More Painting With Kindergarten

Ever have one of those years that a certain grade level is just rockin' the whole school thing?  Kindergarten is that grade level for me this year.  They're listening, they're learning, they're engaged. And we get oh-so-much-done because of it. Bonus: they're great little cleaners!  
Today we used cake tempera paint to paint a tree:

Hmmm, little paint drip in the grass,
we'll turn you into something later.

After painting we read Lois Ehlert's Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf.  When they come back to art, we'll use regular tempera and our fingers to print fall leaves.  Maybe I'll even remember to come back and update this post.  Even though I didn't remember until just this second that I wanted to do these on 9 x 12 paper for our Artome' show in the spring.  SIGH, it's just a whirlwind some days!

Some Days There's Nothing Better

I have kindergarten last.  Now, I know some art teachers don't like having kindergarten as their last class, but I love it.  If I had my way (I'd win the lottery, but that's a totally different topic) I'd always have kindergarten last.  After recess.  Maybe I've just been doing this for too long and I've totally lost my mind, but having kindergarten last is where it's at.
And some days, it's just fun to paint!

We folded our papers in thirds (that takes a minute with five year olds) and then painted primary colors, learning how to rinse and dry our brushes between colors:

These will be used for a fruit still life that we'll make next time, but for now, the sweet sweet scent of tempera paint fills my room.

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. 

Kindergarten Inside Outside Texture Houses

How do I make it through kindergarten every year?  It's mid-September and I'm already wondering what to teach.  Their attention spans are just so short, I feel like I'm always struggling to stay one step ahead of them.  I'd written "Texture Neighborhood" in my planner and had my example out (draw houses and a street with marker, color with crayons and texture boards) but then I went to my other school and the art teacher there started showing me these houses that I had shared with art teachers in my district a few years ago.  Which I'd totally forgotten about, so I just crossed out neighborhood  and wrote "house" instead.

It is a fun one day lesson.  Each student received a folded 12 x 18 manilla paper, then chose a 9 x 12 color for their roof (choices were gray, black or brown).  Students had to fold those themselves, then use marker to draw one line from one corner to another (diagonally).  When they cut the line, they had one large and two small triangles.  They glued the large one on top to be the roof.  Then they used marker to draw things like windows and doors.  They could open their house and draw the inside:

I then explained texture and showed them the magic of texture boards.  It never ceases to amaze the kindergarten crowd!  Here are some more quick photos I took while they were working:

Why do they draw stick people? 
I thought it wasn't a developmental thing at this age.

It's always interesting to me the ones who don't really
understand the inside/outside concept.

While they would've looked amazing up in the hallway, I've already filled my allotted space up.  I let students take them home the same day they made them to brighten up their refrigerators at home.

Sweet Little Flower Paintings

I wrote about this lesson three years ago, and it's pretty much a late April/early May "must do" lesson in my class.  They're just ADORABLE:

My kinders are great with scissors again this year, so we used our extra time to make some adorable cards.  We had a lengthy discussion about where to hide these glorious paintings to surprise our moms on Mother's Day (lots of talk of "my sister's closet" came up here).  My own daughter is in kindergarten this year, and I heard a bit of conversation with Mr. One Happy Art Teacher about where she was going to hide it when she got home.  Even though I saw all these paintings and cards in art, I'm betting I'll be teary come Sunday.  
Nothing better than children's thoughtful, heartfelt art!

Mad Love for Monet

I know, I know, I know, I post about this lesson every year.  But REALLY, what's not to love???? Heres this year's kindergartners painting:

And here they are finished and hanging in preparation for the art show that's only a WEEK AWAY:

This year's art show is going to be amazing, I just know it.  I'm sure that my worrying and lack of sleep is really what will make the difference. 
Until next Friday, I'll be running purely on caffeine.
Happy art teaching!

Just About a Million Things and It's FEBRUARY

I'm going to apologize now for seeming to fall behind on blogging, but January was about a thousand gray, dreary days long and February, oh, FEBRUARY.  February means the art show is coming up fast and my panic begins in earnest.
My students have been busy:

This is a Paul Klee lesson that I was sure I'd blogged about before, but I guess not? In kindergarten we look at Paul Klee's Senecio from 1922 and use a circle template for the face and rulers for our straight lines.  We draw with pencil, trace with black Sharpie and paint with tempera cakes.  They're super adorable when finished!

And then these Today I Feel Portraits that we've recently finished in second grade:

We've had some clay issues lately in my district (due mostly to a new clay supplier), which is stressing us all out.  I've got a kiln full of fifth grade masks to unload for painting, so HAPPY FEBRUARY, everyone!

Let's Talk About Time

In my little art education world, we've been discussing the issue of time a lot lately.  The issue of disparity and being rushed and all of that.  I do honestly believe elementary art teachers are some of the hardest working teachers as far as supplies and materials, managing "stuff" and planning.  I see seven classes every day (that's seven different grade levels): three in the morning back to back, then lunch/plan and four in the afternoon back to back EXCEPT on the third day of our rotation, when I teach two classes at my home school, then pack up, get in my van and drive ten miles (!) to another school in my district and teach two back to back classes there.  I finish there five minutes (or less) before my daily contract time ends. And a side note to say that this year's schedule is not great--my day starts with second grade, then fifth, then fourth, then lunch/plan, followed by kindergarten, then third grade, then first grade (in my building, or second grade if I'm at the other school), and I finish with sixth grade (or a second class of second grade at the other school).  Sixth grade at the end of the day is NOT FUN.  Especially right after first grade.  
There's another elementary art teacher in my district who sees TEN classes in one day.  At two schools.  Two 40 minute classes and EIGHT 30 minute classes.  Mercy.  I can't even. . . 
All of this being said because sometimes I worry that students aren't getting enough individual art experiences.  In the reality of time, there's a LOT of sharing of paint and other materials.  I wondered if it was making a big difference in the work and experience of my students. So earlier this week I decided to set up individual tempera paint for my kindergarten (no sharing for color mixing):

These are little coated paper squares that the cafeteria
used to use to give out butter.  No more butter allowed, so
they passed them on to me.

I was able to do this because I have plan time right before kindergarten.  Now, I usually have them paint with something like this:

Totally an old picture that was from something else,
but you get the idea.

So with the individual paint, my kindergarteners painted their alphabet vases:

And painted:

And painted some more:

The next day I did it the regular way (sharing paint with a partner or the whole table/four students), and I have to say, there really wasn't a big difference.  Here's a side-by-side comparison of students from different classes who are very similar in their work habits and abilities:

Individual paint on the left, shared paint on the right.

I guess I learned something from this, and that's maybe I've overthinking it???? Maybe I don't need to run myself ragged for students to have extra individualized materials??? I'm still gonna think on it, and as teachers I think we're always looking for ways to improve.
I've also had lots of "I didn't learn this in college" moments lately. Mostly related to managing all the stuff and supplies of art teacher land. Maybe 17 years of experience is when the real learning begins, what do you think???

Being Purposeful

Welcome to 2017, friends! Let that sink in: twenty seventeen . . . what the what???? I'm OLD and that date seems so future-ish. But we're here now, time to make the most of it.  
Today I'm going to share a lesson I've written about before, but it's not a lesson I do every year with my kindergarten artists.  Maybe I really should, or something similar.  See, sometimes (lots of times, if I'm honest) I get this great idea/wild hair and jump right in without thinking about the basics and then I get frustrated that kids aren't right there with me when it's really my fault/problem.  I adore this lesson because it IS so basic.  It teaches rainbow order and forces me to teach appropriate painting and paint brush basics (which 5 to 7 year olds NEED).  We paint 9 x 12 papers in rainbow order with tempera paint:

For some reason the violet is really showing as blue,
and I wanted to show how sometimes we end up with some
leftover white space (and that's okay).

Sometimes we fill that white space completely with
violet (also okay).

After the paintings are dry we cut them up:

I'd like to once again thank blogger for the new-no-way-to-turn-photos-making-people-look-at-things-with-their-heads-cocked-sideways-funness.  

The expectation is that students cut through all of their rainbow colors every time using a new/different line and lay it out like a puzzle before gluing.  This is hard for kindergarten, but stretches them just enough without frustrating them.
I'm trying to be more purposeful in everything I do (at work and at home) and think about what I'm really wanting to accomplish.  I want independent thinkers who have SKILLS, and basic how-to-hold/how-to-rinse a paintbrush are some skills I see kids lacking.  Also bonus, no two look alike when we're done.
Happy New Year, readers! May your days be blissful and your nights be restful (and your summer be long! Let's hold on to that thought during these dreary winter months!).