Tree of giving thanks

In those days right before Thanksgiving when students were all excited for their vacation I decided to have them help me decorate a bulletin board that I had just taken down. I had them draw their hands first and then put their name on the thumb. They had to come up with four things they were thankful for to put into each of their fingers. They were allowed to color and decorate their hands any way they wanted to. I made the tree and branches from scrap construction paper and then had students choose where they wanted their hands placed. They were all very excited to see how it came out the next week they came to class and it looks great in my room!

2nd grade fall mono prints

Each year I teach a printmaking unit for all grade levels. The second grade works on monoprints. We discuss the history, materials, and processes of making prints. They used creypas to make the trees and then folded their paper and rubbed the back to transfer the threes onto the other side. They then used their fingers to paint the leaves and grass and folded again to print. Once the paintings were dry, they used marker, color pencil, and crayon to color in the sky and water.

Firing up my new kiln!!!

It's been almost a year since we moved into the new school. I had this empty kiln room for six months and then my kiln arrived! The vent was installed, the electricity set up, and clay delivered. It was time to start the first clay project. I decided to make "Pocket Pots" with the fourth graders. This was my first time teaching a clay project with 100 students. The pots made it through the bisque firing but I had to call an electrician in to redo the wiring because the kiln could not reach glaze temperatures. Once we get that fixed I will be moving on to clay projects with the third grade!

Enamel art with college students

I teach a class of college students about art methods at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. This semester we are focusing on high school methods. Students were given copper sheets, bench pins, and jewelry saws. After a demonstration they designed and cut their own pendents. During another class I showed them how to enamel the surface of their copper pendents.

Animal observation drawings with pastel

First graders are learning about animals growing from babies to adults in their classrooms right now. I just acquired an assortment of plastic animal figurines and thought they would be helpful for my observational drawing unit. Each first grader was allowed to blindly pull a figurine from my assortment.  We discussed the many parts that animals have and using the space to fill up the paper. Once we finished drawing, students were given pastels to add color to their work. We did this in one 45 minute class period.

First grade pastel pumpkins

After practicing blind contour drawings last week, students put their observational skills to use. I brought some pumpkins into class for them to draw and then apply pastel.

Classroom mural

I found this project idea on a blog somewhere. I'm going to tag the blogger as soon as I can find them. I had an assistant help me draw out the one of the designs and then I cut each one into 80 pieces. There were enough pieces for four classes. This was a great project to get work up on the walls for my schools open house.