Hall Displays are Up and Running

While I love the "newness" of a new school year, I'm a typical artist/hoarder and dislike the blank blank walls.  I try to get student work up as soon as I can (and I've already taken some things down and replaced with another grade level).  Here's what the halls in my school look like now, on the sixth week of school:

Construction paper 'flips,' fifth grade, Matisse inspired.

Color wheel clowns, first grade.

George Caleb Bingham inspired landscape paintings, fourth grade.

More landscapes, I love the color mixing on the bottom left.

More construction paper flips, and
some kindergarten Mondrian lines further down the hall.

Dairy Delight Dogs, second grade

Lascaux inspired cave paintings, third grade

I've been trying to keep up with kindergarten, and we're doing color scheme giraffes.  When I was gluing them together to get ready to hang, I noticed this:

I don't know that I've ever seen a more prime example of a reason to re-teach  a concept in my life.  Good thing I've got six and half more years with them to get them to understand primary and secondary colors. 

Nightmare! Then, Not So Much

Have you seen that project that has students making ancient-Greek-style vases out of paper and then putting them on paper columns?  I don't remember where I saw it, but I thought it would be fun and easy for my students (HA!)
The first class to make the columns STRUGGLED, it was awful.  I needed octopus arms to help them all, and I, unfortunately, don't have octopus arms.
Here's what the first group's looked like after the first day:

Note the randomness and how most are unfolded/unglued.

Obviously, that wasn't working, so I made a how to video for the folding part:

It was easier with the remaining two groups, but still challenging.  Here's a comparison to the first students (these students had the benefit of the video):

I think everyone but one student got theirs folded and glued.

For the vase part, students designed their own (folded the paper, drew and cut them out).  They did their design with pencil, traced with ultra-fine Sharpie and used colored pencils:

I do like the contrast of the dark blue with tan better than the gray on light blue. But after all we went through to get them done, I don't know that this is an every year sort of project.

An Update on Money and Glue

Fourth grade ancient coins, done and painted!

They're ah-mazing! The sound they make is so satisfying and old-coin-y.  That's the official term (I know because I just made it up). I wrote about our first steps to this project earlier this year.  After firing, we used metallic tempera block paint to paint them, and acrylic gloss medium (plain and platinum for extra sparkle) to seal them.

My fourth graders worked hard to get them painted and sealed in one forty minute class period.  We laid them out on my back table to dry, and they dried enough for them to take them home the same day (I have fourth grade in the morning, and I delivered them to their class at the end of the day).

And now a glue update.  Guys, upside down glue is AMAZING.  I'm never going back! Some unexpected bonuses: it's very easy to see when glues need to be filled, and it's relieved some of my heavy sighing about filling all glue bottles at once (because I can just quickly look and fill the 3 or 4 that need filling).  Students are really into checking to make sure glues are closed, taking better care of the nozzles and bottles.  I have almost no one telling me glues are empty when really they just need to be opened.  I have had to re-glue some magnets a few times, but not often.  Life changing, this upside down glue!

Why Yes, We Are Making Money

My fourth graders are learning all about the Mycenaeans and the island of Crete right now (you can get my Smart Notebook lesson for this here, look for the one labeled Ancient Greece).  We watched Eyewitness Volcano (which is on YouTube and is AWESOME) and painted volcanoes and drew some Knossos-inspired mansions, and then we printed our own money.  Yep, some counterfeiting going on in fourth grade art!  We looked at coins from that era and watched the video of money being made in ancient times.  I then gave them a strip of poster board (approximately 2 x 6 inches or so) and small circles to trace.  Students used pencil to design their own coins.  They then traced it all with glue and I put it on top of my cabinets to dry completely flat.
Once every student in the class was done and their glue was completely dry, we used clay to press our coins:

Glue not being what it was when I started teaching 18 years ago, each student also had a skewer to add details that were unclear.  We also used our skewers to add our initials to the back of each coin (so we'd have a 'heads' and a 'tails').  Our coins are currently drying before going into the kiln (darn rain has made drying slow) and then we'll paint them with amazing metallic acrylic paint. Students always love using clay, so the making coins was a great success.  We'll see how painting goes!  They're so small, and I'm betting they're going to make a great sound--like real coin clinking.

Teacher Life Without The Network

We've been back to school for about two weeks now.  I decided to change things up with my fourth grades and start the year with Ancient Crete and Greece.  I made a Smart Notebook presentation with all these little video clips, and kind of stumbled through it with my first group (it felt kind of disjointed or something?).  I was really hitting my stride with my introductions with the second group. . . and then the network went down.  Which meant no internet.  No showing video clips or external links.  My whole introduction was ruined!  Right in front of the class! So, I decided to act out the links.  Like some weird improv, I danced and galloped and did lots of jazz hands.  And sweated.  Lots.  Did they get the information??? I sure hope so.  
And the network stayed down.  For two days.  Goodbye video'd demonstrations loaded onto an external site for sixth grade, hello demonstrating over and over.  
A class would come in and I'd start with whatever was planned and then realize 'I can't show that/do that.'  It was like someone had cut off an arm or something.  
But somehow we survived.  The internet connection was restored and we kept on keepin' on.
I'm not AT ALL saying the Greece Smart Notebook lesson is a great one (at this point I'm not even sure it's good), but if you're interested, let me know and I'll drop it in my Smart Notebook files for you to use.  And maybe your internet will work, all day.

"That" Class

As art teachers, I'm sure you're familiar with "that" class.  That one that it doesn't seem to matter what you introduce, they take to it like ducks to water and you're not really needed to teach at all, but merely to guide them just a bit.  That's one of my fourth grade classes this year.  We started our Frida Kahlo style self portraits, and here's a sampling of their first day efforts:

I'm not saying they're perfect, but COME ON, they're ten years old!  And well over half the class did so very well!  I can't wait to see how these come out!

Uggghhh PIVOT.  Darn it!!!!

I really like this one.
She looks deep in thought.

This is part of what makes teaching art the best, all the variety!

Job Security--If Only I Could Remember!

Here's (one of the many) great things about being an elementary art teacher--it's always someone's first time to ____________.  There are always going to be children who've never held scissors, or painted, or used papier mache.  This is job security!  In our technology/digital world art teachers are needed more than ever! Fine motor skills are important and creativity is vital! Now, if only I could remember this when I start lessons at the beginning of the year.  Yesterday I started Emily Carr landscape paintings with fourth grade and didn't demonstrate painting techniques at all! What is this? My first day?! Needless to say, I demo'd the heck out of some painting with my fourth graders today, and wrote DEMO in my plan book for fourth grade on Monday.
I also made a sketchbook measurement how to video for sixth grade (probably more for me and my remembering):

What would really be great would be to show this video to my classes on my Smartboard, but (GASP!) my Smartboard is not recognizing my computer these days.  Even with our tech person working on it, it's not happening.  On the plus side, our district started using Schoology this year, and my lack-of-Smartboard-having means I'm dropping things into Schoology and using that resource the second week of school.  But THAT means students have to carry their chromebooks to art AND I have to remember to email teachers to tell them.  And we all know remembering isn't always my strongest suit! 

What am I going to be like in 10-15 years? Forgetting to wear pants to school?  The older I get, the more I realize that art teachers may deserve the reputation as the kooky ones.  Or maybe it's just me.

Puppets!

My fourth graders have been busy making paper puppets:

Totally made of paper, the mouth opens and closes with the pull of a string.  To begin, we use one piece of 12 x 12" paper to fold a German bell.  Here is a video where I realize how chubby my hands are explaining the folding process:

The folding typically takes one class period.  The next time they come to art, each student gets a 6 x 12" piece of paper that matches the color of their puppet (peach, tan, light or dark brown) and a glue to make their stick.  Here's another chubby hand video explaining the rest of the logistics of puppet making:

I did bust out the shiny paper from the remnants box (if you've never ordered a remnants box, you totally should!) and the "fun" scissors.  
We'd been studying our regional artists and talked about how they painted everyday sort of people.  We've done so much drawing a painting this year, that a nice cut paper project was enthusiastically embraced.
Here are some not-quite-finished student puppets:

 Maybe there's just enough time for a fabulous end of the year puppet show?

Things That Make Me Happy These Last Three Weeks of School

Soooooo close, and yet so far from summer.  As we wind down the school year, here's some things that make me smile:

This bulletin board! It's at a turn, so when you come down the hall PA-TOW! there it is, all bright and colorful.  This second grade lesson is a great one for color review. Here's a few close up of this year's birds:

And fourth grade puppets, just hanging out by my kiln cage:

These are amazing and wonderful and always a big hit! I guess I've never blogged about them, so I need to get on it, but trust me, they're fun and I'll try to blog about them soon.
Also, opening a kiln after a glaze firing, is there anything better?!

It's like CHRISTMAS, I tell ya! Hold onto the good things, friends, summer (and sanity) is near!