Monday, March 29, 2010

City View

This is one of my favorite things to teach my students. It is tricky and they have to pay really close attention, but the result is very cool. I found a bunch of cool lessons online, but I can't find the link at the moment. I'll have to post that later. This was done by a 7th grade student. It turned out great!  We started out with 2 parallel lines and used rulers to make a bunch of guidelines throughout the drawing. A little hard  for me to explain right now, so I'll get that link up very soon. 

Friday, March 26, 2010

Oil Pastel

This has been such a crazy time of year with so many people out sick. The other week I had something all planned out for my 4th grade class and then half of the class was home sick! Yikes! So I was flexible and changed my lesson. Instead of the planned lesson I gave the students oil pastels to experiment with. A few of the kids didn't really put much thought into what they did, but there were others who did a great job. This is one of them.

I'm realizing that kids need some time to just be creative. So I'm working on giving them the opportunity on a regular basis. I really do enjoy teaching art. I love seeing how the kids think. :o)

Monday, March 22, 2010

Patterns galore!

The class I have the hardest time "pleasing" is my 6th graders. You know that age, they think they are so ready for junior high. Getting into the awkward stage...you know what I mean. Don't get me wrong, I totally went through it too!!
This art lesson was one they actually liked!! A friend of mine from college was really into making collages of patterns like these. I have made a few in my sketchbook. I showed those samples and told the class they had to divide the circle into at least 5 sections and create different patterns for each section. We talked about what a pattern is and drew several examples on the board. Of course there were a few boys who went a little crazy on me...drawing guns and missiles. But overall the class really liked the project. These are a few that turned out really well.

skyline

I actually didn't even do this project with my 1st grade class. I was out of town for a week and the woman who subbed for me did it. I was so excited about the results! The kids did a great job! They splattered paint onto the paper for stars. And then cut out houses and windows for the skyline. One thing that I totally recommend is giving the kids a chance to experiment with splatter paint. The week before all that we did was splatter paint. Those pictures are pretty cool too. But if we wouldn't have do that I think the students would have gone a little crazy with the paint. In most classes when you are doing something special it is good to give the kids a chance to be curious and try it out.


Friday, March 19, 2010

Decisions, decisions...

All year I have known that we will be entering art work into the ACSI Art Festival. All year! All year!! So why is it that now it is right around the corner and I don't feel ready?!?! Eek! So much to decide! Which pieces should we enter? I have to decide by Monday!!
Ok, trying to trust God and not freak out! Once I decide I'll post some pictures. I'm excited to see what other schools enter to help give me some more ideas. But I also feel a lot of pressure for other art teachers to see what we enter from RVC. I know it isn't all about me, but I does, to a certain degree, reflect my teaching.
Thankfully, God is in control, and I am not. I would mess everything up! :o)