Learning Lines with Scratch Board

Three years ago when we moved back into our newly renovated space I had some serious money in which to stock up my art room. One of the things I decided to buy was a couple of scratch board kits.

Apparently I didn't buy enough for everyone to do it. Besides the kits came with these sharp scratch tools-so only 4th and 5th could do it. More about that next time..........

However trying to do similar projects/lessons with my students prompted me to come up with a way for the students in k-3rd to do scratch board.

I was gifted a full box of cardboard which would be perfect for students to color on with oil pastels. They are much more vibrant and smoother to work with than crayons. They then painted over their art with black acrylic paint. Some of the students didn't understand and weren't too happy about that. The following week was definitely the aha moment!

 

 I set up a station for students on the back counter to paint.

   

To inspire my students I shared this book, I Want to Draw I Want to Paint by Marilyn Traeger with them that I received at the FAEA conference last year. I actually got to meet the author, a retired art teacher who has a foundation to raise money for art supplies for low income students.

Since I see only one section of a grade level a day, I created these little signs that hang on my drying rack to help keep track of student work.

The second week of the lesson I share the book Art Is.... by Bob Raczka.

I also drew an assortment of lines on the board to teach/review with students.

  

 I demonstrated different ways to use lines in art to each grade level. They could do simple line designs, snakes, letters-basically up to them.  My daughter also made stencils for me using her Cricut with some donated card stock.

  

  

 I decided to display some of the finished work during our "Meet the Teachers" night. I decided based on all the classes I saw that day and had time to hang up.... (Above is from a 2nd grade class.)

It was fun to see the reveal as each student scratched off the black paint. Students were able to color the cardboard any way they wanted to. Which created some awesome effects.

I got a kick out of this t-shirt worn by one of my students, it went perfect with the lesson!

Thanks for Reading!

How do you teach lines to your students?

First Week Back!

My newly decorated cabinets, thanks to a parent who donated a big bag of rolls of vinyl. I have no clue how to use a Cricut so I made all the patterns by hand and just cut them out myself (the old fashion way...). The word: paper was done on the Cricut by my daughter. She also did a couple of words for me to stick on my other cabinets. Thank you Stephanie!

I'm planning on starting off the first week of school teaching about lines.

My 3rd to 5th graders are going to do 3D line sculptures.

  

Above is my example. We will explore the meaning of sculpture and talk about how it is viewed from all 4 sides.

  

 Students will get to pick one twisteez wire, one button, one bead, one pipe cleaner and one thin wire. And they will get a piece of packing foam to do their design on. They may cut the twisteez wire and swap pieces with their neighbors.

Our Reading Specialist gave me this book The Straight Line Wonder by Mem Fox at the end of last year and it is adorable. It's about 3 straight lines that are friends and how one of the straight lines wants to express himself and try out other types of lines. You can click on the title to find it on Amazon, it's a little expensive so maybe you can find someone who has a copy to lend you.

 After reading the book I plan to hand out black strips of paper (18x1") and show the students how to use it to make different lines. Then they can staple one end down to white paper (18x3"), give their line a hat and do some lines to represent movement. I'm planning this for k-2nd. I think it will be something quick and easy to do on the first day of art.

First week back I assign students to seats (it helps me to remember their names). We go over rules and we chat a bit about our summer. I love to gush at students and tell them how tall they got over the summer and how great they look.  Soooo I'm kind of looking forward to tomorrow....... but I'm pretty sure all us teachers could use another week or two to gear up for the NEW YEAR!

Thanks for Reading! And have a great year!

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!!

Painting and Learning About Lines

 

 Art Is....... a wonderful way to introduce the Elements of Art to children. That is why I read the book to my kindergarten students. After reading the book we went over the different styles/kinds of lines and the directions a line might go in. Then I passed out sketchbooks for students to draw the lines they learned.

 

 When their note taking was done students went to their seats to draw lines with a black crayon, creating patterns with their new knowledge.

Since the beginning of the school year is all about establishing routines, I decided we would paint our beautiful lines. Thereby giving me the opportunity to teach them the procedures for painting.

 

The first photo is how the trays were set up to distribute to students. I demonstrated how to wipe off extra water from the paint brush, by using the side of the water container. WE DO NOT TAP OUR PAINT BRUSHES ON THE EDGE OF OUR WATER CONTAINERS! EVER! Students could also use the sponge to wipe brushes.

I demonstrated how to hold the paintbrush and how to lift the paint up from the paint tray. I also informed my lovely students to CLEAN paint brushes between colors! AND how to clean off the top of the paint if someone forgot and got the paint dirty. 

 

AND apparently I forgot I was dealing with really young children and should have been watching them a little more closely!  As you can see from my before and after pictures above. Sigh.........

 

 Part of the routine is for students to put away their paint tray and place their painting on the drying rack.

 

Art work is placed on the drying rack starting at the bottom shelve and working our way up to the top. I separate classes with a tray or mat board. At the top of the drying rack is the class box with their classroom teacher's name on it.

Oh and after we cleaned up and students were on line I used my arms to show the directions a line might go in, children followed my arm movements and repeated after me for each way I moved my arms.

To extend our learning about lines and to teach students how to use Play Doh in the art room I made these practice sheets after seeing them on this site. Ms. Gruendler looks like she has fun teaching her students about lines. This is my grandson practicing for next week's lesson.

He apparently went home and even though he had a packet of homework to do this week from his teacher, he told my daughter he needed to practice his lines for art.

 

Here are some finished paisleys from last week's lines and patterns with my 1st and 2nd graders.

AND I finally got the results of my E.O.C.'s from June. Yes, MY results. Yes, students took the exams. BUT, aren't I the one being tested? This IS a discussion for another day.........

I gotta say I'm feeling pretty pleased with the results.  Especially since the test came from district. And it was the first time my students were tested in art.

Please comment below whether or not you test your students and what your thoughts are.

Thanks for reading and please consider following me!