I GOT SWAG!!!!

I was SO excited to see the box on my door step yesterday from The Art of Ed! The first 1,000 people who signed up for the online summer conference recieved a box of SWAG! I thought I hadn't signed up early enough to be one of the lucky people with free stuff, but I was! Everyone loves freebies! And it's all art teacher goodies. There are samples of supplies like a paintbrush, block printing ink, a sketchbook, a whole box of 25 oil pastels, a travel mug etc. Is it silly that I am this excited? I feel like a winner! HA!

#artteacherswag #iwin #artofedrocks

Summer Online Conference for Art Teachers

Has anyone ever participated in this conference before? I'm interested to hear about your experiences.

I am so excited to be attending this summer! If you haven't heard about this, you need to check it out. I stumbled upon it a few days ago, and my principal was very supportive! The cost is only $99, so it is affordable and there are no expenses for travel, food, or stay like other conferences. What I like best about it is that you can participate from your own home and if you miss one of the presenters the videos are saved and you can watch them later! The presentations that are lined up look awesome, and I was also excited to see that many of the presenters are some of my favorite bloggers!

If you are like me, and you crave more Professional Development time geared towards Art Ed, this seems to be a great opportunity for just that.

Click here to visit the official page and get more details.

5th Grade Winter Fox Paintings

ARRRGH! I FORGOT to take pictures of many of these before sending them home this year!! They were SO beautiful! Many compliments on these guys during the art show this year. 

We had more snow days this year than ever before! (Our school is going until June 2nd to make up the days!!) So I decided to make a winter/snowy themed project. I've seen a lot of projects with red cardinals in a snow scene, so I wanted to do something different. This was the outcome. WINTER FOX!

I demoed first how to create different shapes that could be used for the head and face. Then how to create different positions for the body. We also discussed Foreground, Middle Ground, and Background in this project as well as how to create the illusion of space. (Placing things higher towards the top of the page, overlapping, and size.) 

The trees and fox together created foreground, middle ground and background.

We began painting the sky area, where I showed students how to create MOVEMENT using short quick brush strokes like Van Gogh! The outcomes were great! After everything was painted, we created falling show using either the tip of a small brush or the back end of the paint brush. *BEA-UTIFUL!*

4th Grade Pastel Pumpkins

A Wonderful Still Life Project in the Fall

Materials Needed:

Black Construction paper (I cut them into 17x17" squares)

Chalk and Oil Pastels

White glue

Day One: 

We discussed what a still life is and looked at examples

I demo how to draw a pumpkin that looks more 3D and less flat (they love this part)

Using pencils students draw their pumpkin still life on their black paper. They are urged to draw large and fill up the space.

When done, students use white Elmer's glue to trace over the pencil lines

I show the class how they should not make thin lines of glue, or have dashes in the glue line, 

the lines need to be solid and "plump" without creating puddles or globs.

Lay flat to dry.

Day Two:

I demo how to blend oil pastels and also how to create highlights and shadows on the pumpkins

This year we used oil pastels on the pumpkins and chalk pastels for the sky

but I have done similar projects like this using only chalk pastels as well.

I also demo how to blend colors in the sky using chalk pastels.

Students work independently until finished. And boy are they amazing!

 

4th Grade Picasso Animals

 This is a GREAT end of the year project when you need something fun. I like to use this project to teach abstract art, cubism, and about the artist Pablo Picasso.

 Some students LOVE this project, some students HATE it! But we all giggle and have FUN! Those that do not like the results are typically the students who think it's "weird" and do not like abstract art, or being pushed out of their comfort zone. Talk to your students before you begin and explain that this will be something they have probably never done before! Tell them that some will like the adventure and some may not feel it is their cup of tea, but to just go with the flow because the process is really fun and unique! The best part? If you make a mistake, NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO TELL! hee hee!

 Can you guess what each animal is? (HINT: the one below this is a kangaroo! the one above is a bird!)

I tell students to imagine an animal they would like to create. (They still have no idea what we are doing or where we are headed! However, we have looked at Picasso's work prior to the project via PowerPoint.)

I tell them to close their eyes and imagine their animal. "What does it's snout look like? What does it's feet look like? How about its tail? What does it's ears look like? Does it have fur or scales?" Etc.

We begin with a 12x12" square paper. 

I demo each step first then have students follow. 

Using a pencil we begin the process as follows:

Step 1: Draw an eye anywhere on your paper

Step 2: Turn your paper once to the right. Now draw a second eye, several times LARGER than the first!

Step 3: Turn your paper once more to the right. Now draw the snout of your animal.

Step 4: Turn your paper again to the right. Now draw ONE foot (and leg)

Step 5: Turn again to the right. Here I have students draw one ear.

Step 6: Turn paper again to the right. Draw another foot!

Step 6: Turn paper again to the right. Draw the other ear!

Step 7: Turn paper one more time. Draw the tail.

Step 8: Turn paper one last time to the right. It should now be back to the beginning. At this step, students have to figure out how to connect all the pieces to create a body! 

We then outline with sharpie. Everyone is giggling at this point!

The last stage is to add color. We use crayons to color the animals. And I have students create a pattern in the background using crayon as well. When done, students choose one color (liquid watercolor) to paint the background. This is also teaching wax resist and the wet-on-wet watercolor technique! We also added salt to the watercolor background for another fun twist :)
VIOLA! Always a class favorite!

More Adaptive Art Projects!

Spring Flowers

I like to give my Adaptive Art students lots of different art making materials. For this project we used a sponge cut into a flower petal shape (RED) a circular sponge stamper (BLUE) and another little sponge tool that was rectangular (PURPLE) **HOWEVER** The fun part was how we began... we used a balloon that was blown up small enough to fit into a hand, and stamped the yellow for the middle of the flowers first. Then they created all the different petals. Students then finished by creating green leaves using a special Adaptive Art paint brush that is shaped so that it can be easily gripped. Aren't they wonderful? :)

Practicing names

 

First students used sponge rollers to create a fun background using metallic paint. (Day 1)

I poured out all the foam letters on a big black piece of paper so they could easily see them. Students had to find each letter of their first and last names one at a time and glue them down. This was good practice for many of my students. Most can spell out their first names but the last names we are still working on. 

When we were finished, I let them glue on some pom poms and other foam shapes. 

MONOPRINT Accordion Books

6th graders were learning about Monoprints, so this is what my Adaptive Art class made. 

I taped off a 6x6" square on the table for each student. (I only have 4) 

We poured a little blob of Ivory soap directly onto the table inside the square and then added a few drops of paint. (One color)

Students spread the paint and soap mixture around to fill the square, then used their fingers to draw onto the surface of the mixture. 

Students then took a 6x6" piece of drawing paper, placed it over the painted area and rubbed on the back of the paper to transfer the paint from the table to the paper. 

We did this process 2-3 times, each time switching colors. 

On Day 2, we glued the two prints to one side of a 6x6" piece of cardboard then folded some paper accordion style and glued it to the inside to create a book! Students then drew inside their books :)

 Bubblegum Machines

 For this project we used "Do-a-Dot Art" markers. They had to write their own numbers and help with the gluing.

A good stand by.... GLITTER! (And liquid watercolors!!)

Liquid watercolors are so wonderful in Adaptive Art. The top project was created on colored paper with liquid watercolor and a large paint brush. Students can choose their own colors and just go for it! After they were satisfied with their painting, we added glue over the top and then... GLITTER! I know glitter is messy, but it is really magical to these little kiddos. They love using glitter!

The bottom project was made on watercolor paper. Students again created a painting using liquid watercolors then colored over the top of this using oil pastels. Oil pastels are also a great media for these guys! Isn't this one just gorgeous!?! I love the spontaneity of it, the colors he chose, and the rhythm and lines!

5th Grade Rotational Symmetry Printmaking

Symmetry!

Students demonstrated rotational symmetry in this awesome printmaking project. On day one students used 6x6" Styrofoam plates to create the design which would be rotated, and colored a piece of 12x12" paper using crayons for the background. Symmetrical designs were encouraged for the backgrounds also.
Day two we finished what we had started and then created the prints. I had students to mark the point of rotation on the back of their plates with a black sharpie. This helps students a LOT!
Students learned about printmaking, printmaking supplies and 3 types of symmetry: Rotation, translation, and reflection. But we focused on rotational symmetry.
Pictures do not do these justice! They are beautiful!!

6th Grade Still Life Drawings

Another "AH HA!" Moment

I love this lesson for many reasons: It is a great one day lesson. Can be used as a sub plan. Students have fun doing this. No two are alike. It gives the students some control (which they like.)

I came up with this idea because I have around 35-37 students in my 6th grade classes... making a single still life in the center of the room impossible. I have tried setting up a still life on each table as well, but this doesn't work great either. So I came up with this idea.... What if the STUDENTS created their own INDIVIDUAL still lifes?
So I put objects in 7 different bins, one for each table. When students arrived, I numbered them off at each table.
Ever heard of the game Pick Up Sticks? Well... that was my concept. No one could take an object that was under something else, it had to be on top. (This helps in a huge way.. no fighting over objects, no taking too long to decide, no picking the easiest objects to draw.)
Starting with number 1's, I give them 5 seconds to pick an object, then move to the #2's, 3's and so on until everyone has one object. We continued this until everyone had 3 objects. (I allowed students to add a 4th object of their own if they chose... so some added ipods, cell phones, candy bars etc. Made it interesting!)
Students then arranged their objects however they wanted. I told them to push their still life at least arms  length away before starting their drawing. (Many want the objects right next to their paper... not good for viewing correctly.)
Students worked the rest of the hour drawing a contour line drawing of the objects and added shading if they had time. They were very engaged for this drawing and all turned out great!

Some of the objects used

I collect objects at garage sales in the summer! I also use things around the room like scissors, glue etc.