Friday, August 26, 2011

Target Family Thursdays!



Do you know about the Target Family Thursdays? It is a great opportunity for those of us right here in Atlanta (check to see if your own city participates here). Target Family Thursdays will be at the Woodruff Arts Center, September 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd. There will be lots of family and educational programming from all the artistic divisions- Alliance Theatre, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, High Museum of Art & Young Audiences- and all activities are FREE.

Some of the activities include:

• Theatre for the Very Young, A Child's Garden of Verses presented by the Alliance Theatre

• Acting Workshops

• Toddler Thursday

• Family Tours of the High Museum of Art

• flashArt: Making for Teens and more

• Into the Woods

Visit the Woodruff Arts Center for a complete list of scheduled activities and to register!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Art Room Bulletin Boards

Every August I get excited to get my room ready for a new year. This year was no exception. As I hung some new things and some of my old favorites it occured to me that often times I am looking on the internet for art classroom displays and rarely find inspiration. Today I am going to share. Do you have a picture of your classroom you would like to share too? Email me!


This is my main bulletin board in my art room. I always make this display a variation of a color wheel theme! A special shout out to my friend Andy for making me as the ring leader!


My traffic light needs a little updating, but it works to let the children know if they are getting too loud. My helping chart makes everything fair and the students know that every Monday morning I change it to be a different colored table. Those students are the only students allowed to be out of their seats to help with supplies.


A close-up of my helping chart.


This year's variation of my world wall. I have made little banners as the decoration all over the room and it's made everything very colorful.


And here is one of my favorite things - the art room clock!!!



Saturday, August 20, 2011

Keith Haring Sculpture Lesson


Every year at my elementary school I try to make one permanent piece of art with my students that will stay long after they are gone as their legacy. It also makes our school bright with art and very kid friendly. This Keith Haring sculpture is one of those projects. It has been a big hit on Pinterest so I thought I would blog about it here. I used pressure treated plywood, house paint, and paint markers to make this project, but it could just as easily be done with foam core/cardboard for a less permanent installation. Students designed the figures and I cut out two identical outlines of the figures. One had a slit from the top of the head to the middle. The other had a slit from the bottom to the middle. This makes the two pieces slide together and stand up! Then they were painted and the students went back in with paint markers to add the Keith Haring inspired designs. There were 5 of these when we first made them - some red, yellow, and blue. They have been outside our school for 6 years now braving the elements. I smile every time I see them!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Elementary Art Lesson Plans


It's always exciting this time of year to consider all the fun art lessons that lay ahead of me. I am not an art teacher that likes to teach the same lessons year after year. It's more fun for me and therefore more fun for my students if I change it up. Of course this makes for a lot more work! Where I teach we are required to have our lesson plans printed and on our desks at all times. Lesson plans take many forms, especially elementary art lessons. Most of my projects require a lesson plan 3-4 pages long. This takes time! As I enter the 2011-2012 school year I am excited to write new lessons this year so that they can be shared here.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Chihuly


This photograph of my student Chihuly sculpture has been up on my flickr site for about 3 years. It is one of my most top viewed images! So in the spirit of generating more traffic for my new blog - not to be confused with my old blog - or my other blog....I have decided to post directions on how to make it here!

I started by collecting as many recycled water bottles as I could with my students. The original plan was to have a warm colored sculpture AND a cool colored sculpture. In the end we only made one because it required so many bottles we ran out! Students used various colors of watered down acrylic paint and swirled it around the inside of the water bottles. When the bottles were dry I used a box cutter to cut small slits in the bottom of each one. Students then used this hole to begin cutting their bottles in a spiral from the bottom to the mouth piece. Students wired their bottles at the top with some floral wire and then made another one (and another, and another).

The armature was a cone a created out of chicken wire. Just imagine a giant ice cream cone and that is what it looked like. I used a little wire to hold it together and a stronger piece of wire across the top so it would hang. Students then took individual bottles and attached them to the armature through the chicken wire holes. That was it - so simple!

Saturday, August 6, 2011

New Year - New Word Wall

It's almost my favorite day of school. The 1st Day! Every year I get so excited to see the kids again. Dressed in their new clothes, fresh haircuts, and the wee ones looking like turtles with their giant backpacks! I have one week left before they arrive and lots to do!



As I was getting my word wall ready for this year it occurred to me that I have more words than I can usually fit. This is the biggest board in my room so it is the only choice. I think this year I am going to make the words over and try to make them smaller so as I put them up throughout the year I have room for more! Hope you are having fun setting up your art room!