Visual Literacy Celebration 2016

Visual Literacy Celebration = 514 works of art hanging in the gymnasium with qr codes! Each student created an artwork based on the following: how they feel, what they remember, what they see, or what they imagined. Students came up with such great works of art I was inspired to create a green screen video of each student talking about his/her art. That's right - students were actually standing in their artwork! It was a pretty awesome thing to do even though that meant during the videos a few squeaking chairs, coughs, and giggles! We did it though and it all turned out great!!

CLAY - WE LOVE CLAY

If you want to engage students hand them a chunk of clay and see what happens! Do you want to know? Let me PAINT the picture - little smiles and sparkly eyes. Students love clay and that's way I always start clay in December. Why? We create our projects right up until the day of winter break. That way students are engaged even though winter break is right around the corner. The other reason I create clay in December is because custodians can clean the room of clay dust while we are away. When students return they know what is waiting for them and they can't wait to see their - CLAY! We glaze the month of January which once again jumps them right back into the school biz... So if you are looking to ENGAGE students give them CLAY!

TAB - Teaching for Artistic Behaviors

Wow!!! I'm exploring TAB - Teaching for Artistic Behaviors in the art room. Students are engaged and full of joy while experimenting Students make personal decisions for their art. I found a great poster on pinterest (of course :) that illustrated a great "how to" poster for students. It goes like this - First, get an idea! We talked about how artists are inspired. Second, select and gather materials. Third, set up a work space and CREATE! Fourth, engage and Persist on one artwork for 3 class periods. This one will be difficult. I predict we might have some students who really want to recycle! Last, revise / edit and SHARE! I started by opening the drawing area - I gave them a quick "how to" pick up materials and use appropriately. Next, I opened up the painting area and OH BOY did we have some paint drips on the floor when we were independently picking up our materials. Yes it is hard to carry watercolors like a lunch tray. Class after class I felt it was important to try picking up the materials so they experienced walking back to the counter themselves. This next week I'll be opening the Collage area. This time students will rotate around the room trying different ways to collage. I'm so happy to be giving students the opportunity to TRY - EXPERIMENT - CREATE!!

The Art of Mexico

Mexico!!! Students began studying Mexico by traveling around the room to different learning stations: building an Aztec pyramid, creating a tissue paper flower inspired by Frida, painting fruit, drawing a still life of fruit for our Marketplace, drawing the Mexican flag, and designing a sugar skull. Students loved to explore and move around the room learning!

Square 1 Art

We have been busily creating our Square 1 Art projects! After we made our marks during The first week we learned that artists need to be inspired to create art. We were inspired by artists, nature and objects around us. We will complete this artwork during the month of October so we can send all art into the company. Students will receive a catalog and a free sticker sheet! I will post pictures soon of our projects! Reminder open house is on Thursday, October 1st. Come visit the art room and make your mark on a canvas.

Back to the art room!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful summer! I'm so glad to be back to the classroom. Students learned that "starting" art is sometimes the biggest challenge! We read a great book called "The Dot". The young student discovered that even a DOT can be art as long as you experiment! Art is all about making mistakes and finding that those mistakes are happy accidents.

It's not paint! It's GLAZE! Check out the clay!!

January was all about CLAY! Pssst the 5th graders are still waiting to do their clay project!! 5th graders were very busy creating their Square 1 Art project for the fundraiser. This year all students were able to (or still will) experience GLAZE. It was quite an experience to witness student faces when seeing their glossy clay project for the first time. Some asked, "Is it still wet?" I've been sending home clay projects and still have a few more to send. Hopefully all projects have made it safe and sound! Keep checking their backpacks! The first picture of the glazed clay was when I first opened the kiln. It was still hot so the colors appear dark. After the clay cools they turn more vibrant as you can see in the second picture. The last two images are glazed projects before going into the kiln. The students had to apply two coats of glaze and really worked hard at covering it well!