Right On!

Wednesday night I was looking through a Better Homes and Gardens Magazine that made its way into my mailbox and this is what I found...

AWESOME!

Thank you Stampin'Up for this great ad!

Why is art so awesome....

After the usual this is how to enter the art room, how to work in the art room, how to clean up the art room speech, I had the kids do an assignment that was going to show them why I think art is SO AWESOME.  I handed out their folders and had them follow 5 directions.

1. Draw 4 straight lines from one side to the other (they could be vertical, horizontal, diagonal or a mix).
2. Draw 5 circles, any size, anywhere.
3. Draw 2 lines that start on an edge, curve and end somewhere in the middle.  
4. Color a minimum of 3 circles and 6 areas.
5. Demonstrate your craftsmanship.

They worked on these drawings for the 2nd half of class and with about 10 minutes left we started to "grade" them.
 We looked at the first one and checked for all 5 requirements.

We gave it an A+ for having all the requirements.  

We then looked at the next project to "grade" it.

It also met the requirements for an A+ but looked totally different.

After repeating this "grading" process several times, I asked the kids if they could guess how this assignment would show them "why art is so awesome."

Every class got it right... they figured out that art is awesome because...

"we each came up with our own solution to the problem"

"nobody's was wrong, as long as they followed directions and worked hard."

"we each could be creative"

"we got to use our ideas and we had choices." 

ART IS SO AWESOME!

* original idea came from kinderart.com*

I LOVE LINES

The start of the year always means an elements and principles of art review for my 6th graders.  Rather than having days of lectures, I decided they would do a small art project for each one.  I have 12 sections (3 classes a day for 4 days) of my 6th graders.  For my sanity I try to keep them working on the same (or very similar things).  For our review of lines we are doing a different line project for each day... check out my examples below.  

"Contour Line Mapping"... done art class style

"Art with Mr. E's" line design

Non-Figurative Line drawing with lines and colors

Our "Line Quilts"

Each project takes about one class period to finish.  They are not complicated so it also makes for a great review of CRAFTSMANSHIP.  At the end I am going to display them all together.

First Day Projects

I love to start the kids off with a project, instead of the rules.  (I think they listen better when they get a rule break as the first few days are FILLED with rules)

5th grade started by create a self portrait for our "class portrait wall."  (Thank you Smart Art Class for sharing.)  On the back of their notecard they tell me a little about themselves.  It makes me giggle to read things like, "my brother likes video games and my mom likes lottery tickets."  It breaks my heart to read things like, "my grandma uses drugs." It is amazing what you learn from watching them draw, having them write and asking them about their lives.

 

6th grade started by creating their art folder covers.  We discussed graffiti lettering and the difference between art and vandalism.  (hopefully it helps curb any "bathroom drawing")  They loved it... and thought I was "cool" because I liked this style of lettering!

WARNING... the following is a divergent thought.  

For my first few years of blog following I was concerned about my teaching when looking at my students artwork.  I thought that all these teachers were getting these amazing projects from EVERY kid they taught. Only once I started blogging did it dawn on me that  they only showed the really good ones.  So with truth in advertising in mind, here are two more examples of projects that I have had turned in...

Target Colored Pencils...

If you recall, last year Target had up for a while this (see photo) and I knew I just had to have it.  Well, long story short it wasn't built very sturdy and they didn't want to give it away as it was a fall hazard.  Lucky for me I only wanted to colored slats... and lucky for me they could give those away.  This is what part of them became...

except when they were being hauled away by my "helper"

the rest are stored in my room... awaiting the next burst of creativity in regards to their use.  Thank you again Target!

Speaking of my helpers... you gotta love it when your kids want to come to school and help. 

 (not sure if it is really help when you have to clean up after them but at least I got some stuff done.)

One last thing I added this year was my "Gallery Wall."  It is the same wall that has always been outside of my room.  I just painted it (too many chalk projects left their marks) and added the lettering above it.  Hope the kids love it as much as I do!

August....

I am back up at school with kiddo's coming on Thursday.  I have the normal "constant stomach ache" that comes until they walk in the door.  I feel it even more this year and I don't know why.  For some reason I feel like I have 100+ things left to do and no time left to do it...

I did spend some time on school stuff this summer.  My pencil leads are getting laminated so they will have to wait until tomorrow.  But I wanted to share my planner.  I got this idea of a different blog (Wise & Witty Teacher).  It is a post-it note planner.  I am hoping it really works for me.

I bought a 3 ring binder and note book.  I have tabs for each days classes, so I can keep my grades in there.  I also have a tab for my lesson plans.  

I have the notebook tabbed by each month.  

On each month I put a blank calendar (I used MS Publisher's Basic Calendar)

and behind that is every class, broke down by week.  

Now if a lesson runs long or short, I just move the sticky note.  

I know this isn't much of a post but I promise more will come.  I hope you all had a great summer and are rejuvenated and ready to "Rock."  Here is a quick picture of my kiddo's from the 4th... yes this is how 99% of their group pictures turn out.