Guess What!

So last month I had the same dream for three nights in a row. In the dream, I was busy going through all of the stuff that I have accumulated in my art room, sorting, organizing and packing. In the dream, my principal had told me that I was going to have to move classrooms. I woke up with to-do lists in my head, plans for what to pack first, what supplies are not needed for the rest of the year, what furniture I am taking, and what I am leaving, etc. I told my principal about my dream, and she laughed, saying that she would never have me move, after all, my room is an obnoxious lime green (painted that way so that no one else would want the room). I told one of my best friends about this, and she just laughed saying it was just a weird dream. I kept mentioning it over the month, and I think she started to get a little upset with me. She told me to STOP WORRYING!!!!! Yesterday, I walked into my principal's office to ask her a question and she said that she had been looking for me and that we needed to talk. Needless to say, she needs me to move classrooms, which means packing, sorting, and painting of new room. It will be interesting, as the new room is in one of the pods, and is a pentagon of sorts. Of course, I will take pictures of the new room when finished.

Illuminated Manuscripts

One of my favorite lessons to teach is Illuminated Manuscripts. If you are not familiar with illuminated manuscripts, this is a manuscript that is enhanced through the use of decorated initials. Technically, the term Illuminated Manuscript only applies to the decorations that have gold or silver paint applied to them, but now, this term applies to all decorated initials.

Now back to my classroom... I like to teach this lesson to many different grade levels. With the younger classes, it help with letter recognition, and with older students, it helps to reinforce the additions of details to their artwork. This year I decided to do this lesson with two different grade levels, first and fifth. Both grade levels worked with foil, the first grade with silver tooling foil, the fifth grade with a matte black foil. After designing their initial on a 6x6 inch piece of paper, they were given a piece of foil of the same size to transfer the design to (here is a hint though, there needs to be some form of padding under the foil, such as newspaper. If the foil is directly on a hard surface, the design can't be transferred to the foil. The foil needs to "bend" for the lines to be embossed into the surface). After transferring the design onto the foil, then the students added color. The first graders used colored sharpies to add color onto the silver foil, while the fifth graders used colored pencils to add color to the black foil. You should know that the black foil is much thinner, and therefore more likely to rip, and the only colored pencils that we are able to use were Prismacolors, as other brands would not show up on the foil.

Kindergarten Pout Pout Fish

My kindergarteners love the book The Pout Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen.

The kindergarteners love it so much that they practically have the book memorized. Since they love the book so, I decided to incorporate this into their art show. The students created their own version of a pout pout fish using crayons. After they were finished, they placed tissue paper squares on top, and then brushed water over the tissue. Once the tissue paper was dry, the squares dropped off, leaving a "watercolor" like painting behind.

Check out those pout pout lips!

One Point Perspective

So, a couple of posts ago, I explained how I like to look at other people's blogs to see what they are doing and "borrow" ideas to use in my classroom. I found a really cool picture at http://dolvinartknight.blogspot.com/ and commented that I was planning on teaching this lesson to my fourth graders. Well, my fourth graders LOVED it! They were very excited and it was a great way for them to relax before the big TCAP testing that is starting today in Metro. Here are a few pictures of the finished projects in the hallway, and a few close-ups of some exceptional ones.

We used markers for the base color (for example, in the ones above , they used marker for the blue and red), and then used colored pencils to shade in the edges.

Mayor's Art Show

Every year in Nashville, the Frist Center is host to the Mayor's Art Show. Each school in Metro chooses 2 artworks from each grade level to represent the school, and the artwork is hung in the Frist Center. There are so many schools in Metro that they have to have 2 sessions of the show, and my school was in the first section. Since we have 2 art teachers at the school, I pick one artwork from each grade level, and the other art teacher does as well. Everything is matted in black and backed with foam core, labeled and hung up. Here is what Lakeview Design Center put in the show.

I also take this time to look at what other schools are doing, and "borrow ideas." I found some great ones that I will share with you soon.

Trolling for lessons...

So now that my student teacher is gone, I know have to get back into the swing of things, and start teaching again. This last week was my first week back, but we had practice TCAP testing two days, and it was also the last week of the 9 weeks, so I was grading everything they did with Ms. Cupp. So this is a great time to plan for the next 9 weeks. One of the ways that I like to look for lessons is to cruise some of the other art teacher blogs out there. I usually head over to my friend's blog, http://artwithmre.blogspot.com/ and check out his blog roll on the side (I also sneak a peek to see where my blog is on the list, usually at the bottom the last couple of months!). I found 2 really interesting lessons that I think I will use for my 4th and 5th graders. The first one is at http://dolvinartknight.blogspot.com/ (also known as Mrs. Knight's Smartest Artists). While glancing through her blog, I noticed this picture

I love this project! It is eye-catching and I am tired of teaching one point perspective using buildings. It is also a great way to add in some tips on shading. I think that I am going to try this lesson with my 4th graders, using complimentary colors. I will post pictures when we are done with them.

The other lesson I found very interesting is from http://artiswhatiteach.blogspot.com/ (For the Love of Art)

I really like the visual texture that is created with the designs in the squares, and the fact that this projects incorporates technology, which is always welcome, even in a room that doesn't have a lot of technology. My 5th graders will be trying this lesson out, and hopefully they will have as much success as these students did!

On a side note, I have decided to add a blog roll to my blog, and if you would like me to add your blog, just add your link in the comments, and I will add them. This way it helps us both out, your blog will have another place to be seen, and I won't have to go far to troll for lessons! :)

(both pictures on this post are not my own, but have been taken from the blogs listed, to read more about these lessons, please click on the links above)

It's been two months...

I know that I haven't been blogging lately, as my friend Ted has reminded me over and over (see Ted, I'm doing it, so back off :P) but there are a multitude of reasons, the biggest one is that I have had a student teacher since January. I have been very lucky that Tanya Cupp had been assigned to me, and while she has done some amazing lessons, I felt that I didn't want to "steal her thunder" and blog about her lessons. That being said, I do have one item about having a student teacher to share with you. If you don't know me, I am very mischievous (in a good way, that is!) I love to play harmless jokes on people, and many times I get the kids to help me pull one over on their teacher. In the past, I have gift wrapped a desk, taped a doorway, hung keys from the ceiling, and so on. All in the name of good fun, I will not play a joke on someone who will not be a good sport. Back in January, when Ms. Cupp and I were getting to know one another, the subject of gnomes came up, and she offhandedly remarked that gnomes creep her out. Well, I filed that little nugget of information away and waited for the best time to use this in a moment of mischievousness, which came on her last day at Lakeview. One of my best friends, Lori, has a four year old that is in the Pre-K program here, and with her permission, I borrowed him for a few minutes. With the help of scissors, construction paper, pipe cleaners and hot glue, I had a do-it-yourself gnome that was perfect for holding the little cake I had gotten to give to Ms. Cupp as a going away present. You should have seen the look on her face when she walked in the door!

I should also note here that I have gotten permission from my friend Lori to use her son's picture on my blog. This is a must if you are posting pictures of children on the internet.