First Week Project

Last week was the first week of school, so I needed a simple easy lesson.  I found this wonderful lesson on Pinterest.  Unfortunately, I am unsure what blog or website it originally came from because it was pinned incorrectly. If this is your lesson, please let me know so I can give you proper credit.

For this lesson, I had each student create one 5 inch by 5 inch circle design.  The circles were simply cut out of construction paper, and glued to their square piece.  After the students created their designs, I hung them on the wall in the art room.  It certainly has brightened up my room!

New School Year

The school year begins tomorrow, and my room is ready for the kids.  I am quite excited for the beginning of the school year because I am no longer a traveling art teacher.  Previously, I taught at three schools, and had almost 2,000 students.  This year, my principal decided he wanted a full time art teacher, so he used his school budget to buy out my position.  I am so excited to be stationed in one school and to see my students more regularly.  This year, I will see each class once a week for 35 minutes.  I have 28 classes and about 850 students.

 Looking forward to starting a new school year tomorrow, and hopefully there will be many new posts to come.

Changes

It's been months since I have posted anything.  This is because I recently got married.  Between working a summer job, getting married, and moving, I just haven't had time to post.  However, now that school is only a few weeks away, hopefully things will begin slowing down, and I will be able to focus more on art lessons and keeping my blog updated.

There will be quite a few changes coming for me this school year.  First, I will have to get used to a new name.  Instead of being Ms V, I will now be Mrs. B.  Also, I will be beginning a new job this year.  In the past, I have always traveled between three schools.  However, this year, I am lucky enough to be at just one.  The largest school I taught at last school year decided they wanted a full time art teacher, so they used their own budget to buy out the rest of my position.  I am so excited to be at one school, and to see the students more consistently.  Instead of teaching almost 2,000 students, like I have in the past, I will only have about 850.

Mini Clay Masks, 4th Grade

 I found the idea for this lesson on, http://www.johnpost.us/clay-lessons/clay-mask/clay-masks.html. He has a lot of really great clay ideas on his website. 

 To begin, I made plaster molds out of apple containers.  Using a slab of clay, students used these plaster molds to form the mask. Then, students added details to their mask.  Some students made animals, some made monsters, and some made aliens. 

Lastly, students glazed their artwork. 

These are wonderful! and the students are very proud of them. 

Art Advice Needed

My colleagues and I have been pondering ways to make the school more beautiful.  One suggestion was to paint the ceiling tiles in the school.  (You know, those ugly white ceiling tiles that can be easily taken down).  Well, I thought it was a wonderful idea, but now I am pondering the logistics.  I need some advice.  First, Has anyone done this in their school?  Second, If we did do this, What kind of paint should I use?.  Third, Will this break fire codes, and will the fire marshall make us take it down?  I would love to hear some ideas on this.

Washable tempera

I have gone most of this year with very few art supplies.  There were numerous problems, but basically the art order I had made this year got mixed up and I ended up either getting the wrong supplies, or not getting what I ordered at all.  After calling the company, I found out that it wasn't their fault, it was a mixup in the county's ordering system.  Anyway, to make a long story short, I ran out of drawing paper half way through the year, and am running extremely low on paints, glue, and pastels.  This means I have been begging for art supplies from everyone.  I have asked classroom teachers to send me any art supplies they are not using.  As a result, I have been given an interesting assortment of supplies.

One of the things that was generously donated was several gallons of washable tempera paint. Until recently, I had not used washable tempera in my art class.  I have always used Sax Versa Temp for my classroom.  I had not realized how spoiled I was.  Washable tempera is nothing like Versa Temp.  It is watered down, and sometimes dries transparent.  Students have to paint 2-3 coats to make their painting look nice.  I have been racking my brain for ways to make the washable tempera better.  Does any know of an additive that can be added to tempera paint to make it thicker?  I know that their are many acrylic mediums out there to change the consistency of acrylic paint, but I have never seen anything for tempera.  I would love to hear any suggestions.

Ships, 3rd Grade

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I try to integrate art into the core subjects as much as possible.  In fact, it is actually in my job description.  When I heard that my third graders were reading stories about voyages, I just had to do an art project on ships.  For this lesson, I let my students choose any kind of ship; pirate, viking, pilgrim, Greek, etc.  However, most of my students wanted to do pirate ships.

 Students began by creating a ship out of construction paper.  I also gave the students an option of creating a sea monster.  After the ship and monster was created, students painted their background.  For this, I gave my students blue and white paint.  Once the background was painted, students glued their ship to their paper.  Overall, this was a simple project, but the results are rather fun!