Basically - I bought a whole bunch of succulents last year and managed to kill most of them before we even had a chance to get to this lesson.
Kill succulents? Yeah. I don't know. Too much water? Not enough sun? Not enough water? Too much sun. No idea.
I wanted each eighth grader to have their own, then for our second project we would make a clay pot for the succulent - but they got too dead for that.
The succulents, not the eighth graders.
Here is the lesson directions and rubric. Its on TPT, but it is free. I did not actually follow the directions that I had written out though. I wrote the directions thinking we were going to be looking at photographs of succulents, and not have the actual succulents in front of us. The directions we actually followed are in this video. The rubric included is also a little generic, and I altered a few things after I taught this to my actual students. But it gets the main points across.
One of the coolest things that did happen with this lesson was all of the students using their music stand lights from Uncle Jon's Music in beautiful downtown Westmont. I highly recommend investing in a set for yourself.
For years I have taught the parts of composition to third grade with a lesson I've called "Me in the Art Room".
I mean come on, for third grade, that is some pretty accurate detail of the things happening above my cabinets.
Admittedly, I've gotten kind of sick of it. My team and I have been working on a lot of curriculum lately and someone brought up family portraits. I remembered an old coworker making these super cute family dinner pictures 10+ years ago.
I decided to revisit the idea and go overboard with resources. I started the lesson with a slideshow.
I took the class through a million and twelve examples of families at dinner and had them examine the size of everyone's head, as well as where things were placed. All of the pictures were stolen from the internet. The slideshow took us nearly an entire class to get through.
Next, we started our drawings. I like to put a direction page on each table. I tell my students that we follow the directions, but our projects do not all end up looking the same.
Once we got a pretty good start on that, up to about heads and shoulders, I showed the the video of me completing the entire drawing portion. It's kind of time-lapse so it only takes under 2 minutes.
I like to pause it on the last screen and point out a few things about proportion and scale. Plus, how I drew some of the facials features and arms. I stress that it isn't really about drawing things realistically.
You may have noticed my use of tracers. I made these tracers ahead of time to distribute to the students. They are small, medium and large. This project would work just fine having the kiddos draw their own table, and drawing their own heads. Definitely. However, with the tracers it 1) has much higher success rate, and 2) it makes the kids really think "Who's head would be big? Who is in the foreground? Which one would be the smallest? etc.." Just drawing them we might not be able to visualize their thought process. On that note, I had one student who was brand new the day I taught this and he drew the entire family in one straight line exactly the same size. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Once their family has hair, faces, and clothes, I pass out the "What's for Dinner?" page. I made this brainstorming page because I realized how little kids could remember about what goes on their dinner table! Or what they ate for dinner the night before!
The next time I saw the students, I wanted to have a little review and pass out their rubrics. I made up a review page for them to work at with their table-mates. I drew four family dinner pictures and they had to discuss and write down what they felt was wrong with the pictures.
So, all the people are too small in this one except for the one person. Who is an adult? Who is a kid? Look at how big the furniture is?
This is a common problem for the kiddos. They want to make the people going AROUND the table. It has to be nipped in the bud when they are tracing the heads. Also, it is not a bird's eye view of the table, even though it seems very round. Keep the plates ovalish.
What is the center of interest here? The vacuum? This was brought up in the slideshow. What the artist wanted to draw your eye to is in in the middle ground with interesting things around it. Here, the interesting things are spread out.
No "horizon line to indicate where the floor starts/ends. Is that a cabinet floating. That guy isn't even at the table! There is no sense of composition here!
I emphasized adding a million details while we were still in our drawing phase.
Finally, kids moved on to drawing their backgrounds, tracing with Sharpies, and coloring everything.
The very last day I asked them how they could "take it a step further, and make it even better?" like it says on our rubric in the EXCEEDS column. I asked them to think about some of the skills we learned with our last project, which happened to be pumpkins fall still life. They caught on that I was trying to get them to remember mixing analogous colors and adding shadows. The finished pieces I think families will truly cherish!
I have been a K-5th grade art teacher for 14 years. I love my students and I love what they do, but they are so predictable. I've reached the point where in a crazy loud classroom a kid can ask me a question and even if I did not hear them at all, I can give them the right answer (98% of the time).
I have been using my art studio to try and teach older students. Of course, my K-2 classes have been pretty full each week, and I currently have a fourth grade student for private lessons, and one fifth grader enrolled in another class..... so, it's not quite working out as planned. I have been having a great time teaching my wine+paint events. Those are great, and I love how receptive and peaceful the class is. It's that inbetweener group, the tweens & teens that I really want to reach.
Luckily (& finally!) I had the chance when I taught a Teen Drawing Night at the Westmont Public Library. Of course I was nervous. I had not taught Junior High or High School for 14 years. A memory that stands out is an 8th grader pushing his desk over and swearing at me. I also remember the time a high school boy trapped a mouse in my classroom and took it outside and threw it. I was about 4 years older than him, and I taught in a pole barn. Ahhh Central Illinois.
Yes, I was nervous for Teen Drawing Night.
Holy Cow! This class at the library was FANTASTIC! I knew some of the kids because they go to school with my kids, but some strangers were in the crowd too and it was great. Talk about receptive, these kids were listening, they were polite, they did what I asked them to do. It was like heaven.
So, naturally now, I am on a mission to find a job teaching junior high. I know that all junior high kids must act this way these days when they come to art! I can't wait!
I set up centers in my classroom at the start of the 2012-2013 school year. This year I began implementing differentiated independent projects to fifth grade so they get to learn a little more about what each media can do. We recently finished independent projects in textiles and sculpture.
The drawing center assignments were two-fold. Students were to learn a little bit about different genres of art and also different techniques on how to learn how to draw.
I began with a worksheet that reviewed different genres of paintings.
As a class we reviewed different drawing techniques. We looked at examples of blind and modified contour (which was a skill we actually learned last year) and watched a silly video about it. Next, we watched a slideshow showing the steps to drawing a still life. Another technique is drawing with a grid. Students warmed up with a mixed up grid drawing, and learned how this could be used to copy their own pictures and enlarge them.
Then came the decision time. Their choices were:
Still life drawing. Still life artists would set up their own still life from objects in the classroom and draw from life.
Portrait. These artists had a choice to draw from a photo, or use a mirror. In the end, the students who chose portrait mostly relied on their imaginations. I provided fine art exemplars and even passed out a map of the human face, but students did it their own way.
Landscape, cityscape, seascape. This was tough. I wanted it to be realistic. I was so terrified of having lollipop tree landscapes and corner suns... I gave this group several fine art exemplars to look at. Mostly Jamie Wyeth. They surprised me!
Magazine/drawing realistic. This was my grid-drawing group. Most jumped right in and did awesome work. Some were confused, and still some preferred to attempt contour line or sketch. And most do not understand how to use a ruler. Regardless, they look great.
Once our initial sketches were finished, and line drawings done on their final, I brought the class back together to learn shading. I struggle with teaching light & shadow every year. Most kids don't actually see the light or the shade unless it is a really bright or stark contrast. So, we faked it. We practiced value scales and added imagined shades to spheres, cones, & cylinders. Students were charged with imagining a light source in their drawing. We started with what would be the absolute darkest, and worked our way through there.
Many students found success with this lesson, but I noticed they found it tedious. After the second hour, most students just wanted to be done. I was pretty lenient, since we did have other projects going on at the same time.
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.
Several years ago SchoolArts sent out packets of Ande Cook pages to subscribers. The delightfully illustrated "Mapping your Neighborhood" was one of them. This handout asks student to think carefully about the details in their neighborhood and try to draw a map of everything they can remember. I wrote out a mini-lesson plan suitable to leave the handout with sub. It is also great for early finishers and to supplement another lesson. I have used this in 3rd grade and up with good results.
Here is Ande Cook's book Art Starters that a lot of these worksheets from SchoolArts are originally from.
Here is an old one I got from a co-worker a million moons ago. Simple drawing practice using the grid method. Could be left for a substitute or an extra emergency lesson.
Here is a simple .pdf download of a complete lesson for a substitute to follow. I specified mine for Fourth Grade, but it can be taught at many levels. It is a classic in Comic Sans! Easy to understand with minimal supplies.
Here is a complete lesson for a substitute based on the activity "The Wind Blend" by Ande Cook. This one asks students to imagine a combination of two things, to make one thing! I have used this with 2nd grade and up and I always get cool and unique drawings!
The Ande Cook handouts were part of a SchoolArts subscription, or you can get her book: Art Starters
Here is a sub lesson adapted from a handout in Ande Cook's Art Starters book called "A Fun Game." Basically, the artist is being asked to draw their interpretations of several different things. It's fun! It's a Fun Game! I wrote out all the directions and everything a sub would need to know to teach this lesson. I used this for grades 2nd grade and up.
The Ande Cook handouts were part of a SchoolArts subscription, or you can get her book: Art Starters
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.
Now available, 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.
If you don't know what something looks like, it is a lot harder to draw it. I have my classroom stocked with several different "How to Draw" books. These are fun for centers time or to use as reference on projects.
Some are super easy, some are too hard... And I have a varying collection of subject matter.
My favorite drawing books for primary kids are the Ed Emberley titles. He uses an easy step-by-step, basic shape technique, that the kids pick up easily and like.
It can get hectic at the end of the year to plan projects! With field trips, assemblies, field day, picnics...some classes I will see for 3 more hours, some I will not see again. Drawing from the Ed Emberley books is a great go to lesson for the hectic last days. I have students do practice sketches for 15 minutes or so, then develop a narrative on a 12 x 18" drawing paper. We trace with Sharpie and color. They are always cute and imaginative!
Teaching contour line drawing to intermediate kids is tough. I developed this handout to help students better grasp why I was making them do what I was making them do.
"Why can't I look at my paper!!"
I again have an uncredited Internet resource. I have no idea where I grabbed the images of the keys so many years ago. I apologize. Also, what is with all the Comic Sans?
