Art Makes Kids Smart

Frederick: A Kindergarten Project

2012-01-23T18:11:00.000-08:00

The idea for this project came from the book Frederick by Leo Lionni. He's one of my favorite children's authors. And although I am no longer able to work with the kindergarten classes due to a change in their schedule, I stay in contact with them and help them with projects as much as I'm able. But I do have some "unpublished" kindergarten work that I will try to share over time. This is a project I did with kindergarten in 2010. It would have been posted sooner but I have pictures all over the place. Just like my messy room, my computer is a mess too! But I think I have it organized finally. (crosses fingers)

I taught kindergarten for 8 years and this project was one of my favorites.

Here's my basic approach:
*We used scissors, glue, paper punches, crayons, and of course, colored construction paper.
*Cut the construction paper (ahead of time) to the proper size (squares and rectangles). **For example, I cut the mouse bodies approximately 2x3** --( I cut all pieces to size except for the legs and tails. Kids are on their own there.)
*Demonstrate how a square/rectangle can be made to look round simply by snipping off the corners.
(**I also demonstrate how to round off the corners but explain that if they have difficulty with doing that, just snip off the tips**)
*Add a light color to the background paper using the long-side of a crayon. As you will see in the gallery, we tried dark and it's not as nice looking.
*Add color to the rocks (for texture) using the long-side of a crayon. Using several colors gives a nice effect.
*Display ;)

BTW, I used as a model for the picture one of the pages of Lionni's book. Frederick is "sharing" the things he's stored up for the winter.

Here's a gallery of work.

New gallery added plus an instructional video

2012-01-22T21:16:00.000-08:00

I've added a gallery and video to this previous blog post.

5th Grade: Hot Air Balloons

2012-01-21T11:43:00.000-08:00

Here's a project I've done a few times and one that the students really seem to enjoy. The idea came from a Donna Hugh video. I love the instructional possibilities of this lesson. I was able to talk about composition, balance, unity, repetition, atmospheric perspective, color choices, just to name a few.

However, my main focus was on the coloring technique. The middle school art teacher actually refers to this method as the "Mr. Triplett Marker Method." I did not originate the idea and have seen other teachers use it as well. It offers a nice effect when using markers.

I tell the kids that the marker is like a paint brush. It has a tip where the color is and like a brush, it can be "brushed" on (so to speak). The method is simple: Lines run side by side and follow the same direction. They can follow the contour of an object (and should) but in some cases should follow straight lines. The object one is coloring dictate the type of line (curved or straight) one is using. I use this method to avoid the "scribble" effect one can get with using markers. In some cases, using a marker like you would a crayon (coloring back and forth) is OK and works well. But it can also derail an otherwise great artwork. The example should give you an idea of what I mean. I'll guess that many of you have your students use this same method when using markers. I'd love to hear your feedback on this one! Here's a few finished examples and a gallery of student artwork is found HERE on my website.

Impressionism 4th grade drawings

2012-01-10T07:30:00.000-08:00

I've liked the looks of this project from the first time I saw it. The idea came from one of my Donna Hugh videos (found here) and is easy to do. After creating a border (see this link) the students draw several lines (which separate different colored fields) a house on top and tree at the right.

Then, using thin colored markers and utilizing small choppy strokes, each field is colored using a combination of colors. Adjacent fields should be colored with enough contrast so that there is adequate visual contrast to separate the fields. Otherwise, the full effect will be minimized or even lost.
It's important that the house colors have enough contrast against the background sky and the field immediately underneath the house so that it can stand out.

The process itself takes several art sessions but is well worth the effort. The results are very "impressive." You can view a small gallery of work here

Here are a couple more examples

The Toucan

2011-11-27T15:21:00.001-08:00

One may begin to wonder if I'm a Donna Huge fan. Here is yet another idea from one of Donna's Videos. I've used many of Donna's ideas (as you'll see) and I haven't been unhappy with one (that I've used). In this lesson, students are taught to draw a toucan and color it using colored pastels. Since I have deemed this year to be the year of the crayon, we used crayons instead. Not only that, but his project was to be entered in the hospital art contest and oils were not to be used.

I think the crayons worked well. After drawing the birds, the students used crayons and blended the colors together to create the unique coloring of the toucan.

I used a model that I found on the net (using google) and I showed the students a slide show of real toucans. We studied the colors of various toucans and discussed the characteristics we observed. You can find dozens of pictures via google. Here are some examples. I have many more and hope to get them uploaded to the website soon. I'll post updates when I get that accomplished. If you have questions or comments, I'd love to hear them!

Flowers in Sunshine

2011-11-27T14:42:00.001-08:00

** I updated this entry Jan 22 2012. I've added a video below and the web address for a slideshow of more kid's examples. **

Here's a great project that is both easy and fun. And yes, it's an idea that comes from Donna Hughs. The project is simple. You paint "puddles" of color, using all colors but green, and then add a green/yellow mix in between.

After the painting dries, I show the kids how to draw in a flower on each puddle. I've both had the kids watch the video and do the project and simply modeled it myself. It worked best to simply model it myself and then monitor how the kids were doing.

Since I've done this project several times, I've had experience with what can go wrong. The area where most kids struggle is in making the flowers. Specifically, they often don't make the pedals big enough and wide enough. So we first practiced making them on paper (draw a circle and make a flower that is just large enough to reach the edge of the drawn circle.

Here's almost exactly what I said each time we drew the flowers. "Put a small circle in the middle of on of your "puddles." Now, starting from that circle, draw a line all the way to the edge of the color, go around the edge - make it wide, then go back to the circle in the middle. Then follow the line you just made all the way to the edge of the circle again, and follow the edge of the color. Be sure to go all the way to the edge and follow your color borders. Use the color's edge as your guide. You should end up with about 4 to 5 pedals." I modeled this on an overhead projector as I gave these directions.

I really had to emphasize this process and as I drew one for them, I monitored their progress and made corrections where necessary. Honestly, this process worked so well for me. In the past I had so many kids making small pedals and some pedals were so small they ended up with over a dozen per flower! I was amazed at how well the second graders did. Here's the specific video where you can find this art project.

**Here's a video I used for instructing the kids on how to draw the flowers**

Here is a previous entry of mine. You can see this art project among some of the other entries. Go here. Also, once I get the website updated, I'll add the slide show here too. In the meantime, here are a few more examples.

**GALLERY of kids word added 1/22/2012**

First grade: Using line and shape to create a simple drawing

2011-11-21T20:05:00.000-08:00

This is my finished model

I usually teach several drawing lessons at the beginning of the year to each grade level. Here is a simple project I've done with first graders that uses simple lines and shapes to create an outdoor scene.

The drawings in this lesson are likely based on ideas I've used over the years and probably have their source in Ed Emberly's drawing ideas. In this drawing lesson, I model what's to be drawn, and then have the students copy what they see (from an overhead screen).

This particular lesson serves several purposes. In it, I'm able to emphasize the relationships between line and shape in creating an image. I love teaching the little ones how to use simple geometric shapes to create animal characters that they enjoy drawing. But also, I want to get my students to use crayons more. So in this lesson I modeled how to use crayons using both the sharp point (including teaching them how to sharpen-they love this part) and how to remove the paper and use the flat side to cover larger areas (such as the ground, sky, and tree).

Here are a few more examples:

Creating a border in kids drawings

2011-11-04T21:36:00.000-07:00

I've already mentioned elsewhere on this blog that I'm a fan of Donna Hugh's art videos. The idea for making a border for artwork came from one of her videos. I demonstrate it here and include a few examples of work from my kids.

Since this idea is new to me, I thought I'd share it with you. I'd love to hear comments and ideas you use for boarding artwork.

In the next several blogs I'll share some of the art work for grades 1-5 that we just completed.

The year of the color crayon

2011-10-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

Well, school is well under way and here I am just starting my blogging on my classroom. So here's my first for this school year.

At the end of last year I decided to start this year with some whole-group projects. The local hospital here is part of the Arts Commission and they are having a "contest" of sorts (they don't call it that) where students submit artwork to both appear in the Commission's calendar and to be displayed (for a year) in the hallways of the local hospital. So, each grade level has been working on grade-level projects and we're nearly finished. I'll have some pictures to share as soon as I can get them scanned.

In the meantime, I've declared this year "The Year Of The Crayon." That's because I have hundreds and perhaps thousands of crayons in my room and for the most part, they don't get used. I am going to try to change that. So one goal I have for this year is to find as many art ideas as I can where crayons can be used. I've already begun to teach kids to use crayons in different ways and I have several "experiments" I want to try.

If you have a project idea that uses crayons, I'd love to hear about them. Also, share sites you have found useful. I'll add them to my link list. Thanks in advance and have a great year! Thanks for reading.

Crayola Website
Crayon Techniques
Jeffrey Roberts Crayon Art

4th Grade Complementary Colors (Color Wheel)

2011-07-01T21:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a project I did a few years ago. Most kids really enjoyed the project but it did take far too long for some to finish. I'm not sure I'd do it again as a whole group project but I would make it available as a center idea. The reason I wouldn't repeat this whole group is due to the time it takes to complete the entire project. It took several days from start to finish and in some cases, it took 4 class periods. Maybe if I let the kids use markers instead of paint the process would speed up. Also, it may look nicer in a 9x9 or 10x10 paper.

Steps we followed:
1. Using a ruler and a pencil (drawing lightly), divide the paper into 6 parts (as per example)
2. Students center their name (using pencil) in block lettering.
3. Outline in black marker.
4. Color each section as a color wheel.
5. Color those parts of the letters that fall within the boundaries of a color wheel section the appropriate complementary color.
6. Re-outline using black marker if necessary.
7, Mount on construction paper.

I'm not sure where I got this idea. Likely I found it on the Internet. Here are three more examples.

Color Wheel

2011-07-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a simple and fun way to get a color wheel into the hands of primary students. The colored wheel can be found here and the black and white here.

Following introduction to the color wheel and discussing primary and secondary colors and how the color wheel works, I give the kiddies a little assignment. They are each given a set of paints, water, brush, and plain paper. I paint with them and demonstrate each step. I have them paint a picture using all six basic colors but they can only use the blue, yellow, and red from the tray. They have to make their own secondary colors. Colors are mixed right on the paper.

Students paint a purple butterfly, orange sun, green tree, blue sky, adding yellow and red in whatever way they want. Here are a couple of paintings by the 1st graders.

This is just one of many ideas I use for teaching color theory. I like this activity because I can complete the entire process in one 45 minute lesson.

One of the most popular centers in my classroom is the paint center. Periodically, I only supply the center with the three primary colors and let the kids use painting trays for mixing. After a few weeks I add the secondary colors and challenge the kids to create new and interesting colors. I love the conversations that I hear at this center.

A good book to use to show color relationships is Mouse Paint.

Next year I hope to make some primary color Playdough and give each student a Ziploc bag with two primary colors in each bag. Then the kiddies can mix their colors and take home a secondary color.

Here's another lesson idea on the color wheel. I would love to hear your ideas as well.

Deep Sparkle Color Wheel Lesson

Tissue Paper Art

2011-06-29T16:11:00.000-07:00

1st grader

One of my students "stumbled" on this idea. I had a model of a tissue collage on the white board but it had a white background and was mounted on black construction paper. Not knowing the white background was necessary for the colors to be brighter, the student only used the black as a background. Without the white background, the colors don't come through as brightly but the black background created a very interesting look.

2nd grader

The process I followed for this project is simple. Students get a piece of construction paper (black) but I traced a black square (8x8) onto the larger black paper.

I tell the kids to put their tissue paper within the traced boarder AND just beyond. Using a paint brush to apply the glue (in decoupage fashion) once all the black within the square is covered, let it dry.

3rd grade

Next, using the paper cutter, I cut the artwork into the 8x8 square leaving a very nice smooth edge to it. That gets mounted on purple (leaving just a small edge) and that in turn gets mounted on black (again leaving a small edge).

4th grade

I press these using small individual white board and place a heavy object on top. The way I pressed them was to just pile them one on top of the other with a white board separating each piece of artwork. The pressing is necessary to flatten out the projects as the initial gluing warps the paper a bit. But after pressing, the art projects lay perfectly flat.

5th grade

I hope this makes sense.
If not, please let me know and I'll clarify.

Here is a small gallery of other examples of this project.

Seasons Collage

2011-05-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

Each day, during a 30 minute open slot, I meet with two 2nd graders and help them with their reading. Their teacher explained to me that in their current story, the girls were struggling understanding the different aspects of seasonal changes (the order, names, and conditions etc). This idea immediately popped into my head and I believe it's a great example how the arts can be used in a classroom to promote learning of difficult concepts. Oddly enough, during the process of this project, I learned that the girls did indeed understand the concepts of seasons - the changes, order, colors, conditions, etc. But working together on this project afforded us a lot of time to have a conversation about seasons. We talked a lot about the colors of the seasons (which colors would best represent fall for example). We found pictures from magazines and then used the "stuff" from the collage drawer. Here is their work.

5th grade theme collage

2011-05-14T14:25:00.000-07:00

My example. Note that in this initial
example I did not include the
required background mounting.

This is another idea gleaned from the Donna Hugh Video Collection collection. I decided on this project for the 5th graders because I felt it would benefit them in some of their future classroom work (science posters for examples).

My fifth-graders are an interesting group. They tend to do the least amount of work required unless their feet are held to the fire. Even some of my most skilled art students needed an extra push in this project. I had to get very specific with my expectations on their work.

The first group just slapped things together and I made them all begin again. Their initial work was sloppy and uncreative. It was very frustrating. I like to keep out of the way in the creative process but it was clear that I needed to be a bit more demanding in this case. And so in this case, I dictated certain elements that must be present in their work.

They had to select a single theme and represent that theme with two pictures from a magazine. Those had to be mounted on construction paper and trimmed in an attractive way. One picture had to be placed on the left of the larger work, the other on the right.

We talked about balance, unity, material choice and placement, and using the space in their work to make it look attractive and inviting. I also talked about the effective use of line variety in their work and that the power of lines can invite the viewer to observe all aspects of an artwork. It was very much a hand's on approach and the results were very satisfying. After things were heading in the right direction, I was able to slip back into my facilitating role. With very few exceptions, the students got serious about this project and did a great job. I was very impressed in the end. Here are a few more examples.

Here's one I think is exemplary. :)

4th grade collage

2011-05-13T19:59:00.000-07:00

This is yet another idea from the Donna Hugh's Art Video collection. I mention her only to give proper credit for the idea. But as I have stated before in this blog, I really do like her art videos. They have helped me with new ideas and have inspired me toward new ideas of my own. From the website is this description:

"In In Lesson 3, “Tissue Paper Collage,” Donna creates a desert scene by tearing colored tissue paper and affixing the pieces with very thin liquid glue. By layering and overlapping some of the paper, she shows how deeper hues and different colors can be achieved."

The best thing about his particular project was that it led to other ideas (which I'll share later.) I'll end with this last part. I had displayed my example on the board and a 1st grader decided that she'd like to make that same project. She's a great little artist and her is her interpretation. (on the right)

Third Grade Tissue Paper Collage

2011-04-09T21:25:00.001-07:00

This project was a lot of fun. The kids really enjoyed it and so did I. The idea came from another collage project I was doing with the 4th graders. I love tropical fish scenes and this idea was both a fun and easy way to create a simple

underwater scene.

Starting with a white piece of paper, I had the students glue down different pieces of tissue paper (about the size of a dime - little torn pieces) at the bottom of the paper. They glued various colored pieces of tissue down to resemble the colorful coral. Then we covered that with a long strip of brown to represent the bottom. Doing this again, I'd add the colorful coral on the top of the brown and maybe even experiment with extending it above the top of the brown layer. We then added several strips of green tissue on both sides. Our pictures were ready for the fish.

One could go through magazines and find pictures of fish but it would be hit and miss. So I created two sheets of fish pictures, one with fish swimming to the left and one to the right. The students were instructed to draw (not trace-though some did just that) three fish, two going in one direction, one in the other. We talked about where to place the fish and I suggested the open space in the middle of their project. When the fish were drawn and colored properly, the students cut them out and then glued them onto their projects. We were ready for the final piece.

I cut large pieces of blue tissue paper out so that each piece would fit over the entire picture. The students prepared the surface of their work by brushing glue over all the white area first, the brown next, over the tops of the fish, and finally the green seaweed last (as it bled the worst). The blue was placed over the picture, patted down (I did this part) and students applied another coat of glue over the whole thing. After the projects dried I cut them to about 11 x 8 so that all the edges were smooth (and they could fit on a 9x12 mounting). I trimmed the projects using paper cutter for a nice straight cut. At first I left a few kids do the trimming with scissors but their edges were so jagged I had to re-cut them myself. So I ended up doing it all. I know, a lot of work but I did it here and there while the kids worked on other things and honestly it went fast. The finished look made the extra work pay off. Finally, I have the kids glue their work onto a 9x12 black piece of construction paper. I had them use regular school glue (not stick glue) and then hold down the picture while slowly saying their ABC's.

The tissue gluing process was simple. I mixed 1/2 water with 1/2 glue and mixed it up well. I put those in paint cups, and the kids used that glue mixture for all their gluing in this project (except for the gluing of the project to the black paper, that was full strength glue).

This was a whole group project with the purpose of giving the kids another example of how to make a collage and hopefully to inspire them to try to make other collage pictures on their own.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Here are a couple of links of interest. I was trying to decide if this project fell under the definition of a decoupage. I think it better fits the collage definition. Here's some information that you might find helpful.

http://painting.about.com/b/2010/03/25/difference-collage-and-decoupage.htm

I stumbled on this wonderful site and thought I'd share.

http://www.bonnielanz.com/?cat=8

2nd grade Winter Collage Pictures

2011-04-07T10:52:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned elsewhere on this blog that I thoroughly enjoy Donna Hugh's art videos. This idea is from one of her videos on collage. On a large black paper, students cut out various rectangle/square colored construction paper. They created the triangle tops from scraps.

The polyfill came from an old costume I had, I had planned on throwing it out but knew the polyfill would come in handy sooner or later. I mixed glitter in with a small amount of glue, put it in a small tub, and it was applied using a paint brush (I used gold but think silver would have been better). Here are a few more examples of kids works.

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures. ~Henry Ward Beecher

1st grade collage

2011-04-05T21:46:00.000-07:00

Here it is. Spring Break. Where does the time go?

In the past two weeks I've been completely reorganizing all my pictures. I had them scattered everywhere. It's still a mess but I managed to find and organize my collage pictures. I need to quit making piles of "stuff" to do later. Am I the only one with this problem? ;)

The reason for choosing this collage project was, for the most part, in answer to an overall lack of interest at the collage center. I needed to come up with five different ideas for collage project number two. This project was chosen in part to show the teachers how they could incorporate art activities into their classrooms (in this case an extension to a first grade science lesson). The 1st graders were learning about liquids and solids. The project was rather simple. Using a large black paper, the student cut out a large blue raindrop (traced from a template). The orance block was already cut for them. On the raindrop, they glued on "Liquid Things" and on the orange "Solid Things." I provided blue yarn (to represent raindrops) and then a variety of solid things for the solid side. The students searched in different magazines for two solid and two liquid pictures. Easier said than done.

I hadn't expected the first graders to have so much difficulty finding liquid things. I ended up finding and cutting most of the pictures out at home and just had them concentrate on arranging the materials (find the solids was much easier). Still, they turned out nicely. Several teachers have posted the collages outside their room and one teacher even gave her students extra time to add a few more things (filling the collage out a bit more). It's not necessairly the most creative collage, but it does give the kiddies an experience on how to make a collage, how to glue object onto a piece of paper, and some experience cutting picture out from a magazine (not an easy task for a first grader). I modeled how to arrange things on their paper and to use their space properly (and not glue things all in one area leaving other areas blank). Here are a few more examples. Next up I'll share the second grade Snowy Village Collage (a project I learned from a Donna Hugh video).

Up, Up, and Away

2011-03-09T09:27:00.000-08:00

5th grade THEME collage

The last of the collage projects are finished. We've had a few interruptions along the way but finally the whole group collage art is completed. I've rearranged the room back to the centers the kids love so much. It was nice to do a whole group project too as I still love teaching that way but centers has its many advantages.

When I began this process of teaching the kids about collage, it was in response to the lack of interest in the collage center. Now that the collage center is open, I'm pretty happy with the number of students that are going to the collage center each day. The modeling clay center is still number one with most of the groups but I have a couple of dozen individual collage projects that are either in process or completed.

I hope to get the grade level collages posted soon. I've been busy with music (I teach guitar and play in a band and am in the middle of recording some guitar parts for a friend's CD). My new scanner (just purchased!) is up and running and all artwork is now scanned. So stay tuned.

I'll say this about collage: It's much more fun than I anticipated. I'm like a little kid again. There are so many variations of collage art (so many scraps, so little time) I just want to do them all!

Happy Creating!

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. ~Pablo Picasso

A funny thing happened on the way to the Collage Center - No one showed up!

2011-01-23T17:37:00.000-08:00

I've been teaching a modified version of TAB (Teaching Artistic Behavior) for a year now. It's a choice based approach to teaching art. In my classroom I usually have 5 different centers (also called Studios) and students can pick where they want to go and what they want to do. One recent center I tried out was the collage center. It wasn't a hit. In fact, of all the grade levels I teach (1-5) only a few students chose that center. It was time for some whole group instruction.

I have to admit, I'm a huge fan of TAB. But I also enjoy whole group activities (though they can be far more work sometimes). So I began looking for some lessons on collage art that I could use to get kids turned on to creating art this way.

I own all of Donna Hugh's videos (put out by Coyote Creek Productions). Some of you may think the products are a bit pricey but I think they are well worth it. They have helped me immensely throughout the years of teaching art. It's just one of many resources I've used.

The idea for my whole group collage lesson came from Donna's "Collage Art For Kids" DVD (vol I). I adapted lesson 2 on the DVD and used it with all grade levels. The lesson was a vehicle to introduce collage, learn what it is, and to learn some of the techniques artists use when creating a collage. I also want to teach the students how to work independently in the college center. I am hoping the experiences they will have over the next few weeks will create more interest and excitement in the center.

For this collage project, we started with strips of torn construction paper. Those were glued on a piece of black construction paper.

The next step was to add the details. I made available beans, buttons, beads, yarn, tissue paper, crape paper, pieces of wood, and anything else I could find.

I provided examples and demonstrated (using my document camera) some ideas they could employ in their artwork. Then I let them play. Once again I'm pleasantly surprised. I'll probably post the finished collages in a few weeks (after I've managed to snap pictures of them).

Here are a few more pictures of the set up. I'll have more in my next post.

I'm currently working on individual collage projects for 1st through 5th. So far there is a desert scene with mountains in the background (using tissue paper) and underwater scene (tissue paper) and a theme collage (magazine pictures and misc objects). I have a few more ideas rolling around in the back of my head just waiting to get out.

Have a great week.

Happy New Year

2011-01-03T11:56:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas Holiday season. I spent the two weeks off being sick. My annual sinus infection. I managed to get some things done around the house but had very little energy for much of anything.

Of course my goal was to do some posting of lessons I've tried in the past but I had no brain for writing. I did manage to sleep a lot. :)

In the next few weeks I'll be sharing some thoughts on collage, how I'm teaching it in the classroom, what we are doing exactly, and how things are turning out. Today is my first day with a series of lessons on collage and after the first two groups (4th and 5th grades) I'm am pleasantly surprised.

In the meantime, have a great 2011.

Oh yeah, is it a teacher thing or what but my body manage to get well enough to return to school today. Why is that? Did it know it was OK to be sick during break but needed to be well enough by Jan 3? It's done this to me before. I'll bet I'm not the only one that has this experience.

;)

Kids and Clay

2010-11-24T14:46:00.000-08:00

What is it about kids and clay (especially boys)? That seems to be the most popular center I have (that and painting). Just when I think I've seen it all, I get a surprise.

The boys love to pound the clay. I've had to set some parameters so that I actually get some of the boys to use the time to actually produce something other than a squished ball. So I bought some dowels, cut them to about 18 inches, and have taught the kids how to use them as rollers.

Then I instituted a no pounding rule and taught them how to knead the clay (like dough). Then I worked with them a few times and got them set off in the right direction. I also set up a display table so that kids could display their work (with the understanding that it might not be there the following week as others needed to use the clay). The image on the left is a small try. I have since made available an extra table I was using for something else (of less importance). Kids love to see their work displayed (even if for only a day or so).

One of my first surprises was this rose. The 4th grade girl had learned this at home. I love it when this happens.

The picture to the left (with the little girl smiling in the pic) is another of those great surprises. Wearing that big smile, she eagerly showed me her clay project. "It's a snail on ice skates!" Is that cool or what.

Here are a few more creative ideas from students. I love the Michelin Man!

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Drawing in the "Drawing Studio"

2010-11-11T17:25:00.000-08:00

Drawing is one of those activities that kids are drawn towards (no pun intended). I try to make all materials available and provide easy access so that the center runs itself. I have lots of step-by-step drawing books and a decent assortment of objects such as fake fruits, bowls and cups, plastic insects, and other objects kids can draw.

I encourage the kids to use the exact step-by-step process they find in the drawing books. Where's there's not a step process offered, I've told them to use their knowledge of shapes and break down the picture into smaller steps. I've demonstrated this process many times and most students seem to grasp the basic ideas of drawing what they see.

I talk a lot about basic shapes and how to use them to create recognizable things. We've studied the ideas of Ed Emberley, Mona Brooks, and Mark Kistler where basic line and shape are the foundation for the drawing lessons presented in their books.

The kids also have sketch books that they keep in their work folders. This is something new I'm trying to manage this year. Students use the sketchbooks to both gather and practice ideas and to showcase some of their work. Sketchbooks are kept in their work folders.

Next week we'll be doing 5 drawing stations. In each station, there will be a different drawing activity. In one, student will work in their sketchbooks, another will focus on Pacific NW Indian art, and a third, zentangle. (another zentangle site) I have several other ideas floating around in my head for other stations, depending on grade levels. I'll share how things go. I'm excited to do both the Indian art and zentangle and see what the kids can (and will) do.

GOOSe Paper

2010-10-29T21:43:00.000-07:00

I believe I got this idea from a fellow art teacher on one of the several art discussion lists to which I belong. Paper use is always an issue in my art room. Kids are always "messing up" and in need of a new piece of paper. This problem is two-fold: One, While I want kids to have the freedom to start anew when they make serious mistakes, I also want to encourage my students to finish what they start. And even though I do want my students to view their work with a critical eye, I don't want them to be so self-critical (such as "I suck" or "This stinks") that a simple "mistake" is enough of a reason to quit what they are doing and start over. Rather, I want them to work through their "mistakes." I don't like seeing them give up on themselves so easily.

Two, I simply don't like seeing kids use so much paper unnecessarily (particularly when we're all facing such huge budgetary restrictions). I've found many papers in the recycle bin with just a few scribbles on them or just a dab of paint. One can go through a lot of paper this way! Enter - GOOSe paper.

GOOSe paper is paper that is headed for the recycle bin. It's Good On One Side paper. It can be used for drawing or painting. I started using it last year and the kids were only slightly resistant at first. However, since the beginning of this year, we've only used GOOSe paper for drawing and many kids use GOOSe paper for their paintings as well.

I collect the GOOSe paper from teachers (and have a collection bin in the teacher's work room) and store it on various shelves in my room. It's a small thing but one that I have found very useful. I'd love to hear your thoughts and would especially love to hear if others use GOOSe paper in their rooms as well.

"Here teacher. I made this for you!"

2010-10-26T21:51:00.000-07:00

I often get students that want me to have the art work they have finished. In fact, over the past few years, I've collected hundreds of such art work and I've tried many ways to encourage the kids to take their work home. I guess I'm just a softy and I couldn't find a comfortable way to refuse artwork.

But this year I've been trying something new (new to me) and it's actually working. I told the kids at the beginning of the year that any and all art work made at school must go home to parents. And any art work they want to give to me, must be made at home. :)

I've actually had many students make me things at home and bring them to school. More importantly, those little art work treasures are going home to parents who can rightfully put them on refrigerators instead of putting them in a collection drawer (which is where those given to me ended up).

And what do I do with those pieces of artwork that are made at home and given to me? I have a special board where they are displayed. It's almost full. Then I'll start putting things up on the walls.

I'd love to hear how others handle the issue of kids wanting to give their work to teachers instead of taking them home.

It's that time of year!

2010-08-23T22:12:00.000-07:00

Well, I did it. I went into my classroom to start the process of setting things up. At the end of last year I stuffed everything I could into the kiln room and put other items on the available counter tops. And so it began - taking it all out, laying it out on the tables, and once again trying to stuff my "too much stuff" into my "not enough space" room. It's always a challenge, especially for someone like me who is organizationally challenged. I'm better than I was, but as I tell my friends, I'm 80% organized and 20% chaos. It's the chaos that kills me. That's why people like me develop the "pile" system.

Maybe your a Pile System organizer. Put stuff in piles, go through the piles and put thing where they go (if you have a place.) If you don't have a place for it, put it in the new pile (the: "doesn't have a storage place yet" pile.)

So my goal as I start this year is to set the room up to accommodate my TAB approach to teaching art. I have new materials that have just arrived, plus materials that other materials that have donated, and they all need a storage place to call their own.

I'm a little behind in posting this but I wanted to add pictures. And believe it or not, I'm STILL trying to organize! But I'm getting there. :)

The end is in sight.

2010-06-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that there's less than two weeks of school left. I still have projects to finish and a lot of cleaning to do! The kids are ready for summer break and it's probably a good thing to take a break. But I'm already thinking about how I will do things a bit differently next year.

We are nearly finished with our 4th and 5th grade clay projects. It's interesting how one can start out a project with one idea in mind and find that it takes a on a life of its own as things progress. That's the case with our clay pinch pot creatures. You can see the beginning lesson here. It was my idea to have all the kids create a clay pot creature. Yet it didn't take long for me to hear, "Do we have to make a clay pot creature or can we come up with our own idea?" Now what is an art teacher supposed to do with that? There are many things one can create with clay and a clay pot creature isn't a "must know" skill. So after the workshop on how to make a clay pot creature, I found some pictures of other project ideas, made some cards and gave kids choices. I'm so glad I did. I'll post the pictures to my website as soon as I can get things on the computer back in order. I've had to reformat my drive and am still in the process of updating and reinstalling my software.

I was very intrigued with the clay project on the left. Where he got this idea I don't know. It's turned out very nicely after firing. This year I had more projects crack during firing than I've ever before experienced. A few explosions occurred as well. In most cases the kids failed to re-wedge their clay. I think this is my fault. Even one of my examples (my dinosaur) lost its head. But a little glue and acrylic paint and they looked just fine. The one on the right cracked in three pieces. The student failed to score the leg/body connection and those fell off. After an initial gluing with a craft glue, I filled the holes with hot glue. It did the trick.

I hope to complete all the painting/glazing/firing next week. At the moment, all the projects that are completed are on display in the library. I'm very happy with the results.

Art Fair

2010-05-10T22:29:00.001-07:00

Each year there is a Youth Fair held at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds in Chehalias Washington. There is a huge elementary art section held in one of the buildings. This year we had 46 entries and it was the first year I was in charge of getting the art to and from the fair. I brought my grandkids and camera along.

The Picasso's were among some of the best at the elementary level (IMO"). I was very surprised to see that they were made by 2nd graders. I would love to learn the technique the teacher used to get such quality work!

I recognized some art work ideas from resources I own and use each year. The Hot Air balloons come from one of Donna Hughes

videos. The "Flowers in Sunshine" are also from the Hughes video series. I recommend all of Donna Hughes videos. I love her ideas and I find her directions easy to follow.

The picture on the left was is my favorite entry. It's one of my student's pictures. I was very happy to see her receive a first place ribbon. Her artwork represents a complete original idea. I asked the student where she got her idea and she responded, "From my head." ;)

There is a gallery of pictures on my Facebook page and I think I have the settings open to all. Please let me know if you can't access the gallery. There are more pictures and some very nice high school entries. The Facebook Gallery can be found here.

At school I'm so busy with stuff that I can hardly keep my head above water. We're "into the thick of things" with 4th and 5th graders painting and glazing their clay projects. We also are making end of year sketch books (to take home for the summer and keep drawing). Many students have odds and ends in their folders to complete. And two weeks ago I introduced the collage center. I love to experiment at the end of the year and try new things and I love to keep the kids busy. I have some ideas for end of year centers but have to get caught up with all the other "stuff" that's on the table first.

Hope your year has gone well for you all.

Wet Chalk Drawings

2010-04-07T16:47:00.000-07:00

I found this project on kinderart.com and really enjoyed the entire process. Don't let the website's name fool you, it has lessons for many ages. This was a 4th/5th grade project and took several weeks (but can easily be adapted for other grades too).

I call it chalk painting and tell the kids that they are using chalk to paint their pictures. The process is simple: Students choose different colors of chalk and dip that chalk into white tempera paint and "paint" pictures they have drawn. The chalk and paint together makes a colorful paste and goes on very easily. It takes a bit of getting used to and one can overdo it with the white paint. If the chalk doesn't form a pasty substance when mixed with the paint, the student needs more paint. (Sometimes there's enough white paint already on the paper so remind them to grab it with the chalk and mix it in.) Experiment with this technique and see what works best for you. You want both the chalk color and the white paint to show. It gives a very soft look (these pictures really don't do it justice - too much reflection when I scanned them). I hadn't thought of trying other colors of paint along with the white (like a brown for the window shelf) but that might be worth trying).

We used light-brown colored construction paper but other colors would work well too. Construction paper is best as it is stronger than plain white paper.

First the students drew the vase/flowers/fruit/curtains in pencil and then outlined them in black permanent marker. Finally the students painted their

pictures using colored chalk and tempera paint. Most students re-outlined in black marker after the paint had dried. If students are careful, they can avoid this step by not painting over the black lines.

In the pre-lesson for this project we talked about balance, design, background, overlapping, and how to use the surface of a paper to create depth. Much more could be said but I left it at that. The tricky part I found was getting the students to understand the importance of placement of the vase and the flowers. The end picture is supposed to look like a vase of flowers sitting on a window shelf with curtains pulled to both sides. Pictures were not flaky or powdery.

The lesson can be found here.

A gallery of more student work is here. I would love to hear your comments or questions.

Warm and cool color project 4th grade

2010-04-05T20:07:00.001-07:00

I've always been a fan of bright colorful projects. That's probably why this project appealed to me the moment I saw it. It's a pretty simple grid drawing. The students can either use grid paper or make the grids themselves using a ruler. After the grids were drawn I gave a quick demonstration on how to draw the fish.

Students use warm colors for the fish and cool colors for the water. Adding more than one fish adds to the visual effect of the picture and is what I recommended. But what I didn't expect is how long this project took some kids. It wasn't as engaging as I had hoped which probably accounts for the time it took to complete the pictures. Some kids loved them, others not so much. I think in the future I'd make this an optional project at one of my centers (we did this one whole group last year). Some kids eat this stuff up and all they need is a couple of examples to look at and they are off. As you can see, with just one fish it looks rather empty. Here is one of my favorites. It violates the "color rule" a bit but it has character.

Currently we are on Spring Break. Wishing you all a relaxing time off. Get refreshed! I managed to catch a cold and have been in bed the past two days. Happy Spring.

Clay Pot Creatures

2010-03-28T19:39:00.000-07:00

4th and 5th graders were introduced to clay in our one day workshop. While they've used non-hardening clay many times before, most of them have not used natural clay. In the past we've made wall pockets and tile pictures but this year I decided to teach the kids how to make pinch pot creatures. We used this PowerPoint for group instruction.

I was a bit surprised at how difficult this was for some kids. Some had difficulty properly making the legs. But I encouraged them on, gave individual help where needed, and eventually most caught on. My plan was that on the first day kids would just practice making pinch pot creatures and the following week they'd make one completely on their own. It's been said that the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. I should have known. Some kids didn't want to make a pinch pot creature and had an idea of their own. Since I believe that kids should have a choice (sometime not but mostly yes) I decided that the pinch pot creature would be optional. I showed them how to make a tile, and showed a few examples of tiles I've made (for examples). And off we go!

I'll share more later as the projects begin to get finished. I have pinch pot creatures, cups and saucers, assorted tiles and other creative projects underway. I keep pictures of former student's work for examples and have found some interesting things on the net as well. This year I printed them all out making several copies of each and gluing them on construction paper. I made these pictures available as models to work from. I'm glad I did. I'd be more than happy to share what I have if there is interest. Here are a few more pictures of our first day.

I would love to hear comments and ideas of what any of you have done in the past.

A Clay Play Day with primary grades

2010-03-24T21:46:00.000-07:00

In preparation for adding a new studio center, we had clay "workshop" day where the students learned how to manipulate clay, properly use tools, connect parts together, and add texture and details. The 4th and 5th grade classes worked with natural clay and we practiced making pinch pot creatures. The 1st through 3rd grades used non-drying clay with the task of creating a "creature" from an "egg."

I belong to two discussion lists that I highly value. One is found here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TAB-ChoiceArtEd/ and the other here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/art_education/ There great people on both lists and I have received valuable advice and helpful ideas from both lists. On one of the lists (I forget which one) there was a story in the file area. It reminded me of a lesson my college art professor taught. I embellished the story I found on the discussion list which. Basically, mine is a story of two scientists/explorers finding an "egg" from a yet "undiscovered" creature living deep in the Amazon jungle. The two explorers find the egg in a cave while on an expedition in the Amazon. They take the egg home whereupon arrival, it starts to hatch!

Then I say to the kids, "And do you know what it was?" They say "No." I tell them that neither do I but I have an idea. Then each student is given a clay "egg" with the instructions to create a creature that hatched from their egg.

Using the overhead, I demonstrated some techniques I use with a pencil and Popsicle stick as tools. We discussed tool safety, proper use (the pencil is for adding detail, the stick for cutting). One favorite techniques was making the scaly back of their creature by pinching alongside the spine area. The kids really liked this technique. We learned how to connect the legs, add a neck and head, and make a tail. I probably use some unconventional approaches to using the clay but they work. My experience with clay has been that kids don't know how to firmly connect the clay. The arms and legs always fall off. I teach the kids to create an opening using their pencils and insert one end of the leg (arms, neck etc) into the hole and then smooth out the two connected pieces. Here's an example of mine using this technique:

The pinching technique produces results that anyone can achieve. Even my first graders were successful at using the techniques. And those students that "went their own way" had problems attaching the arms and legs.

Here's a few samples from the kid's work:

A gallery of work can be seen here.

Artists at work

2010-03-13T16:22:00.000-08:00

When I started experimenting with TAB at the beginning of this year, I had no idea it would take off as it has. And as I continue to learn, I'm sure there will be more things I will change as I adapt to the knowledge new experiences will bring.

As of this writing, I have 4 working studio centers. This posting reflects a on the very beginning of my TAB experience where there were three studio centers available: Painting, construction, and drawing.

One thing I have noticed about this teaching approach is how engaged students become (for the most part.) I still have students who need more guidance by me, but most are engaged in meaning art making. That's the part of teaching this way I love best.

Students working at the painting studio are creating works that are unique and very creative. I find this to be true more with the liquid paints (perhaps because they can mix them together and they are brighter) than with watercolors. My goal in the painting studio is to give the kids experiences with different types of paints and have them try different techniques.

The picture to the right was made by a student using liquid paints and a tongue depressor. I'll be posting a video of this process but basically you put down your liquid colors on the left side of the paper and "scrape" the paint toward the right. The large yellow moon (or sun - I didn't ask) is painted first using one's finger. When the paint is pulled through using the tongue depressor, the yellow shape stays.

The student in the above picture working at the painting table, was making a colorful pictures using different reds. I was intrigued watching her as she developed her picture. She used a brush and put on the paint one "blotch" at a time. Sometimes the kids keep adding paint until the painting turns very dark. But this young lady kept it consistent. The result was very interesting and visually satisfying. The only time I see this kind of work (true even before I started using TAB) is when I allow students to make choices for themselves on what they want to do and how they want to do it.

I'm finding this to be true in our other studio centers as well (although not to the same degree yet). However, in the drawing center, more and more students are getting out the fake fruit and trying their hand at a still life drawing. And while the step-by-step books are still a favorite, I'm seeing more and more draw from the heart or using the many different models they have available to them.

At the construction center I posted some models on the white board (next to the center itself) so that kids had some ideas to work with. Surprisingly most students opted for their own ideas. I liked that. I've since taken down the models and student continue to create imaginative creations (including some pretty interesting 3-d creations).

This past week we started our clay projects. As usual, my plans changed a bit as I began to see how the kids responded to using clay. Originally I planned on the 4th and 5th graders making pinch pot creatures. We had a workshop on using clay (a one-day "how to" on all aspect of using clay) and I found that many students had difficulty manipulating the clay in the way they needed to for a successful pinch pot. Not only that, but it occurred to me that we'd have a lot of "look alike" projects (not a bad thing in and of itself) and I wanted to see what they could come up with on their own.

I can't wait to show more of what we've been doing lately. The above pics are from January. My intentions are good it's my body that's tired. I can't seem to get the creative juices flowing to write. I should just do what I tell my students: Just start something and the rest will come.

Have a great week!

Just a quick afterthought: I use the terms "studio," "center," "station" and "studio centers" meaning the same thing. I'm trying to use only "studio center" because I've taught the students that a studio is where an artist goes to "study" art. And at the clay studio center we study and work with clay etc. I refer to my room as the Art Studio. I also tell my students that artists study art by doing art: experimenting, exploring, and expressing. Just so you know, for me the product isn't that that important (though it does matter). It's all about the process. When one finishes the art project, the "doing" is over. Time to display the finished project and get started on a new one.

Marble painting and finger painting. Then a bath. ;)

2010-03-09T21:38:00.000-08:00

These pictures are from last year but I thought I'd share them now anyway. One of my goals with this blog has been to post all the pictures/projects I've done with kids (including these two cuties) over the past couple of years. I wish I had the energy to catch up as I have lots more to post. Teaching can be very exhausting and most days I have trouble getting the creative juices flowing after a busy day of art.

My wife and I have two grandchildren: Camryn will be 5 this year and Reese will be 3. These pictures capture their first finger painting experience.

When I taught kindergarten (which I did for 8 years) I purchased two large plastic finger painting trays. That was over 10 years ago and we still use them today. I brought them home (borrowed them from the current kindergarten teachers) and used them with the two girls. We also did a marble painting activity, which the girls absolutely loved.

As you can see, they are wearing t-shirts but you will soon see that the shirts didn't keep the paint off them. Reese especially managed to paint her arms and feet as well. I hadn't planned on a bath as well but that followed soon afterward.

We started out with a little marble painting. We used the lids of boxes which were perfect for marble painting. I just use the primary colors and keep adding marbles one at a time. I add a different color and the girls "paint" until the desired effect is reached. Reese (the youngest) really gave those marbles a ride. Camryn was more graceful with them. Hers stayed in the box. Reese enjoyed seeing the marbles fly out of the box as much as she did seeing the lines they made in the paint.

After the adventure in marble painting, we went on to the finale: finger painting. The pictures tell the story. Reese was captured by the feel of the paint on her hands and watch intently as the colors mixed and moved about the tray. Camryn loved making spiral motions with her hands as she watched the look of her painting change with the direction of her hands. The girls really got into moving the paint around in the tray. I would periodically add more color (and a new colors) and sit back and watch the show. The last step was to take a blank white paper and pressed it in the trays which transferred the paint onto the paper.

My wife took the pictures (nice job Hun!) and enjoyed watching the process. I played the teacher! I don't know who had more fun (OK, they did probably.) It was a great way to make a special memory.

2nd grade paper construction penguins

2010-02-28T21:42:00.000-08:00

Here's another penguin theme idea I've used in the past. This project was make entirely of colored construction paper. As you can see we used a blue background and a blue gray for the water. For the different parts of the penguins, I usually cut the different pieces the kids use for the penguins into approximate sizes the kids will need. I cut out rectangles and squares and then show the kids how to make circles and triangles from those shapes. We added a white "block of ice" for the penguin in front to stand upon.

This particular project was done whole group with an "I do it you do it" approach. Now that I'm using a modified TAB approach, should I repeat this project (or one like it) I may try giving a quick mini-lesson of the process or offer a one-day workshop where kids start the project with my help and then finish it on their own at future center times.

I like construction paper art for a number of reasons. With the younger students, I can reinforce shape concepts, and give the kids another experience with cutting and gluing. Such activities also help kids as they further develop their visual discrimination skills and begin to see the connections line and shape have making images.

I also believe that by doing a project where I demonstrate specific techniques and show how the pieces go together, it gives kids valuable experience and a set of skills that they can later duplicate as they venture out on their own in future creative endeavors.

I don't have a gallery of these penguins as I only scanned these six. I'll end this post with two more examples. Happy art making!

What shall I paint? How about Penguins on the ice?

2010-02-15T19:01:00.000-08:00

This is the title of a Usborne book, one of several that I own. I like the big illustrations in the book. I love the colorful illustrations and the kid centered projects in this book. I am also drawn to those ideas that will get kids "out of the box" in their artistic thinking. I enjoy using materials that wouldn't normally be considered for a painting project. This probably explains why my current art studio center (what I'm trying to call my centers now - studio centers) has available an assortment of combs, forks, spoons, sponges, tongue depressors, straws, miscellaneous screws and other hardware for making a variety of marks and effects. I'm sure my collection will grow as I discover new things with which to paint.

This is a third grade art project but it would also work well with my second graders. A brave soul might even try it with the first graders (not me - teaching my first graders is like trying to hold down a bathtub full of corks). In this project, which takes several steps, students first paint the lower 1/4 of the paper with white paint. The paint can be sponged on, wiped on with a cloth, or painted on with a wide brush. After the white is applied, the student then paints the top 3/4 with a blue. A dark blue is best as they will be adding more white to the blue section.

You don't have to let the blue section dry to begin the next step. Experiment with it and see how it works for you but we painted the next step right away. The directions call for painting white on clingwrap and pressing the wrap onto the blue side of the picture. The white paint beads up on the clingwrap and when applied to the blue it gives a frosty look. Repeat this until the desired effect is reached. "Frost" the entire blue section. (We used plastic sandwich bags. Students placed their hands in the bags, like a glove, painted one side white and then applied the paint to the blue area that way).

Finally, add the penguins. The steps we followed are right from the book. Paint the black body (and oval) and add the black wings. Let this fully dry and then add orange feet, and orange beak, white belly area, and a small white circle for the eye. When that dries add a dot of black to the white eye.

In the white area students used familiar shapes to paint colorful fish, allowing to dry before adding the details on the body.

The kids had a great time with this project. What I like best about art projects like this one is that they often lead to unique innovations as students try the same techniques (with various twists) in future painting projects. This particular project is good for the younger primary students because most of the shapes they will use are one with which they are most familiar.

This project was done whole group with a lot of teacher direction. If I were to do this project at one of my centers, I'd likely make it a "have to" so that all students would learn the painting technique. Most of the steps are easy and a quick demonstration can get the class started. Teaching in centers the way I do allows me to hover at one studio center and do some small group teaching. After a few students learn the process, they become peer teachers and help the others with the process. This approach has been working with many of my other center activities and allows me to move around the room and spend time with various groups and even individuals.

Your thoughts are most appreciated. Thanks for reading. A small gallery can be found here.

Where The Wild Things are. First grade project.

2010-02-12T09:38:00.000-08:00

This art project has probably been done by many of you. Mine is a crayon resist and it's an activity the kids really seem to enjoy. My approach is simple: I read the story and show the pictures via my document camera (or show the video). After viewing the story, we discuss what a "Wild Thing" looks like. With my first graders, I talk a lot about the shapes they see in the different Wild Things. My approach has been to model the drawing first and then let them draw their Wild Thing first in pencil and then outline and color using color pastels. For the wash I use a light blue. I tried to add a bit of black to give the blue a darker grayish look but that was a bad idea. I didn't like the look and neither did the kids. One child, after applying the wash, looked up at me and said, "You've ruined it!" Wow! I like that. A critic. ;)
I've gotten so many ideas from here and there I don't know where I got this idea. Perhaps from Princetonal.com. They have many good ideas for projects there. Here's another approach from Deep Sparkle. If you haven't seen her site, check it out. It's very well done and an excellent resource.

Project gallery can be found on my website here. Let the rumpus begin!

2010-02-02T21:11:00.000-08:00

Wow! I feel likes it's been two weeks since I last blogged here! Oh wait, it has been two weeks. Time flies when you're busy busy busy.

For those that have read my last blog entry, you'll remember that I began a new teaching approach in January known as Teaching Artistic Behavior (TAB). [See this blog entry for more information on TAB]

Well, to put it mildly, I've been very busy. The TAB approach has been far more work than I imagined. I'm learning something new everyday. There is much more I have to learn but I'm enjoying teaching this way. We are about one week away from finishing our projects and then I will scan and share them here. I use a modified TAB approach and have a few "have to's" (as in, "Teacher, do I have to make this?" - and my answer is, "Yes, it's a have to." ;)

There are many projects that require certain techniques that I want my kids to experience. I want them to be able to follow a step-by-step process and experience the success that comes with knowing how something is done.

We're painting with tongue depressors, cardboard, q-tips, and of course, paint brushes. The results are stunning. Even some of my less-talented students are learning and succeeding at the various techniques. When I'm ready, I'll share these idea with pictures. Here's what's coming:

First Grade: We made simple drawing pictures using concepts in the Ed Emberley drawing system. We learned about proper coloring techniques and what it means to outline main parts of our artwork.

Second Grade: Second graders made simple symmetrical pictures by folding a paper in half, and used the primary colors to paint "blobs" on one side of the paper. Then folding it in half and pressing on the paper, the paint blends together and creating a symmetrical picture. The blending colors create spots of purple, orange, and green. They look pretty cool (kid talk).

Third Grade: Third graders are made paintings that use an analogous color scheme. It's the first time they've been introduced to analogous colors. The color combinations create interesting visuals.

Fourth Grade: Using either cool or warm colors for a background, students paint the background using tongue depressors. The "brush" stroke is horizontal. Then using a contrasting warm or cool color, students use cardboard pieces to paint vertical lines in the shape of towers. The goal is to make structures and later add details to make fantasy castles (using permanent black markers for the details).

Fifth Grade: Using tongue depressors, students made a sunset background and then used a black paint to paint a foreground with the theme of the sunset in the desert. Think cactus. This turned out very well.

I hope these ideas sound of interest to you. I hope to have some pictures up by next week. Until then, happy creating!

"This is the funnest art ever!"

2010-01-15T21:22:00.000-08:00

This was a comment from a second grader today. I smiled. If you looked into the art room and wondered what we're doing, it's simple: We're doing art.

I have been thinking of trying out some of the TAB concepts (see my blog entry here) for some time and am now going on my third week of a modified TAB approach. I have three centers running so far and the idea in each is to allow students to make choices while at the same time getting them to visit each center - eventually.

One center is a construction center where kids are cutting and gluing using construction paper and making pictures by combining shapes of all kinds and all sizes. Both 2D and 3D constructions were encouraged. The first two weeks were open-ended and kids were allowed to make whatever their creative little minds could come up with.

The drawing center takes up two tables and is fully stocked with drawing books, plenty of paper,and drawing/coloring supplies. Kids can choose to either draw from their imagination or draw using the step by step books in the book tub (I have about 25 books available for the kids that range from easy to difficult).
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The painting center is a busy place (like the drawing center, it takes up two tables.) Currently we are using liquid tempera, mixing colors, using brushes, forks, sponges, tongue depressors, and an assortment of objects to paint with. We are learning about combining colors and layering them to get interesting visual effects. The kids have produced some very interesting paintings and as soon as I get some scanned I plan on uploading some to this blog and to my website.

The first two weeks have been mostly learning about how the room is to be run and experimenting with new techniques in painting. It's also proving to be a time for me to learn what works, what doesn't, and where holes need filling.

Since students will be given more choices, personal responsibility is a key factor to success. I'm attempting to deliver a more student driven curriculum while remaining faithful to the goals and objectives for each particular grade level. In a nut shell, my intent is to teach (through modeling, encouragement, inspiration, and opportunity) artistic behaviors. What do "real" artists do when they sit down to do their art? How do they treat their tools? How do they think? What questions do they ask? Where do they get their ideas? All of this fits neatly within the framework of the art's standards. And you'll be happy to know that in order for this to work, there is a heavy emphasis on personal responsibility and making good choices. So far I'm liking what I'm seeing. There are some areas I need to address, but the student involvement in the center work and the creativity I'm seeing has surpassed my expectations. On the other hand, the clean up leaves something to be desired. But that's something I can fix.

The next several weeks I will be teaching the upper grades some painting techniques. The kids have experienced interesting visual effects using sponges, combs, forks, straws, pencil ends, and a variety of tools for stamping. 5th graders will use tongue depressors to paint a sunset. 4th graders are making fantasy castles using a background of either warm or cool colors. Backgrounds are painted with tongue depressors. Castles are make using cardboard, and details drawn on with permanent markers. 3rd graders are painting with an analogous color scheme and 2nd graders are making secondary colors from primary colors. (For the time being, I'm back to teaching whole group with the first graders. They don't handle the new environment well. I experienced lots of off-task behaviors. Back to the drawing board with them.) The other two centers in the room are open as well and there are new activities at each. I'll write about them after a week or so and reflect on how things are going with the new activities.

Babysitting the two grand kids over Christmas break. What fun!

2010-01-06T18:31:00.000-08:00

So what does grampa do when babysitting his 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 year old granddaughter's for the day?

Well, how about play with the new playdough kit, bake cookies, make some new playdough from scratch, and end the day making gingerbread houses. Yeah. That will be a good memory. And it will help keep them critters busy.

What is it about playdough that makes it so much fun to play with? It's easy to mold and shape, and it feels good. Reese, the youngest, loves the feel of it in her hands. Just watching her squeeze it, roll it, and pat it was fun. They both played with the playdough for a while, and when they were becoming restless, we played with a new dough that one can eat. Cookie dough!

Baking cookies doesn't exactly fall under the category of art, but it's somewhat like playing with playdough and you get to eat it. What more can a kid want? (I'm talking about myself here). The kids, as expected, thought it was so cool to help "bake" cookies. But I forgot to have them get on their aprons and hats first. Not to worry, we still have to make playdough and after lunch, make gingerbread houses. We'll get those hats and aprons on next.

Making playdough is fun. I used to make this stuff all the time when I taught kindergarten. I still have the recipe I used back then. While there are many recipies one can find on the net (and they are good ones) here's the one I use:

2 1/2 Cups of flour
1/2 Cup of salt
1 Tbl of powered alum
2 Cups of boiling water
3 Tbl cooking oil
Food Coloring

Combine dry ingredients, sifting alum or rubbing it smooth. Stir in water, oil, food coloring (1/2 the bottle for vivid color). Knead until smooth. Store airtight. Need NOT to refrigerate.

The girls picked their own colors, did most of the work, and really enjoyed the changing texture of the playdough.

A quick lunch, a nap for the 2 1/2 year old (Camryn says she's too old to take a nap. Wait till she gets old like Papa). The girls had never made these before and it was quite a treat to see all that candy and goodies that they were told not to eat. lol But I did tell them they could eat an occasional piece of candy, which they did with delight. To my surprise, even the youngest granddaughter caught on to spreading the frosting (the cement of the structure) and needed but a little help. Camryn was able to do most of the work on her own. In the end, they were master pieces.

I love being a Papa (what they call me). We had a fun day and the girls stayed busy. And I earned a well deserved nap, which I took the very next day. First, a late sleep-in and then an afternoon snooze.

Tis the season....

2010-01-04T20:33:00.000-08:00

The weeks just before Christmas break can be challenging for any classroom teacher. It certainly has proven to be a challenge for me in the art room. Typically, the kids are more energetic, more talkative, and more inclined not to take their work so seriously. Consequently, I usually choose activities that are simple, engaging, and don't ask too much of the kids.

This year I've been thinking a lot about TAB (Teaching Artistic Behavior). You can read more about TAB at the website. I had planned on trying some of the TAB concepts after the first of the year. So to end the 2009 year, I set up some centers to see how the students would interact with the different activities.

TAB is a student-centered, choice-based approach to teaching art. It's much more than that simple statement and likely I'll share more on TAB in subsequent post. Being honest, my main goal this final week of 2009 was survival while giving the students something meaningful and maybe even instructive, and most of all fun.

Here are a few of the centers I ran that final week of 2009. What is it about centers that kids love so much? I think I know: they get to choose! Even if the centers are teacher chosen activities, they seem to love the fact that they get to choose the center!

Kids love to play with clay. And some of their creations are simply wonderful and imaginative creations. Not so much this week. The boys flocked to the clay center and made an assortment of unrecognizable things, laughing and chatting all the while. No matter the creation, they loved showing me their work. I have another blog entry in mind where I'll share some of the more "on task" creations. But for this week, the clay center was mostly about hanging out with friends.

I don't think one can ever go wrong with a drawing center. And since I'm aware of how much kids love to make cards (especially this time of year) this center was an easy setup. It was simply titled: Make A Card; Draw A Picture. Lots of creative work took place and I was glad to see that at least this center was drawing a serious working crowd.

Stencil painting is a popular activity as well. I guess you could say it's on the order of some of the printing activities kids love as well. The students painted the backgrounds, and then painted on the stencil, adding that to their background. The results were great.

Some students chose just to use a brush rather than using the stencils. But whatever they chose, they were happily engaged in the activity and the time just flew!

Ed Emberly is one of my favorite author/artists. He has a number of drawing books for kids out and is also the idea man behind the video Squiggles, Dots, and Lines and the Ed Emberly Drawing Alphabet. I teach his ideas to my students during the first weeks of school. This Santa picture is based on his ideas.

A great way to end the year. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Happy New Year too!

Thanksgiving Turkeys

2009-12-06T19:49:00.001-08:00

1st Grader's Turkey Picture

Well, even though Thanksgiving is over, here's a cute little project we did last year. I have a couple of examples included here. As you see, it's pretty simple. The student traces his or her hands, draws a background, and waterpaints the whole picture. I stress background details in my students' artwork. I like the neat little touch of the background fence.

2nd Grader's Turkey Picture

4th and 5th Grade Snowpersons

2009-12-03T19:03:00.000-08:00

From the names on these pictures I can tell we did these projects in 2007 and 2008. I thought that maybe the kids would see the activity as "too young." Some did. But many really enjoyed it did a great job. Others just didn't seem to get into it. I thought of it as a break from the more difficult things I had them do prior to this lesson. It's another one of those optional workshop activities to keep in the file box. I'll probably keep a version of it with that purpose in mind.

The Three Snowpersons project: Some kids took a lot of time and it seemed to take forever to finish. As I recall, they were a very talkative groups. My experience is that kids that chat during art don't complete a lot during the 45 minutes. That's why I now use the Seven Minuet Rule. (from a previous blog entry)

[I start day one with my "seven minute rule." I've written on this elsewhere on this blog but I'll briefly repeat it here. I use a timer, projected on the overhead screen, and expect the students to work for a full seven minutes with no talking. When the seven minutes is up, I set the timer to three minutes and allow students to use one of those minutes to stretch and rest their hand (and head) and then to continue to work but quiet talking and sharing is allowed. After the three minutes is up, I repeat the process. First, seven minutes of quiet work, followed by three minutes of a more relaxed time. Also, toward the end of the class time, I allow for quiet talking and encourage the sharing of work.]

The Single Snowperson project: Again, many kids did a great job while others didn't put much quality effort into designing their snowpersons. I was a bit surprised. I thought they'd really have a ball playing with this activity. Many did. But maybe not enough to call it a keeper at this grade level. I've posted a gallery of work where I put both the 4th grade work and the 5th grade work.

The procedure I followed for this lesson differs only slightly from the procedure I used with the primary grades. I still modeled the white painting process. We used wide brushes and I showed the kids how to use them to make their round circles by using the brush in a spiral motion. In one twist they could form each section. They did think that was pretty cool. I show some examples and then set them loose.

See the gallery pictures here. ;)

First, Second, and Third Grade Snowpersons :)

2009-12-03T10:57:00.000-08:00

Most have likely have done some variation of this lesson. I share it because the pictures turned out so cute and it's one of the activities that the kids really enjoy during our brief snowy season. I tried this with all grades because I wanted to see how the older kids would handle such an activity. I'll post the 4th and 5th grade snowpersons next so you can see how they handled it. Here I offer 1st-3rd.

I like activities that give me opportunity to talk about planning, positioning, size, shapes, and the importance of adding details. Most art projects give the teacher opportunities to either introduce new concepts or reinforce old ones. Ultimately any art project is about the experience for the student and the level of self-expression they are able to bring into their work. I'll do this project again but as a choice at one of the workshops I'm dong in January.

This art project is rather simple. For the primary grades, I model the steps of the process (I do it, you do it). First we make a base using the white paint. Then we add the three "circles" for the body. Finally I have them make whatever type of snow flakes they choose. I encourage everyone to add snowflakes because it add character to the picture and appears more animated. A snowperson all alone can look rather dull. BTW, I'm not trying to be politically correct here. Someone always asks if they can make a girl snowman and so I try to say "snowperson" to let them know ahead of time that it's O.K. After the snowperson is finished and the snowflakes added, we put the pictures on the paint rack to dry.

During the next lesson we discuss adding details. I ask what a snow man or woman might wear out in the cold. I show many examples, (Google is a good resource) demonstrate a couple of things if necessary (how to add the vest or scarf) and then set them off to work. At first I just had the kids use paints but later added the fabric.

Here's a few more. And the web gallery can be found here.

Second Grade Clown Drawings

2009-11-27T16:37:00.000-08:00

This particular activity followed a series of lessons in the Monart Drawing Method. As the lesson progresses, I continually refer to the Monart basic shape families; Lines, Dots, and Circles. (see chart on right). The lesson idea came from Kinder Art.

(BTW, I will always try to show the source for lessons I share but in some cases I don't remember where I found the idea. Feedback in this area will be appreciated.)

I suppose there are many ways to approach this lesson. Here is my approach: One can use either an overhead projector, or a digital projector. I've used both. I demonstrate how to draw the clown (again, referring to the names of the shapes or lines I am using). I have found over the years that many students need that extra help when drawing. They either draw the images too small or too skinny or in some cases, say they can't draw at all. I model how to draw the clown but that isn't always necessary. However, I model only the basic parts (head, body, arms, and legs (shoes too)) and have them choose how to draw the hair, hat type (or no hat) and designs on the body. Some kids venture out on their own, others copy the details of the model. - Just as a side note, the technique for drawing the clown feet come from Mark Kistler's Draw Squad method.

After students complete their drawing (using pencil) I then have them outline their work with black marker followed by coloring with markers. For coloring this particular project, I have the students use a method I learned from one of the segments on the Donna Hugh Videos. (I'm pretty sure this is where I learned it but am not sure). The middle-school students use this same method and the art teacher calls it the Mr. Triplett Marker Method. Pretty cool.

The basic rule for coloring is that the students are to use all the colors on the color wheel. There can be no white left on the paper. I teach the kids that a marker is much like a paint brush. All the color is in the tip and that the students simply "paints" the color onto the paper. BUT, they are to keep their lines going in the same direction (for each individual section or shape). For example, when coloring the ground that the clown is standing on, choose either vertical or horizontal lines and lay one line of color down and then the next, and then the next, and so on. For shapes, outline the shape first, then choose the direction to color, and lay down one line at a time (don't go back and forth like one would with a color crayon or color pencil). Start at the top of the area to be colored, draw a line of color to the bottom, then start that exact process over again). You can see the technique in each of the clown drawings. For round objects I have the kids first outline the shape, and then color in a spiral following the round shape. I hope this explanation makes sense. Please ask if this doesn't make any sense.

After the pictures are completed, I have the students mount them and then they are displayed either in their rooms or outside the rooms. You can see student examples here.

In some activities of a similar kind, I have allowed for the backgrounds to be colored using colored pencils or crayons. Details are all colored in markers (using the above mentioned method) and backgrounds can be colored with crayon or pencils. It's a nice light background contrasted against the darker color of the markers.

What I like about activities like this one is that they gives me an opportunity to talk about design, overlapping, background, details, positioning, etc. Concepts about line and shape can be reinforced and principles such as repetition, patterning, balance, etc can also be introduced.

Painting with tongue depressers and other stuff

2009-11-26T10:52:00.000-08:00

I've been experimenting with a few painting techniques that I can teach to my students in preparation for the painting workshops I want to set up. I've gathered a bunch of different painting tools: tongue depressors, rulers, Popsicle sticks, combs, and an assortment of objects for making different shapes/lines, sponges, cardboard strips, and of course, paint brushes.

I found a picture on the Internet of cactus (google search) silhouetted against a sunset sky (image on the left-it's computer generated-Tuxpaint-it's free (see tuxpaint.org)). I'm trying to find techniques that kids can easily duplicate. The directions are simple: First, paint the yellow sun and then put down a line of red paint on the left side of the paper (I used a spoon). Add a few yellow and orange drops here and there on the paper and then using a tongue depressor, drag the paint from left to right. After that dries add the black foreground. I used acrylic black as the tempera tends to crack. The results are the image on the right.

I showed the picture to the kids to see what they thought of it. They thought it was pretty cool and then we moved on to the current lesson (see previous blog entry). On 4th grade student, Chris, painted his impression of the picture. Keep in mind that he only saw my example for about a minute. I was very impressed with his results.

Second graders were working with crayons (doing a crayon resist) and after seeing the 4th graders example (I was showing it off) one second grader decided to draw a similar picture.

Kids never cease to amaze me with their artwork. I can't wait to get the workshops all set up (am currently in the process of introducing color theory and having the kids combine colors to make their own secondary and intermediate colors. I'm also introducing the various techniques that can be used in the various workshop centers. I'll share some of the work (probably in January) that results from the creative craze I expect to see.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Exploring Color

2009-11-22T18:08:00.000-08:00

Last year someone gave me about 200 round vegetable trays. I had no idea how I would use them at the time, but as I began looking for a fun introductory lesson to color theory, I began to think about how to use those trays.

In the past I have used visuals (PowerPoint and color wheel) to show different color relationships. But I decided to start this year out by letting the kids just play with the primary colors and discover how many different color variations they could find.

To begin the activity, I set a few ground rules for behavior expectations (with an emphasis on cleanup behaviors). I gave a quick demonstration on how to use the trays and then laid out the procedures for acquiring materials and properly cleaning up at the end of class. Students were given a paint brush, tray, paper, water, and plenty of paper towel sheets. We used liquid tempera and I instructed the kids to put about 3-4 drops on three different sections on their tray (using only blue, yellow, and red). From there, the students used the remaining sections on the trays for mixing their colors. They were also asked to record their color discoveries on their blank paper.

As this was an exploration activity, the students could make "puddles" or "pictures." Most made puddles. All had fun.

Cleanup was a bit of a challenge. I have assigned specific tasks for table leaders (table leaders rotate each week) and then all student are responsible for the cleanup of their own tray and work area (including putting their work on the drying rack). Students wiped off the paint from the trays, and then used a spray bottle to add a bit of water and removed any remaining paint residue. Cleanup took about 8 minutes.

We have some basic cleanup rules: no wandering, clean your area and then help your table mates, put all materials back where they belong, sit at your table when you've finished your responsibilities. Only table leaders are allowed at the sink (I only have one sink). That rule has saved on many a log jam. I let students spray their hands with the sprayers and use the towels for drying if they insist on hand washing. I always emphasize personal responsibility in my classroom. The kids know that if I end up cleaning up their messes, we'll probably not repeat such messy activities. So far, so good.

Next week I plan on adding both white and black to the color selections and have the students explore tints and shades.

Line Drawings

2009-11-08T16:29:00.000-08:00

Finally. After getting sick and getting way behind, I'm nearly caught up with my classroom work. I've finally finished scanning the last of our line art drawings and have posted them on the web.

I love teaching art. I enjoy finding projects and seeing what the kids will do with the ideas. The first project we worked on this school year was line drawings based on art projects I saw on the excellent blog: Deep Sparkle. The drawings were actually finished about a month ago but I just finished scanning the last of the drawings. As I said in my last blog, getting sick put me way behind.

Line drawings are a good way to introduce and reinforce line and shape concepts. Through this activity, children learn a lot about the different types of line and shape, engage in planning, outlining, cutting and pasting, and mounting their projects. I followed the steps from Deep Sparkle's Turtle Drawings and Owls and Cats. All the project characters are modeled after these three ideas. You can see some student artwork here.

I modeled the outlines of each character for each grade level. I demonstrated how to create sections for each character and then together we brainstormed the many different line and shape types (geometric, organic, and free form). We make a huge chart of all possible lines and shapes we could use in our drawing. Students first drew with pencils and then outlined with thin Sharpie markers. All lines and shapes were drawn with markers only. Each section has to have the same line or shape within.

As with any art project/activity, this one touches on many of the art standards required by my State of Washington. When I return the art work to homeroom teachers, I try to include a list of those standards that were addressed. I include them here for those of you who might be interested. The project models below are teacher models.

1st grade turtles: Identifies and produces types of lines to create direction. Uses and produces horizontal, vertical, diagonal, curved, dotted, dashed, and zigzag lines to create shapes in an artwork.

2nd grade fish: Uses and produces different line qualities for a variety of purposes. Uses and produces horizontal, vertical, diagonal, curved, dotted, dashed, and zigzag lines to create shapes in an artwork.

3rd grade cats: Produces different line types and line qualities to create detail in artwork. Uses and produces horizontal, vertical, diagonal, curved, zig-zag lines to create images. Uses lines to create patterns, designs, and textures in art.

4th grade owls: Produces different line types and line qualities to create detail in art work. Uses and produces horizontal, diagonal, curved, zig-zag lines to create a picture. Uses patterns, designs and textures and textures in art work.

5th grade: Produces different line types and line qualities to create detail in art work. Uses and produces horizontal, diagonal, curved, zig-zag, dashed, dotted, thick/thin lines to create a picture. Uses patterns, designs and textures and textures in art work.

This the season to get sick.

2009-10-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

We've finished our line drawings and I can't wait to finish scanning them and posting some examples. I encountered a bit of an interruption: the flu. Kids in my school are dropping like flies. Recently, one of my art classes had only 8 students. And even though I wash my hands constantly, the germs found me and knocked me off my feet. I missed about a week of school and am just now getting my full strength back. Oh the joys of teaching.

In the past two weeks the kids have been engaged in various activities in centers I've set up. Around Halloween I set up some drawing activities I call "Drawing with Ed Emberly." Emberly has some excellent step by step drawing books that are centered on the Halloween theme. The kids draw bats and cats, ghosts and goblins, skeletons, haunted houses and many other spooky things.

Another center is really quite simple. I drew some Halloween pictures on 9x12 tag board and then traced the lines using glue. After the glue dried, they made excellent crayon rubbings. I have rubbings for ghosts and bats and pumpkins and cats (and others). I use this activity to expose the kids to the effects of using complimentary colors. I instruct students to choose a color for the rubbing (using crayon), and then using the color chart, find the colors complimentary color for the paint wash. It's pretty simple and they won't win an art award. But the kids have fun and it gives me another opportunity to talk about the color wheel.

I also set up two tables for painting where kids can free paint (painting whatever they like just for the fun of painting!) or they can choose the crayon rubbing activity. Also, I provide orange construction paper and have step by step instructions for drawing Bert and Ernie pumpkins. Other students use the Orange paper and draw a large pumpkin on it.

When I set up the clay center it's always a big hit. I usually need two tables for clay (non-drying kind) and just let the kids create. We have a display table with the following rule: When I need more clay, the older clay forms on display get "smashed." I try to take pictures of all the creations and run a slide-show of all the work the following week. The kids always love this part.

I'm always glad when the Halloween season is over with. The kids are always a bit pumped up during this time and the final few days before Halloween can be very challenging. During this crazy time of year I focus mainly on routine (how to manage oneself during center time for example). I do however manage to slip in some skill/concept teaching when their not looking. ;)

Now that school is well under way......

2009-09-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

I'm ready to begin posting again and sharing some of the ideas I'm using in my classroom. For the past two weeks, my students have been busy finishing up work on their portfolios/folders. In past years I began the year teaching Ed Emberly's drawing alphabet, Monarts family of shapes, and Mark Kistler's Draw Squad concepts. I will still cover these drawing ideas with my students, but this year my approach will differ. I'll begin the year focusing on the elements and the principles of design. For the next few weeks I'll be introducing and reviewing the elements of design with all classes. I plan to focus on line and shape first, and then introduce and focus on the other elements (the principles) as the weeks progress. Then it simply becomes a matter of repetition and reinforcement and encouraging a class culture that builds on this knowledge through meaningful creative experiences.

I also want to experiment with TAB (Teaching for Artistic Behaviors). I have some ideas for my first centers (based on line, shape, and color) and my plan is to spend a few weeks teaching with direct instruction and guided practice, and then designing centers where students can make choices and creatively interact with the art ideas previously presented.

I still want to teach many whole group projects as they are proven favorites and offer unique art experiences (such as painting with colored chalk, getting interesting textual effects using cellophane among others). Clearly, there is more than one effective instructional method. I've been very successful teaching art using the teacher directed method. And once a set of skills and procedures has been learned and practiced, I've let the kids go and create using their own ideas. (I call those open-ended activities "Free Draw" or "Free Paint" activities. It simply allows for students to either draw or paint things that are of interest to them. I have a set of "Free Draw" books - step-by-step - that children use for drawing. Free Painting is usually a time where kids just paint for painting's sake.)

This year I'm going to try to design some centers that will follow a series of direct teaching experiences. The centers will build upon the concepts taught in the whole group lessons and allow for students to experiment with the ideas they recently learned. My room is pretty small so I'm not sure how well this will work. I have one sink, and 5 tables. There is very little room to "squeeze" around the room but it's doable. Picture a room that has 5 tables and one supply area. That's all the room I have to work with and it's part of the reason I've been reluctant to do centers in the past. As I find out what works and what doesn't, I'm sure things will change a bit and I'll work out the wrinkles. Wish me luck.

In addition to blogging about my experiences with these ideas, I have developed a website to host student's work. In addition to sharing things I'm doing this year, I hope to continually add ideas that I've used and found successful in the past.

Teaching with Love and Logic

2009-08-27T17:20:00.000-07:00

Today was my first day back at work. We had one of those "Teacher Training" days and I always find the time we spend together as a staff to be both exciting and motivating. In the morning we had a brief meeting, and then, in teams, we hopped into our cars and went on our first grade home visits. Each incoming first grader is visited by a team of teachers, given a small packet containing a book to read, information about school and upcoming events, and a few other items that would interest a child of that age. After that we had lunch and then spent the remaining afternoon with a refresher course on the Teaching with Love and Logic principles.

When I was first introduced to the Love and Logic principles, I was immediately attracted to its simplicity and sensible approach to classroom management. Although there is much that could be said about Love and Logic philosophy, I believe they are encapsulated in the four following principles.

1. Build Relationships: The most powerful thing a teacher can do to effectively manage his or her classroom is to build a meaningful relationship with each student. Get to know their names quickly. Learn something about each student. Notice them and acknowledge. Greet them each day (meet them at your door). Smile. Be sincere. Ask them questions about things that they might find interesting. Use positive body language including safe and gentle touch (side hugs with younger students, high fives, other appropriate touch with older students). With the older boys, I like to give the shoulder bump (like the football players do except I do it softly). Show interest in your students.

2. Show Empathy: We all make mistakes. When a child is frustrated, or hurt, show empathy for the child by acknowledging their feelings. Saying things like, "That must be frustrating." or "You look upset." or "Ouch, that must hurt." shows students you care about how they feel. These are statements of empathy. Say a child is running through the hall and slips and skins his knee. Rather than say, "That's why we walk in the hall." you could say, "Looks like you skinned your knee. That must hurt. Let's go to the nurse and have her take a look at it." Then later, after the child has had time to consider the consequences of his actions (running in the hall) you might say, "How's is your knee doing?" (show empathy) "Have you thought about what you could do differently so that you don't get hurt again?" Most kids have already figured that out.

3. Offer Choices: When a child is acting up and you want the behavior changed, give reasonable choices. Keeping the principle of empathy in mind, acknowledge that the student looks frustrated (or mad) if appropriate. If the student is just acting out, ask if they can pull it together of do they need to go to the back of the room (or across the hall) and pull it together there. Make the choices reasonable and non threatening. (In Love and Logic, you don't always have to give choices. If a strong relationship has been formed, that alone may give you enough of a bond between you and that student to ask for compliance. "Do that for me will you? Thanks." Turn and walk away - assume the student will comply. Most often, they will.

4. Use Enforceable Statements: An enforceable statement is one that you can actually enforce. It's what you will do, not what you expect the students to do. For example, "Turn in your math books to page 14 and look at problem one. We'll start there. I'll begin the lesson in thirty seconds." When the thirty seconds is up, begin the lesson and notice those students that haven't followed through. Walk toward them but continue teaching. As you approach them, most students will magically find page 14 and get on task. The enforceable statement, the one in italics, is one you can enforce. Be sure not to say it unless you can actually do it. Always follow through.

Love and Logic principles also include the ideas of avoiding getting sucked into arguments with kids, delaying consequences until you've had time to reflect what's appropriate for the situation (which also give the students plenty of "think time), and a plethora of other great ideas on relating and dealing with students in one's classroom. The above are really small snippets of a much larger picture. If these ideas are of interest to you, find out more by visiting the Love and Logic website.

Happy Teaching.

Student folders

2009-08-26T18:05:00.000-07:00

When the school year begins, it's time to get to know the students, set the boundaries, establish routines, and find that assignment to start the year off right. Since I only see my students every 6 days (counting weekends) and only for 45 minute periods, time is a precious commodity. When the students show up on their first day with me, I get right to work. Boundaries, routines, expectations, and "getting to know you" engagements can all be done in the first few class meetings. I go over boundaries and routines etc as the opportunities arise. Brain reserach tell us that students can handle information in small doses and not in large chunks. So I introduce only those routines that are necessary for that day.

The first assignment is simple" Students are given an 12 X 18 piece of white construction paper. They are told to fold the paper in half and on what would be the front, students place their name (first and last) and the teacher's name on the bottom of the front cover. Then they are to place the words "Fine Arts" somewhere on the folder (I suggest the top but it's only a suggestion.) Then they are instructed to illustrate the folder any way they want. I show some examples, offer some ideas and themes, and give them a time limit (must be completed by the second day of class).

I start day one with my "seven minute rule." I've written on this elsewhere on this blog but I'll briefly repeat it here. I use a timer, projected on the overhead screen, and expect the students to work for a full seven minutes with no talking. When the seven minutes is up, I set the timer to three minutes and allow students to use one of those minutes to stretch and rest their hand (and head) and then to continue to work but quiet talking and sharing is allowed. After the three minutes is up, I repeat the process. First, seven minutes of quiet work, followed by three minutes of a more relaxed time. Also, toward the end of the class time, I allow for quiet talking and encourage the sharing of work.

You thoughts? Here are a few examples of student folders. The images aren't the best but they will give you the idea.

Art Folders and assessment philosophy.

2009-08-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

In my previous post I wrote the following concerning assessing the arts:

How does one measure attitudes, self-confidence, self-discipline, a sense of accomplishment, or the development of a student’s neurobiological system? A highly structured arts program complete with a highly structured assessment can’t accurately measure these things. And if the arts are highly structured, there is a danger that individual expression may diminish or be completely lost. Many students will turn off to the arts. This is the exact opposite of what we want to accomplish through the arts.

(I should say from the start that I'm really talking about the report card grades here and not the grades of each individual assignment. While I do grade some assignments, I only do so for my own personal record keeping. I'm more interested in celebrating work accomplished and hearing what students says about their own work, what they like about their work, why they chose the colors they chose, or whatever their thoughts are when reflecting on completed work. In my view, at least at the elementary level, the worst thing to do is to grade each piece of work. Some students already have the "I can't do it" attitude and it seems to me that assigning grades to each assignment would only reinforce that attitude in some students.)

I've always struggled with assessments in visual arts. I don't like attaching a "grade" to a child's artwork. I'd rather simply grade according to a student's attendance and class participation. In my view, the skills students possess in the arts aren't as important as their level of engagement. If, for example, a gifted student slacks off, but produces work that is above that of his/her peers, in most systems they could still get a good grade. Conversely, a student who is fully engaged in the art assignments, displays a positive attitude, but lacks the skills to produce exemplary work, might not receive a good grade, despite the hard work. But which is a more important attribute: natural skill or a good work ethic and positive attitude?

I don't have the luxury of using the “pass/fail” approach that Jensen's suggests as a better way to assess the arts. In the system I must use, the grading is on a scale of 1-4. A "3" is given if the student is meeting the State standards for that grade level.

Using this system for recording grades, my approach is very simple. During the first two class meetings I have the students take an 11x17 piece of white construction paper, fold it in half, and use that "folder" to put all their class assignments and sketches in. I try to do a quick assessment of each child's work as they are completing each project. I do this during class. I also review their folder work and do a quick visual assessment of their work.

There are a few specifics I am looking for when assigning a grade. Did the student complete the assignments and exercises in class? How well did they follow the instructions given? Did the student demonstrate a level of understanding of the concepts being learned? I try to follow Jensen's suggestions for the "pass/fail" approach even though I'm giving a numerical grade.

The criteria for pass/fail are simple, straightforward and reachable by all students. Students must have good attendance in class, participate in the class activities, develop a portfolio of their work, get portfolio feedback via peer sharing as well as other ideas listed by Jensen, and participate in a student/teacher conference.

A portfolio of a student's work (or "Folder" as I refer to it) will tell you something of a student's attendance - missing assignment pieces is likely due to an absence (I don't keep records of attendance as it is just one more thing to track) and certainly will tell you their participation level in class. The portfolio, along with class observations, will give you enough information to assign fair grades.

One drawback to the numerical grading system is that nasty little "skills and concepts" box. Some students clearly are above the line, and some below. Where students clearly fall below the line, I grade accordingly. Where students clearly rise above it, I grade accordingly. I rarely give out "4's" or "2's" except where it's completely clear that under "skills and concepts," that's what the student deserves. Visually, the 1 - 4 grading continuum looks like this in my mind:

1-1//2---2//3-------------------------------------3// 4---4

All points on the grading scale are not equal in my view. Most students will fall under the "3" as it is the largest area. Few fall under the "2" (below grade level) or "4" (above grade level) and even fewer under the "1." To get a "1" in my class you'd have to show up and do nothing (and I've had a few students like that!).

I hope someday that the grading for the arts will more accurately reflect the long term goals of the arts and not simply reflect some need for accountability. Until then, this is the system I use, flawed as it is. In review, Jensen offers these three ideas to include in assessing the visual arts:

1 Have good attendance in class

2 Appropriate participation in the class activities

3 Develop a portfolio of their work and get portfolio feedback (from peers and instructor)

As always, I would love to hear your ideas on the thoughts I've presented.

Assessments

2009-08-14T21:23:00.000-07:00

Jensen states several times throughout the book that the arts are not “efficient.” He means that the benefits are not immediate – they are seen in the long term. Art is a creative process. It’s a personal experience and it’s a meaningful way the artist can express him/herself. The arts help in the development of the brain and the benefits to our brain development happen over time. How does one measure attitudes, self-confidence, self-discipline, a sense of accomplishment, or the development of a student’s neurobiological system? A highly structured arts program complete with a highly structured assessment can’t accurately measure these things. And if the arts are highly structured, there is a danger that individual expression may diminish or be completely lost. Many students will turn off to the arts. This is the exact opposite of what we want to accomplish through the arts.

Assessing creativity poses many problems. Creativity is highly individual. To focus on the grading of artwork is, as Jensen states, to devalue learning and minimize creative expression – the very things we want to enhance in our students. If students think they have to “pass a test” on say a particular drawing or painting or musical composition, they will focus on the wants of the teacher and not on their individual form of expression. Students will care more about what their teacher thinks of their work than focus on the sheer joy of the art experience itself. After all, that is a huge goal of the arts: the joy of personal expression through various art forms.

Jensen proposes a better way of assessing the arts through a “pass/fail” approach. The criteria for pass/fail are simple, straightforward and reachable by all students. Students must have good attendance in class, participate in the class activities, develop a portfolio of their work, get portfolio feedback via peer sharing as well as other ideas listed by Jensen, and participate in a student/teacher conference. Such an approach allows the student to reflect upon his/her work and helps created an atmosphere of trust and artistic freedom that encourages individualism in each artist. Reviewing a portfolio with students is also a way to celebrate the student’s work.

After reading this chapter, I believe I have been on the right track with respect to assessment in the visual arts. There are some weak areas that I need to address but overall I find myself applauding Jensen’s ideas.

I’ve always had students make a portfolio that contains samples of their work. But I don’t think I carry this idea far enough and would like to follow more closely Jensen’s suggestions. For one, I’d like to give students more say in what goes into their portfolio. And, since I have over 400 students, I’d need to figure out an efficient way to hold some student/teacher conferences – I see great value in having them but am not sure how to manage the logistics with so many students. I'd like to offer more time for students to share their portfolio work with their peers not only get valuable feedback of their own work, but to learn from the ideas of others.

I’ve always resisted any formal assessments in the visual arts. Observing my students while they are working, and viewing the work in their portfolios gives me some idea of their skill levels and more importantly, their commitment level to the class art activities. An added step would be conferencing with students about their work.

I’ve participated in art shows before, but never had one of my own. I’m thinking of exploring this idea with the music teacher and see if we can come up with an idea for an art night. The music teacher has a group of choir and mallet musicians and together with visual art displays, we could make a fun and informative night for parents and students where they get a chance to share and celebrate in the student’s work.

A final note: I’ve asked my principal to read this book over the summer. Perhaps there isn't enough of an emphasis in the arts in schools. Individual classroom teachers either feel the art specialist covers the art needs for their students, or there simply isn’t enough time for them to do art, or they don’t feel competent in the area of art. Considering that administrators often claim over and over that teaching should reflect current research, it seems that we ought to be putting some of our staff training time into the area of arts considering its value. We spend most of our time learning about reading and math or science. In my ten years as an art teacher, I don’t think we’ve ever had even one art in-service day. Maybe I can help to change that.

Final note: with this post, my series on Jensen's book ends. I'm currently reading his book, "Teaching With The Brain In Mind" and perhaps I'll share some of my reflections when I'm done.

My next series of blogs will offer up some of the ideas I've used in the classroom. I hope you will stay tuned and that you will find some ideas you can use in your own classroom.

Dan

Settling Time

2009-08-14T21:22:00.000-07:00

Settling time is a time where there is a break from academics so that the concepts taught have a chance to "settle in." It's a time for the brain to reflect and organize what has just been taught. Students need to get small chunks of information, and then given a "settling time" for that information to be processed.

The author points out that 1st grade Japanese students, many who score better than some US public school students, actually spend less time in school than their US counterparts. While the Japanese students undergo intensive instruction, they have twice as many recesses and have shorter school days for their youngest students. More time is allowed for peer play at home, socialization, and other activities (such as music lessons). Time well spent.

In one of our trainings the instructor said that 7 minutes is typically the amount of time that people are able to focus intently on a given thing before they need a bit of a break or change.

I've been using the 7 minutes idea in my classroom during the last few months of the school year. I now try to deliver my lessons in 7 minutes segments. I don't give directions for longer than 7 minutes without some sort of break. I try to move things along so that my instructional time is shorter - then take a few questions and if clarification or more instruction is needed, I go from there. The kids had been very talkative most of the time bug since I've been using the "7 minutes" the work productivity has gone way up. Here's the approach I use: I have a timer on my computer and I project the image on an overhead screen. I tell the kids that for 7 minutes there is to be no talking and no questions (unless of course they need information to continue working). After the 7 minutes, I give them 3 minutes of a more causal work time. They can take at least one min to stretch, relax (especially helpful if we are drawing or coloring) shake loose their tired hands, and talk casually to people at their tables. They can share work and ask questions at this time too. They are to keep working but it's not as intense as is the 7 minutes. If after 7 minutes of instruction time, I encourage students to discuss what they just heard from me. During individual work time, I allow for quiet talking and sharing of work and ideas.This seems to be working. I have fewer management problems using this approach. The kids seem to like the timer as they know they will get a break and they know when it's coming.

Timers I use:

Online Timer

One to download (I mainly use this one - it's the same timer used by the instructor in one of our school trainings. (direct download here: screentimerpc.zip )

Reflections on the importance of PLAY

2009-08-14T21:20:00.000-07:00

There are many aspects about play that make it valuable to the learner. With play, there is a casual and relaxing element to it. It's a fun way to "let it out" and freely explore ideas with no pressure to perform. In playful activities, there is a safety net. We can experiment and mistakes are not that important. Mistakes teach us the wrong way something is done and allows us to learn through experience. Play allows us to be free in our expressiveness in non-threatening ways. It's a natural way that children begin to learn social skills and conflict resolution. It is especially good for emotional development.

I ran a play-centered kindergarten for 8 years. The core philosophy was that children at that age learn best through play. I still see great value in play at all age levels. Like many teachers, I'm under some pressure to meet State standards. As a professional, I need to find the balance to meet my employer's expectations, while at the same time, making sure I meet the collective needs of my students.

I try to find many opportunities for play centered activities in my art class. Through the year, I have many sessions where I let the children "play" with the ideas they have been learning in class. When painting, I call it "free painting." Children are allowed to paint what they choose, mix colors, experiment with different painting tools (we've used cardboard, tooth brushes, q-tips, straws, and a few other objects as well for painting activities).
We also have "free draw" activities. It's a time where children can experiment with the drawing concepts they have been learning, create something on their own, or use one of the many step by step books I have in my room. At the end of the year I always set up a variety of centers (straw painting, marble painting, construction art, drawing, pastels, clay, and others) and children can choose which center they want to work at. It's always a favorite time with the kids and a time where I have the fewest behavior problems. It's messy, but fun. Throughout the year I also sing, tell jokes and try to allow for movement in my room (the room is small - about 1/3 the size of a normal classroom. My goal is meaningful learning in a fun way.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the importance of play.

Reflections on the kinesthetic arts

2009-08-14T21:16:00.000-07:00

I have just a few more entries to share on Jensen's book, Arts With The Brain In Mind. The final posts will cover reflections on the kinesthetic arts, the value of play, something Jensen refers to as "settling time," and thoughts on assessments in the arts.

Blogging is a good way to process one's thoughts or share ideas and experiences. For me, writing about Jensen's book has helped me think through some of his ideas. Last school year I took an online course using Jensen's book as our text. Most of what I've written comes after reflecting on the ideas Jensen presents in his book.

After I finish the next four entries, I'll begin to share some of the art projects I've used in my classroom. I hope to include a gallery of student work, lesson plans, resources, and ideas on how to tie in the lessons to the Washington State ELARS. See this link for my view on the State's learning goals and how that fits into my philosophy of art.

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The Kinesthetic Arts: Involving students in intricate and sometimes original movements as a means to activate the brain. Again, reflections from Jensen's excellent book:

Most of the brain is involved when students engage in highly complex and novel movements. The brain goes on alert, stays focused, is "on the lookout," and with many areas of the brain activated, students can handle multi-sensory input. Jensen points out that athletes that achieve excellence in sports are likely using close to 100% of the brain. When the body is involved in complex actions, multiple systems in the brain are activated. This brain activation does not operate this way with traditional seat work. Active learning, learning that involves multiple systems, leads to implicit learning. When students learn from experience, the learning runs deep. Such learning awakens a better understanding of concepts, many of which are stumbled upon accidentally.

While my main focus is on the visual arts, there is much to be said about the benefits of the kinesthetic arts. Participation in the kinesthetic arts stimulates implicit learning. Implicit learning, or hands-on learning is more effective than explicit text-based learning because it involves more area of the brain in the learning experience. It's active learning and shows greater effects than explicit learning. I've explained to my principal that in my art class, many things are taught, more is caught. Implicit learning is caught learning - learning by experience, trial and error, experimentation, and asking the "what if?" questions.

To explore these ideas further see the following links:
Excerpt from the kinesthetic arts chapter of Jensen's book.

Minds in Motion: A Kinesthetic Approach to Teaching

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

Art With The Brain In Mind: benefits of an arts education.

2009-08-13T23:09:00.000-07:00

Many school districts throughout the Country are experiencing budget issues. When cuts are made, it's often those programs that are the least valued that are eliminated. Perhaps I'm wrong on this next point but it seems to me that the arts are most often the first programs targeted for cuts. Cutting the arts out of the school curriculum is like cutting one's hand to spite one's face. Research is clear that the arts are invaluable to a well-rounded education. Some research strongly suggests that students who participate in music and visual arts programs do better in other subject areas than do students who don't participate in an arts education. Additionally, many students who don't do well in other disciplines, shine in the arts. For many students, the visual arts can significantly contribute to their motivation, work ethic, and self-discipline.

We've all known students who might not otherwise have a strong commitment to school and learning but, are motivated when it comes to the arts. Often that motivation can encourage students to stay in school, and even to excel as they develop a strong desire to learn and participate in the arts. According to Jensen, students who might normally drop out of school, will stay in school rather than drop out providing there is an attractive arts program available to them.

I have some art students who don't always do so well in their regular classroom. They either have academic struggles or issues with peer relations. Many of these students seem to excel in visual arts. It's not that they are gifted, it's that they seem to really enjoy the process of creating. I have observed many "problem" students work quietly and focus on the task. Others can be off task around them, but they stay focused. It's like they are captured by the art activity. A couple of my former students were known for having behavior problems in their regular classroom. But when they come to the art room, it's like they change into a new student. They are focused, creative, and have a positive attitude toward their classwork. Often they will bring in art work that they created on their own at home.

To explore these ideas further check out the following links. Also, your thoughts and comments are always appreciated.

Arts in Education
Americans For The Arts
Learning Through The Arts
Teaching Basics Through The Arts by Mona Brookes

A quick thought on mind mapping. More thoughts on Jensen's book.

2009-08-12T22:40:00.000-07:00

When Jensen talks about the visual arts, he speaks about the "doing" of art in a continuous way. Unfortunately, for the most part, I am the only formal art the students get. I suspect this is true in many schools where there is an art specialist.

I only see students once every six days. But as I read Jensen's book, I began to recognize that regular classroom teachers often do a visual art activity but often don't consider such activities "art." For example, the use of mind maps is standard in our building. And teacher's often have students do illustrations with reports (like in science experiments) or other writing assignments. I've noticed that many of the mind maps are very detailed and great visual representations of their ideas. What I'd like to suggest is that classroom teachers often do much more in the way of visual arts (visual representations) than they realize. Perhaps Jensen is really on to something with respect to mind maps. They can be quite detailed, are often color coded, and are visual representations of thoughts and ideas. The parts of the brain that are engaged in the creation of a mind map are those same areas that are ignited during other visual art activities.

Something to think about. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

More thoughts on Jensen's book. Doodling

2009-08-12T22:24:00.000-07:00

I've always been a doodler. When attending meetings, or as a student in school, I doodled in most classes. In his book, Arts With The Brain In Mind, Jensen suggests allowing students to doodle during class. More than that, he seems to be suggesting that teachers ought to encourage doodling, illustrating, and mind-mapping during class as a way to better reflect on the student's learning. I think this is a good idea.

I think doodling can help in a couple of ways. Doodling is one way to give a visual representation of what is being learned. But more importantly, drawing/doodling engages our brains - and wakes them up. Rather than distract us from learning, it may serve to help us better concentrate on what's being taught. Doodling can not only help visual learners keep focus, but it can help kinesthetic learners too. It's not so much the visual aspect that's at play here, but the fact that of being engaged in a physical activity that helps students focus and concentrate.

I particularly like this doodling idea of Jensen's because as a visual learner, I've always used symbols and drawings to help me in my learning. I've even developed my own codes in musical notation that remind me of certain guitar licks or musical inflections when I'm learning a song. If I can create a visual of something, I can usually remember the thing that it represents.

The brain is an interesting and marvelous thing. I suppose some will be a bit tentative in allowing students to doodle during lessons. But it's something to consider. Often, students get lost in day dreams. When that happens, we have lost them - they are "someplace else." But with doodling, the brain is engaged, alert, and receptive. Just the very thing we want in our students when we're teaching.

Your thoughts are most welcome.

The Art of Music-more thoughts on Jensen's Arts with the Brain in Mind. Part II

2009-07-23T19:18:00.000-07:00

Engaging in musical activities, either through the playing of an instrument or simply listening to music, can help in the development of areas of the brain that affect our moods, motivation, and in general, the way we relate to the world. Music can help motivate us, lift our spirits, help us relax, and increase our appreciation of the beauty in the world. Through music making we reflect and ponder ideas, become creative in our thinking, and invent new ideas.

Studies show that music can have therapeutic benefits. It improves awareness of our emotions and helps us to manage different emotional states. Music can help us get in touch with our inner feelings, increasing our self-awareness. Self-awareness can help us as we cope with a wide range of emotional situations. We need to learn to recognize our own emotions and be able to manage them effectively. This in turn helps us to recognize and appreciate the emotions of others and to effectively manage our interpersonal relationships. Music instruction enhances our emotional intelligences and help spark the neurological connections that affect our emotional intelligence growth.

Another benefit of music instruction, indicated by another study cited by Jensen, is that social skills can be enhanced through musical instruction. The development of social skills is critical to school age children and musical instruction can help in this important development. It has been shown that background music can increase positive peer interactions among students. It can help students relax and that in turn helps students be more successful in their social interactions. Positive social interactions can lead to a host of other positive benefits. The development of our emotional and social skills are an important part of our everyday lives. And music has a positive affect towards the development of those skills.

Your thoughts on these comments are most welcome.

The Art of Music-more thoughts on Jensen's Arts with the Brain in Mind.

2009-07-21T17:39:00.000-07:00

Even thought this blog will mainly focus on the visual arts, I want to talk a little on the importance of music education and its inclusion in every child's education experience. Music education has a proven track record in helping to develop the maturing brain. Children should be given consistent and frequent opportunities to explore music through listening, singing and individual instrument lessons.

Music education and training offer great benefits to an individual's intellectual development. Yet it's a fact that is easy to overlook. The US education system seems to ignore past and current research regarding the benefits of a well-rounded education in the musical arts. Perhaps the fact that its importance is overlooked or downplayed is because the study in the the arts take a long while to reap rewards. A talented musician can spend years at study before the fruits of his/her labor is realized.

Much like language learning, music learning has developmental periods. Like the learning of language, these periods arrive very early in a child's life. That is not to say that people can't benefit from musical instruction later in life, but the fact is that the earlier children are taught music, the better. These developmental periods are more like temporary open windows which suggests that early music education is critical for a child to reach his or her full potential.

In his book, Arts with the Brain in mind, Eric Jensen suggests that one can begin to "play" a music instrument even before the age of 5. This is because before the age of 5 there exists a critical period for somasensory development (via musical instruction). Clearly, the home plays a significant role in a child's musical education. If by age three children are ready for simple keyboard practice, at least having musical instruments in the home will invite exploration and experimentation (through play) and prepare the child for eventual formal lessons.

With regard to music lessons, Jensen's suggests, "The sooner the better." I have two young grandchildren and they are 2 and 4 years old. When they come to visit my wife and me, I make available musical instruments for them to strum and bang on. In their home there are several instruments as well. I began playing piano as an elementary student. I also played clarinet throughout my school experience and today play guitar and other stringed instruments. Of all the musicians I've met in my life, the ones that are the most proficient are those that began playing at a very young age.

Jensen points out studies that show 9-year-olds have the ability to hear and comprehend music even when no music is playing. The brain itself is giving meaning to musical ideas and sounds and forming musical compositions. One author (on an Internet article on audiation) says that this skill is analogous to thinking in a language.

What can art educators do with these facts about musical education? I'm a great believer in playing background music during art work time. Jensen has a book that lists nearly 1000 tunes to use in a variety of learning situations. Top Tunes for Teaching can be found on Amazon.com as well as other book stores.

Jensen suggests that background music should be predictable (but this maxim is different for creative expriences--see more next paragraph). He suggests jazz instrumentals from musicians like George Bensen and Kenny G. Environmental music such as a running river, rain, or the ocean surf, combined with soft musical accompaniment is recommended as well. Baroque music works well too and Jensen suggests it be in a major key, done with orchestras (as opposed to individual instruments), and the movements must be adagio or andante. Here again balance and predictability are the key to effective background music. Some good suggestions for background music include Bach's Branderburg concertos, Handel's Water Music, and Vivaldi Four Seasons.

I stumbled upon a website, http://www.kaganonline.com, where they sell CD's that are specific in creating particular moods. On the one hand, general background music should be predictable. But Jensen says later that for creative stimulation, the musical type differs from the predictable kind.

Gary Lamb of http://www.garylamb.com/ has a collection of CDs that he's authored (which he sells at KeaganOnline). They are tailored for specific learning situations. His Music for the Mind series is for classroom use and I just bought two of them in that series (for creative stimulation). A third one I bought, Twelve Promises, falls into the category Jensen suggests on page 27 of his book. It's a jazz album with piano, guitar, and violin. Although I've used background music before, I've not picked specific music for a specific learning purpose. I've usually just played classical albums (lots of Motzart). I'm excited to try these out and see how the children respond.

I ran across a link just the other day on the benefits of integrating the musical and visual arts. I'm exploring this idea further and when I have something good to share, I will write more on that idea. If you have any thoughts or ideas on what I've said here, I would love to hear them.

Thoughts on ARTS WITH THE BRAIN IN MIND

2009-07-15T12:48:00.000-07:00

Recently I finished an online class using Eric Jensen's book, Arts With the Brain in Mind, as the text. The next series of blogs will focus on things learned from the reading of this book and offer up some of my thoughts and attitudes towards the arts in general. I will briefly look at some of the important research information that I have discovered, share insights gained, and encourage anyone reading this blog to buy this book and read it for yourselves. After you finish it, hand it over to your principal to read it. That's what I did. I'll let you know if she read it and if something positive comes from her reading of the book.

As those in the arts know only too well, when there are budget cuts to be made, the arts are often the first to suffer. This is often the case even though it's a fact that there are many benefits to individuals that engage in the arts.

The greatest benefit we can get from the arts is the ability to connect to an inner part of ourselves. Through the arts, we can express that inner part of ourselves in a way that no other discipline can bring out. For me, the guitar has been a life-long friend. I love it's sweet tones and as I play and listen to its sounds I realize, "Hey, I'm doing that!" But it's more than that; it's a way for me to express something that words cannot say.

The arts give us all a pathway to explore our inner selves and to exercise our creativity. This is true of all the art forms. The visual arts has taught me a lot about myself. Ten years ago, I was asked to develop an art program for our school (because I was thought to the the creative/artsy one). I began to discover a part of my self that I didn't realize was there. I discovered an artist within. And for the past ten years I've studied drawing techniques and in the past two years explored pottery and painting. It's been a ten year love affair.

Perhaps the best way to explain how I feel toward art was expressed by one of my 5th grade students. She wrote the following on a paper towel (I guess she couldn't find any paper). I still have it today.

On one side are a bunch of dots arranged to spell - something. But she couldn't read it after she finished, so wrote in parentheses (iT sed to mr.t) Below that she writes "Art is cool."

The other side contains what I consider a treasure:

(I will spell it the way she wrote it)

Art is fun.
Art is cool.
Are is on the populer list.
Art is a good thing to do when you a(re) mad.
Art is enteresting. (interesting)
Art can tell whut you are feelings in side.
Art can be sad sum times.

The research clearly shows that engaging in the arts helps develop the brain. More on this later. In addition to developing the brain, art can help develop the whole person. When we engage in the arts, personal expression becomes part of our daily experience. We all want to find out "who we are" and the arts can help us make important connections both to ourselves, and the world.

I have personally benefited from a lifetime of the arts. I've been an active musician all my life. I took piano lessons as a child, played clarinet all my life and took up the guitar when I was 17. I'm mostly self-taught. I've been in many bands, given and taken guitar lessons and still study and learn. There's always something new to learn about guitar playing specifically and music in general. The same has become true of the visual arts. The more I learn, the more I want to know. Drawing gives me a great deal of pleasure and is perhaps my favorite visual art expression. When I share my knowledge with my students, I often hear "ohhs" and "ahhhs" as something clicks with them. I try to bring them to discover that they can draw too.

I've seen some of the most academic challenged students flourish in my art class. They are free to express themselves in non-critical ways. Some students excel in math, others in science, still others in sports or writing. But everyone can be successful, at some level, in the visual arts. Whether painting or drawing or creating with clay, we can all experience art and enjoy it no matter our level of skill. And as we experience the joy of creating, experimenting, and expressing through the arts, we learn and grow and develop our character. The arts truly can bring us benefits that stay with us for a lifetime.

Drawing with Mark Kistler

2009-07-14T17:35:00.000-07:00

Mark Kistler's Draw Squad has been an extremely valuable resource to me. Especially for someone like myself, one with no formal art training, Kistler's ideas and explanations can take you from a unskilled drawer to a successful drawer in a few months. His ideas are simple but most of all, they are fun. I've grown to love cartooning and have found that my students will do cartoon drawings without fear. This is because in cartooning, there are no set rules on where things go. The eyes can bulge out of the top of the head. The arms can be any length and features exaggerated. In my view, this is a great way to teach students three-dimensional drawing techniques and prepare them for more advanced drawing experiences in the future.

When I first started using Kistler's ideas, he had 10 Key Words listed in his book. They have now been reduced to seven, with shading and shadows combined. Forshortening: Distorting objects or parts of an object to create the illusion that one edge is actually closer to your eye.

Shading (and shadows) Adding darkness to a surface that is opposite an imaginary light source adds depth to your drawing. Originally there was "shadows" as a separate category which covered the cast shadow, hover shadow and overhang shadow.

Surface: Drawing objects or parts of an object lower on the surface of the paper makes them appear closer (with exception of objects in space i.e. birds, clouds).

Size: Generally, objects drawn larger will look closer, except when overlapping.

Contour Lines: Lines wrapped around the contour of a round object adds volume and shape to the object.

Overlapping: Objects drawn in front of others will make the front
objects appear closer.

Density: Images drawn darker, and with more detail, will appear closer than images drawn lighter and with less detail. This adds "atmosphere" to the drawing.

Here are a few samples of my students' work. I'm working on a website where I hope to include many more examples of student art work. Stay tuned:

And here are a few of mine. I love to draw with the kids.

For more information see:
Mark Kistler dot Com
Draw Squad dot Com
Mark Kistler's Art Gallery
Draw3d.com

Drawing with Mona Brookes

2009-07-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

I was first introduced to Mona Brookes' Drawing With Children a few years before becoming the art teacher. Upon reviewing the book, I was impressed with the results Mona Brookes' methods achieved and looked for ways to teach her ideas in my classroom (I was teaching a multi-age 2/3 classroom at this time). But it wasn't until I began teaching as the art specialist that I was able to fully implement her ideas.

I have used the "Monart" approach with my 2nd and 3rd graders for the past ten years. The ideas in the book are very easy to impliment. The lessons are step by step and well organized. In the beginning of using Brookes' approach, I followed the book exactly. These days I have to cut corners as I have only 39 meetings a year with each classroom and there are 6 days in between teaching sessions. I don't view it as advanced drawing instruction but it certainly served me well as an introduction to the art of drawing.

The Monart method identifies five basic elements of shape (see chart on the left). All drawings can be reduced to one or all of these five shape families. It should be noted that the method in the book concentrates on basic lines and shapes but that some drawings the children will produce contain more advanced line and shape. Check out the following links for some examples of student work.

More information can be found at http://www.monart.com/. Also of interest is http://www.indydrawingschool.com/.

Here are a few samples of my student's art work from lessons contained in Drawing With Children.

Drawing with Ed Emberly

2009-07-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share a bit of how I use Ed Emberley's drawing alphabet in my classroom. I needed to find an easy way to teaching drawing ideas to first graders. I actually use Emberly's ideas with all grades (to some extent) but my main focus is with K-1.

I believe an important part of any drawing experience should include plenty of time where children are left alone to draw in their own way. I also think it's important to give children the tools they need to grow and change.

Very young children are learning about colors and shapes and Ed Emberley's drawing alphabet is an excellent resource for both teaching about shapes and teaching basic drawing skills. Children can be taught to look for different shapes in their world. And they can be taught to think about what shapes they see in the different things they want to draw.

Emberley's drawing alphabet consists of the lines and shapes in the chart on the left. From these simple shapes, simple drawings can be made.

Emberley's books show a step-by-step for each of his drawings. If you've never used his techniques before, I can tell you that in my experience, it's a hit with the kids. Most young children can draw simple shapes and lines and putting them together is easy for most. Older students who struggle with more advanced concepts can easily draw most of Emberley's characters.

I start introductory lessons by demonstrating the drawings using my document camera. At first I draw, then they copy. So for example I'll say, "Draw a triangle like this." "Now add a half circle and color them in like this." etc...

After completing a few of these drawing, the children catch on to how the steps work and they are ready to draw on their own. When I introduce more difficult drawings, I demonstrate those first and let the students work on their own. I personally draw many examples of drawings and make copies available for children to practice with. (I don't allow tracing, but copying what they see is encouraged.)

I have purchased several of Emberley's books and also made copies of selected step-by-step drawings. I make these available to the children. A usual lesson will include a time where children use the handouts to draw images of their choosing and then add other ideas and details to their drawings. Along with Emberley's books, I have found several other books that fit well into his drawing alphabet approach.

Here are some student samples (various grade levels). One of the biggest hits of Emberley's book collection is the Halloween books. Even the 5th graders like drawing the Ed Emberley way and this is especially true at Halloween.

Please feel free to leave your comments and questions (or post question on the discussion list). I hope you find something you can use in your room. And if you have ideas to share, I'd love to hear from you. Dan

Ed Emberley's Drawing Made Simple
Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Halloween
Ed Emberley's Big Orange Drawing Book

Philosophy of Art: A Metamorphisis (of sorts)

2009-06-26T11:02:00.000-07:00

<---Two of my kindergarten students enjoying a bit of marble painting. Both are grown now. Amy is in college and Joel is married and raising a family.

Teaching has been a great journey for me. It's been a journey of learning, challenges, frustrations, celebrations, and much joy. My journey began in 1989 in an elementary school in a small town in Washington State. (BTW, I'm still there today) I was hired to teach kindergarten in a school of about 500 students. I was to develop a "play centered" kindergarten and as there was no official district adopted curriculum, I had to develop most everything from scratch. I think I'm good at finding activities that are both meaningful and fun. Nearly everything I did was centered around play. The philosophy underlying each activity was rooted in the development of the whole child. Remember the terms Developmentally Appropriate Activities? Yeah, that was our battle cry.

A variety of centers could be found in my kindergarten room: The writing center; four-sided painting easel; water/sand table, block play, drama; reading center; listening center; etc. You name it, I probably had it in my classroom. I suppose you could say that my philosophy of art began to really develop while teaching kindergarten. As a kindergarten teacher, I sought to provide a variety of experiences that were inviting and fun. Tucked inside the various activities were planned learning experience designed to introduce or reinforce skills necessary for more advanced learning. Learning through play was a huge theme of mine. And when I became the art teacher, that philosophy carried over into my new position.

As I said in my previous post, I don't have any formal art training. What I know about art, aside from my undergrad degree and the classes I've taken in the past ten years, has been self-taught. I've read many books, and have learned and practiced many art skills and techniques over the past ten years. I'm in constant learning mode and I love it. This love of learning has served me well. I love trying new things and then teaching them to my students. Yet my focus was not so much on a set of skills, but was on meaningful art experiences. I believed then, as I do now, that you can't avoid learning something meaningful when doing art. My approach was a bit backward from the way the administration wanted me to do it. But it's the way my brain processed things at that time and it made the most sense to me: Find good projects that would be engaging and the learning would follow.

Teaching on a cart was a bit limiting. Several rooms were in portables and had no water. Consequently, I had to find activities that I could haul around on a cart, and be able to get from class to class with just minutes in between. I tried just about everything, including painting. I hauled buckets of water to the portables, and set up my own sinks. The easiest activities were those that didn't require water for the activity or cleanup.

Drawing materials are among the easiest things to haul around in my opinion. In the beginning years, we did a lot of drawing. I developed a sequential drawing program based on Ed Emberly's drawing alphabet - Squiggles Dots and Lines (for K-1); Monart's Drawing With Children (for 2-3) and Mark Kistler's excellent Draw Squad (for 4-5). In the beginning we did a lot with drawing.

I also did a lot with music (singing folk songs) and storytelling. I play the guitar and would have periods throughout the year where I would tell folk tales and teach songs to the different grade levels. For the upper grades, we'd learn about performance skills and students would pick short tales to learn and tell to the class. Middle grades would write stories and then illustrate them (based on the procedures found in Lynn Rubright's Beyond the Beanstalk - Interdisciplinary Learning Through Storytelling). In the younger grades the focus was on introducing and learning of songs and stories. I'll share more on storytelling in subsequent blogs.

There is much more I could share about those five years on a cart, but I'll leave it at this for now. Our school underwent a remodel and for the past five years, I've had a room of my own (with a kiln room attached). It's smaller than a regular classroom but it's a room!

As the State of Washington began to focus more on outcomes, that focus eventually moved its way into the arts. I began hearing the question, "What's your target?" Even teachers were asking what my learning goals were for different projects. But I was still operating from the "meaningful art projects first, skills will follow" way of thinking. I wonder if I'm alone in thinking this way? At any rate, the pressure to conform continued and for a few years. I resisted the change manly because it isn't the way I thought about art at that time.

Then one day a light came on in my head. My principal has been very generous, allowing me to make small steps as an art educator. And one day while she and I were having a conversation, something she said to me "lit the light." I wish I could remember what she said exactly. We were discussing a project I was doing with the students and she was offering thoughts on what was being learned. Something she said struck a chord and almost immediately I began looking at art ideas in a different way. Even though it went against the way I had thought in the past, I began to see the possibilities of what could be specifically taught in any give art project/activity. One of the buzz words at that time (and probably still today) is "intentional teaching." I suppose this was the beginning of my intentional teaching approach to art.

When I see an art idea, I still first judge it as to whether I like it or not, think it will be engaging and meaningful, and then ideas begin to pop in my head on what skills/concepts can be addressed through this art activity. This is a different way of thinking for me. If I'm attracted to an art idea, I begin to look at the various ways it can be used to address the skills outlined in the Washington State grade level expectations (GLE's). The difference for me now is simply this: I choose art activities that will address certain skills or concepts in an organized way. But the art activities (for the most part) must first pass the first filter: Does this activity look like something I'd like to do? If yes, I'll find a place for it. In the past, I'd do that activity and let the chips (skills/concepts) fall where they may.

I hope this makes sense to anyone reading it. Part of the reason for this blog is for me to process my thoughts and sometimes I have a lot to say. Thanks for reading. ;) You're comments would be most welcome!

My Journey Into Art

2009-06-23T22:27:00.001-07:00

I'm an art teacher. Some days I have to pinch myself to be sure it's not all a dream. Once you read my story you'll see what I mean. I was 34, married and had two children when I lost my job with AT&T due to massive layoffs. I decided to fulfill a lifelong dream and become a teacher. I chose to major in math. Why I chose math I don't really know because math and I didn't add up. ;) So I changed my major and decided to get my degree in elementary education. I was told to get my kindergarten endorsement too as it would help get me interviews.

Kindergarten? You've got to be kidding! That idea was the furthest thing from my mind. But my first job as a teacher was teaching kindergarten. I taught that grade level for 8 years. After that I taught a multi-age class for 2 years and was scheduled to teach a 1st grade class the following year. Then came the opportunity that changed my professional life.

I'm being honest when I say that teaching art was even further from my mind than was teaching kindergarten. But our district had grown and all three elementary schools had to add specialist to cover the increasing need for teacher planning time. Our school staff had a meeting and ideas for the fourth building specialists were discussed. In the end, my building decided on a fine arts program (over math or science enrichment) and my name was suggested to develop it.

Oddly enough, I had to think about a week before accepting the job offer. I would no longer have a classroom of my own as I would be teaching off a cart. That idea didn't appeal to me. But after encouragement from others, I accepted.

In the beginning, I could pretty much do whatever I wanted. My program was known as Fine Arts and under that rubric I included many activities such as drawing, painting, poetry, creative story writing, story telling, puppetry, and music (sing*a*long songs).

After 5 years on the cart our building underwent a major rebuild (1/2 the building was torn down and completely rebuilt while the other half gutted and remodeled. As a result, I got a classroom of my very own!

Within the first two years of having my own classroom, the pressure of Washington State Standards began to show its face. I'll talk more about my journey with the Standards later. Slowly at first, I began teaching more and more just in the visual arts discipline.

When I first began teaching art at the elementary level, I began with just my basic education degree (I also have a Master's Degree). I have no formal art training and do not hold a special endorsement in art. As I said earlier, I never intended to teach art. However, in the past ten years I have taken many art related courses and have immersed myself in learning about art. The more I learn, the more I fall in love with teaching art. I just finished a course based on Eric Jensen's excellent book Arts With The Brain In Mind. I'll share more about this class in upcoming posts.

This year marked my tenth year as an art teacher. There is nothing like it. I am confident you will enjoy seeing the art my students have produced and I hope you will appreciate my approach to teaching art. I have much to share and hope you will find some of the lesson plans useful in your classrooms.

I'm a very lucky man. I have a family I love, two adorable granddaughters, and a job that I love to go to each and every day. I love to paint, draw, and do all sorts of crazy art projects. I am fortunate that I have a kiln in my room and lots of materials for clay projects. Each day is an adventure and I am always amazed at the beautiful creations my students produce. I hope you'll stay tuned as I share my experiences with all of you.

Dan

Art Makes Kids Smart

2009-06-22T22:08:00.000-07:00

I chose the title of this blog after reading the book Arts With The Brain In Mind by Eric Jensen. Jensen's thesis is that The Arts should be part of the core curriculum of public education. Jensen bases his thesis on what we know from brain research and learning theory. It's an excellent book and well worth reading. This summer I'm reading another of Jensen's books, Teaching With The Brain In Mind and Top Tunes for Teaching: 977 Song Titles & Practical Tools for Choosing the Right Music Every Time. I'll share more on the ideas in these books in the coming months.

The main purpose of this blog is to share my ideas with other art teachers and in turn, develop a network where ideas can be shared and questions addressed. I also want to communicate to parents and other interested visitors to this blog the enormous importance the arts play on the development of the child.

I teach in Washington State and part of the big change I am facing as an art educator includes identifying the specific learning goals my art lessons are designed to address. Wow, that sounds so rigid. I thought art was all about individual expression and exploration and fun! What's all this about learning goals?

The introduction of the Washington State "EALRS" (Essential Acedemic Learning Requirements) has been a real challenge for me. It's been very frustrating and for a while it made me very angry. I grew tired of the question: "What's the learning target for this lesson?" I wanted to pour paint on the person's head just for asking the question. I still hate the question. I want the art work admired and enjoyed for what it is: a beautiful creation by a child expressing outward somthing from within. (If an art teacher asks that same question, I am delighted to answer as I know they will have ideas to share too! It's only when that is asked by people hung up on the skills components that I am truly bothered.)

This is enough for now. Please give me feedback as I'd really like to hear from you. I have a lot to share if all goes they way I am planning. This blog is my summertime project (along with a huge list of honey do's) ;)