Family Art Night and Silent Auction

Our Annual Family Art Night and Silent Auction came and went. It was a huge success and I couldn't be happier with the turn out as well as the profits from the auction. I did things very similar to previous years. My preparation for this event is massive but I have gotten it down to an "art" and It comes together easier every year. I also have a co-worker that is a tremendous help and I couldn't do it with out her.

 I mount and label all the work then mount it on black butcher paper weeks prior to the show. Then I start with a team of volunteers about 1:30 the day of the show tacking up the sheets of paper onto the walls. It goes surprisingly fast. I like that the kids come back that night and the halls have been transformed.

We set up the lunchroom with tons of art activities for all guests to enjoy. Some of the centers were watercolor, still life, free collage, Legos, modeling clay, zentangles, and free drawing. We set up a little photo booth area for people to take fun pictures. Our book fair was also open this year and that was a popular stop for guests.

We served light snacks and those are always a hit. I mix up a snack mix of Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, marshmallows, and chocolate chips. It tastes like a s'more! I also have juice in the primary colors and the kids can pick two colors to see it change in their cup. Last but not least, we had our silent auction featuring canvas art made by each homeroom. It was a big success and the kids did an amazing job. Now I will go take a nap.

Youth Art Month is upon us!

I love March and Youth Art Month. I loved it so much that I had two children in March. It makes for a crazy  busy month but it's always fun to celebrate my favorite things. I put up my hall display to promote YAM as well as our school wide art show, March 21st. I had the students use one of our Friday rotation days to work on all the parts to the display. I drew out the letters and the kids painted them in. I went back and outlined them in black and it was ready to go! My kindergarten students painted all the large paper that I used to assemble the daffodils and the grass. I have a ton of work ahead of me to prepare for the art show. Last year, I had a student teacher that was a tremendous help. This year...it's just me...and I need to get to work!

Lucky Me

I am so fortunate to be able to teach my own children art. There were definitely times when I felt guilty for being a working mom but now I reap the benefits. I get to have them with me at school. I get to watch my little guy in Kindergarten make his self portrait and it is killing me with cuteness.

ChIcKeNs! ChIcKeNs! ChIcKeNs!

First grade students have been working on some fabulous collage art that I want to share. They aren't quite finished but I felt the need to photograph their work and share it today because I just love them. The lesson began with an introduction of Eric Carle's collage techniques and his use of painted papers to add texture and a realistic quality to his art. The kids made painted papers during the first class time. The next class time I introduced two books to them. Blue Chicken and Chicken Big are both Georgia Picture Book Award nominees. Chicken Big also happens to be one of my favorite books. It is hilarious.

The kids spent the next two classes hearing the books, comparing the characters, and summarizing the stories. This took the first 10-15 minutes of class, and they spent the remainder of time creating chickens with the painted papers from the previous week. They made the chickens without gluing them to a background. The next class times were spent on creating a background scene to glue their chicken into. The first graders used tissue paper in shades of greens and blues and liquid starch to paint on the tissue. They added additional textures to their grass and sky with tempera paint. On the day these photos were taken, they glued in their chickens and started adding other "farm" elements of their choice to the back ground. These aren't quite finished but they came to life when they added the chickens in today. I love my job.

self portraits with personality

I recently began a self portrait lesson with second grade and I debated over how I wanted to begin with them. I think I have talked on here before about how I often will let my students jump right in and draw with markers or the paint rather than having them start with a pencil. There is definitely a mixture of pros and cons to both approaches. I really wanted these portraits to have lots of personality and I find that sometimes when they start with a pencil, they end up erasing all of their "personality". So, we jumped right in and they "drew" with a paintbrush and black tempera paint. We will begin painting in the color next week. I like using colored construction paper too because I like the way the paint looks on top.

 I love this one with his head cocked to the side. He probably would have erased it...if we could :)

 Yes, I need to clean my tables. bad.

Mixed Media Collage

My Third Grade students have been working on a mixed media collage with a bird theme. We looked at the art of Allison Strine. She is a Georgia artist. She's not really famous. From what I understand, she is a mom and lives a pretty normal life as a working artist. The kids loved looking at her work and can appreciate her humor. I like showing my students the work of current working artists. It's important for them to understand that not all artists are dead, lived in Europe, and lived eccentric lives. We spent a lot of time talking about symbols and how artists use them to tell a story. I wanted my students to use the birds as sort of a non traditional self portrait and although they don't look at all like them, this art could tell a story about them. I offered the kids a huge variety of materials to work with like newspaper, painted papers, magazines, fabric, scrapbook paper and buttons. I didn't give them to them all at once but offered a new material each week. They are turning out really quirky and fun and I love them.

A New Year and Grandma Moses

I'm back! I didn't mean to have a month between my last post but the flu hit our house and then Christmas happened. busy. busy. busy. We are slowly getting back in to the routine of school. I always start to feel panicked after the new year with lots of plans and ideas to cram in before the "end of the year rush" hits. I will share some art that my second graders recently finished. They learned about the landscape art of Grandma Moses. They colored them with oil pastels and went back into them with a wash of watercolor. I think Ol' Grandma would be proud.