Draft Folder Clean-UP: Perfect Square by Michael Hall

This post was originally from 5/22/14

It was blank...

Perfect Square by Michael Hall is a little picture book.  The artist/illustrator takes us through a week in a square's life.. It gets torn, crumpled, poked, cut, etc.  After each manipulation, it gets turned into something wonderful, like a fountain, or a bridge.

I recently read this book to my K-2 after school art enrichment class.  We had about 20 minutes left, and this ended up being a perfect mini-lesson.  We read the book.  We each got a square piece of construction paper and cut, tore, and poked it for about 5 minutes.  Then, I asked students to "play" with their scraps like they would play with blocks.  What could you build?  After 5-10 minutes of that (clearing away after each design) students glued their final piece down.  It was kind of cute, the kids had fun, and the scraps made a huge mess.

Draft Folder Clean UP: Engaging one day projects week! Collage Portraits and Collage Heads

This post was originally started 6/14/2014

Juxtaposition is a 21st century principle of design that I LOOOOOOOOVE!

Collage Portraits is a fun one day lesson that always gains positive results.  This lesson can be as intense or as easy as you wish.  I like to do it as a sketchbook lesson, or a super end of year project.

that's as far as a got! 

It is a great lesson!  Take digital photos of the kids, print in black and white, and have them cut them out.  Glue the kid to the center of a plain paper and make a few more copies.  Then let the kids add background, or things to their picture etc... This was perfect at the art studio because I had very few students and access to my laser printer/copier immediately.  It wouldn't work so hot in a large class.

Another variation of this that is fun - Cut out a bunch of heads out of a magazine.  Photocopy them.  Have kids cut out the copies of the heads they like and glue them down.  Next, finish the picture.  In can be with a body, or something else!  Sometimes the randomness of this is AMAZING!

Well that took a disturbing turn.

She looks so innocent!!

Our year in Art. 2013-2014 Art class video

I put this video together to show at our Festival of the Arts.  It played in our gym as families walked around the first floor and took their seats for the choir concert.


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A fun elementary exit survey/assessment for the last day of art. Download from TeachersPayTeachers

I thought an end of year assessment or exit survey would be useful for my elementary kids.  I kept jotting down all these questions to ask each grade, and how I would format the survey... but in the end, I found one on TeachersPayTeachers that did the trick.

This photo is from TeachersPayTeachers - that is why it is so small! Here is a slightly larger version of one page/

It comes with six pages, designed slightly different for each class. I chose one page for second grade, and wasn't too thrilled with the questions.  Overall, the packet is great and very useful, but I wanted a little more.  Of course I didn't realize it until I went over it with the class and there was a bit of confusion... so I literally cut and taped a new combination of the worksheet into what I really wanted - and it went off without a hitch. 

In each class we brainstormed every single project we did together during the year.  This was a great review of artists and things we had learned.  It was fun when someone remembered some little obscure thing that had happened.  I will definitely continue with exit surveys in the future.

Spring Hats! The cutest kindergarten art project in the world.

Kindergartners begin a sculpture unit by making cylinder and raindrop paper sculptures.  We move into working with Model Magic, and end with a wearable art hat!  I love to teach this at the end of the school year, and I love to see the kindergartners walking around wearing these adorable hats.  

Kindergartners folded the hats by themselves step-by-step out of 18x24" construction paper.  We talked about things that you see in spring and started by adding grass to the bottom of our hats.  I provided paper and instruction on making stems, leaves, and flowers, but I left the execution of the decorations to them.  In total it took us 1.5 hours.  The best is seeing a class filing out for the day with their hats on!

Engaging one day projects week! Dress like an art teacher and scream!!

I declared it "dress like an art teacher" day at my school and wore my you scream, we scream, we all scream for ice cream T-shirt.

I was happy to get some students first hour that recognized the picture and agreed that it was hilarious.  I decided to turn it into a teachable moment.  We spent 15 minutes on Edvard Munch's The Scream the last day of art class, but this could very easily be presented as an hour lesson.

I pulled The Scream up on my Promethean board.  We used Visual Thinking Strategies and discussed the painting for several minutes.  It was pretty fun to hear the ideas the kids came up with.  Next we reviewed a few part of the composition.  Then I used the Promethean Board pen to show the students how the screamer's head and body are just basic shapes.  They practiced drawing the famous face on their sketch paper.  Finally, students drew their own parody.  They were charged with figuring out why that guy was screaming and show it in their picture.  It was a lot of fun!

Squidward's girlfriend broke up with him over a text.

Engaging one day projects week! Andy Warhol Part II. Uncle Andy's Cats. Red Sam and free download.

There are two books written by James Warhola that are fantastic for the art room. "Uncle Andy's" and "Uncle Andy's Cats" are both fun first account stories written by Andy Warhol's nephew.

After reading "Uncle Andy's Cats,"  We look at and discuss Warhol's picture "Red Sam."  I found a worksheet on artprojectsforkids.org that shows the students step-by-step how to draw the cat.  I pass out the red sam worksheet and students draw their own large version.  Finally, students add their own touches to their red sam, we trace, color, cut out, and mount to a piece of construction paper.

Engaging one day projects week! Andy Warhol Part I - Getting to Know the World's Great Artists

My favorite videos to show are the "Getting to Know the World's Great Artist" series from Mike Venezia. They are educational, funny, and keep my students engaged through the entire program.

My personal favorite is "Getting to Know Andy Warhol."  I usually save it for the end of the year when I have a mixed up crazy schedule.

The video is about 20 minutes long and leaves plenty of time for discussion. I show photos of Warhol's soup can paintings and we use Visual Thinking Strategies to analyze the work.  This year I showed the video in first grade.  After we looked at and discussed the paintings, I taught students how to draw a cylinder.  They practiced several times on a sketch page. Next, we talked about the brand of soup (Campbell's) versus the flavor of the soup (tomato).  I asked students to come up with creative brands and flavors for their own cans.  I thought this worked well with the 21st century skill of creativity and critical thinking.  It also fits in with Common Core and ELA standards!

Finally, when students had a finished idea, we drew our best can on a large paper, wrote our brands and flavors, added any illustrations, traced and colored.

Engaging one day projects week! Pixlr Fun on Chromebooks!

Not all my students have Chromebooks this year, so I have been reluctant to use them in the art room.  I always want one fourth grade to be doing the same as the other.  However, this time of year, I see some classes some weeks and some classes, I don't see at all!

I'm not sure how it went down, but the classroom teacher and I decided to have my Thursday morning fourth grade bring their Chromebooks to class.  I knew I could have them do something cool on Pixlr!

What a fun morning!  We spent the first 30 minutes familiarizing ourselves with the program.  I showed them some things on the Promethean Board, and they showed me some fun things too.  They got very creative with Pixlr Express Selfies!

The second half of class I had students make "Keep Calm" posters on Pixlr Editor.  I showed them my Keep Calm  powerpoint and we set up our document together.

Next year every student will have Chromebooks, and I can't wait!

Engaging one day projects week! A beautiful flower vase.

My students seem to really love drawing from "How to Draw" books.  I often use them for introductions to lessons.  I had a set of "How to Draw Flowers" books and asked my third grade to draw silently for 15 minutes.

I chose the flower books so that we could discuss the still-life genre.  It was something we had not talked about since the beginning of the year.  We briefly discussed some fine art exemplars, and went to work drawing a vase of flowers on black paper.  I knew it would only be a one day lesson, so I didn't get involved in the parts of composition, or aspects of the subject and ground.  I did require students to only draw flowers from the book, not their imagination.

Once they were drawn, they traced with GOLD Sharpie!  We colored with color sticks. Students stayed engaged and unfortunately, some kids could have worked longer - if we only had the time!

Engaging one day projects week! We're making buttons now.

I love buttons and I love them in the art room.

My classes had such a great time designing buttons for Youth Art Month, that I decided to purchase more button snap packs and turn it into a great one day, end of year, super send-off project.

I was taught that learning doesn't stop til the kids' leave for summer.  It's a tough philosophy to stick to when there are so many (sooooo many) interruptions at the end of year. I'm not about to turn my room into a free-zone, but I definitely have to take it down a notch.

I began with a PowerPoint.  It briefly describes the history of buttons and why people wear or make buttons.  It opened up a lively discussion and gave the kids some ideas.

Next, I passed out a Button Design Worksheet.  It is simply six circles the students designed in pencil, traced in Sharpie, and colored with markers.  Their favorite gets cut out and made into a button.

I didn't instill a theme, and they only had to follow a few rules; no text based buttons, and images must be colorful.

Most students were engaged the entire hour, and were proud to show off their button!

The Art Teacher’s Substitute Notebook: K-2 Lessons is now available for download!

This notebook provides 12 complete curriculum appropriate lessons designed to be taught by anyone without an art education background.

Each lesson:

•has an introduction to the lesson basics and theme

•shows several student examples and graphics to inspire the students and teacher

•includes all the necessary worksheets and brainstorming pages

•can be taught with minimal supplies (paper, pencils, markers, scissors, glue! That's it!)

The Art Teacher’s Substitute Notebook:  K-2 Lessons includes lessons based on the themes of identity, and architecture.  The elements of line, shape, and color. The principles of balance, emphasis, and pattern, basic shape drawing, the parts of composition, AND MORE!

The lessons in The Art Teacher's Substitute Notebook: K-2 Lessons would also be great for home schools and classroom teachers who need to add art to their curriculum!

Twelve complete lessons include eight ready to pass out worksheets, two ready to pass out handouts, and peace of mind!

We’ve all had terrible substitutes enter our elementary art room and destroy it.  Not following plans, using special supplies, or letting kids run wild.  Even substitute teachers with good intentions can often wreak havoc on an art room, or be scared to teach the prepared lesson. The Art Teacher’s Substitute Notebook:  K-2 Lessons, combined with The Art Teacher’s Substitute Notebook: The Basics will benefit your sub, your students, and you.  

I’ve been developing this notebook for over six years.  I’ve left these lessons for subs, and even taught them myself.  They have been proven to be simple to teach and educational.  Substitutes will not be afraid to teach art anymore!

Available on TeachersPayTeachers for $26.99

Rainbow Coloring Page

I teach the colors of the rainbow and the color spectrum to my primary students.  Once we made a giant rainbow scrap mural at the end of the year.  We've made linear rainbow mosaics and scrap rainbow collages.  I could never find an actual Roy G. Biv coloring page to have handy for early finishers or as an extension.  I made this Rainbow Coloring Page on the fly.  It does the job!  Just keep your indigo crayons handy!

Watch the Roy G. Biv video with your class and they will be singing it all day.  And love you for it.

Elements of Art Worksheets

I do not teach to the Elements and Principles of Design.  They have merit.  Elementary students should definitely know them, but a project should not be about learning line, understanding form, or creating balance.  Art projects are about making art. The Elements and Principles are part of that, but secondary.

I didn't always teach that way.  The Elements and Principles of Design seemed like the only tangible thing I could be sure my students were "getting" from my class and I was crazy about making sure we covered them all and understood them undoubtedly.

We made terrible gradient lines, boring cardboard forms, and sooo many symmetrical shapes.

Around that time I made this packet.  This seven page packet gives little exercises for each of the Elements of Art.  Most of these are simple exercises art teachers have been doing forever, and some of the ideas (I think?) were inspired by Daily Warm-Ups: Art.  Which, by the way, I do not recommend for elementary teachers at all.

The Elements of Art packet would not be too difficult for fourth and fifth graders to work on independently as a refresher, early finishers, or an end of year quiz!

Drawing Books.

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!