Mom and Me

After learning about Mary Cassat, my 2nd and 3rd grade students made Mom and Me portraits.  They came out very nice and a sweet gift for Mother's Day.

Nativity with Burning Bush

At Christmas Time students imitated aNativity with Burning bush by Albert Herbert.  I love this painting and I love how the kids chalk/glue resist paintings came out. 

Classroom Management

Art production is what I call an "organic experience." What I mean by organic is that the knowledge fostered within the art room causes visible growth physically, intellectually, and spiritually within students. A successful art room is structured with openness and freedom for growth in the:

understanding about the purpose of art (at the elementary level I stress art's ability to document human emotion and experiences)

understanding and use of materials

The growth is is so active that the process seems to happen magically and without control, this of course would not be true. While there is enormous freedom within the classroom there are rights and wrongs. Good classroom management is the foundation for success in the art room.

Some of the methods I use are:
1. Orientation about the learning and behavior expectations in the artroom
2. Student contracts that coincide with classroom expectations
3. Expectations posted in the room year round
4. Recording what each class's lesson is on the board
5. Writing key points about the lesson on the board
6. Using visuals such as learning posters and notebooks with lesson handouts to guide students through the steps in the lesson
7. Designating student responsibility with the help of table "keys"
8. Seating charts
9. Designated areas for materials and artwork
10. Establishing routines and procedures for taking care of materials
11. Establishing routines and procedures for handing back work (table boxes, baggies, and clips)
12. Behavior charts
13. Using daily folders with class lists, and behavior charts
14. Storing teacher's lesson examples in a designated area

Ensuring that students record their name and their teacher's name on their paper is the most troublesome concern for any teacher. I find that this is one behavior that requires constant and unstressed reinforcement by the teacher. The words "Put your name on your paper" or using a question to prompt them about what they should do first should be spoken daily by the teacher.

Routines for Instruction
1. During whole group Part 1 the teacher will introduce the lesson, have students look at examples (PowerPoint)and discuss the purpose of the artwork, and establish the goals of the project.
2. Whole group Part 2 will introduce the materials and methods. Depending on the project, I will demonstrate how to do the entire project.
3. The teacher will instruct one step and students will respond

Making "Blue Willow" Story Plates

For reading festival students went to various "countries."  Each classroom shared a story from a foriegn country.  Teachers also provided a project to extend the lesson.  The 7th and 8th grade classroom was China and the story of the Blue Willow Pattern by Allan Drummond. 

As part of the presentation I made my own blue story plate which illustrates me getting a little chick one Easter morning.  He was named Eggbert until we thought he might be a she; then we named her Eggberta. After some time the chicken crowed and had to leave our subdivision. Eggbert was taken to live on the farm. 

My plate has an authentic feel because I drew the design onto a ceramic plate spray painted white.  I used permenent markers but they need some time to dry/set.  Drawing has to be done carefully to avoid smudging your work.  I gave my plate a clear coat to protect my work.   

Still Teaching Art - but in Small Amounts

 This is Mekayla age 9.  She helped me to upcycle some country angels made by my sister-in-law, Nancy.

 Nancy was surprised that we still had these angels; they have been around awhile. 

 Mekayla and I used old curtain rings for decoration. 

 We spray painted, painted and attached odds and ends.

Voila! New contemporary angels!

Making Peach Blossom Land

A
Cardboard, masking tape and shoe polish were used to make wood.

B
This is the boat pattern.

C
Oil based clay was used to make food. Here a student is making Mandarin oranges.

D
Wooden people were painted flesh colored. When the paint was dry a permanent marker was used to draw on hair and faces.

E

F
Tree trunks were made using trunk tape, rubber cement, and paper towel tubes.

G
Peach blossoms were made from paper dyed. Colored water was dripped onto watercolor paper with a dropper.

H
Flowers were punched out with a die cutter. Smaller petals were punched out with a mini-hole punch.

I
Trunks were attached to blossom clouds.

J
The blossom clouds were painted with dots to add depth.

K
Red beads were glued to the center of the punched blossoms.

L
Wooden blocks were glued together to make houses.

M

To inform the production research of clothing, houses, boats, flowers, and food was done on the Internet.
The only purchase made for the production was the flower die cutter. All other materials were laying around waiting to be used. Nearly all of the materials were donated.

Peach Blossom Land

This short film was produced to demonstrate Movie maker to students as a fun way to inform an audience about their interests and learning.

I began by selecting a story which I could easily visualize in my head. I determined the number of scenery and characters I would need. Then began sketching out a story board. I decided to use 3D and 2D illustration, along with video. I didn't use stop action animation, rather I incorporated multiple scenes which provided more visual body for telling the story. Stop action would have been more appropriate if I was doing a short 30 second film.
The activity is a lesson in discipline and creative thinking. Creating the scenery and props took many hours (very fun work though), but the actual film is only four and a half minutes long. The process reminded me of preparing Thanksgiving dinner.

How I look at TV commercials changed during the process. I paid more attention to the "tricks" used for improving visual and content impact.

The film could be used to discuss: making short films using Movie maker, the meaning of the story, ethics in film making and more. Maybe I'll be able to teach this process to some willing students. I do need better filming equipment, however even with a rudimentary camera a charming film can be made.