Showing posts with label fourth grade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fourth grade. Show all posts

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Published in a Magritte Activity Book!

Last winter I was contacted by Liesbeth Elseviers who is an editor of children's books in Belgium. They were working on a fun Magritte activity book for children to celebrate an upcoming exposition on Magritte's work. Liesbeth had seen one of my Magritte lessons on this here blog and asked if it could be featured in the book. I happily agreed and then promptly forgot all about the book. Until it arrived on my doorstep from the Netherlands. Look how absolutely stunning this book is!
 A few months ago, when Liesbeth sent me the page proof, I was blown away. She and her team really did a beautiful job with the layout and design of the book. Flipping through the pages, each page is a work of art with a large variety of Magritte-inspired art activities for kids. 
 The book is in English as well as French and Dutch. 
 Isn't it a beauty? Y'all can check out my Magritte-inspired projects here, our mural here and my Magritte costume here
 I thought I would share a little flip through so you can see all that the book has to offer. It would be a great book for kids to use independently, for teachers to use as a teaching tool and sketchbook inspiration. 
I love activities that give the kids quiet sketch time. Telling them the story of how Magritte came up with his surrealistic ideas would be a great jumping point for our kids to come up with ideas outside the box. 
So much inspiration here! I'm thrilled and honored to be apart of such a beautiful book based on such a wonderful artist. 
So where can you get your copy? Currently the book is only available to friends in Belgium and The Netherlands. You can purchase here. If interested in overseas shipping, try contacting the folks here. The book will be available in the land of Oz at the Australian Museum of Modern Art. 

 photo signature_zpsd10b3273.png
Read more »

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

In the Art Room: Sew a Softie!

I was recently contacted by the author of Sew Together, Grow Together, Trixi Symonds. She's the founder of Sew a Softie (check out the #sewasoftie on Instagram for some fun inspiration!) and has a fun sewing opportunity coming up in the month of July. I'm definitely joining the fun...and I thought you might want to as well. 
Trixi lives in Sydney, Australia where she has been teaching hand sewing to children for over 20 years. She coordinates workshops and leads sessions at galleries, bookstores, schools, you name it. Her goal is to encourage adults to share the love of stitching with children by providing cute, creative and fun sewing tutorials. Are you sold yet? I love her already! 
Trixi came to me with her idea of making July Sew-a-Softie month and asked if I'd be interested in joining the fun. Of course I agreed...and thought y'all might want to as well. Here are the details from Trixi:

The aim of Sew a Softie is to show both adults and kids that hand sewing is fun, creative, fulfilling, and that absolutely everyone can do it. Throughout the month of July simple to sew softie tutorials will be posted daily online. You can find them on the Sew a Softie Facebook page, the Coloured Buttons blog and the Sew a Softie website. Also, check out colouredbuttons on Instagram

You could take part by posting a softie tutorial and join the blog hop or by sewing softies with a group of friends or students anytime in July and posting on Instagam with the tag #sewasoftie.

Thanks, Trixi! I know I'm excited to get started.
I mentioned that Trixi is a book author, you can find her book here!
To clarify, if you want to join the Sew a Softie fun, be sure to follow Trixi's Facebook page. There you can find daily softie sewing inspiration as well as share your own ideas and creations. If you share on Instagram, don't forget to use #sewasoftie. I know I'm looking forward to lots of new tips, tricks and sewing project ideas for my students. 
Doesn't this sound like fun? For more inspiration, be sure to check out Trixi's blog and Instagram. It's sure to get your wheels turning. These cute images are from there. 
I know my students absolutely love sewing and had a blast with our Stitched Monster project. I think this will be a fun way to gain new ideas and collaborate with hand sewing enthusiasts all over the world. I hope you'll join the fun!

 photo signature_zpsd10b3273.png
Read more »

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

In the Art Room: Bobble Head Pets UPDATE!

BRACE YOURSELF FOR THE CUTE. This is just a handful of the Bobble Head Pets that my fourth graders created and each one is so stinkin' adorable! If I had any patience at all, I would have waited until the next crop of cute was unloaded from the kiln before blogging but I just couldn't wait (one being fired now has a monocle and a top hat while another has a spiked collar...I'll just have to do a follow up post to this here follow up post)! The kids loved this project...and the results from each are just precious. 
We learned some things along the way: keep the point at the top of the body very pointy as that helps the head rotate and bobble better. Glazing both the inside of the head and the top of the point also makes for a better bobble. 
These creations took us three one-hour art classes to create. On the first day, we made the body. MANY of the bodies were so thick that I just KNEW they were going to explode in the kiln...but none of them did! Stay tuned for a long overdue Art Teacherin' 101 this week on my fave clay tips and I'll share with you how I prevented explosions. 

On the second day, we made the head. With extra time and extra clay we made doggie dishes, toys, mice for our cats, you name it, they created it. On our final day, after a bisque firing, we glazed! Here's the demo video I created and used. Feel free to use in your art teacherin' adventures! 
This lesson was also shared in my book! You'll have to buy the book to see just what animal I made bobble.
You can pick up your book here...keep in mind that the release date isn't until June. A fun summer surprise in your mailbox, ha! 

All the projects in my book were created with air dry, oven bake or homemade clay...but many of them could be done with kiln fired clay, like this project! I'll be exploring all kinds of clay projects next month during my LIVE craft nights! You should join the fun, you can create with ANY clay. But I'll be exploring a variety of air dry, plaster and homemade clay...
Pick up your clay kit here and get ready to craft with me LIVE on Facebook at 8 pm CST next week! 

So, true facts: not all of the heads bobble freely. Many of them are pretty stationary. BUT...the kids are having so much fun gently rotating the heads and getting them to tilt just like a real pup or kitten. Just moving them a little totally changes the look of the sculpture!
 Many of the kids created their beloved pets. 
 We use Mayco's Stroke and Coat. I give the kids EVERY color in the rainbow because, well, who doesn't want to have a lot of options. I picked up tons of ice cube trays from the Dollar Tree and put a different color in each slot. I labeled each slot on the tray so that the kids would know what color they were using since the colors can change so drastically in the kiln. I encourage at least three coats of glaze for just the right amount of shine. We also have our dog dishes (ha!) of water and sponge for cleaning brushes. I recently had a teacher ask how I teach the kids not to mix colors. I usually do something like this: DON'T MIX THE COLORS! And that works. 
Seriously, my kids have been painting since kindergarten. They know that we always keep our paint brushes pointy by painting with just the tip; we always clean our brush in the water and dry on the sponge before changing colors. It's rare that I have kids mix colors...especially my older students. I encourage pride in artwork and I think they know that taking care of art supplies will create a beautiful masterpiece. 
And, again, I say: DON'T MIX THE COLORS! Usually one talking to and explanation as to why we don't do that does the trick. And, if all else fails, take the paint away. If you can't use the supplies correctly, so sorry, you are done for the day. 
 Rant over! Back to the cute.
As y'all know, we are having a pet shop theme for our art show. These guys are in charge of the cats and dogs. Now we just have to work on transforming the art room into a pet shop! We have some ideas cooking about how to make that happen. 
These kids have made so many 3-D works this year: bobble heads, candy hearts, sewn monsters! They are going to dominate at the art show. 
 I swear their eyes follow me around the art room!
 Have y'all done bobble heads before? What did you do differently?
Until next time! 
 photo signature_zpsd10b3273.png
Read more »

Monday, April 10, 2017

In the Art Room: Stitched Monsters, Update!

Now that Clay Week(s) has come to an end, it's back to business as usual in the art room. In order for all of my kids to work with clay at once, I have the kids "push the pause button" on whatever we are currently working on. That means, after clay week, we un-pause and resume what we left behind. For fourth grade, that meant our Stitched Monsters! Here is the lesson video I created for this project. Feel free to use in your art teacherin' town!
Out of all the projects we have done this year, my kids have ranked this one very close to the top. Clay was a first place winner, of course, but it was a tight race. Many of my students have started sewing at home, bringing in their pillows, monsters and other creations. I remember when I was first introduced to hand sewing as a kid. It felt like a whole new world of creating was opened up to me. I think the kids are feeling the same. 
 I really liked having the kids use Smart Fab for the body as this made it easy for them to see thru and insure they were "capturing" the arms and the legs of the monster as they stitched. Once the stitching was complete and the monster was flipped to the correct side, if they noticed that part of their arm or leg was not securely attached, the kids had to go back and restitch. This really taught them the importance of good, even stitches. 
Once flipped, the kids had to complete a sketch of their monster. This sheet asked them questions about their monsters to really get their creative juices flowing. Once the sketch was done, they were to slide a card into their monster, cut the shapes of the face and glue them down with tacky glue. The card inside made it so the monster would not be glued together. 
Not until the kids started stuffing their monsters did they really seem to understand that they were creating a stuffie. One told me he was going to go home, make a bunch and sell them. Right on, dude! I had many requests to take them home today...but I need them for the art show! Give me a month, y'all.
Have y'all done stuffed monsters with your kids? I know there are may ways to go about making them. 
 Earlier this year, one of my sweet students gave me a small stuffed monster with a rectangular body and dangling arms and legs. That look is what I based this pattern on. 
Learning to sew monsters this way taught my students how to properly pin, stitch and create a monster. I definitely think this is a lesson worth repeating! 
Love to hear about your students stitchery projects! 
 photo signature_zpsd10b3273.png
Read more »

Thursday, March 9, 2017

In the Art Room: Folk Art Still Life

 Hey, y'all! A handful of my second graders got really close to being finished with their Folk Art Still Life which was my sub plan while I was out last week. I am so thrilled with their hard work (as are they) that I just had to share. Many of them are still adding flowers and leaves so I'm only sharing a handful. Their next step is adding small details with puffy paint which you know I love as much as they do. Here is the lesson video that my sub used with all of my students, kindergarten thru fourth grade:
Speaking of sub, if you need any tips, tricks and/or sub plans, I just hosted a Facebook LIVE chat last night on that very topic! The chat and all of the commentary is archived on my official Facebook page if you are interested. We have been doing those live chats for the last couple of months and they are blast. Well over 100 art teachers join in each time and it's a great way to share. So if you aren't busy on Wednesday night at 8pm CST, be sure and pop by!
While they were with the sub, some of my students had one 30 minute art class while others had two. So what the sub was able to accomplish was beyond her control. What I love about having a recorded lesson (and a project that the kids are in progress) is that when I return, I don't have to scramble to slap together lesson plans. I can just pick up where the sub left off. 
 With the sub, my students were able to get their sticks done and glued down to the background. When I came back this week, my students worked on their vases and flowers. By next week, they should have all of their flowers and leaves complete and be ready to add some puffy paint. 
One thing that was not in the video was the oil pastel background. One of the kids added color to the background with the bright oil pastels and we all lost our minds...brilliant! So we all had to do the same. You know how that goes, right?!
I know they aren't complete...but I just had to share! I think these are so pretty and perfect for spring and Mother's Day. If you give this project a go, you'll have to let me know. 

 photo signature_zpsd10b3273.png
Read more »