Artist~Teacher... tishalou

Our guidance councelor put together a great program to celebrate our diverse heritage. Each of the specialists teachers taught special lessons that week to tie everything together. Here is a little preview of what went on in the art room...
Here is the bulletin board I put together to show off my student's hard work.

Kindergarten traveled to Japan to design kimonos - we read Suki's Kimono by Chieri Uegaki.
1st grade made Australian Aboriginal Dot Paintings after reading Animal Dreaming by Paul Morin.
2nd grade went to China and created traditional brush paintings.
3rd grade made the Egyptian profiles as discussed in an earlier post.
4th grade made Day of the Dead skulls out of wire after watching this great video. It is actually a British Airways Ad but I love it - and the fact that it is in Spanish and they have to read the subtitles is a bonus!

I found this little gem from MaryMaking. It fit perfectly for a National Heritage Week we were having at school. So for each grade level I chose a different culture or country to base my lesson. 3rd grade went to Egypt.
I started by taking each student's photo in profile against my projector screen and printed them out in Black & White.

I showed this video - up until about 6:30 - which was almost a bit long for them but I like to show the part about the grid - and they love the beginning where the narrator gets distorted like the way Egyptians depicted the body.



Here are some of my favorites: We made them with chalk pastels and added our name in hieroglyphics too!



Link to the Artsonia Gallery...

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.

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 update of what is going on in my room:
5th grade gargoyles are almost ready to be fired - one more class needs to finish.

4th grade - elongated portraits a la Modigliani. Adapted from Kathy's blog Art Projects for Kids http://www.artprojectsforkids.org/2008/09/modigliana-portraits.html They are adding a textured tissue paper background with mod podge.

3rd grade - not all classes are on the same day of the lesson thanks to these funky snow days but they are all enjoying painting hearts and learning about Jim Dine and Pop Art.

2nd grade is printing their Styrofoam plates to make some great radial symmetry designs. Inspired by the this lesson from Art. Paper. Scissors. Glue! http://art-paper-scissors.blogspot.com/2011/01/radial-symmetry-prints.html They are turning out great but I have found that I need to print with them in small groups or it is a disaster. I have four kids around the back table and ink the plate for them and then they line it up on their paper.


Kindergarten is taking a little break from art and PE while they rehearse for their big music performance next week.

This lesson is adapted from a VAEA session I went to taught by Sarah Matthews at J.B. Watkins Elem, Midlothian, VA and Heather Levet at Elizabeth Scott Elem, Chester, VA.

Here are the best from this year:












I taught this lesson for the third year in a row and it just didn't have the excitiment for me anymore. The kids really enjoy picking and drawing an instrument - most choose an electric

Self Portraits

I have the third graders create a head and shoulders self portrait - the way they currently know how to. This way I can see what they already know and how cartoon-y or anime-y they draw people. I get a wide range of abilities like these:

1. create the oval
2. divide the oval in half vertically and horizontally
3. Measure on ourselves and on Vinny and Frida to determine that our eyes are in the middle of the oval
4. Discuss how the face is 5 eyes wide - we measure on ourselves
5. Put a football shape right in the middle of our oval - create two more footballs on equally on either side. We know that the eyes will be the 2nd and 4th football, erase the other 3.
6.  Divide the space from the chin to the middle in half, create a guideline. This is where our nose will rest.
7. Below the nose make a spread out M for the top lip - the width of the mouth should go to the middle of the eyes. Create the bottom lip.
8. Measure on ourselves how the top of the ear lines up with the eye and the bottom of the ear with the bottom of the nose. Create ears that go from the middle guideline to the bottom guideline.
9. Divide the top of the head to the middle in half - this is the hairline. Stress that hair does not just grow out of the top of our head - it grows all the way around and on our forehead.
10. We turn the paper over and do a close up of an eye with detail and then add the detailed eyes on the sketch.
11. After practicing once we more on to the final paper - go over lightly sketching in the guidelines and then students use mirrors to make it look like them.

I love how they turned out - I will have to get some more photos as more classes finish.