Matisse Cut-Outs

For our lesson on Matisse I chose his cut outs to focus on.  For 4th and 5th graders I showed a short video clip that described Matisse and his cut out process.  Here's the link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLgSd8ka0Gs

We discussed his process and focused on the difference between geometric and organic shapes.  I had the students focus on organic shapes but had them add geometric in where needed.  We used glue sponges to glue construction paper into these glorious art pieces.  (By the way if you haven't tried glue sponges please do!  Another post another time.)  I'm very proud of them for the hard work they did.  Some students took it a little bit further and made visible images out of them as well and not just shapes.  Here's how they turned out!  I hope you like them! 

Lego Character Design

My students loved this and were asking for extra copies!  It was a "fun friday" and a colleague gave me a Lego character template.  I thought the kids would like it so I designed one of my own as an example and let their creativity flow.  They really took it seriously and they loved it!  All K-5 grades were begging fore more copies.  Here's my example:

They created some really good ones!  Here's some student examples in action!

Here's the template if you want to try it in your classroom.  It also makes a great sub assignment if you need one!  If this photo doesn't work just google "Lego template" and it should come up.

Low budget? No problem!

If you're in a school district that has a low budget for the fine arts this can come in handy.  Here's a few tips on how to supplement your supplies for the year.

1.  At the beginning of the school year, look up Reddits Gifts for Teachers.  You can sign up for it, it's free, and a donor will donate supplies to you based on what you have requested. 

You can find more information on Reddit's Gifts for Teachers here:
https://www.redditgifts.com/exchanges/reddit-gifts-teachers/

2. Donors Choose is a wonderful platform for teachers.  It enables you to get materials for your classroom that you are lacking with the help of donations.  Now this is not as easy as Reddits, you have to put some work into it.  First they require you to sign up (it's free), and verify your employment at your school.  Once that has been verified you can start a campaign.  For your campaign it will lead you step by step through the questionnaire.  Make sure you read the directions because it will send you back to do it again if you didn't follow them.  Then you get to go "shopping".  You can go to one of their affiliate pages and pick out what you want.  Majority of art suppliers are on the list, so no worries there.  Then when finished it will take you through some more questions.  You will have to have the campaign approved by one of their staff members so this part will take a few days.  After it has been approved you have to campaign for your classroom.  Share to social media, send out an email to everyone, do what you have to do.  You have to get those first small donations in there.  Once you do, donors on the Donors Choose website will start adding to your funds.  The best tip I can give about Donors Choose is to make sure you watch for donation matching opportunities and post them.  Also when you get emails about special offerings like Chevron's Fuel Your School you MUST jump on it.  Companies that do this with Donors Choose will usually fill your entire donation in one shot.  Oh and one more tip.  Keep your donation amounts low.  If you ask for $1000 in supplies you're likely not to get it.  If you ask for $400 or less it can get filled quickly.  And if your donation doesn't get filled at all, it's ok!  Try, try again.

After you get your supplies, make sure you follow the steps necessary for your campaign.  They will want you to post pictures, write about your students experience with the materials, and in some cases they require you to have the students write thank you letters.  Do not skip this ending step or they will not let you use the program again. 

3. Hit up your local recycling center!  If you're in need of supplies that you're not likely to find in a catalog, take a trip to your local recycling center and do a little shopping.  Most items you get there will be free or very low cost.  Items from these places will be more like your cardboard, plastic and metal containers, wire, paper goods (not the quality drawing/painting paper).  

4.  If you don't like the donation route you can always turn to fundraising.  I don't know much about these because I don't use them, but there are definitely options.  Here's a few I know about that you can look up.  Make sure that you have approval with your school to do a fundraiser first as well.

Artsonia
Art to Remember
Square 1 Art
Original Works
Kids Art Fairs
Artome
Kids Kards
Silver Graphics
Kids Kreations

Here's a good chart showing you about them from The Art of Education:
http://www.theartofed.com/2012/06/08/the-ultimate-guide-to-art-fundraisers/

For information about Artome you can visit here:
http://www.artome.com/

For information about Kids Kards you can visit here:
https://www.kidskards.com/

For information about Silver Graphics you can visit here:
http://www.silvergraphics.com/

For information about Kids Kreations you can visit here:
https://kidskreations.us/

Good luck to you!

Rainbow Xylophones!

Here's a good lesson I did with Kinder and 1st grade.  It is called Rainbow Xylophones.  This was during our lesson on colors and reviewing the order of the colors based on primaries and secondaries. 

I prepped construction paper in the rainbow colors for every student.  They had to glue them down in rainbow order.  After they were done gluing, they added small details and they had to write the words Rainbow Xylophone!  To add a little zazz to this lesson, I borrowed a Xylophone from the music teacher and played a little for my students!  If they finished correctly and on time, I let them play a little on it as well.  The smile and "I did it!" on their faces when they got the right order was worth all of the prep time it took!

Tried and True Kandinsky Circles

Since this is my first year teaching elementary level art, I decided to go with a tried and true lesson for one of my first lessons this year.  The Kandinsky circles were really fun to do and I was able to adapt it to all grade levels. 

We started out with a short lesson on Kandinsky with pictures of the artist and his works of art.  We talked about how Kandinsky liked to use shapes.  We reviewed types of shapes.  The lesson on shapes was a little more extensive for kinder and 1st and more of a review for 2nd through 5th.

I had the students fold their paper into sections.  Kinder had a half sheet and folded in half, 1st and 2nd folded a full sheet in to 4 squares, and 3rd through 5th grade folded a full sheet into 6 squares.  I hadn't received my supplies for the year at that time so I just had them use crayons to color the circles
We also had a brief discussion about color choices and making sure that we didn't put like colors next to one another because we needed the contrast for the rings to show up.  Over all the students enjoyed it.  They didn't want to stop making it until they were completely finished, which is always a good thing.  Here's a sample of a complete work.

Tempera Tape Resist Painting

Welcome to my blog! I'm just the art teacher here.  I teach kindergarten through 5th grade Art.  Let me go ahead and jump right in here!  Here's one of my favorite lessons to do with my students.  They loooooooove this lesson.  Tempera tape resist paintings!

First I have them put their names on the back of a good quality watercolor paper, at least 80lb.  After that we get out the masking tape and start taping our paper into sections.

After that we paint over it using tempera cakes and water.  I let them choose their colors and mix colors.  My classroom has one major rule when painting, you only get primary colors to mix with.  Well... plus black and white but I don't consider those colors.  Their favorite part about this assignment was coming back the next week and removing the tape!  So much fun!