Happy New Year

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

  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"

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

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!"

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!

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.

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.