Monday, March 31, 2014

Fifth Grade Hoarders.

My fifth graders have "project boxes" in the art room.  It's purpose is to hold their sketchbook and any "in progress" projects.
I rifled through project boxes to retrieve work that needed to be graded for third quarter.  I was totally blown away by the supplies students had been hoarding in their project boxes.  It seemed like my pencil supply kept needing replenishing-- but I am so particular about my erasers!!! How could I not notice all the missing erasers?  And why were they keeping project visuals? What a mess.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Linnea in Monet's Garden and the onset of Spring. Finally.

When I was pregnant with my first daughter, the onset of Spring coincided with art teaching becoming a lot harder.  It was my last trimester and I resembled Violet Beauregarde. Everything was difficult.  Everything.

This was when I became familiar with a wide collection of videos made for the elementary art room.
Linnea in Monet's Garden was on old VHS that came with my classroom.  I was teaching the life of Claude Monet and the students were going to start sponge painting some garden scenes.  The movie was a nice little break.  The kids really enjoyed it and would recall so much information for weeks after.  For me, watching it several times for all my classes, I started over analyzing it.  I started to get irritated by the dialog, and I really started to hate the pace of the story.

Briefly, Linnea likes to visit her elderly neighbor and drink soda, talk to herself, and look through his art books.  Somehow they decided to take a trip together to France.  Mr. Bloom has been there before, and really wanted to share the experience with Linnea. I guess?

That doesn't make much sense to me, but my students never seem to question why she is going to France with her neighbor.  I like that it mentions that it cost a lot, and I think showing the plane heading into France is great for the kids to understand just how far away it is.

The pacing is slow.  The movie is over 30 minutes and my students get very antsy.  I try to make sure they hang in there until they actually get into Monet's Garden.  Stopping and reviewing what has already happened seems to help.  It does start to get exciting when they intermingle photographs, cartoon, and paintings.

The climatic scene is when Linnea is on the Japanese bridge.  She is so excited to be on the actual bridge from Monet's painting.  She says, "It can never be more now than it is right now."  I don't get that.  I cringe when I hear it each time.  I always think the kids are going to ask me what she means, and I wonder if I could explain it as a transcendental experience or something.

This wasn't meant to be a review of the movie, just a story about my experiences with it.  Just think about how many times you will have to watch it.

I started a mini Monet project with my first graders this year.  It's been a long time since I watched Linnea in Monet's Garden and I thought it might be nice for this lesson too.  It happened to be on a day when Chicagoland experienced a teaser of Spring (high 50s!)  The school was warm and windows were open.  The wet spring breeze filled the classroom as we sat in the dark watching the slow relaxing movie.  I was reminded of all the memories of my first experience with the movie over 10 years ago.  And of course, during the second viewing, all my snarky dislikes of it.

Two weeks after we watched Linnea in Monet's Garden, students recalled many facts about Monet's life and paintings.  That was what I had wanted from the get go.


I supplemented our learning with Susan Rodriguez's Travels with Monet.  There are a lot of nice facts and exemplars in this book.


Thursday, March 27, 2014

Check out my classroom and procedures from 12 years ago! "Art Rules!" video - with wild original music.

I think this was pretty awesome at the time, who am I kidding... it is still awesome.  It was the early 2000's and iMovie was taking the world by storm.  This video served as a showcase of what we were doing in the art room.  I popped it on a VHS and had it running repeatedly during our open house/ art show.  The kids and the parents loved it.

My sister-in-law (the talented voice in the song!) convinced me to dig it out of hiding and post it to the YouTube.  It had been years since I watched it!  I was amazed at some of the procedures and routines I still do in the art room, and contemplated the ones that have gone by the wayside.  It has also made me want to produce an updated version.  We will have to see about that!
Finally, my husband is the most talented musician in the world.  He wrote the music just for me, but it you want to hear some of his actual music, you should visit  FlatCatsMusic.com or IceCreamVendors.net or The Astronauts.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Hand Lettering Brainstorm Pages: and resources to learn and teach hand lettering.

 I have so many ideas for cool graphic design projects, but we are usually limited to making them by hand. The students struggle with the text.  I've used this as an opportunity to teach a little about hand lettering.
The hand lettering brainstorm packet are just examples I curated off a Google search (sorry, I don't know where they came from).  My K-5 students need to see fancy letters to be able to make them, and the packet is a good start.
I have used a few resources for teaching (and learning!) hand lettering too.
I like this book, Creative Lettering.  It shows how several artists have designed and made cool letters (mostly by hand).  It is fun to try to copy some and learn a few different techniques.
.
I also own this old book, The Scrapbooker's Book of Alphabets.  I actually picked this up at a garage sale  years ago.  It is perfect for kids to give their projects a little snazzy writing

I also have a page available for download on TeachersPayTeachers on handwritten fonts.  This is a quick way to supplement some fancy writing in projects, plus I have a "How to Write Your Name Graffiti Style" also available.



Tuesday, March 25, 2014

I love Portlandia. I want all the art to have birds on it.

I've watched and rewatched all of Portlandia a few times now.  I love it.

I was having a day where kids kept asking me what to do.
"What should I draw??"
"I don't know what to put down!!"
"Can you tell me what to draw?"
 "What can I make??"
and I was like,
"AHHHHHHHH!!!!"

My usual response is, "I can't think for you" or "anything you put will work" or "I don't want to see my ideas, I want to see yours." But some days, you're spent.

I started telling kids to "put a bird on it"

Of course, with elementary kids, they have no idea what I am talking about.  But, it seemed like a good response, and I couldn't stop using it.
I made a little poster to hang, but after a Google image search, I realize there are a ton of posters!  I'm not sure how many actually hang in an art room, and I do realize the joke is that the bird is so trite... But like most things, I like to see the opposite and enjoy it for the irony.

Monday, March 24, 2014

Please Recycle! This art teacher loves your garbage.

It is amazing some of the beautiful projects that can be made from found objects, garbage, and recyclables.

I always send out the alert at school for boxes, cans, and lids, and I always have a few kids who bring in bags of stuff every week!  This summer I will be hosting some projects in my community and wanted to get the word out to my local friends that I need their junk!

I spent way too much time on this 8.5 x 11" poster than I care to admit, but wouldn't it look pretty hanging by someone's trash cans?  The full size version is available to download, so you can use it to get stuff for your art projects too!

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Op art with Bridget Riley: Free handout and Youtube video.

Op art is fun to teach!  I find my students love it once they get the hang of it.  
Fourth Grade began a mini-unit on Op Art with a slideshow on artist Bridget Riley.


I asked the students questions about the art:  What did the notice?  What colors did she use?  What did it remind you of?  How did she do that?
We learned a little about her life too and her place in art history.
Next we received some practice pages.  Students learned how to wrap lines, create radiating designs, keep lines parallel, and make new shapes.
They were so intrigued with the optical illusion, I included this in the lesson:
Starry Night Op Art Gif
We practiced more designs with pencil only on "The Power of Line" handout.
For one of their final projects, students used their favorite technique on a 7 x 7" square with black ultra fine point Sharpie.
Their second final project, students created a hand illusion that appeared 3D.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Anyone Can Teach Art: Pattern Clown complete lesson now available for download!

I recently published "The Art Teacher's Substitute Notebook:  K-2 Lessons."  It is a compilation of 12 complete lessons for the art teacher to leave on her desk in case a sub is necessary.  Maybe you aren't interested in 12 complete lessons right now... don't worry, you can pick and choose one at a time!  Click the links to learn more about each lesson and see a preview of the pages.

All the lessons have now been published in a bundle and now individually!  Enjoy!

Pattern Clown is now available for download!  This lesson concentrates on pattern and construction skills.  Totally fun and easy for a sub to teach!

Under the Sea is now available for download!  This lesson teaches basic shape drawing.  Complete with all written instructions, examples, and a how to draw handout.

Superheroes!  Is now available for download!  This lesson asks your student to brainstorm and design their own superhero.

Spring has Sprung is also available!  This lesson teaches basic shape drawing and the parts of composition in a landscape drawing. 

Out of this World now available.  This lesson concentrates on the parts of composition, landscape drawing, and imagination!

On the Farm, now available.  This lesson concentrates on basic shape drawing and composition.  It comes with a detailed lesson, tons of examples, and a drawing worksheet.

Available now, Let's Face it! Basic shape drawing and portraiture lesson.  Complete with examples, a ton of illustrations, and beautiful worksheets.

The Name's the Thing!  This lesson combines, color schemes, design principles and fancy handwriting.  Includes a handout on how to write fancy letters.

 It's a Zoo! This lesson concentrates on basic shape drawing and composition skills.  Comes with an easy "how to draw" page and very detailed directions.

Also available, Big Butterflies.  This lessons concentrates on balance and pattern.





Available for free is Candy House. This lesson combines fairy tales and architecture and has great illustrations and a brainstorming page.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

List of Art Teachers on TeacherPayTeachers.

My district has allotted some funds to purchase resources on TeachersPayTeachers.  I have used the site a few times to purchase or download free things, and try to sell some of my own resources there too.  I was having a hard time finding quality resources that were specifically for the art room, or were created with visual art in mind.  I thought others might find it tough to navigate too, so I've started a list of stores I found that had art resources:

Me!  No Corner Suns
Klaire Pearson
Expressive Monkey
Share2Learn
Emily Berry
Scott Cummins - Outside the Lines
Katherine Yamashita
Masterpiece Momma
Create to Inspire
Art is Basic
Artsy Cat
Ms Artastic
Art Lesson Launchpad
Deep Space Sparkle
Art Wizard
Grass Carpet Studio
Art Studio FM
A Space to Create

I have purchased or downloaded from a few of these.  I've found many TPT resources useful as supplements to something I am already teaching.  I waste a lot of time reinventing what somebody else has already done!  I'll gladly pay them for the trouble.

There must be a TON more art teachers selling on TPT!  Let me know, and I will add you to the list.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Fourth Grade Ukulele box sarcophagi!


My husband owns a music store that is Chicagoland's ukulele headquarters!  I couldn't help but be intrigued by the interesting shape of the ukulele boxes I kept seeing piled up in the alley.  Those could be art!

He started saving them for me and I started dragging them to school.  I had just enough for an entire grade level to do a ukulele box project... but what?  I put the question out to the Art Teacher's group on Facebook, but I wasn't too thrilled with the answers.  So, I went with my first instinct and turned them into Ancient Egyptian Sarcophagi.

We began with a slideshow I downloaded. from another website.  We learned about hieroglyphics and talked a bit about the history of Ancient Egypt.  We even took a virtual tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Ancient Egypt section through Google Art Project.

Next, we looked at more photos of sarcophagi and completed my sarcophagus worksheet.  Students were excited about drawing hieroglyphics, but didn't want to copy the Ancient Egyptian sarcophagi examples.  I told them they didn't have to!  They could make their sarcophagus look anyway they wanted as long as they created balance, had pattern, and used hieroglyphics somewhere.  They had a great time making Minecraft, princess, and superhero themed sarcophagi.

We wrapped our ukulele boxes in gold paper and painted our sarcophagus on tag board.
An Axl Rose sarcophagus on the left, and a traditional King Tut on the right.
I used thumbtacks through the back to hang them in our hallway.

Friday, March 14, 2014

Presidential and influential portraits in Lego!

Third grade is one of those transition years and one I find the most difficult to teach.  In my district, third graders start at a new school. We have k-2 in one building, and 3-5 at a second.  It is great for me as far as travel and planning.  I even see the same kids k-5th grade.  But still, third grade is a challenge.

Each year it seems I hit a point where I need to completely reinvent the wheel.  Other projects maybe haven't been as successful, or I am seeing more and more boredom and restlessness in the art room.  I try to really think of something that the kids are into so they will be excited and stay engaged.   Last year I tried Mine Craft  perspective pictures... All I heard about in art class constantly was Mine Craft, Mine Craft, Mine Craft... but it bombed.  This year, I've been hearing about Legos for weeks.  I've even had to confiscate Legos, so I figured it was having a surge in popularity.  I decided Lego Portraits might be the way to go... and it worked!!

It was right around Presidents Day.  We began this lesson by going through a slideshow that discussed the holiday.  I also included this great video presented by The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.  My students got way into it.  They wanted to keep talking about the people who were featured in the video and the stories they knew about them.  We also attempted a tour of the National Portrait Gallery via Google Art Project.  This is sooooooo coool but sooooo not conducive to the classroom.  Has anyone had luck with this?  It was still kind of neato and gave the kids the general idea.

As the slideshow continues, it asks why some of those people were included in the Portrait Gallery.  This got students thinking about why they were important.  Coincidentally, It is also Black History Month and much of what they were learning about in class meshed with some of the people featured in the video.

Next, I passed out the Lego Portrait Worksheet.  Students filled out the top portion independently.  Even though the worksheet is pretty general, I asked my third graders to think of a Lego Mini Figure they might see in the National Portrait Gallery.  The second part of the slideshow focuses on artist who created historical minifigures and shows some famous portraits in Lego form.  Their portrait didn't have to be someone like Rosa Parks, it could be someone else who is heroic, or famous,  real or not.  (I used the images on the worksheet after a Google search, so I am not exactly sure of the origin of the blank mini-figure.  I would like to have a better photo of the formal mini-figures too that included recognizable females.)

After students practiced, we drew as large as we could on a yellow 9 x 12 piece of paper.  We outlined with Sharpie and colored with crayons.

Wee made our portraits look a little more presidential by adding a frame that decorated in a radial pattern.  They used this worksheet to guide them.




Thursday, March 13, 2014

How to Draw Sea Creatures worksheet handout now available for download! It's an original!

I made a few handy worksheets while compiling "The Art Teacher's Substitute Notebook."  I've made the lessons available individually, and now I am publishing the worksheets as separate pieces too!

How to Draw Sea Creatures is a handy resource in the art room.  This one page worksheet is ready to print and pass out.  Perfect for your sea themed art! And hey, it's all original!  Have you ever surfed TeachersPayTeachers and seen people selling things they've scanned from somewhere else?  That's the worst.  If I scan it from somewhere else, I'll give it to you for free!

Also available separately, How to Draw Farm Animals is also perfect for the K-5 set.  This two page worksheet is ready to pass out. Maybe you can find it handy!

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Anyone can teach art! Complete sub lesson "Under the Sea" now available for download.

I recently published "The Art Teacher's Substitute Notebook:  K-2 Lessons."  It is a compilation of 12 complete lessons for the art teacher to leave on her desk in case a sub is necessary.  Maybe you aren't interested in 12 complete lessons right now... don't worry, you can pick and choose one at a time!  Click the links to learn more about each lesson and see a preview of the pages.

Under the Sea is now available for download!  This lesson teaches basic shape drawing.  Complete with all written instructions, examples, and a how to draw handout.

Superheroes!  Is now available for download!  This lesson asks your student to brainstorm and design their own superhero.

Spring has Sprung is also available!  This lesson teaches basic shape drawing and the parts of composition in a landscape drawing. 

Out of this World now available.  This lesson concentrates on the parts of composition, landscape drawing, and imagination!

On the Farm, now available.  This lesson concentrates on basic shape drawing and composition.  It comes with a detailed lesson, tons of examples, and a drawing worksheet.

Available now, Let's Face it! Basic shape drawing and portraiture lesson.  Complete with examples, a ton of illustrations, and beautiful worksheets.

The Name's the Thing!  This lesson combines, color schemes, design principles and fancy handwriting.  Includes a handout on how to write fancy letters.

 It's a Zoo! This lesson concentrates on basic shape drawing and composition skills.  Comes with an easy "how to draw" page and very detailed directions.

Also available, Big Butterflies.  This lessons concentrates on balance and pattern.





Available for free is Candy House. This lesson combines fairy tales and architecture and has great illustrations and a brainstorming page.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Sunshine! First grade gets us ready for warmer days ahead.



Continuing our study of Warm vs. Cool colors, first grade made these wonderful warm color sunshines.  It has made everyone at school loooong for the sunny days ahead (longest winter ever!!!) and keeps us optimistic that it will be here soon.

First graders began by drawing sunshines for 5 minutes.  They had to fill a paper and draw as many different suns as they possibly could.  Then I ask quesions like, 
"Who drew a circle with little lines?" 
"Who made one with sunglasses?" 
 "Who drew one with triangles?"
I used to ask, "Who drew one in the corner?"  but I don't do that anymore.... (It seriously encourages corner suns, I did my thesis on it!)  This conversations gets children thinking about other unique ways they could make a sunshine.

Together we looked at several examples of sculptures and paintings of sunshines.  We discuss all the elements the artist used and how each one looks different.  Finally we construct our own.
We do it together in steps;
make a circle, choose a new color for sunshine rays, choose another color for sunshine rays, use your scraps to make a face, add decorations with more construction paper, add decorations with slick paper, add decorations with metallic or glitter paper.  These took about 2 hours.  


Monday, March 10, 2014

Handwritten Fonts. Download an art class handout for writing fancy by hand.


Handwritten Fonts is a perfect addition for any lesson the requires the students to handwrite something kind of fancy! Instead of their dull handwriting, or printing it out on a computer, students can reference this handy page. 

Handwritten Fonts shows students six different types of fancy handwriting that they could easily copy. There is also room to practice. The entire alphabet is shown in capital letters.

This handout is part of the complete lesson "Anyone Can Teach Art: The Name's the Thing" available in my store. That lesson is part of "The Art Teacher's Substitute Notebook" which is also available!

Friday, March 7, 2014

March is Youth Art Month! Make a button!

I saw a great post on the Art Teacher's Facebook page that inspired a mini lesson.  An art teacher had her students design buttons to celebrate Youth Art Month and the staff will be wearing them all month.  I immediately thought, "I want to do that!"  I love buttons, I love art, and I am ALWAYS looking for ways to teach my students and classroom teachers arts advocacy.

I already had several packs of Design-A-Button (who doesn't?)  To help my students understand what Youth Art Month is, or why it is important, we watched an advocacy video on YouTube.  (We also watched this one which is terribly awesome in a Lovin' Spoonfuls kind of way).  Then finally, because I love nothing more than worksheets, I made a worksheet to help students brainstorm.  I gathered the images off of Pinterest and Google image search.

I did not have students cut them out, since I only needed about 15, I selected a few to cut out and assemble.  I attached this note (which I took from here) and placed them in teacher's mailboxes:

March is Youth Art Month!
Please show your support for quality school arts programs by wearing this button each day of March.  Did you know that quality art education:

 -develops students’ creative problem-­solving and critical thinking abilities;
-teaches sensitivity to beauty, order, and other expressive qualities;
-gives students a deeper understanding of multicultural values and beliefs;
-reinforces and brings to life what students learn in other subjects
- interrelates student learning in art production, art  history,  art  criticism and aesthetics


Thank you!


Thursday, March 6, 2014

Anyone Can Teach Art: Superheroes! Complete substitute lesson.

I recently published "The Art Teacher's Substitute Notebook:  K-2 Lessons."  It is a compilation of 12 complete lessons for the art teacher to leave on her desk in case a sub is necessary.  Maybe you aren't interested in 12 complete lessons right now... don't worry, you can pick and choose one at a time!  Click the links to learn more about each lesson and see a preview of the pages.

Superheroes!  Is now available for download!  This lesson asks your student to brainstorm and design their own superhero.

Spring has Sprung is also available!  This lesson teaches basic shape drawing and the parts of composition in a landscape drawing. 

Out of this World now available.  This lesson concentrates on the parts of composition, landscape drawing, and imagination!

On the Farm, now available.  This lesson concentrates on basic shape drawing and composition.  It comes with a detailed lesson, tons of examples, and a drawing worksheet.

Available now, Let's Face it! Basic shape drawing and portraiture lesson.  Complete with examples, a ton of illustrations, and beautiful worksheets.

The Name's the Thing!  This lesson combines, color schemes, design principles and fancy handwriting.  Includes a handout on how to write fancy letters.

 It's a Zoo! This lesson concentrates on basic shape drawing and composition skills.  Comes with an easy "how to draw" page and very detailed directions.

Also available, Big Butterflies.  This lessons concentrates on balance and pattern.





Available for free is Candy House. This lesson combines fairy tales and architecture and has great illustrations and a brainstorming page.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

No Corner Suns is on Facebook!

Maybe you would like your daily dose of Art Education in your newsfeed!   Go ahead and Like No Corner Suns on Facebook.  It's all the same stuff there as you see here, but delivered conveniently via Facebook.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Watercolor Heaven! That brief moment when everyone is painting and everything is perfect.

I've mentioned before how 3rd grade is often a challenge for me.  I finally got up my nerve to  watercolor paint with them, and it was everything I ever imagined it would be.

We have been learning about implied texture and making awesome alien portraits.  We drew an imagined formal alien portrait and added implied texture.  We traced in crayon and were planning a wax resist painting.

My class right after lunch was a disaster.  It took us forever to get supplies.  Several students did not follow set up directions.  Several students were not listening to instructions.  Several students ended up not able to paint.

We never got to watercolor heaven in that class.

I was already super cranky when my end of the day class came in.  I went through my same spiel.  We set up, we listened to directions, we got supplies.  And then it happened.

Watercolor heaven.

The room was silent except for the occasional excitement when the water changed color, or when they started to paint over their white stars and saw them magically appear.  I circled the room and everyone was on task.  Colors were translucent, brushes were in a point!  No one's brush was having a bad hair day, or scrubbing holes in the paper.  No one was using tissue to clean up spills and no one was wiping their brush on their smock.

Watercolor heaven t'was just a fleeting moment though.  Soon someone needed clean water, and another table spilled.  Two kids ran out of yellow, and another reallllllllly had to go to the bathroom.  One kid was done, another stuck their fingers in the paint, and of course one kid splattered water at their tablemates.

The hustle and bustle of cleaning up began.  The rest of the hour was a blur, but when their classroom teacher asked how they did, all I could remember was watercolor heaven.  "They were WONDERFUL!!  They did such a great job today!!"

Monday, March 3, 2014

Free downloadable worksheet/handout on designing a radially symmetrical frame. A math and art integration!

I created this handy little worksheet to aid my third graders in designing a frame with radial design.  The outside edges of their design will be the same in all four quadrants to make a frame.

I took these images off of a Google search.