Been Very Busy this Winter Break!

I usually don't post personal stuff, but I just had to share my new little guy with y'all!  His name is Tommy. Yep, that's right- Tommy Thomas :).  We adopted him from a shelter and he was named that already, and it just suited him, so we kept it.  He is 9 weeks old.  His mom was a boxer, and his dad, an american bulldog.  My hubs and I have been searching for the perfect pup for over a year now, and well- we found him! He is just the sweetest!  We had to get to the shelter at 3am to get in line for this guy and wait until 9:30 when they opened.  There was one person who beat us there (got there at midnight!) and had first pick of the litter.  It was so hard to choose between these guys (we wanted to take them all!) Anyways, my break has definitely NOT been filled with lesson planning or any thoughts related to art ed.  It has been filled with 4:30 AM wake ups, frequent trips outside (every 20 mins), reading almost every book out there on puppy training (from my library), and snuggling up with this sweetie! 

5th Grade: Stained Glass Windows

This example is a little old and weathered, but this is a project my 5th and 6th graders are working on right now.  I let them pick from a few winter objects and they began by folding a piece of 10" x 16" black paper in half like a book, so when folded it is 5" x 8".  They use a straight edge to trace a border around their paper, then start drawing the candle or other object, making sure to leave wide black spaces in between each shape.  They create shapes in the background to fill in the empty space and then they start cutting out the shapes through both pieces of the folded paper.  They open the folded paper and start measuring and gluing in different pieces of tissue paper for each shape (using a mini glue stick works best).  Once all of their shapes are filled with tissue, they close the "book" and glue it shut.  When taped to a window light shines through both sides.

Art Room: Artist of the Week bookmarks

Just a little example of a successful classroom management strategy I use!  Every class I teach, I pick an "artist of the week" for that class.  It has to be someone who is working hard, working quietly, helping others, and having a good attitude.  I make a big announcement at the end of the class (last three minutes). It's also a great way to get students to clean up quickly and quietly because they all can't wait to find out who the artist of the week is!  Can you believe this even works with my 6th graders!? (you gotta hype it up!)

  Once they are all sitting in their seats, and everything is put away, I announce and we all cheer and clap, and I write their name on my bulletin board display so I can keep track (see pic below). The prize is a laminated bookmark.  Lately I have been making my own bookmarks on http://www.picnik.com/ .  With this website you can upload student artwork, and add all kinds of cool fonts (like the picture above).  I usually choose several different pieces of artwork, and make several different bookmarks, so students have a choice when picking.  You can see I added the students name in a fancy signature.  Students love finding out that their artwork was chosen for a bookmark, and students choosing think it's pretty cool when they can pick a bookmark with their friend's art on it.  It's a great way to share the art and get the students pumped up about it!  Anyways, just thought I'd share.  On picnik, just click on "collage" and you can start uploading photos, then you have to click "done" to add text and save. 

5th Grade: Matisse Winter Collage

This is a variation on the Matisse "Fall" project I did earlier this year.  (http://artiswhatiteach.blogspot.com/2010/11/5th-grade-fall-leaves-wind-matisse.html) 

A couple of my classes were 2 weeks behind the others, so instead of making them do a Fall collage in December, I changed it a little. We swtiched from warm colors to cool colors and instead of leaves, they created cut paper snowflakes.  Organic wind shapes worked for both seaons!

1st Grade: Penguins

This was a fun and cute idea I got from Mrs. Picasso's Art Room. Students picked out sky color (I had various shades of blues and purples, but most are drawn to turquoise- I think because they LOVE saying the name, ha!)  Then every students gets black and white paper, and step by step we draw and cut out the shapes for the body and belly, and they glue onto the background.  Next they cut out eyes, ear muffs, beaks, and flippers.  For the scarves, I had tons of leftover strips of paper from cutting paper down to size for other projects and they picked out one strip and glued it on.  They used black marker to add eyeballs and the ear muff band.  Finally, glitter. ;)

4th Grade: Paul Klee "Castle & Sun" Drawing

For this project I began by showing a PowerPoint about Paul Klee, discussing several works art that had geometric shapes and suns or moons.  I had circle templates of all sizes for them to pick from, and began by tracing either a sun or moon on black construction paper with white colored pencil.  Then, using the white colored pencil and a ruler, they began making their buildings.  They had to incorporate as many geometric shapes and patterns as they could.  I gave them the option of drawing either a castle or a group of skyscrapers (a little contemporary twist).  Being from the Chicago suburbs, many students chose to draw the Sears Tower in their picture. :)  Once their drawings were complete, they began coloring in shapes with oil pastels, and the last step was to outline every shape with a black oil pastel.  Their creativity on this projected really exceeded my expectations!  Here is a variation of this project from Dali's Moustache: http://dalimoustache.blogspot.com/2010/05/paul-klee-castle-and-sun.html

6th Grade: Value Snowmen

This was a cool lesson idea I got from an art teacher who retired last year, that I might try this winter.  It's a nice colored pencil/shading/teaching value lesson.  Medium blue construction paper is used for background, and color is added with a darker shade of blue for the shadow side and white for the lit side.  Students can choose any colors for accessories and snowflakes can be added in the sky.  I will post once the students finish!

3rd Grade: Snowman Sculpture

This was a fun one day project that the kids absolutely LOVE.  I think they are just so excited to make sculptures after all the 2D projects we've been doing lately.  They will be wrapping them up in their regular classroom and giving them as a gift this holiday.  We used model magic for everthing except for the arms. (Those were from my back yard)  I trimmed them down to size and we just stuck them into the sides.  I always show lots of options for the snowmen head wear and scarves.  One student insisted on making a "French" looking snowman.  :)