Community

Today my kiddos are working on two totally different projects that both deal with community.  My 5th graders are making "Houses for Haiti."  These are small houses that you make and sell.  The profits then help rebuild Haiti.  They are having fun and enjoy the idea of impacting the world's "community."

Meanwhile my 6th graders are printing the house we started carving last week.  They must print one copy for themself and then print one as part of our "community."  We are also creating a large artwork of their images.

I hope they will appreciate all the "communities" they belong to... our classroom, our school, our town, our state, our country and finally our world. 

Some of my Favorites

I have many things I love about being an art teacher... Today I thought I would share some of my favorites about my classroom.

My desk area... filled with artwork from my students, our bottle fish, sammy the art snake and a fun bird decoy courtesy of my awesome janitor (who thought the bottle fish looked like turtle doves when they weren't painted).  I love it most when it is clean but that doesn't happen all that often.

My Dot walls... To start the year, each student made a dot drawing (after reading "the Dot" by Peter H. Reynolds).  I love the color and creativity.

My Smartboard... enough said.

My new table and storage racks... These were both built just for me.  The storage racks were built with my dad's help for my last room and can store a TON of projects.  My big table was built by a good friend Mitch.  I love that is is strong, tall and moveable.

Another great reason to love art...

Last week I gained a new student who speaks NO English.  She is catching on but many classes are a struggle.  However, she is excelling in art.  Last week her still life painting was great and today she is rocking the Picasso portrait.  I love that she can have such success in this class, even with the language barrier. 

It is proof of the power of art to communicate!

Lesson Plans 3-14

This year I have a ton of fun posting my kids finished projects to artsonia.com but I wonder if parents really know what their kids are learning.  Starting today, I am going to challenge myself to always post my lessons to this blog...

5th grade:  Picasso "Paint" Portraits
    Students will examine the portrait work of Pablo Picasso to learn how the cubists would draw multiple views of the same object.  They will identify the profile and frontal views Picasso used in his portraits.  We will then practice using the Paint program to create our own "graphic design Picasso Portraits."  Students will be required to create a portrait that reflects the work of Pablo Picasso and shows mulitple views of their face.

6th grade: Line Drawings of Houses as Prints
   Students will explore printmaking.  They will be create a line drawing of a house of their choice.  They will transfer these to safety cut and carve away the "pencil lines."  We will then complete the process of printmaking with each student printing an edition of 3 house drawings.  They will also print once as part of our community project, creating a representation of our "town."

A New Blessing this Year

This year is the first year that I have had EVERY student in my room.  This includes our school's autism kids.  They come once a week with a para and they work so hard.  They have been a true blessing to me.  Their views of life help me see outside of myself.  

Just today, I was talking to Zac when he suddenly stopped, looked at my 8 mo. pregnant belly and said "What is wrong with your tummy?"  I told him a baby was in there and he didn't look like he liked that idea.  He finally said, "Oh, it is just really fat." 

I just have to share the awesome portraits they just finished. They drew themselves as cartoon characters and did great!