Art Project Girl

Hanging up my Hat

2012-02-29T15:51:00.001-05:00

These are sculpture hats (we are calling them CRAZY CROWNS)
that we've been making in Kindergarten.

I will be hanging up my art teacher, nose wiper, shoe tyer, snack maker, "did you really just say that?" hat for a few days to go to THE NATIONAL ART EDUCATORS CONFERENCE in NEW YORK! Sub plans are made and my bags are packed (almost!) I haven't been to New York, since, since, ummm. . . I worked there? It's been a long time. The museums. The subway. The shopping. The people. The FOOD. Oh yeah and THE CONFERENCE! If you can't tell I'm really excited, especially because I'll be meeting some of you, hopefully. I see some bloggers are even presenting their fabulous ideas and I hope to make it to see you.

If you feel up to it, please contact me. I know Phyl from There's A Dragon in my Art Room is arranging something so I'm sure I'll see you if you come to that! I am most excited to meet my good friend in person for the very first time. Now, I truly feel like I'm living in the digital age. Phyl has been such a support to me from before having my first baby, juggling being a mom, to now. So many of you have made me feel so much better about myself with your commradorie and thoughtful comments, if you are going let me know in the comments, an e-mail litchfieldartroom @ yahoo but I will take my e-mail address off of here within 24 hours to prevent spam.

I've Been Waiting My WHOLE Life for This!

2012-02-26T18:26:00.001-05:00

In my prior life, before becoming an art teacher, I was a children's party planner. Of course I took it over the top! I made 24 costumes for the guests. The party was like a performance, scripted and all. AND of course, each party had an art project. As a parent I wish I could find someone like I was to do Stella's parties. I have a lot less time now which is why we are celebrating a month later:) because something had to give and it wasn't going to be any part of her party.

This past week Stella turned 1! The moment I've been waiting for my whole life. To plan my own kids birthday. I had no ideas for her party but wanted to do something she would love. The one thing Stella is crazy about is music, especially rock. So we're having a "ROCKIN' 1ST BIRTHDAY" I hand drew all of the invites with the theme of rock tattoos (think roses, guitars, angel wings) and made a pre-invite. It is sort of my new art project. Next thing on my list is to out together an Elvis costume for Nick. I'm not telling him he is coming as Elvis yet. . . and I doubt he reads this blog (but our families will get a total kick out of this.) I think I'll tell him about it when he asks me to iron a shirt for him the day of the party. Sure no problem, and I'll come back with some 70's Elvis get up.

I'm still working on the invitations so I made this "save the date." I can't believe how fast it goes by!

Am I the only one obsessed with kids birthdays? Do you go all out for your kids birthdays? What was your most fun one?

2012-02-21T20:59:00.000-05:00

Highlights from my day. . .Tuesdays after school we run a Green Team. . . never thought things would be so green so soon!

LOOK AT THE AMAZING GROWTH!
All varieties of lettuce grown by our Green Team in the raised beds.
We covered them with plastic. . . we took after the plastic today after seeing the
greens reaching to the top!
It's February in Connecticut, happy spring.

Here's us planting with a volunteer from the organic farm
in mid-November. We thought we'd harvest in the spring.
Spring came early this year.

Lettuce washed and ready to eat!

Salad Party!
Our partners from the Organic Farm
made a really delicious low-fat dressing with yogurt.

While my friend washed the lettuce with the kids
and the volunteer from the farm made the dressing with some kids.
We passed the time in the classroom making this rap.
Pretty cute. . . we fixed the ending but I forgot to take a picture.
It now says, So before you try it don't criticize, You just may get a good surprise.

I also wish I could share highlights from my anti bullying club on Mondays (I just can't say no when the kids ask me to do something for them!) We are making a movie that the kids came to me and with a full script and practiced themselves. It is really cool. I was inspired by their initiative and decided to take on the time consuming task of videoing and editing it for them (we don't have a computer at school that they could do all this on.) But I can't show the kids faces so although we can't broadcast the film, I think we might show it at the art show or field day?

Thank You and You!

2012-02-17T20:41:00.003-05:00

Thank you to my friend, Kristina for the ribbons and Thank you to YOU for the idea! SAW IT HERE on the amazing Dragon in My Art Room Blog (Thanks Phyl;) and SAW IT HERE at Kids Artists any other places you have seen this lesson let me know in the comments.

My friend donated a huge bag of ribbon remnants to the art room just about the same time some of you were posting your Princess and the Pea illustration lessons. It seemed like a perfect match! This year our budget for supplies was tiny, so I find myself getting inspired by materials to do different lessons rather the other way around (you get what I mean.) I am happy to have the kids work with ANYTHING people donate.

I did this lesson with my 1st graders. . . I'm not going to lie it was a little too hard for my bilingual first graders (due to too many kids and too many supplies) and JUST RIGHT for my other first graders. I feel like Goldilocks when I'm lesson planning! I have bilingual, advanced, special needs and everything in between no two classes are even similar so I have need to find a way to adapt this lesson. I first realized this was going to be a challenge with my bilingual first graders when the whole class BURST into laughter when I said the word pea. I literally had to go get my lunch which thank goodness had a pea in it to show them what a pea was. . . not many knew what it was after seeing it. I guess we might have to try peas next class! This project keeps getting bigger and bigger!

First we read this book

If you haven't seen it the illustrations are beautiful and the story simple and straight to the point. This project is going to take two weeks so I plan on reading a different version to my classes next week after they finish drawing their princesses. For my bilingual class I found a version on YouTube that was nicely animated, subtitled (not that they were reading it!) because I thought it would be better then the long version that I will read next week to the other students. I projected it big with my projector which was their favorite part. That projector was worth every penny, thanks Nick (my hubby.)

Next, we talked about rulers. We discussed what rulers do and how to use them to measure. I demonstrated how to measure their ribbon and mark it at the 6" mark. Then I demonstrated cutting it on the mark. I think some of the higher level kids in every class got this concept immediately (or else someone had taught them well) the rest of the kids struggled until I went around to and showed them. If nothing else I wanted them to begin to understand that artists can use a ruler to measure. Earth shattering I know.

The most fun part was picking which ribbons to measure and cut!

After cutting a bunch of ribbons equal length, they glued them to create the mattresses. This took one whole hour class.

Next class we made the princess, ladder and pea. We watched or read another version of the story. Next class, I want to use our Princess and the Pea illustrations to do some simple counting and writing exercise. Very simple. Any ideas?

Inspire Art Homework

2012-02-16T20:15:00.001-05:00

This was the highlight of my day. One of my students wasn't happy with her "Blue Willow Pattern" project. You've seen the project all around I'm sure so I don't have to explain it. Anyways, I thought it was great but there was no convincing her. She had something else in mind. So she brought home a paper plate and a marker and created this Blue Willow Pattern. "There is never enough time in art." She is right. So, on top of all her other homework, she completed this.

Many of my upper grade students have been bringing their work home lately to work more on it. They ask ME! I feel so encouraged. . . especially because they are bringing it back. One student, who I've watched go from scribbles to sophisticated drawing, asked to bring his playing card home (we are designing playing card portraits.) He was so proud to show his mom his work. He's been working on a scrap piece of paper to make designs that he will add this weekend to the card. I LOVE the little ones, they area squeezable, creative and exuberant, but the upper grades and this level of work really picks me up after talking about lines and identifying shapes and where the trash can is for 5 hours of the day. Somewhere in my next life I will be making more of my own art and teaching in a high school (photography/video preferably.) For right now, I am happy to be where I am. I always say I will stay here as long as our principal stays. I bet you've never heard that one, but a good principal is hard to find. We all can agree on that, I'm sure.

It is so awesome to see students inspired enough to bring art home and do it for homework. I have a four day weekend and I have grad school homework to do that I've been putting off. . . wish I felt inspired to do it!

Hope you are finding some inspiration somewhere in your life!

Stealing Hearts

2012-02-14T20:41:00.000-05:00

Last night I got ambitious. I was going to print Stella's hands like a heart and make a bunch of Valentines for everyone. She is almost one years old, I had waited long enough to bring out the paint! Our first mommy/Stella craft time. I got out all the supplies tons of towels, put her biggest bib on (next time she paints it is going to be clothing optional, her bib was destroyed) and we were ready!

Here's what ended up happening: The minute I put the paint on Stella's hands she squeezed her fingers and started slamming and scratching the paper and trying to put her hands in her face (many of the paintings look a little more Freddie Krueger with the red scratches then Valentines!) To top things off when I brought her in the bathroom and she saw her face splattered in red paint she began to cry! It wasn't a good look to say the least. Poor little thing! This is what happens when your mother is an art teacher, we push you. My friend joked that next year will be Photoshop. I have planned to work on color theory next year though (hehe). I added a bow because a bow makes everything cute! I also planned to take pictures of her making her hand hearts but you can imagine how that would've went! So no pictures; I was trying to keep her fingers out of her mouth most of the time! Despite all the craziness, I can't wait to do it again. Stella, I'm not so sure, maybe she will like it better if we paint with pudding next time.

Besides making Valentines we've been doing a lot of this. . .

and this. . .

and hiding under the piano!

playing the piano. . .

and just hanging around. . .

soothing cranky Stella. . .

learning how to Pat Pat the Bunny. . .

and stealing hearts!

Happy Valentines Stella! I love you.

Happy Valentines to you and yours!

Fishy Fishy

2012-02-08T19:44:00.000-05:00

Something was fishy fishy in the art room today. . . there were erasures stashed in marker containers, paintbrush handles soaking in water, used paper towels in the sink, really? I spent about an hour getting things back to normal (one of my classes was on a field trip) and now everything feels great again. But really, I have a picture example of how the supplies should look and about 100 kids asking me "Mrs. Stinz can I help you!" Please help me. . . so I give them a job, they are done in one minute and . . . is this spring fever? I do have a few really super helpers that keep me from losing my mind, so I hate to count them out. I am so thankful for them!

Now that I've ranted and disclosed my organizational woes. . . speaking of fish. . . here are our version of the infamous fish/pinchpots. I made a big deal about making tints (mixing white with their colors) I think the colors look far more fishlike and interesting mixed with white. I would give credit for this project but it's gotten to the point where everyone is doing it and I saw it in an old sculpture book that was collecting dust in the closet. Link up your post if you made them too. I would love to see your version.

STONE FISH! My favorite shhh. ..
This comes from one of those students who insists on mixing the
plate of paint into a giant mess (always making the same shade of brown!)
After she painted it brown I gave her a new plate and helped her mix two colors at a
time and wash the brush. This is what she made. She is sort of my best buddy now.
I am so impressed with her creativity.
We decided it looked like Eric Carle's Stone Fish.
The other kids whispered that it was sloppy but she and I think it is just AMAZING!

Art done 2 ways: Scrambled and Over Easy

2012-02-07T20:36:00.000-05:00

It's never been so easy to get the Kindergarteners to raise their hands.
They all wanted a picture to prove how messy they got in art class!
I have got to show their parents the pics, they won't believe it.
Hardly any got on their clothes! Success!

Some classes are just fabulous, or you have them first thing in the morning and they are ready to work, or you have help, or everyone is in a great mood, so you can just GO THERE. By THERE I mean paint, glue, working in groups, the messy stuff that makes it real art. Other groups, not so much. So what do I do when I notice I need to refocus a classes behavior? Pull in the reigns, or the lock the messy stuff in my closet for a few weeks. I think this coming week I need to do just that! Markers, crayons, and pencils will be my best friends as I try to reorganize from a few weeks of pottery and painting projects.

I am going to share with you a Kindergarten

Here is my favorite version (the scrambled version) it was a little messy to say the least, but I had a great high school helper (a few absent kids brought the class count down so it was manageable.) Here's the inspiration http://www.artsonia.com/museum/gallery.asp?exhibit=401509 I pretty much STOLE this version it looked like so much fun!

Here's the inspiration from PICASSO.
We noticed that both hands were the right hand.
That helped students discover that the flowers were being given instead of held.
Interesting detail in such a simple picture.

Every Kindergartener got one color and one brush.

We talked a lot about how to ask someone to share their paint and trade.
We even rehearsed it!

HERE'S THE OVER EASY VERSION! CRAYONS, CONSTRUCTION PAPER GLUE STICKS. This is a large bilingual class with no para and many needs.

WHY DOES BLOGGER INSIST ON PUTTING MY PICTURES SIDEWAYS?

SORRY AGAIN, TURN YOUR COMPUTER MONITOR TO SEE THE ARTWORK AS IT WAS INTENDED!

HELP! HOW DO YOU ROTATE A PICTURE THAT YOU ALREADY ROTATED IN iPHOTO!
WORK WITH ME BLOGGER.

So there you have it! Art done 2 ways. Do you modify your projects for each class? Or is this off track? I can't find any way around it where I work!

Weaving: Art is a Process!

2012-01-30T19:19:00.000-05:00

I absolutely love watching students in process! I thought I'd share with you this FIRST GRADE student engrossed in the under over process of weaving. I also was surprised to hear "art talk" in the background. "It's WEAVE not WAVE. WEEEAAAVVVVEE." Too funny I didn't hear them saying this before. This was part of our WACKY WEAVING project that I will post all the results of. It was pretty engaging because I gave students the artistic license to add different materials and go in any direction they wanted as long as it was under and over. This example is one of the more organized weavings.

Texture Hearts

2012-01-30T18:04:00.000-05:00

We used some common tools like toothpicks forks pencils and burlap to create texture in our clay hearts. We made both slabs and coils and attached them using slip and score techniques.

Simple and beautiful project to practice clay basic clay skills in second grade.

Sick Days and the NAEA CONFERENCE

2012-01-29T14:58:00.000-05:00

Sorry I have been missing from really sharing lessons.

Here is my poor chunk and her dad before I took them to the walk in. Both now are now on antibiotics. They got the same virus that turned into Bronchitis for me. Both my babies are sleeping so I have a minute to share some other news.

I'M GOING TO THE NAEA CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!

Haven't told my hubby yet.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE THERE IT MIGHT BE FUN TO MEET SOME

BLOGGERS WE SHARE LESSONS WITH OFTEN.

BIG KID Kindergarteners

2012-01-18T21:56:00.002-05:00

When I want the kids to see there work in a new way I have some tricks. One of my favorites is to enlarge some little tiny sketch they made on the copy machine. I copy it onto large, card stock and magically their little tiny sketch becomes "art."

Today while my Kindergarteners were making their self portraits I thought, these are so "adorable" (I know not a very academic thought!) what would they look like BIG?

Off to the copy machine I went! I enlarged their pictures to 11X17.

Call me crazy but I would like to see them BIGGER!

My only problem is I got this BRAINSTORM after I let the other Kindergarten classes paint their small portraits. Oh well! I would love to stick to my lessons more closely but when I (or the kids) get an idea we have to try it. Must be the artist in me, it's definitely not the teacher in me. A real teacher would stick to the plan so everyone would get the same experience and things would be more organized. I'm so excited to see the students face when they see their art work large! It makes diverging from the plan totally worth it!

See the scissors in the left? I put them there for scale.

Big paper in the by pass tray

Enlarge sketch to 155%

Voila! Big art!

We will be painting these next!

Art, Music, Literacy

2012-01-16T10:07:00.001-05:00

This is very interesting to me. I know I'll use this in the future. If you haven't seen it check it out!

Can you imagine making a rhythm then the words? Or making a rhythm and marks to the rhythm? I think this could be inspiring way to do collage, painting, rhythm, literacy with older students.

OKAY Enough procrastinating on this MLK day! Hi ho Hi Ho It's off to work I go.

Coffee Talk Sunday: Beat the Winter Blues

2012-01-15T20:17:00.002-05:00

First things first. MAKE MY MOTHER PROUD OF ME AND VOTE FOR Art Project Girl AS ONE OF THE TOP TEN ART BLOGS OF THE YEAR at The Art of Education.

Now back to our regularly scheduled post. . .

One way I try to ward off the winter blues is by having music on. All the time. In my house I try to have something playing to inspire me to relax or get moving or sing to Stella. So why not in the classroom?

I think one of the reasons I don't play more music in my classroom is because mix "tapes" (yes I'm from the 80's) are really hard to make for kids. You want something happy, upbeat, relaxing, cool, but it has to be appropriate. It's harder then it sounds!

So here are some of the songs my kids voted to have on our mix "tape" that I could actually use! These are all clean, wholesome and cool (by elementary 4th and 5th grade standards) songs.

Who Says? Selena Gomez
A Year Without Rain Selena Gomez
Stereo Hearts Gym Class Heroes ft. Adam Levine
Firework Katy Perry
Dynamite Rokstarr Taio Cruz
Rock and Roll Sounds Like This
Chasing Pavements Adele
anything adele everyone loves adele.

KEEP THE LIST GOING ADD YOUR FAVORITE KIDS MIX SONG IN THE COMMENTS!
There's nothing better then seeing a whole class of kids working and humming along together while making art.

Note* I was streaming Pandora but think it might not be good for the networks bandwidth (or whatever that is called) so I have been using CD's more.

How Are The Kids?

2012-01-14T08:14:00.001-05:00

Kindergarten clay Snowperson made by one of my bilingual clients. hehehe.

Our former Superintendent once refered to our students as “clients.” It still makes me smile, sitting here, thinking of my “kids” as clients. If the “kids” are our clients, then I guess art education is our business. In what other business do your clients become star struck when they see you in the supermarket? In what other business do your clients accidently call you mom or pound on their car windows and shout your last name when you they spot you leaving work? I know this might sounds very glamorous, but our “clients” are a lot more then that to us, they are our “kids.”

As art teachers we have a responsibility to more kids then any other teacher in the school. Many of us know these same children for years. We get to know their families and siblings and favorite Justin Beiber songs. Those of us who are in the classroom know that the only way to be successful is to truly care and show that to all of our students even our toughest “clients.”

The topic of caring is not talked about in education that often. Maybe we are afraid it will make us look soft? Maybe it’s something we can’t define. So we occupy most of our time talking about lessons, curriculum, assessments, and behavior management all of which are very important, but it is like trying to get into the house without opening the door! We must first take the time to open the door to learning.

We have many more students then the typical teacher and see them for much less time. So the question is, how do we make a meaningful connection?

Here are some tips or things I’d like to remind myself to do.

As always if you feel inspired please share!

1. Know their name! This is the simplest advice, yet hardest for an art teacher to do. When you have 500 kids coming to your class a week you need a plan. First, seat students in the same arrangement until you know everyone’s name. Second, take attendance the old fashioned way at first. Call the students name and they raise their hand. Look them in the eye and put a face with a name. Have students write their name on their work in the same place so you can glance down and “pretend” you know their name until you learn it.

2. Say HI! Find time to ask how they are and really listen. Never ask how a student is when you’re rushing to get your lunch out of the microwave and prep for five more classes!

3. Play games. Ask any kid what they do when they are not in school and I’ll bet you it’s play some sort of game. . Games are fun. Games give everyone a chance to participate. Games help us connect. Which brings me to my next point . . .

4. Be playful. Sometimes rushing around I forgets this too! But the most successful teachers are playful at all the right times. When one of my students finds himself wandering to the window, instead of yelling at him I take out my pretend fishing pole cast the line, reel it in. He caught on pretty quick pretending to be the fish and came back to his seat to get the help he needed. One of my classes was tattling so I made them sing everything they wanted to tell me. We ended up laughing and forgetting who took whose scissors!

5. Be firm. Set some expectations and stick with them. Kids have a lot of unreliable things in their life so be the rock! They will test you, but make sure they know what you expect for behavior and stick to it. Make your rules whatever you want but stick to them!

6. Write them notes! Comments, notes, little cards . . . tell them what you really think! If you can’t because of their behavior, tell them what you’d like to think. Write a note that sings their praises leave it in your desk until they earn it. You’ll be surprised at how much kids want to live up to our expectations.

So there it is. The business of caring.

There are so many other ways to show you care and open the door to learning. What are some ways you connect with your students?

I am not an art teacher. . .

2012-01-06T21:25:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I feel like I'm not an art teacher; I'm a logistics expert.
LOGISTICS: The detailed coordination of a complex operation involving many people,
facilities, or supplies.

Okay, EXPERT is definitely pushing it. But as art teachers, we have to have a plan for getting 25 first graders to put on smocks, paint, wash their hands, clean up oh yeah and learn about color theory (or whatever the lesson du jour is.) So here are some tips on how I do it. Feel free to share your best tips in the comments!

This is the beginning of an Eric Carle lesson that I will share later. We are painting paper to later make a collage out of. I do messy projects all day long! I have come up with my own systems for most mediums. Here is I do tempera painting with the little guys.

I don't have $ for disposable paint trays, or paper plates.
SO, I cut shiny posters
that were donated and pour paint on them.

Check out my nifty water containers, they don't spill,
hold plenty of water, and cost 27.99 each!
Price includes the baby formula.

This is what I did on my lunch break!
Some classes set up for themselves if I have
no lunch break or plan before their class.
I have most things set up on the back counter before hand though.

And here we are finally painting.
EVERYONE HAS A SMOCK ON!
It's their ticket to getting a paper (along with their head down.)
Another smooth transition (this is the easy part though, wait till we have to wash 25 hands!)

Our color mixing/Eric Carle style paper is complete!

Some students still working.
This is a good thing.
When everyone finishes at their own pace I have room at the sink!

Beautiful! Proud student using some techniques he picked up from watching
Eric Carle make papers on the video.

I love this one!
She used BOTH sides of the brush.
I told students "all these years we've used one side of our brush and
missed out on the whole other side." I showed them how to use the handle
side to scratch and make texture in their paint.

Another one FINISHED!
Put it on the drying rack, wash your hands, and go play on the carpet.

Masterpiece.

Now stand in line nicely at the sink!
I should mention my sink has a line on the floor made of tape to show them
where to line up when I'm not there.
At this point in the class I AM GLUED to the sink area.
I find it can take forever and be a "hot spot" if not monitored.

Early finishers doing a search and find book.

Another group of friends choose a rhyming puzzle.
This is my favorite part of class!
I love to see how nicely they take out the games and
work together! I only allow A FEW students to do clean up.
The rest play on the carpet for the last 10 minutes.
The students who want to help usually start helping with out much prompting.
The majority would rather play on the carpet.
Even my most difficult students are engaged during this
hectic clean up time. Discipline problems are almost eliminated with this new method of cleanup,
SUCCESS!

Blocks are the favorite activity end of class activity.

Yes! Kids are still washing their hands. I've got 25 very messy kids!
One usable sink.
I have more but they are trough style and create a muddy splashy mess on the floor!
This takes about 15 minutes from start to finish.

NOTICE THE LIGHTS ARE OFF TO CREATE SOME CALM AT THE END
OF A VERY CREATIVE PAINTING CLASS.
First graders are washing the tables.
WISH I had the before shot.
The place was a paint disaster.
First grade helpers cleaned up everything!

This is a picture of what a painting a student
brought to me the next day.
She made a painting "Eric Carle" style
at her home!
I am so happy this lesson
INSPIRED her to keep painting!
I am more happy her parents promote her
artistic endeavors at home!

Kindergarten Mitten Tradition

2012-01-01T21:40:00.000-05:00

I LOVE the book The Mitten by Jan Brett. The illustrations are beautiful and the little peeks as to what's going to happen next really help us talk about foreshadowing. Every year, about this time, I read it to Kindergarteners.

Every year I do a different project based on The Mitten. This year we talked about WHY the boy's mitten got lost in snow. It was because it was white and fluffy and the snow is white and fluffy of course! So we made mittens that wouldn't and couldn't get lost in the snow. I traced their hand but BIG to create their mitten. Day one Kindergarteners used crayons to color their mitten. Day two we talked about texture words, soft, smooth, rough, bumpy. I had a few objects like fur and sandpaper that we used our words to describe. Next, they used objects at their tables to finish decorating their mittens. They are colorful, full of textures (that was our magic word of the day texture) and oh so much fun!

They could use as much texture "stuff"
as they wanted. But this student knows that art is in the editing.
Stunning!

Happy Mitten!

Wow these mittens are happy!

Another happy kid and mitten.

Is that a happy face.
Ugh seeing a trend Kindergarten.

Clear off your drying rack.
These take AT LEAST a full day to dry.

Love that he used PINK!
Loved that no kids even batted an eyelash more!

Get ready for a MESS!
No one said Kindergarten was easy.

Excuse my Deep Thoughts

2011-12-31T22:44:00.001-05:00

As you may know my husband is in the restaurant industry. So we celebrate New Years on Monday night when they close the restaurant and all the managers go to swanky country club for dinner. I have my outfit picked ready right down to the perfume (I got Chanel for Christmas!) So tonight I'm enjoying sitting behind my computer looking at pictures and reminiscing on a wild year.

Dear Blogger Friends,
It has been quite a year. We have maintained our sense of community as we grow bigger and welcome new teachers. Phyl has over 400 followers which I'm sure is more then double from last year. Kristyn has been doing some amazing collaborations and sharing it with the rest of us. We will all miss "Jimmy Rizzi" as my friend calls him as he was just beginning to come into many of our art experiences. I look forward to Katie's thoughtful comments and Jessi's fearless units with the little ones that most of us our still trying to figure out. Then there's Pat, who I always imagine with that crazy hair mixing tons of black glue with her electric drill contraption, the owls came out beautiful by the way. AND SO MANY MORE OF YOU! If you don't know who I'm talking about you will soon if you keep reading. I am thankful for this little community of art teachers that want to share for the sake of sharing.

I love this quote and it reminds me of how I want to be as a teacher, blogger, creator.

"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." Buddha

RESOLUTIONS?

Mine this year is cheesy.

Be more present.

Give people the benefit of the doubt.

Find the things that make Stella laugh. (this one is easy!)

Listen to each one of my 500 students, I mean REALLY listen! (this one seems impossible!)

Worry less about things that I can't change right now and focus on what I can do today.

DID I SAY TAKE MORE PICTURES?

That's it! Sounds simple.

HOPE YOU ALL CAN REFLECT ON THE GOOD PARTS OF 2011 and HAPPY 2012!!!

Swanky New Table Signs

2011-12-27T12:38:00.000-05:00

My fifth graders made me these table markers. We also made a ton of 3-D white snowflakes for the winter season in the hallways. So we now have a yellow, pink, blue, and green table.

My room looks a little different now too. I pushed the tables together like a big square. Originally so we could work on our big projects but then I left them that way. They used to be in a U formation.
I like to change rearrange furniture every once in a while. It helps me think new. Is this an artist thing, I wonder? Do you change your furniture arrangement during the year?

tried glitter
didn't like it:)

Stella Blue update:
I will be going back this week to take down old bulletin boards, clean my room, and organize, organize, organize. I'll take a few pics of projects that haven't been sent home yet for you!
All this is made possible through the generous donation of Nana's babysitting service (hahaha love you ma!)

How could you say no to this face!

I'll miss you tomorrow Stella.
Stealing time away from time to finish up projects and save my sanity later!

We're All In This Together

2011-12-11T20:44:00.001-05:00

Hoping you have a merry Holiday Season. . . if nothing else remember we're all in this together!

From left to right: Stella, Erica, Santa and Nick

Easy Project You Can Do Tomorrow: Snow Forts!

2011-12-10T21:29:00.000-05:00

As art teachers we need to help students access that creative imagination space. You know that feeling when you loose track of time and become totally absorbed in the creative process? This project did just that during a week when we all really needed a little time to escape into a creative space.

Here is a new spin on a classic paper sculpture lesson.

Problem: you have 2D (flat) paper strips that you must make a 3D (pop up) fort out of. Your fort can have places to play, sleep, live but it must be 3D. How can you turn this flat paper into a 3D fort?

Here are some of their solutions. I did show them how to fold tabs to create a base for their forts. Can you tell my solution was an igloo? Many made igloos too. Some embellished with stairs, chimneys and slides.

Don't forget the "SNOW"! Batting, cotton balls anything soft works best!

Cotton Ball MOUSTACHE BREAK! Having a little fun in the art room:)

Let's add PENGUINS! BRILLIANT.

Penguins need ice. . . bring out the mirror paper Mrs. Stinz!

One penguin relaxes in a pond, the other in his cozy fort.

Phyl's Fauves

2011-12-10T20:56:00.004-05:00

First thank you for everyone who responded to my last neighbor post all two of you he he he. I am excited to share their sites. But first I am REALLY excited about some of the work going on in the art room.

A little while back Phyl from There's A Dragon In My Art Room posted a wonderful lessons about LES FAUVES. As soon as I saw it, I knew I would be referring to it later.

So my, 5th graders kept wanting to "learn to draw." "Mrs. Stinz teach me to draw." So we've been learning to draw in a variety of ways. I am hoping one of the techniques will appeal to each of them. This is our final drawing project before we turn to 3D art. We took two dimensional pictures and learned to find the shapes and their relationship to create a drawing (the easiest way to create an image by far!)

For this project a group of 5th graders researched endangered species. We decided to use Big Cats as our theme. The 5th grade girls came at the end of the day and printed out tons of pictures of Big Cats that appealed to them and shared them with the class. They also shared what they learned about endangered species. Each student in their class picked a picture that they like best. Now, the hard part, DRAWING our Big Cat. I showed the students how to find the largest shape (most were circles or ovals.) We made a map of all the simple shapes circle for the head, triangle for the nose etc. Some even drew right on their picture. Next we sketched in the details. We transferred the drawings onto final paper.

The next class we looked at the work of Matisse, a famous Fauvist painter. Les Fauves literally means "wild beast" and it was not meant as a compliment. We looked at the work and many students were disgusted with the color and wild brushstrokes. "He rushed. He's not a very good artist," were just some comments. Interesting! That is exactly what the critics were saying at the time. I shared with them some of the quotes of art critics from the time. Horrible, nasty things were said about Matisse and his work. How would you feel if things like this were said about you or your work? We know for a fact these comments really bothered Matisse (and I didn't tell them that he did suffer from some severe depressions.)

Some questions relating to Matisse.

Why did the critics despise his painting style so much?

Think of a time that you tried to do something that you'd never done before. How did it feel to do something new?

Were people around you supportive? Did you continue?

Is it important to try new things why or why not?

WARNING BLOGGING DETOUR: As an adult artist, what strikes me most was how Matisse continued his search for meaning and feeling in his subject despite the negativity. He continued to change styles in search of a learning and seeing the world in a new way. That to me is the mark of a true artist. Matisse didn't try to hold fast to any style and was a true student of life. As Ghandi states, “Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.” From what I can tell from reading about Matisse, he was not holding steadfast to any dogmas or prescriptive theories of art. All too often we get to know an artist for a certain style when in fact there are many facets that make that artist who they are. I always think of Picasso, he is famous for cubism, but he was a potter, influenced by surrealism, african art, neo classic style, the list goes on. Too often we try to fit artists in a box to better explain and sell them.

I gave the students "free reign" to use non representational color (basically crazy color!) like the Fauves.

This student picked out this "Lady with the Green Stripe" Matisse painting as inspiration and ran with it.
Don't you just love Snow Leopard with a Green Stripe!
I love little surprises like this.

Beginning to put together our BIG CATS, BIG COLOR display.
MORE CLASSES ARE FINISHING AND LET'S JUST SAY THEIR WORK IS EVEN MORE MEANINGFUL AND IMPRESSIVE.
I HAVE TO POST THE TIGER MASK OF TIME THAT ANOTHER 5th GRADER MADE.

Hey Neighbors!

2011-12-04T10:02:00.000-05:00

Remember the first few months you started blogging? For some of you it wasn't that long ago. I remember wondering how people followed other blogs and got followers. Every new follower I would click on and check out their blog and respond to their work. Now I'm too busy to even update my own blog! I do regularly check in with my original neighbors, the people who have established relationships in this art community, you know who you are. . . but our little neighborhood is getting bigger and better.

In the spirit of community, which is what brought me to this blog, I have been checking some of the "Members" or Followers blogs and leaving comments. Wow, really novel I know. These newer blogs are great! I will be looking through as many as I can and featuring a new blogger this week. If you are interested in sharing your new blog leave your link in the comments otherwise I'm going to do my best to jump the fence and visit some neighbor blogs.

How Pots Are Made: A Picture Story

2011-12-03T23:04:00.000-05:00

These were made by my first graders. Unbelievable right? No words during the demo. Large groups, many special needs, but something there's something about the magic of clay. . . it lets all kids create.

Here's the picture story of how the lesson went.

Fabulous book lent to me from a pottery lover at the school who used to live on the West Coast.
Great Native American Resource.

For our first hour we used our five senses to explore the clay medium.
This is the students listening to the clay.
We also practiced the creating a pinch pot a whole week before actually making our final.
This took a lot of stress of both me and the students.
When they finally made their pinch pots everyone was successful.

SORRY NO PICTURES OF MAKING THE CLAY PINCH POTS MY HANDS WERE TO MESSY!

Underglaze.

In the kiln with clear glaze (the pink stuff)
on top of their underglaze patterns.

Quick Clay Tip

2011-12-01T19:36:00.000-05:00

This is a quick clay tip that has saved me tons of time.

Slip Frappe´ anyone?

I used to make slip by hand. Then a mother gave me a rusty blender and gave me back hours of my life. Now, all I do is put a few pieces of clay in the blender with some water and VOILA! Instant slip that is the perfect consistency. I poor it in these baby food containers with lids and it lasts for weeks and weeks. I refill when necessary. I used to prep it ahead but the kids really love seeing how I do this so I've been making it right in front of them. Nothing like cutting down on prep time and showing the kids how I REALLY work.

Slip making in progress.
Cover your ears this thing is LOUD!

Finished SLIP.

Is this creative or crazy? I'm not sure, but it does work!

Sunset Pottery

2011-11-30T20:14:00.001-05:00

I love chalk pastels! I feel like I'm sculpting a picture when I draw with them. What if. . . we used pastels on pottery? I couldn't wait to try it. The effect was sunset like and made me think of the book The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush.

First we made two pinch pots. My third graders are very familiar with pinch pots from Kindergarten first and second grade. You must be very good at making pinch pots for this to work. If the rims are too thin it gets tricky.

I demonstrated how to make a pinch pot with no words, showing each step carefully. Even the chattiest classes watched in silence. Then I had them "repeat after me" the steps. "Make a sphere, make a sphere, put your thumb in it. . . " etc. I even had them repeat clay rules, "Never wash your hands in the sink." It's funny how elementary kids will repeat WHATEVER you say if you say the magic words. . . "repeat after me." So you know I had to have fun with this. "Repeat after me. . . there is a big sea monster in the drain of the sink, it's name is Mrs. Stinz (me). I repeat, DO NOT WASH YOUR HANDS IN THE SINK." If you don't already know sinks can get clogged very easily with 600 kids washing clay down them.

In the bottom of ONE of the pinch pots, poke a hole with your pencil. This will create an opening that you can form into a spout. You can add a coil around the top if you want a bigger spout or smooth it and leave it as is. Attach the rims of the pinch pots using slip and score method. Slip is basically mud that acts like glue (you can make this yourself out of clay and water.) Scoring means adding lines to make the surface rough, I like to think of this like velcro. When you attach the two pinch pots together you will have a vessel that looks like THIS.

Next class, we created our sunset effect by rubbing a paper towel on the pastels and then smudging the color into the fired bisque. Then we read the book The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush, in that order. I find it's easier to do a calming activity like reading at the end of class because then late finishers can keep working while listening and the whole class feels a lot less rushed. Not to mention, this change in sequence has cut back on meltdowns and clean up chaos by creating a quiet time at the end of class.

MORE PROJECT IDEAS TO COME!

I HAD A FEW MINUTES TODAY TO TAKE TONS OF PICTURES. . .

thanks for still reading even though I've been a terribly absent blogger!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T08:14:00.001-05:00

Moved to take this photo of the night before Thanksgiving.
This was the clearest aisle in Stop and Shop.
Stopped to take a pic and a breather.
Stella, her dad, and my mom had a caravan of carts filled.

Counting you all and this community of artists among my blessings today.
Happy Thanks giving to you and your family!
Wishing you a stress free one or at least some help!

Messages from Water?

2011-11-19T21:17:00.001-05:00

Okay, I get a lot of messages texts, notes on my desk from 1st graders, but WATER?

You can buy it HERE.
There are more books, not sure which has the best pictures.

You have to check this book out if you need beautiful images of crystals for the winter season. I will definitely be using them as part of my radial symmetry project.

Summary: Japanese author Masaru Emoto does experiments freezing water from different sources, natural, city, etc. and examines it looking for crystal formations. He and his group do not see crystal formations in city water, but sees beautiful crystals in natural spring water. His group then experiments with sending positive messages to the water, in thought, written word, spoken word and music. Crystals begin to form and expand in this frozen water were none were before.

The water is also sent to help people with illnesses. This is where I get really skeptical. They send a picture or just give him their name and he puts it with the water and it somehow creates a molecular structure in the water to help heal the people? Am I hearing this right?

Do I believe that words and music carry vibrations? Yes. Do I believe that those vibrations can change molecular structures in both a positive and negative way? Yes. Do I believe the water he was observing responded this way. I'm not sure, but you won't find me praying over Stella's bottles! I don't see enough controls in the experiment to begin to believe it. Besides, the crystals grow when they get warmer anyways, right? I probably won't get into this philosophy with my classes but it is interesting.

I might just use some of his pretty pictures to go along with my SNOWFLAKE RADIAL SYMMETRY PROJECT.

What do you think about this experiment, fact or fiction?

upDating

2011-11-13T21:30:00.002-05:00

Dear Blog,

As cliche as it is, it's not you it's me. My time is not my own anymore. In the few minutes left at the end of the week that I should be spending with you I've been spending it somewhere else. It gets worse. I've been spending my time with a few other places besides you. First, artsonia. Artsonia is completely unfulfilling as I can't seem to get students to write their names clearly and get totally frustrated trying to figure it out. Then there's my new website http://stellablue.crevado.com which I've been trying to build. Within two years, I plan to move on from my camera too and work with a few new lenses. So until you are my sugar daddy, blog, I need to find ways to support this dream. Let us not forget, Mr. Masters Program, a sensible way to spend my time, but sensible isn't always fun. Then there's Stella who is my little buddy, even coming on photo shoots with me. Amazing I know.

So there you have it blog. I promise to be upDating you soon. Promise.

Erica

OCTOBER Break

2011-11-05T21:48:00.001-04:00

Never heard of October break? We hadn't either, until a storm brought 6 inches of snow to our city in October. We were home in our dark, cold houses for the entire week!

My Street after the storm.

CANCEL Halloween.

The leaves got so heavy many branches broke under the pressure and brought down power lines with them. Which makes me think, what would I have done under the pressure? I really didn't know how much I needed this "break" until I got it! We didn't have power for FOUR days and internet and T.V. for SIX. I spent most of my days hand washing baby bottles, doing laundry at my mom's house, eating out or struggling to cook, going to the library and coffee shop with Stella and PLAYING! My happy-go-lucky daughter who used to willingly go with anyone, now reaches for ME! Which makes me secretly happy inside every time she does it.

I even got to see her FIRST wave!

So that's what I got to do this week. Then the power came back on. . . I kind of liked my old fashioned life. . . back to 2011 working mom on MONDAY! I do appreciate my modern furnace and light switches though. More posts to follow about school.

Here are some highlights from the week.

The snow melted after a few days at our dog park.

We shook it off!

Bundled up!

And back to business as usual!

Except now Stella is a mommy's girl!

And I am a girl's mommy!

Supplies and Classroom Management

2011-10-26T20:13:00.000-04:00

I finally finished labeling my supply zone! I had most of the labels then our printer ran out of ink. A friend came to my rescue and shared his printer with me. Of course I have been going overboard with my new laminator so I had to laminate the signs. Before I tell you about my pocket protectors and secret crush I have on a certain smart board; here it is!

Pictures are hanging above where the supplies go.
A Preschool teacher taught me this.
You photograph how you want the supplies to look and put the picture where you want them to go.
The kids will usually put things back like the picture if you make a big enough deal about it.

SCREAM!

2011-10-25T19:36:00.002-04:00

This is my take on an idea from Art Projects for Kids thanks Kathy!

Part of my POWERPOINT game board.

I made a powerpoint with vocabulary to identify all types of emotions and we acted them out. This was a hit. I can't show you the pics of the kids making all the expressions for student safety but it was pretty funny. Finally, we looked at Edvard Munch's The Scream and used some new vocabulary to describe how he might be feeling. FRUSTRATED, UPSET, ANGRY, SCARED, FRIGHTENED were all words they used to describe how he might feel. The kids were quick to come up with all different reasons the screamer might be screaming, most based on the painting, but there are little details in the painting (there might be sharks in the water, the bridge might be broken, there might be a storm and he's stuck on the bridge were all things the students thought.)

We talked about what would make us want to SCREAM and students made their best scream expression.

Next we painted backgrounds using warm and cool colors. The details were made with oil pastels. . . they could choose to stand on a bridge or an island or boat or anything else you could find in the water.

I wish I could show the results up close but they all have pics of the students in them as part of the art work. I think this pic is far enough back so no faces can be made out but you can get the idea.

I love how some students drew lake monsters, bats, lightning, sharks, tornadoes, spiders and black clouds to make their paintings show what would make them scream.

Some students did a creative writing piece about what makes them want to scream.

Art Class of the Month

2011-10-24T22:25:00.000-04:00

Art class of the month display of their special free painting day!

Peacock feathers in a vase are a very popular inspiration.

Here is the display I made of ART CLASS OF THE MONTH'S extra art creations. They all choose something from my crazy "stuff" table. I collect lots of crazy stuff and put it on this table for our still lifes. They drew and then painted all in one hour of extra art!

There is something so beautiful about these. I would frame each and every one if I were their parents!

Starfish is always popular. The ocean around it shows so much movement, intended or not!

She wanted to paint a Jack-O-Lantarn!
She looked at the pumpkin and imagined the rest.

Interpretation of our miniature kimono

Action Figures!

2011-10-20T21:37:00.001-04:00

Here are the Action Figures the 5th grade students painted using liquid watercolors and total creativity. They had to choose a color family then we started playing with painting techniques. I made copies of their originals so they could experiment and know there was a backup in case things didn't "work out."

I like how they came out. I like that they played. I like that we had fun.

Creativity, experimentation, trial and error, and freedom of expression are under attack. We just received word that we will be grading students on LITERACY standards. There are two weeks before we input grades. I am all for supporting literacy in art but grading them? All Art, P.E. and Music Standards have been thrown out and we will be grading to the exact same standards that classroom teachers are. . . all without ever knowing this while we are teaching. Not that it would matter much anyways. This is my 5th year teaching and the 5th version of a report card I've seen. Our report card comes like a novel. . . pages and more pages. Some of our parents need workshops on how to read to their children which our district provides, yet there is no workshop on how to read this report card. This is all very concerning to me. Mainly, because of school climate. Stress is so heavy that I feel like it is my priority to make an environment where kids can have fun, experiment, create, and not be "evaluated" constantly. We are teaching children after all not science subjects. I would like to know where children fit in this equation? I would like to know how many people who devise legislation and all these new initiatives have young children or volunteer in schools? Today I spent some time with a boy who is not "scoring" well, he is just functioning in school. I noticed how dirty his hands were. After he washed them I saw how raw and swollen his fingers were from biting his nails. This child has so much stress in his life besides school. I don't know the solution, but I do know what is contributing to the problem WE ARE.

Some Words of Encouragement

2011-10-18T22:20:00.000-04:00

It is pretty amazing to think we are one of the only disciplines that live what we teach. Art teachers are artists, that's why we teach art. A second grade teacher does not need to be a mathemetician, a children's book writer, a scientist, they get to be a teacher and go home. When we go home we are artists, creators and wanna be creators. Our job often is the source of our inspiration while "getting in the way" of our time to create our own work. We must juggle the tension of creating all day with our students while needing to find time and headspace to create for ourselves. We don't have a choice, we are still artists at the end of the day.

Art, Music and Physical Education are the only teachers who should live their subject.

I want to share this quote from Ira Glass. . . (I found it on Paint the Moon Photography) because it inspired me and I hope you like it too.

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
― Ira Glass

While trying to create in my little stolen moments I'll try to remember this sentiment and not be too hard on myself!

No Cost Rewards

2011-10-15T22:59:00.001-04:00

Call them prizes, rewards, positive incentives, bribes, I don't care! I love 'em. I love to give rewards and I love to get them. But, as the song goes, "the best things in life are free." I love no cost rewards even better.

Here you can see the beginning of A-R-T-I-S-T on the white board.
When the class earns all the letters we listen to a MIX CD in grades 4 and 5.
Grades 1-3 get to go to the prize box (that's not a no cost reward though.)

This year I created a MIX CD with songs that the fourth and fifth graders are loving. The younger kids haven't developed any strong music tastes so I usually play classical, jazz or some sort of world music. The fifth grade mix is a reward though. When they earn all the letters that spell A-R-T-I-S-T on the board I turn on the CD during work time. I put letters up their in the beginning of class, when they walk in quietly, after attendance is quiet, or when someone does something nice. They save the letters from the last class so they won't have to start from scratch. I will have to add to the Mix soon to keep them interested. This has been the best free reward yet.
Here are some of the songs: Chasing Pavements ADELE, Three Little Birds BOB MARLEY, Dynamite ROCSTARR, Firework KATY PERRY, Pokerface LADY GAGA
GRADE: A+ It's easy, fun, and everyone gets to enjoy it including me.

LUNCH IN THE ART ROOM is a special reward I reserve for students who go above and beyond to help me. Students can bring their lunch and eat in the art room away from the noisy lunchroom. I love to find ways to appreciate students who always do good work.
GRADE: B It's a fun way to get to know students and show them they are appreciated. On the negative side you can't involve the whole class.

Another free reward is extra art time for the ART CLASS OF THE MONTH. I select one class out of 20+ (one that has been working cooperatively and that I want to spend extra time with) and they get to free create in the art room. I am also working on a letter to send home to the parents to announce that their child is part of the ART CLASS OF THE MONTH.
GRADE: C because it is time consuming, only effects one class, and doesn't really provide any motivation to behave for other classes (I'm required to do this though from the district.)

CHEERS are a great quick way to let the students know they are doing a great job. Our favorite is OOOOOHHH Yeah. . . and we do this silly hand movement like a rollercoaster. I even had a little kid do this in the grocery store when she saw me. I hate cheesy but the kids like it. Thank goodness I like kids.
B+ Kids LOVE cheers. . . I pretend to love em;)

WHAT FREE REWARDS DO YOU GIVE?

I really want to make some sort of free way to recognize the art class of the month like a trophy or artist palette to display in their room. . . do you have any ideas?

Not So Stuffy Still Lifes

2011-10-13T22:06:00.002-04:00

I thought Still Life Drawing would be a little stuffy until I saw Phyl's post and decided it might be fun to try again.

I might of been the best art class ever. Seriously. I felt so happy to be a part of it.

It started before first period. . .
I scavenged in all of my closets (in common areas shhh) and in the music room for cool things to draw and put them in a heap on a back table. Then I waited, like a kid on Christmas morning, for my fifth graders to come down the hallways to art class. I tried not to show too much excitement but I couldn't help but feel proud of my scavenging abilities when my 5th graders spotted treasures on a table in the back of the classroom. We talked about what objects "go together" or have a connection. They loved looking at all of the objects and finding all sorts of connections. Some students had a bit of a hard time with this, but after a few examples from friends (a starfish goes with a seashell and a lobster because they are from the sea!) everyone seemed to understand.

Next, table by table I asked one student to pick an object. When they brought the object to their table another student had to choose something that had a connection and so on and so forth.

They created these beautiful still life creations as a group. Yes this is an amazing class that I've been working with since first grade so we could do this.

Here are the still lifes they set up and some of their initial sketches.

I bet Beethoven would have loved with the invention of headphones.
Very clever group at this table.
Their theme was ART FORMS.

Their theme was ART FROM AROUND THE WORLD.

Their theme was obviously OCEAN LIFE.

Another obvious theme of AUTUMN.

Very creatively this table imagined the art guy as a mermaid.

I drew with them too. The music was going and we were looking through our viewfinders and sketching in that special "art zone" which is that creative mind space I hope we get back to tomorrow.

P.S. I want to share with you I'm going to get my MASTERS in peace studies officially called CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION. The teacher is amazing and brings in people from all over the world who she's met in her travels. I'm hoping it will help me be a better teacher with the population I work with. Wish me luck! I'm also excited for a night out with adults to talk to!

What goes up. . .

2011-10-13T18:51:00.000-04:00

MUST COME DOWN.

WARNING: This is a vent.

Beginning of vent. . . This week my classroom is getting painted . . .

end of vent.

I think the picture says it all NOTICE THE TIME OF DAY I FINISHED ALL THIS?

A Post About Wanna Be Posts

2011-10-10T18:39:00.000-04:00

Here are some snapshots of wanna be posts. I take a lot of pictures in plans for posts. . . but until I write those posts here's what we've been working on. If any of this interests you let me know so I can be inspired to form a proper "lesson" post.

Kinders practiced apple prints after visiting the orchards.
We will be reviewing what a print is and making our own apple prints.
Don't you love the finger in the way! Classic.

Wacky Weaving which I got from another blog.
I think some of my kids took the wacky part a little too seriously.
I can show you all the results in a future post.

Painted our action figures with a color family.
Again I think I loosened the reigns a lot on this one.
Some came out fab others overworked.
I made copies of the black and white originals so they could
experiment without worry.

I got a laminator for $16.99 on Slick Deals!
I'm in the process of laminating pictures of my supplies and how
I would like them to look on the shelf.
A little kooky I know! I'll let you know if this help the kids
put things back the "right" way, by "right" I mean MY WAY:)

Stella and I shopping for prizes for my prize box.
She fell asleep by the time we got to the checkout line on my purse.
I want to do a post about NO COST rewards (as I am always looking for
free ways to say you're appreciated.) But my prize box is quite popular.

ALL MY NEW BOOKS.
I want to do a post about about the new books I've gotten through
blogger recommendations and just things I've found.
I've ordered about 5 so far. I can't say no to a good book.
Especially when I'll be able to add them to Stella's Library.

Our Native American CLAY UNIT!
First graders are first getting to know their clay using their 5 senses.
See how they are LISTENING to their clay. SO CUTE.
Most said it sounded like the inside of a shell.
Totally love this idea from Mrs. Hahn at Mini Matisse.
Check out her cool worksheet here.

Hope you enjoyed my wanna be posts. They enjoyed seeing the light of day!

Sunday Coffee Talk: Columbus Day

2011-10-09T22:04:00.000-04:00

Columbus Day?

I know with our new curriculum rolling out first graders are learning about Native Americans through text and writing. Then comes Columbus and his Day! Smack dab in the middle of our Native American Units. . . now there's an inconvenient truth. I'm just saying. . .

I think we all agree that we will NOT be going into work, even if we vehemently disagree with the sentiment of Columbus Day.

What are your Columbus Day plans? (Sorry this isn't a deeper conversation on imperialism.)

Discuss.

Our columbus day LEAF LOOKING PLANS. Stella's practicing her "leaf peeper" eyes.

Here's a picture of Stella in the new car seat I installed today. We will be traveling, somewhere beautiful and taking our camera along. The leaves have started changing in the Northwest corner of Connecticut and I plan on being a crazy "leaf peeper" that I used to make fun of when I lived there.

How could I not share this one?

Talking about Bullying

2011-10-05T21:15:00.001-04:00

Bullies come in all forms. Bullies are good kids with no confidence who want some power or adults who have no confidence and too much "power." What do we do with a bully? I guess a better question is. . . what do we do if a child is bullying?

Honestly, I have no answer. Actually, like many of the problems parents and teachers face today, there is no one answer. We look to principals for answers, behavior specialists, school guidance counselors, but the truth is we are all just going through trial and error until something clicks.

What I do know is where to start. The word power comes to mind when thinking of my favorite child who has bullying problem. Often when one bully leaves the class, another emerges. Why is this? Because the balance of power is disrupted. . . and they see an opportunity to be in charge, to lead the social circle, and in some cases to be cool (or at least not picked on.)

So how do we redistribute this pattern of power? If you've ever been in the corporate world you know the business model for most companies is a triangle (with the power held by a few at the top.)

Usually the top is where the bully is and everyone else subserviant. How do we inverse that triangle? How do we put the majority of the kids in a position of power to take charge of their class and education?

I want to share a book that might open up this conversation and the power issue that kids are so reluctant to talk about.

I'm thinking of reading the words of this book. Then having them create an illustration inspired by the story. Here is part of the story. . . "One was a quiet color. He enjoyed looking up at the sky, floating on the waves, and on days he felt daring. . . splashing in rain puddles. Every once in a while he wished he could be more Sunny like Yellow. Or bright like Green. More regal like Purple. Or outgoing like Orange. But overall, he liked being Blue. . . . except when he was with Red. Red was a hot head. " What grade level do you think this book is for?

Besides talking about it with an adult and each other, anonymity is important if we are ever going to make real change. Can we create a place of anonymity? Can we have students take back their power and stand up for each other and themselves in a real way? Can we do this through art? Can we do this through collaboration in art? These are all questions I am going to be exploring next week. Let me know what you think or if you can commiserate!

Easy Project You Can Do Tomorrow: Action Figure Drawing

2011-10-01T10:40:00.000-04:00

Get them moving! This is an easy project for a class that wants to draw, but don't know where to start. I did this same Action Figure Drawing project a few different ways, basically depending upon the behavior of the class. With my high level and excellent behavior class I split the students in pairs, one person drawing, one person posing. They got to do many more poses this way. They also got to move around the classroom and use the space in an organic way. It was inspiring to see them work together.

Other classes I had students pose in the front of the classroom. If they handled this well I let more then one student pose and the class could choose who to draw for 30 seconds.

THIS WOULD BE GREAT WITH DRY ERASE BOARDS. But I don't have any! I'm definitely going to home depot on The Art of Education's suggestion (read her comments here.)

Some classes learned the word GESTURE DRAWING. Others did a gallery walk as suggested by MINI MATISSE although I can't find the direct link to her gallery walk (can someone help me?) A gallery walk is walking around the classroom as if you were in a museum to look at the art work (an opportunity to discuss museum behavior.) All classes discussed the line of the human body.

Why is this picture pixelated????
I tried uploading it a variety of ways?
It's a larger file too!

THESE EXAMPLES ARE FROM THE CLASS WHO WORKED WITH PARTNERS.

THEY DREW A LOT OF POSES IN A 1/2 HOUR!

Don't know how they got the diving pose???

My personal FAVORITE! Shhhhhh.
Can't wait to see it in Sharpie.

Getting a little loco with the art stool! Don't worry I put
the cabash on this:) Although they girls were pretty serious
abou this pose.

NEXT WEEK: The students have decided to add color. I asked them how and they said, big blobs of watercolor. Great idea right?!

Mixed up Mondrian

2011-09-29T20:33:00.000-04:00

I got tired of my same old Mondrian project so I decided to mix it up, literally.

First we cut out different types of lines as you saw in my previous post and glued them to the paper. We talked about simple direction words like up and down, side to side, and diagonal.

Then we did some color mixing as a group.

Then came the messy mixed up part. I gave them the three primary colors they saw in the Mondrian painting but let them mix them up. I demonstrated how to keep the primary colors and how to put two primaries together to get a secondary. Only a few ended up completely brown. Those few children were amazed. One said "Brown is BEAUTIFUL!" Brown IS beautiful, and so are all the colors, I told him. But we all know it takes about 5 painting lessons for Kinders to realize that they don't want a series of brown paintings.

We had a marvelously messy day!

WORK LEADING UP TO OUR PAINTINGS:

PRACTICING DRAWING LINES, LINES AND MORE LINES

IDENTIFYING THE WORDS RED, YELLOW, AND BLUE

CUTTING LINES, LINES AND MORE LINES!

ARTSONIA but easier!

2011-09-28T18:25:00.001-04:00

ARTSONIA used to take me forever! Taking the pictures, uploading, editing, creating rosters, it was all too much. Being pregnant last year, I selectively let this fall off my plate. I was going to forget ARTSONIA all together until a few parents asked me about it. I can never say no to a parent who want to support their child's creativity. So I thought I was stuck!

Until, I opened my e-mail this afternoon and this is what I saw. . .

Yes, I totally snagged this pic from the internet.
Sorry Mrs. E I am trying to be better but not trying hard enough!

ARTSONIA has a new mobile app that I tried out today! It works. It's free. It's fast. It took me 3 minutes to upload each piece, edit and put the students name with it. I did two so far (I only had an extra 6 minutes before I had to go see my baby Stella) I have some more time tomorrow, I'm thinking of training a student to do this. How exciting to publish your friends artwork online (thanks for the idea Mrs. D!)

Have you already tried this? LINK YOUR ARTSONIA SITE SO WE CAN SEE YOUR HARD WORK! Here's my artsonia website from 2 years ago. (The new work won't publish for 48 hours.)

Thanks Jen for linking your site so I could see your LINE FISH! Glad I didn't recycle that old book. That idea has been a big hit!

Missy, why you want to learn Spanish?

2011-09-27T21:03:00.003-04:00

A picture of Stella counting "uno, dos, tres "
Well sort of. . . maybe one day!

When you are new to a language. . . you hear the same things over and over again. I don't even think the kids or teachers realize how many times certain phrases are repeated.

The first thing I picked out of the long mumble of this foreign language was "Mira!" Look! From that word I began to pick out different phrases in this sea of what was essentially nonsense to me. I'm starting to wonder, is this what the students hear too? A phrase here, a glimpse of a word they may have heard before? How should this change how I teach?

I've been at the same school for 6 years. I teach a lot of the bilingual classes (Spanish.) In art though, it seems to make little difference what one's native language is when it comes to making the art work. Today was a perfect example. I taught the same lesson three times to three 5th grades. It was a weaving lesson that has been floating around the blogs (you know the one where you weave up and down and side to side). . . well cutting the looms with my other "higher level" classes resulted in many mistakes (not cutting on the fold.) So many mistakes that I took all these cut paper mess ups and made a hula skirt. This seemed to make the kids who failed on the first try feel better to see me WEARING their mistakes and doing a little hula if they were particularly upset. Fast forward to todays 4th and 5th grade combo class bilingual . . . NOT ONE mistake making their looms. So language was obviously not a barrier.

I am especially interested in how language is really learned. I took years of French and never really got it. But, now, I feel like I'm understanding most of the conversations the kids are having it seems like magically. When they ask me a question in Spanish I answer them (in English most times) without realizing that they even asked in Spanish! I think this has something to do with the repetitive nature of the questions and easy vocabulary of the art room tools. But something is definitely starting to happen in my brain! One of the paras brought this to my attention. He said, "you are understanding more Spanish this year. You are answering their questions when they tell you in Spanish." I guess I was! I was walking around pretty proud after that.

Then comes the SPEAKING part. This is a lot harder because it takes guts. I try everyday to at least say the vocabulary words we're using in Spanish (even if I fail miserably) mostly to break down the barrier of the kids speaking in English. For example today we were doing Leaf Texture Rubbings so I was learning the word hoja (leaf.) One word might not seem like a lot, but of course one word lead to "Missy this is how you say _________ in Spanish." This translating is helping me get to know those new kids who sit there in silence looking at the table while their "English" speaking teacher talks at them. They perk up when they hear something they understand and seem to be following along too.

Today a boy in second grade (that I've had since Kindergarten) said to me "Missy, why you want to learn Spanish? Is your boyfriend Spanish?" Thrown a little for a loop by the question I said, "No. . . " He said "do people in your house speak Spanish?" "No, I just want to learn it." "Then you're gonna need a kid like me to be your son."
It was one of those moments where you have NO IDEA what to say!

Coffee Talk Sunday: MY Blog

2011-09-25T12:38:00.000-04:00

This is my serious look for a serious post.

This is hard to write because I don't want to sound like a (you fill in the adjective).

I have gained SO MUCH from sharing my ideas with all of my blogger friends and I HOPE the feeling is mutual. I try to share my best, simplest, most engaging lessons and ideas.

But my sharing stops at you (and of course my family and non art friends who can stand one more minute of school talk!) So basically I only share this blog with YOU:)

I don't share my blog with art colleagues who don't have blogs or administrators. (I have made only one exception to this rule. A colleague who has recently went into elementary art from middle school art and has worked her tail off. She has shared her work with me also. I think mutual sharing is awesome. She is sworn to secrecy:) Maybe I'm too protective of my ideas or don't want to be an open book I'm not sure what it is! I do know, when I see an idea that is clearly mine being used without any acknowledgement I get THAT feeling. I don't want to be like THAT and I am working on it. I try to remember that the great thing about my ideas is I have tons more of them! I try not to repeat projects too much to keep them coming!

I'm curious, do the other art teachers in your district check out your blog? Or have a blog? Do you share it with your principal? I would love to know your thoughts on this!

Keeping It Simple: Kindercutting

2011-09-24T21:40:00.001-04:00

Keeping it simple. Black paper, white lines and practicing scissor safety- that explains our first day of Kindercutting.

I took all of your Kindercutting advice (we definitely sang a lot and went through lots of paper, they practiced on copy paper too.) My mentors helped me draw white lines on papers (I had a bunch prepared but we adjusted as we saw the students levels.) Then they went at it. Paper everywhere. There are about four kids in Kindergarten so far that I am going to have to buy special scissors for. I also have an extra 1/2 hour this week when I'll pull them aside, show them how to use the plastic scissors (which I have to try to find tomorrow, any suggestions) and practice. (I will follow up with a phone call home that goes something like this "your child is the light of my life, now could you help them learn to use scissors?." There are a few who I'm sure have never touched scissors in their life.

The thing about Kindergarten is. . . THERE ARE NO PARAS. So we have some students who are obviously special needs but we can't get them the one to one they need until next year when all the paper work is filled out. General paras in Kindergarten were cut due to budget a few years ago. I have some wonderful, awesome, super, my hero mentors (5th graders) who bring their lunch and miss their recess just to help these little ones. I definitely try to make it worth everyone's time by challenging the Kindergarteners just enough (while we have the extra help) and I will definitely be asking my husband to make the mentors some awesome food at the restaurant for lunch one week.

Finally, we glued the black paper on a large white paper. NEXT, painting in the white spots in a project I call MIXED UP MONDRIAN. Check back here for more details next week.

A VISUAL LESSON STORY PART 2: Let's get MOVING

2011-09-20T21:46:00.005-04:00

I love to start the year off with a lesson about line.

I saw this awesome idea on pinterest and put my own spin on it.

Here is a PICTURE STORY of my LET'S GET MOVING lesson.

DAY 1: Make TINTS and SHADES of your favorite color.

DAY 2: LINES IN MOTION.

How many lines can you make?

How many tints and shades can you make of your favorite color?

DAY 3: ACTION POSES. . . Gesture drawing our classmates.

One student poses in an "action" pose while the class draws them with simple stick figures.

We cut our action figures out of black paper. . . and

VOILA!

What we're listening to:

Okay and my new teaching tool is a mix cd. It has totally squashed the incessant talking and replaced it with kids humming along in their cute kid voices. I turn on their favorite songs really quiet and they have to be silent to hear it. You'd think playing this song it would get louder, but to my surprise the opposite happened; everyone got quiet, stayed quiet; it works magic. Finally some reprieve from the non stop chatter that I'm totally not used to after summer vacation!

CUT HERE: Kindercutting

2011-09-18T22:30:00.000-04:00

Cut here by James Gulliver Hancock

http://www.jamesgulliverhancock.com/art_cuthere.html
JAMES GULLIVER HANCOCK IS THE MAN!
CHECK OUT HIS ART.

How do you teach a Kindergartener who have never held a pair of scissors to cut? Let alone 25 of them at once?

Do you have a cute song?

Or do you make a visual picture (put your arm up like a tree and root your elbow to the table.)

Do you demonstrate?

Do you even give them real scissors to practice for the first time?

I teach this every year, but every year I'm shakin' in my boots as I sing my silly song and leap across the room to make sure little freshy doesn't give herself a haircut.

My first year teaching in middle school I found an entire part of a weave cut off and on the floor. Later that year a girl asked to go to the bathroom and came back with trimmed bangs, for the record she went a little too short with them. She must've snuck them in her pocket. But I've come a long way from those good ol' days!

A Visual Lesson Story PART 1

2011-09-13T22:40:00.000-04:00

Drought

2011-09-07T21:28:00.002-04:00

I feel like I'm in a blogging drought although it's been raining here for quite some time. Thanks to all of you who check here for updates.

What's the reason for the drought. First, I am obsessed with my camera and new lens. As the newness wears off, I will be working towards getting a flash for the winter (when all the light seems to get sucked out of Connecticut.) So editing and taking photos is taking up a lot of time!

Our favorite dog park.

Kodi then.

Kodi now!

Then there's the PUPPY! He has been my personal trainer and I am back to pre-baby weight without even stepping in a gym. We walk and we walk and we walk. I love this guy, but he makes Jillian (trainer on the Biggest Loser) look like a powder puff.

And then there's Nick's 30th surprise party! You may remember he turned 30 last year; but, with the baby, his new job and me getting back my job back, it took us a whole year to celebrate.

The Birthday guy enjoying a moment at his surprise party this weekend.

So don't give up on Art Project Girl just yet! I promise when I get excited about some new projects I will be posting them. This week has been filled with fire drill practice (yes I pretend to be a fire drill making the "whoo oooh whoo oooh" sound while the kids practice lining up and walking.) Then the rules (you can check out this post to see my rules) . . . and finally a small art project that is about sharing, taking care of supplies and working quietly. Thrilling I KNOW! It bores me to tears to explain the first week of school to anyone. Imagine doing this 30 times! Only an art teacher can understand. But FIRST thing is FIRST as they say. Rules and expectations have to be clear to make great art projects later in the year (hey that rhymes!)

See you next week when we start our first real projects!

It's that TIME! Time management. . .

2011-08-17T23:23:00.000-04:00

That moment when you have to stop everyone and break the news. . . it's clean up time. There are a few kids who take it very hard. Tears and tantrums can happen if I don't have a plan in place. I always say "for some kids the end of art class is like being at Disney then telling them it's time to get on the plane."

So here's my plan of action. First, I quietly tell that student that we will need to make the clean up announcement soon. Luckily I've had many of these students before so I know who they are! I remind them not to rush and that we will do the same thing next week. I also let that child announce it's clean up time (sometimes by turning the rain stick.)

A few days ago when I was cleaning out my closet I found this awesomely BIG clock. It's been around since 1970 something (I can date things by the look of the tape. . . I'm like a wine connoisseur. . . just a tape connoisseur.) I thought I'd bring this clock into 2011, the age of graphic organizers, charts, data and such. Most of my classes run on an hour schedule so I painted it to show our time management. I think it looks like a big pie chart and will give students an idea of what to expect and when. Sometimes being clear can solve behavior issues before they start.

So here it is. . . MY GIANT PIE CLOCK THINGY!

It's a work in progress. . .

This sign is ready to get glued on the yellow part of the clock once the paint dries.

These signs tell students how they earn points too.

If the class is doing what the clock says they earn a point.
Classes can earn 3 points a day, entering, work time and clean up.
When classes earn all their points they earn a prize or extra art time wahooo!

Here's the title!

This has nothing to do with anything but I have to share. . .

BONUS! I FOUND THIS STAND ON CRAIGSLIST FOR MY PROJECTOR. $30 bucks baby. I've been wanting one forever but they are hundreds in the catalogues.

Bad picture of my beautiful projector stand ON WHEELS:)

DOUBLE BONUS! Sneak peek. .. This is a sign I am creating for the first day of school. Last year students did "action painting: to create the background. . . it says "Today is a good day to bee. . . " I will add words like creative, you, interested, on time, happy, helpful etc. and I'll make some BEES of course.
Bees are our school's theme. I'll be making this beautiful in the next week. I'll post an update.

I just love progress. It all looks shiny and new the first day, but right now my room looks like a tornado as I organize, create bulletin boards, and deep clean every drawer and shelf. As art teachers we know how to make a productive mess. . . then clean it up.

Getting Better Pictures for 25¢

2011-08-11T23:16:00.000-04:00

I've been working a lot with my SLR and trying to figure out how to get each picture a little better then the last.

The most important thing in a photograph is lighting. You might want to debate it but here's my philosophy. . . all photos are is light going through a hole and hitting a surface (be it film or digital). So it's really important to get that light right and make the hole (aperature) right too.

First, I want to talk about natural light. You can give your portraits an extra glow with a reflector. A reflector does just what it says. . . reflects light onto your subject. Angle your reflector to bounce some beautiful natural light back on your subject and give them that "glow."

Here's Nick holding our 25¢ reflector (a piece of poster board.) I also made a reflector out of tinfoil but it was a little harder to get a nice even glow. We finally got it right you can see the "glowing" effect in the picture of my momma.

Here's Nick holding a reflector AND a glow worm.
What a guy!

This is the picture with the light bouncing onto her face.
Original (no photoshop)

This is with a TINFOIL homemade reflector. . . holding it with one hand and taking a picture with the other.
Sometimes I wish I was an octopus.

Inspiring Art Room

2011-08-07T12:00:00.000-04:00

This is awesome. Just seeing this art room makes me feel more motivated than Richard Simmons in a gym pumping Barbara Streisand music. . . hmmm . . . that doesn't quite describe it.

How motivated does this space make you feel?

Makes me feel more motivated than. . .

Before and After

2011-08-06T08:54:00.002-04:00

I've been busy. . . chasing my dog (who is Houdini reincarnated, the master of escape), cleaning my house (the bane of my existence to put it mildly), playing with Stella (the reason for my existence), and now relearning Photoshop and playing with the manual settings on my camera.

Here are some of PHOTOSHOP BEFORE AND AFTERS!

Skin color is off still. This is a hard one to balance she was wearing bright yellow that seemed to reflect on her face.
laying around with the eyes . . . went a little overboard, but it's the first time I did this and learned something new.

Blogger is making this files so small. It's so sharp in the original!

Coffee Talk Sunday

2011-07-31T20:51:00.001-04:00

Do you remember that SNL skit Coffee Talk? As I'm drinking coffee and reading my blogs I was thinking of a topic. . .

Have you ever incorporated a contemporary artist in the elementary art curriculum?
Who was it and how did you do it?

BLOG, We'll Talk, No Big Whoop.

Death of My Digital Life

2011-07-31T00:33:00.003-04:00

DEATH OF MY DIGITAL LIFE: For the past few days, I've been coming to terms with the death of my hard drive. I was devastated. Four years with not even a hiccup, then on Tuesday she went fast and sudden.

If you read my blog you might remember me posting about a new camera lens and a dream of being a child portrait photographer. I needed a lens, flash and photoshop to get started. Well I got my new lens and have been loving it! It's a 50mm lens for my Canon Rebel. But, I was afraid to spend money on a new computer (I hate big purchases! I am a TJ Maxx kind of girl!)

A SIGN FROM THE UNIVERSE? The passing of my old computer I took as a sign, from GOD, to get a new computer. I went to the Apple store today, literally shaking with excitement, and got a new computer. I thought I'd have to wait and save up some more dough to get Photoshop, but Adobe (the makers of photoshop) apparently LOVE educators. Adobe gives over a thousand dollars worth of software to teachers for around $350! I tried to act really nonchalant and cool when the Mac guy finally handed over the new computer and software to me but I just said "this is the best Christmas ever" and left. After getting over my initial excitement, I realized I couldn't carry this bag with my goods through the mall. Obviously, someone would follow me to my car, hit me over the head and steal my new computer, so I stopped at The Walking Store and got a bag to conceal her. Now here we are! Home safe and sound (thanks to the nice people at The Walking Store.) I am a little sad that I didn't properly back up all the stuff on my old computer but I still have all the important stuff like my wedding pictures and pictures of my dog on a CD and slideshows. So all isn't lost.

REBIRTH! By the way, here are some pics from our photo shoot today! I can't wait to get them in Photoshop! I have to call Adobe tomorrow to confirm I'm a teacher before they will let me use the software.

Don't you just love the new lens! Stella is pretty cute too:)

If you're keeping track I've got one more thing left, a flash. It's coming! I have an idea how I'm going to get it. . . and it involves craigslist.

Easy Project You Can Do Tomorrow: Line Fish

2011-07-24T23:13:00.000-04:00

I found an old art book in my room with a picture of this. . .

Example from old art text book.

I had to try it with my "extra" 1/2 hour classes. We get a few classes for an extra 1/2 hour. I hate for those classes to get too far ahead of the others. It's also such a short amount of time (usually class is 1 hour) so I like projects that have little mess so they have a lot of work time.

Basically all you need is paper, a black marker and crayons (optional)

Here is my example. I will photograph the student work which I saved for a bulletin board next year.

First draw a curved loopdy loop line.
That's the technical term for it!

My example.

Aren't these fish happy.
A second grader made them.
More to come in the beginning of next school year!

Overall, the kids got creative with their fish, added treasure boxes, seaweed, pirate ships, etc. and it was a very relaxing, zentangle (excuse the reference) kind of project. Hope this little project can come in handy for you one day when you need a creative lesson but only have marker, paper and a half hour!

Talking Shop and A Great Deal

2011-07-22T08:48:00.000-04:00

I know many of you have already ordered, but if you haven't (like me) I want to share this deal with you.

Pacon TRU-RAY Construction Paper 9 by 12 is buy one get one 1/2 off. Click Here to see the deal yourself.

I usually order the smaller sheets of TRU-RAY but I'll cut them to save some money.

Then there's this

and this

Both I've never even seen before. . . but I am curios about the colored pencils. Have you seen these? Are they worth it?

If you're interested get the promo code from the link. Wish me luck writing up my order. . . it takes me a while because I go through the projects I usually do and the projects I'd like to do and then there's the comparison shopping. . . my deal seeking is a sickness really;) Definitely going for the liquid watercolors this year as I see the awesome vibrant color you are all getting. Thank you for your help with the best tempera paint brands. I refer to your comments often. This is what I went with PRANG white, yellow, orange (thanks Painted Paper), SAX red (thanks Phyl), Crayola bright Turquiose and Violet (thanks Phyl) and a few bottles of the Blick colors because a lot of you raved about them.

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due! UPDATE

2011-07-20T09:17:00.001-04:00

Thank you for all of your suggestions on how to organize ideas found in your blogs. Organization is painful for me, but I do it and love it when it's done. I have been using Pinterest anytime I see things I like. Simply click this little button that says Pin It in my history bar and it goes to one of my pinboards.

Here's what it looks like in my history bar.
Too simple!

Here are my pinboards http://pinterest.com/artprojectgirl/ . They are a little thin right now but they are growing! Overall, this is the most fun I've ever had organizing!

Thank you Anne from Use Your Coloured Pencils! And everyone else who mentioned Pinterest on their blogs.

This is going to really help me develop my style, organize my ideas, and basically keep things in one place that's not my own head.

As for giving Pinterest my facebook account (Phyl, I know you were concerned and you should be, I thought it odd too to give a facebook account), in the end I did. I'm pretty broke right now, so I feel like I don't have much to loose. Unless the hackers are looking for people with potential, I've got tons of that!

Anyways, I would eventually like to faze out my facebook account. Wouldn't we all?

Sometimes We All Need A Cheerleader. . .

2011-07-17T22:50:00.001-04:00

I'm trying to make a big purchase and I'm scared. It's already been "added to my cart" but I'm not sure if I should go for it, or wait another month to make sure I still have a job. You see if I PROCEED TO CHECKOUT that means I will have to follow through on this daydream I have had forever.

Here it is. . . I have a daydream of becoming a children's photographer in my free time in the summers. I love the 7:00 light and what the summer humidity does to kids hair; I love the popsicle stained shirts and lips and the bare feet. I never want to photograph in winter, just in summer, just kids. I kind of keep it a secret because I have LOTS of daydreams. Is it an artist thing to have a million ideas in the air? Anyways, on my mini vacation we went to the beach and I shot some quick pics of my nieces and Stella. I had so much fun! I look at the pictures though and think wouldn't it be great to have a little tiny fill flash here and maybe an out of focus background there? What would I need? A 50 mm lens (about $100) and a flash (about $350) not to mention I need to update my old computer and get photoshop but that's another day.

See how I could use a little photoshop to pop the kids and maybe work on the background color?

This could use photoshop too to sparkle the eyes more.

A tiny pop of flash would make the shadow on my nieces face go away. . . the 50mm lens would make the background dreamy!

By the way, I graduated in photography but all I learned is how much I don't know. Sometimes I feel like when you learn too much about a subject that you actually get stifled. I want to get back to why I love taking pictures in the first place. Even though there was great critique at RISD sometimes I just need a cheerleader.

So now that I've put my daydream out there (which I don't like to do because people will laugh at me. . . but you are all nice) maybe I will actually do it? Do you have a daydream you are scared to start? Please tell! What are they. . . why do we put them off? Maybe we just need a cheerleader sometimes instead of critics.

One more thing. . . should I click PROCEED TO CHECKOUT?

3-11

2011-07-03T23:17:00.000-04:00

Not the band but I do like this cheesy love song. Must be because I grew up in the 90's so I like bad love songs.

Happy Anniversary~ Congratulations to us! We did it! 3 is for our 3 years of marriage but I really count the 11 years we've been together. This year was a hard one, we loved and lost and loved again, but it showed us what we're made of. We have grown up together and this year we made the leap into being "grown ups" having Stella. Now it's time to ride this high, because we earned it! Happy Anniversary Nick. Love you!

LOST AND FOUND!

2011-06-30T08:51:00.000-04:00

I finally found the link to Phyl's FLIP FLOP project (click to check it out) and there she shares a link to Kids Artists Funky Slippers Project.

I am so relieved! Blogger is making my mind feel like our lost and found. . . ideas keep piling up and the box keeps on getting more full until it overflows, finally when I pick something out of the box I have no idea where it came from. I have to go on guesses. . . it's a bigger size so it must be from grade 5. . . and then try to back track and find the source.

There must be an easier way!

Do you keep track of your ideas and how?

AND HERE'S A STELLA UPDATE! I am one of those people who show off pictures of my baby to anyone with a pair of eyes.

THE DAY after school let out I started sleeping through the night!
I just missed my mom before.

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due!

2011-06-29T00:17:00.002-04:00

"Dear Mrs. D, Your like a party you make me giggle, te he he:)
I know that third grade won't last forever but your the best teacher ever:)"

There are a lot of good teachers that we work with. You know the ones who made sure their classes behaved for you your first years teaching? Who sat next to you in the lunchroom and talked to you like a friend? The teachers whose students can "handle" themselves in the art room because they do so much more than dittos in their classroom. You know who they are. The kids know who they are. I got a little glimpse into what students REALLY think about their teachers with our "end of the year" project.

You see, every year I try to do a fun display for the last day of school to surprise the teachers. One year we outlined a student on large butcher paper and they dressed it up like their teacher. We all got a kick out of the teachers full sized portraits lining the hallways. Many of them had on very short skirts and too much lipstick. It was hysterical.

This year, I dug deep in my memory bank, my blogger memory bank, and used this really cool flip flop idea. I have no idea where I saw it but I'm sure I didn't come up with it myself. Each student traced their shoe to make their flip flop and then designed it. I gave them an option to write a note to their teacher on it. The second to last day of school (it was a half day), three students were thrilled to spend the better part of the day taping these flip flops down the hallway. So on our final "bus walk" teachers and students followed the flip flops to the exit door. All the teachers stood in the rain to do the traditional "wave."

If you don't do the wave at your school you really should start one. The last day of school all the teachers, staff, everyone stands outside and waves goodbye to the kids. It is something to see. The kids wave from the bus windows some were teary eyed, some bawling, some happy to get out for summer. The bus drivers honk their horns and the teachers try not to cry, fail, and wave to their students.

The mural is a quote from Dr. Seuss Oh the Places You'll Go
"You've got brains in your head and feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose!"
I apologize for the underlining it is a glitch in blogger that won't turn off!

What did I learn from all this? I learned that Mrs. Knud*&% is "like a second mother" to her students. Third graders ONLY like third grade because of Mrs. Dim*&^%. Ms. An%$#^ does the best math lessons and brings in popsicles (which is funny because she also is known for her awesome reading lessons; she's all around great.) Mr. Hur&^% taught a certain "someone" how to be "nice." That one made me cry because it was so true.

What more is there to life? Well for starters. . . finishing cleaning my room and taking down all these sandals. I am one of those people who has to go back to clean there room. Hopefully I will get better at cleaning my room on time as I get more experienced and less sappy.

School's Out and So Am I!

2011-06-25T23:19:00.001-04:00

I'm OUTTA HERE! Don't worry I'm taking Stella with me.

I'm so excited about my summer I have to share.

First stop, Nashville, the music city (a lot of great art and public spaces too!) TO DO: Visit the botanical gardens, the Frist Center for Visual Arts and of course listen to live music. We've found out in the past four months that Stella is a genius musician! She sings as good as Bob Dylan. . . so being the supportive mom that I am. . . I am cultivating her natural talent early. Even got her a pair of felt cowboy boots! Her cousin (and my brothers) also happens to live in Nashville.

Stella "singing" with her cousin.

We'll see how Stella likes flying if she does, we'll be going to San Francisco to visit her "Aunt" my B.F.F. in CA. But it might be too far for a baby, what do you think?

Then off to Philadelphia to meet up with her daddy. We will be traveling to the Jersey Shore (can I get a fist pump?) to meet up with Grandma and Aunties. Then we come home so I can teach a video class (gotta make some $ for our adventures.) Then back to the Connecticut beaches where mommy *me will take art classes while Stella and Nana go to the beach. Don't worry I'll meet them at the beach after classes.

In the few days in between I'll be *cleaning my classroom, *planting a small shade garden behind my house, *repainting my kitchen, *putting some stuff for "free" on craigslist to make more space in my space. My house is pretty organized because I always start the summer with an end of year staff party. That makes me clean and organize my house from top to bottom before the start of summer so I can play!

HERE'S TO PLAYING. . . WHAT ARE YOUR SUMMER PLANS? Any must sees in Nashville, Jersey Shore or San Francisco?

What's In A Picture?

2011-06-20T23:18:00.000-04:00

Using 3 simple questions my bilingual Kindergarteners were able to discover all about Vincent Van Gogh without me TELLING them a single thing.

I stole these questions from a variety of workshops and readings. I mixed and matched the best critique questions and here are my favorites.

The first is "What do you see?" Students each say one thing "I see a . . . "

Here were some of there responses to this painting.

"I see a man." "I see a coat." "I see a hat." "I see a painting." "I see a white cloth around his face."

Now here comes the second question.

"Can you tell me more about that?"
"The painting is on the wall and has people in it. The people look like they might be from China."
"He is wearing a coat that is old and a hat with fur on it."
"He is inside a house with a coat on."

"What makes you say that?"
This is my FAVORITE question. One student said the man was in a house. I said, "What makes you say that?" He said, "There's a picture on the wall." Another kid chimed in, "But he's wearing a coat!" I said, "Could he be wearing a coat in the house?" They all agreed that was possible and then I asked, "Why would he wear a coat in the house." Most agreed that it must be cold. "Why is cold in the house." Now, this is the part of the conversation that amazed me. All the kids agreed that he doesn't have money to heat his house and there were "bills" he couldn't pay so he had to wear his coat until the heat got turned on. These kids were in Kindergarten mind you. . . very street smart for 5 year olds!

I'll save you the whole conversation but this is what the kids decided in the end.

It was a painting of a poor man who liked art work from China. He lived somewhere cold and was not happy. Something happened to the side of his head which must've hurt a lot.

Not to bad for a quick observation of Van Gogh's famous Self Portrait! Kindergarteners are ready for first grade.

These are my best questions. . . what are yours?

Two Movies. . . I Need To See

2011-06-20T22:34:00.003-04:00

I might be the only educator who has not seen Waiting for Superman.

Now there is a screening of an independent film called
The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting For Superman. Basically, this film says that Waiting for Superman was an infomercial for charter schools and tells little about what parents and teachers know is going on in our school systems.

I am really interested to see what film I agree with more. If I was a weatherman, which I'm not, I would predict that I will agree with Waiting for Superman more. If you read my blog, you know I went to private schools, taught at a Montessori School, and now teach in an urban public school. Yes I know what you're thinking. . . what a change. I honestly had no idea even how a public school worked when my first principal handed me the keys to my classroom and left me with a bunch of 6th graders who could have only been thinking "where did this teacher come from, a GAP catalogue?" I was totally clueless about public school, myself as a teacher, and my students. (My student teaching experience was only a few short months in an elementary school.) I luckily had a rockstar for a teaching mentor who was the Michelle Pfieffer of teachers.

When I was in high school, having awesome speakers (politicians, artists, actors, some of my personal heros like Gordan Parks and Jerry Uelsmann), playing every sport imaginable, having state of the art technology and high energy teachers I thought one thing. EVERY KID SHOULD HAVE THIS! I felt guilty that education was not the same for every kid. I was well aware that I had an unfair advantage. That's one of the reasons I decided to be a teacher in a public school. Private, public, charter, each has its positives and negatives. Stella, my daughter, will attend public school for most of her schooling because I believe in public education and public school teachers. But, I'm not married to public education. I'm invested in education and great education in whatever form it comes. Like my weatherman lately, predictions can be wrong.

I will post my review after I see both movies. . . until then have you seen any of these films? Please be a spoiler. What did you think?

What Are We Doing For Father's Day?

2011-06-19T13:21:00.000-04:00

Happy Father's Day to all the great dads out there. I snagged one! A handful of kids asked me "What are we making for Father's Day?"

I, unfortunately don't do father's day projects with the students. You all teach and/or are a son or daughter. You know how rare it is to find a real "Dad". So many students would be left out.

Why so few Dads?

1. It's a CHOICE. You don't HAVE to be a Dad. My observation is, woman are ultimately responsible for their children in our society. A Dad has to choose to be responsible for his children. Which makes being a Dad that much more meaningful. You totally have the right to disagree but this is my observation in my little corner of the world.

2. It's HARD WORK! A bond between a Dad and child grows and builds, where a mom has the help of oxytocin (a hormone) to help her bond with her child. It's an amazing thing!

3. It's EVOLUTION. Let's face it, you have to be highly evolved to be a Dad. Gone are the times of being a bread winner and providing (with only a paycheck.) Most families are two income households and both parents are under the same amount and same kind of stress. There is no pecking order in a household. Every man and woman has to row to keep the ship a float. It's hard for many men not to be the Captain. But a Dad understands this and supports his family emotionally.

I am lucky that I married an evolved guy! I will totally understand when Stella doesn't bring home Father's Day presents from school. What is your take on Father's Day? Do you do projects with your students?

Splatter Monsters: Someone Hand Me A Tissue!

2011-06-16T20:46:00.001-04:00

Here they are! The kids cut out their splatter paintings and tried to find a monster in them. They used black markers, yarn, paper scraps and google eyes to make their Splatter Monster Collages.

Is it obvious that I don't want school to end? We only have a few more days left of school and we're still painting and collaging away! I know most teachers are packing up, but I always have a hard time saying goodbye at the end of the year. I know I'll see some of the kids next year. Some kids I'll never see again (our bilingual program is very transient) and others I know from when they were Kindergarteners; it doesn't matter, I miss them all. Yes, I cry every year when the 5th grade graduates. This year I'll bring tissues and hide in the back. We invest a lot into these kids and it's such an awesome thing to see them grow before your eyes! Okay, enough Erica! Here are the splatter monsters. . . before I start reminiscing and getting weepy:)

Too late!

These were made by my second graders.

Splatter Monsters PART 1

2011-06-15T21:26:00.000-04:00

We made paper for our Splatter Monsters!

We mixed the primary colors by blowing them together with a straw. It worked so well! All the kids enjoyed this. . . some of our inclusion students came up with the most creative splatter monsters.

CHECK OUT OUR WORK IN PROGRESS.

We got those cool droppers from our schools science kits.

Students dropped the primary colors on their papers.

Blew them together with a straw.

and added some more colors. . .

FINISHED SPLATTER MONSTERS COMING SOON!

ARTY WEEKEND: Providence BABY! Part Deux

2011-06-15T21:12:00.000-04:00

More Providence Baby!

More RISD Museum. . .

Finally we found the new wing of the museum and the exhibit "Cocktail Culture" with all my favorite fashions. I like the 50's best because fashion was made for woman with curves. I am a little obsessed with 50's culture (I know it goes totally against everything you know about me.) I adore my collection of 50's things, from lighting fixtures, movies, side tables, bedroom sets, music, and dresses (not to mention my house which transports you to midcentury.) Recently I had to say goodbye to my shag carpet because my puppy thought it was grass.

CHECK OUT THIS LINK TO SEE MORE OF THE COCKTAIL CULTURE EXHIBIT
CLICK HERE!

Unfortunately I couldn't take any of my own pictures of the exhibit because Stella decided she was finished with our museum trip.

Off to lunch, a Falafal from East Side Pocket on Thayer Street. When I was in college the guys used to always throw in some free dessert, not this time though. Truth be told, I never liked those sticky little desserts anyways!

A little more window shopping and people watching (fashion critiquing. . . my favorite Providence activity.) Finally, the day was done. . . but we weren't! We still have a few more places we want to go back and visit like Federal Hill (the best Italian food around), AS220 and the Cable Car for some independent films (going to see a movie. . . that might be better left a memory!)

What a long, beautiful day!

ARTY WEEKEND: Providence BABY! Part ONE

2011-06-12T09:21:00.004-04:00

We went to Providence over the weekend! I call it a Professional Development Weekend, Nick calls it "Providence Baby!" Most of you are in the same boat as me when it comes to art professional development at your schools (unless you are Jessica at The Art of Education whose professional development I oogle over every time I read about it.)

Sometimes a girl has slow down and to take matters into her own hands. I've been running so fast this year that I wanted to pause and connect with myself, the reasons that I became an art educator, and my family. What better place to go then Providence. . . the place I started teaching (shout out to Ms. Harris at the South Providence Library my first teaching mentor), where I met my husband, and where I feel like I connected with myself as an artist. Not to mention, Providence has THE BEST FOOD! If you've been reading my blog you might remember my husband is a chef, so he knows all the best "hole in the wall" places to go as well as "fancy" places. We had the baby who is unpredictable so we stuck with all the "hole in the walls."

Frommage anyone?

We started the day at our favorite date spot (okay MY favorite date spot), The Creperie on Thayer Street. I recommend the Betty (strawberries and organic honey.) You can eat crepes while listening to punk rock and checking out the flyers of "what's going on" in Providence.

The Betty

Yeah. . . I was going to offer Nick the last bite, but. . .

Next we walked and walked and walked. This is a town made for walking. We walked Brown University's campus and stumbled upon their community garden. If you've been reading my blog you know that art and environmental awareness go hand in hand for me. Update: We are half way to our $10,000 goal to build our greenhouse. Our Green Team has been on fire this year! I let myself in this building and tried to find someone to talk with me about the garden, but all the students were gone.

Of course we visited the RISD Museum. Side note: I used to work there creating programs for families and making money for all those crepes and lattes.

I saw some OLD stuff. . .

THE BUDDHA! I used to go to this room to chill a lot. I was so excited to show Stella.

Some NEW Stuff. . .

This video installation was something right up my alley. The artist let livestock and animals in an apartment and filmed their interactions. Amazingly no animal fought. They all got along peacefully, meanwhile, destroying the space. Stella was entertained with the large goat and kitty cats.

Here is where I used to work! The children's wing.

Loved these! There was no writing about what they were but. . .

I found these in the museum. The kids art must've been inspired by these. I have some knockers,
I might do this project next year.

Nick said "Erica LOOK! A green pumpkin. Gotta love that my husband knows my lessons so well. Check out my very COOL color pumpkin lesson here.

That's all for now! Off to a birthday party. . . check back later for more from PROVIDENCE BABY!

AMAZING MAZES

2011-06-04T20:27:00.001-04:00

Don't you love it when a kid says "This was the best day ever!" They said that a few times while making this amazing maze project.

We constructed a maze using these boxes I got for FREE (you can click here to go to that post. ) They didn't quite work as boxes so we ended up using some to make a marble maze (technically a foam ball maze.) I had a small group of students try this during some extra art time we stole while the rest of the school was at the spring concert (don't worry they went to the afternoon concert and there was a lockdown drill during the concert anyways. . .no harm done.) It was so fun and easy we are going to share it with the rest of the class and grade level. I think I might make some criteria to make this into more of a "lesson". For example, use and identify at least 5 lines in your maze? Or we could look at the designs for skate parks and talk about architecture with form and function. . . do you have any ideas of how I could incorporate some art standards here? I am always trying to elevate the most simple lesson.

Here are my fourth graders hard at work.

Simple clear tape worked best.

This is the Eiffel Tower if you haven't guessed.

In progress. . .

Trying the maze with FOAM balls because Mrs. Stinz (me) is afraid of marbles getting into the hands (or throats) of younger brothers or sisters. Yes I know I'm paranoid!

Art and Literacy: Labeling Students Work

2011-06-01T22:48:00.000-04:00

Labeling students work is one of the best ways I know to build literacy in the art room. I think labeling works best in Preschool and Kindergarten. Basically you ask all the students the same question "Tell me about what you're making." Then you try to get the student to elaborate on their first idea. "Tell me more. . . " This eventually will be translated into their future writing skills.

So often I hear "that's nice or how cute!" when parents and teachers talk about student work (I'm guilty of it too though I am trying my best not to say "que lindo!" when talking to my Spanish speaking students.) Now a parent has something to read to their child and start asking questions about their work. It helps students remember just what they were thinking when they were making their piece (improving short term memory.) Some students can even read back their labels because it was their own words! All students want their work labeled because it means the undivided attention of the teacher or mentor the kids sometimes ask "can you write what I'm making" when I forget to.

After making our paper playground sculptures, Kindergarteners drew their dream playground. The mentors (my 5th grade helpers) and I went to every child and labeled their work. What do you think about labels? Do you use them in your classroom? Do you disagree with labeling students work (especially on the work)?