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.

Empty Bowls Dinner 2012

Our Empty Bowls Dinner was a HUGE success. All of the students and teachers work really paid off. We tripled the amount of money we raised at $4,400! The students made collaborative bowls as a homeroom and we sold those in a silent auction. The auction really helped us raise more money. We also had local ceramic artists donate work to be sold and it proved to be a popular part, as well. The hosts, hostesses, bus boys, and bus girls were, once again, the stars of the show. They would walk guests in to the food line, seat them at their tables, and take their drink orders. Parents were so impressed with the manners and poise these students showed. The program "Perfectly Polished" is to credit for their skills in conversation and manners. Kids can join Perfectly Polished when they are in 5th grade. They work after school to learn table manners, conversational skills, public speaking and they even learn to dance. The completed bowls turned out beautifully and were flying out the door with families as they left. I am always a little sad to see them go after working so hard with the students to get them made. We had performers from all around town. There were dance teams, chorus groups, pianists, soloists, and even dramatic performances from Oconee Youth Playhouse. I am so proud to be involved in this meaningful event and to be able to give the proceeds to "Food For Kids".

 

 Putting together center pieces

 Rolling napkins and putting on napkin rings

 All set up and ready to feed hundreds!

 Part of our silent auction with art from local ceramic artists