Artist~Teacher... tishalou

As promised here is my VAEA Presentation
The Artful Power of Children's Books
Thanks so much for the wonderful feedback I got on this presentation. Going to conferences is always such a great motivator! Virginia is for Art Educators!

Here is the link to the Audio for There Was an Old Monster.

For the first time Greenville will have a student designed yearbook cover. All four of my 5th grade classes talked about being a graphic designer and designing a cover for our client, Greenville Elementary. We talked about what needed to be on the cover and looked at our previous 3 yearbooks.
I had the difficult job of narrowing down the final 10 best and then they all got hung in the hallway for a vote - it was supposed to be for faculty and staff but I think some students snuck a few votes in too. So the winner got the cover and the other 9 will be on the back with their names...
the winner...

the back cover...

We have finished our first two weeks of school here in Fauquier County, Virginia. Our first week was interrupted by a little 5.8 earthquake and our first weekend was filled with wind and rain from Hurricane Irene! I borrowed a great first day project from Natalie at smART Class.
Every student created a monochromatic self portrait on a 4x6 index card. Students received thick markers, thin markers, colored pencils, regular crayons, and construction paper crayons all in different shades of the color of their tables.
I usually do not have any artwork ready to hang in time for back-to-school night because first we decorate our portfolios and next we create artwork for the Original Works fundraiser. Who says the portfolio has to be the first thing we do??
Here is is in the hallway - I made sure it was done before I left on Friday and luckily as each panel went up there was a helper walking by!

I put all the cards on butcher paper - I used up about 3 rolls of double stick tape using on e of my favorite tools in the art room - the Scotch ATG 700. I purchased mine through our school's Kurtz Bros account. It is awesome for mounting anything! I use it when getting ready for our yearly county art show.

A little behind on this but still wanted to share. It made me chuckle when I read Jessica's back in June post on Art of Education called "Why I Don't Teach Kids in the Summer" and I had just agreed to do 4!

Since I started in the County I have taught our GT summer camp. See a post about that here. It is a four day camp which includes a field trip. It is for students who are gifted in art and have been recommended by their art teachers.

I also sought out another opportunity at a local store that offers kids birthday parties and art classes. I contacted the owner and she basically said - whatever, whenever I will market it!

So I agreed to 3 camps that were 3 hours a day M-F. The camps I offered were called Doodlemania, Dive Into Art and Passport to the World of Art. The majority of the attendees were my students but I also had some out of town kids visiting Grandma and students from other schools in the county. It was a lot of fun and I got to do some fun - more crafty than I would do int he classroom - no pressure lessons.

Here are some highlights:
DOODLEMANIA
We made paste paper and drug texture combs through it:

 We made an accordion book to hold our work:

 We made lots of Zentangles:

We even tie dyed a tshirt and then zentangled on it too!
DIVE INTO ART
We made self portraits with goggles on!
We used fun fishy foam stickers and made paint chip matchbook notepads:
(found on Pink and Green Mama)
 We made tunnel books using index cards:
We made fish using model magic:
 And surf boards out of poster board:
Several of these ideas came from Pink and Green Mama Ocean Fun Art Camp Booklet.

PASSPORT TO THE WORLD OF ART
Each day of camp we went to a different country!
Henna Hands:

Indian Elephants:

Chinese Dragon Puppets:

Chinese Panda Brush Paintings:
Ridgid Wrap masks - inspired by Day of Dead Skulls but they turned out more like Mardi Gras masks!
WOW! that was a lot for one post. Oh well I got it out of my system. Will I teach that much next summer - probably not but I did make some nice extra money for our vacation, got to meet some new kids, and teach in a nice small setting!

Fauquier County started school this past Monday. I wanted to share some pics of my new room set up. I am starting year four so I plan on mixing things up a bit this year. You can see how it was last year from this post.
I also borrowed the Wild About Art Theme from Phyl over at There's a Dragon in my Art Room.
Here is the sign outside my door: