worry about it. It's awesome our profession has a sub system in place, so let's try to make sure our sub is successful in our art room!

Tell me about the lessons you leave for your subs!  Thanks for reading!!

Off to See The Wizard....

If I have not made in clear in the past, I shall make it very clear now! I LOVE MUSEUMS!!!
I love walking around, taking my time, reading wall text AND learning amazing things. It is just SO inspiring to ME! Really gets my brain fired up to do fun things.

In addition to loving museums, I am rather partial to The Wizard of Oz. It was the very first show that I directed for my community theater. And yes, that is my husband in the back row, he played the wizard. Besides directing, I made costumes (Dorothy and the trees) and did set design.

 

Soooooo when the opportunity presented itself to go to a museum AND there was a Wizard of Oz exhibit on display.............. I was pretty excited!!!! Now since this exhibit is at a children's museum, you MUST have a child with you to get in. And thankfully I knew just who to take! Okay, the reality of this situation was my daughter told me about it and drove me, along with her 2 children, my grandchildren to see it. The display is in Tampa at the Glazer Children's Museum.

 

 

 

Above are some of the photos that I took, but if you really want to see it all check it out here.

 

You may want to check out the schedule of future tour dates that I also found on the Curiosity Corner blog along with all the awesome photos!!

Some of you might be doing some head scratching about now as to what this has to do with teaching art. But I see so many, many ways to use what I saw there that day. Either with The Wizard of Oz or another favorite children's book. How amazing would it be to use a book as an interactive exhibit to inspire learning in art? How about if the older students work together to create some exciting centers for the younger students? Students could design games, signs or posters, costumes, puppets, prizes or merchandise for the book OR write a book together and develop an exhibit for it. WOW!!!

Just how many future art careers are we exploring with this concept??? WOW again!

What children's book would you use or like to see as an interactive exhibit? Please leave a comment and please consider following me!

Thanks for reading!!!

Crayon Non-Resist

 

If we have students color art with crayons and later paint over the art with watercolor paint, we call it a crayon resist. However, what if we have the students use the paint first and then color over the paint (when dry, of course) with crayons? Would that be a crayon non-resist?

Regardless of what we decide to call it, that's what I did when I introduced the art of 

Vincent Van Gogh to my little ones. First I read them this book:

Also, shared some of the art posters that I have of his work. Then I demonstrated and modeled my expectations for using watercolors. Originally I wanted my students to do sunflowers, then I decided after watching them paint-and how they were really getting into it-why put limits on them.

IT'S ART!

 

 

Painting flowers was also a good opportunity to expand our vocabulary!

 Such as subject, still life, texture, shadow..........

 

The following week when students returned to art I brought out the texture rubbing plates.

 (The photo above is from the Blick catalog because mine are all packed up.)

We reviewed what we learned the previous week about Vincent Van Gogh and how his art had sooo much texture and we needed to add some texture to our art. We also needed to sign our vases just like he did! Of course not everyone agreed with me......

 

 

 

This was not the first time I did a crayon non-resist. I did it several years ago with a focus on Georgia O'Keeffe's flowers. 

 

Something a little different! Something that was a lot of fun! 

Have you ever done a crayon non-resist with your students? 

Am I the only one to go about things, let's just say differently?

Thanks for reading!!

 Sure wish you all would become followers on Google. I am almost at 10,000 page views and want to GIVE away a package of Smart Fab. If you remember I used it with this project here. Soooo if you are interested: leave a comment with your email address & let  me know what you would make with it. (Will only send to a person in the U.S.) I will enter all addresses into a bag and pick out a name on Wednesday of next week. THANKS!!!!