3rd grade organic stacked shapes

This is a lesson I've seen a few times on various art blogs and thought it would make for a great first lesson. It's a relatively easy lesson to teach and the results are great. The concepts I introduced included organic vs. geometric shapes, 2-D and 3D, and how artists create a 3D illusion on a 2D surface by adding shadows, contrast, and line designs (specifically using the 5 basic types of lines-horizontal, vertical, diagonal, zigzag, and curvy, as a springboard for them to create their own designs).

Here's a few finished examples:

Conference day...at MOMA

I was very fortunate that for my school's Superintendent's conference day that the art teacher from within our district had organized a professional development workshop at the Museum of Modern Art. The workshop was geared for k-12 and focused on women in art. As part of this we looked at the photographs of Dorothea Lang, Helen Levitt, and the art of Kara Walker. It was nice to be able to sit down as a group and view and discuss the artwork, it's sort of like a special treat for art teachers to be able to do this. I haven't gone to a museum in a while and doing this was a nice reminder of how much I love talking about and seeing new art. There were two mini-activities that we did which I'll share with you. The first is called a 'whip-around' and the second is called a 'draw and speak'. They're by no means new techniques in art ed, but they both make for good warm-up activities for kids when viewing art (at all levels).

The 'whip-around', very simply, was when the workshop teacher asked us to take a minute and view the artwork and then say 1 word, the first word that came to our minds, when viewing it. Then we simply went around the room and shared our word. It was a good way to get a discussion started.

The 'draw & speak' was a bit more involved than the whip around. Basically you work in pairs with 1 person being the speaker, who views the artwork and then must describe it to their partner, the drawer, who, using those descriptions, cannot see what the actually artwork looks like, but draws what the speaker is saying. Now, for the first 2 minutes or so, the drawer can't ask questions. However, after the 2 minutes is up, the drawer can ask questions to help them clarify what they are drawing. After about 5 minutes or so, the drawer turns around and can view the work. What's great about it is that it forces you and your partner to communicate about the work in ways that they normally wouldn't. It also fosters collaboration, team work, and on the part of the drawer, allows them to not only render the descriptions, but make mental visualizations based on what the speaker is telling them. Then when they get to viewing the actual piece, they are already engaged in viewing it because of all the differences/similarities between what they thought and what is actually there!

Right now at the museum they have a great abstract expressionist exhibit and if you go on the site http://moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/abexny/ there are tons of interesting resources/videos about the ab. ex's including Jackson Pollock, Barnett Newman, and Franz Kline.

Here are some of the artists we discussed:

Dorothea Lang
Helen Levitt
Jeff Wall
Robert Frank
Cindy Sherman
Martha Rosler
Grant Woods


Oh, and I forgot to mention one of the best parts, the museum is closed to the public on Tuesdays so when you plan/have a guided tour that day its like having the museum all to yourself! :)



* Martha Rosler "Cleaning the Drapes' 1969-1972 (she also has a contemporary series based on the Iraqi War, if you're interested)

Happy Halloween,

I don't know how the weather is anywhere else in the country, but it's a beautiful day here for some trick-or-treating. Here is a Halloween favorite of mine:

I used to watch a video similar to this in my grade school music class every year for Halloween, only the one I used to watch had dancing skeletons, it was fantastic, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. Anyways all these years later I still remember it. Here's something similar:

Danse Macabre

Thanks everyone!

I received a blog award from Teacherssalaryinfo.com listing my blog as one of the best in the Northeast Region. Yay!! Thanks to everyone who thought my info was so noteworthy.

I also got a 'Versatile blogger' award from Kathy who writes two wonderfully creative blogs which are:

Cottage Garden Quilter
Gallery 2404


Here are 7 things about me:
1. I love dogs, which is why I have 3 of them!
2. Cupcakes are my absolute favorite dessert
3. My favorite season is fall.
4. My next big goal is to learn how to ride a motorcycle (yikes!)
5. I prefer tea over coffee
6. I'm Italian but I don't like any Italian desserts
7. I'm left handed :)

Here are 15 great blogs you really should see:

1. Art Project For Kids This site has an unending amount of interesting and useful art lesson ideas. And who I got my Frank Stella 2nd grade lesson idea from! :)
2. Ms. Picasso's Art Room I'm always inspired by the images she posts of her room and of all the wonderful lessons she does!
3. Art with Mr. E Phenomenally creative art lessons and inspiring bulletin board ideas!
4. Urban Sketchers A great blog of sketches done by artists all over the world. The epitome of global art sharing!
5. Tishalou A great blog, and I love the design of it!
6. Deep Space Sparkle A fantastic amount of artistic ideas.
7. Art For Small Hands Great lesson descriptions and ideas
8. Two Dresses Studio Awesome altered book art/collage-great place to find inspiration.
9. Eric Carle's Blog Who doesn't love Eric Carle?
10. I.N.K. (Interesting Nonfiction for Kids)
11. Kuntstraum I believe its in German but it still has great ideas!
12. Ms. Malones Art Room Cute blog and she does such great bulletin boards!
13. Keeping the Mistakes
14. Paint and Paper
15. Learning Parade



The conditions of this award are that all recipients must:


1. Thank and link back to the person that gave this award


2. Write 7 things about yourself


3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic


4. Contact the bloggers you’ve picked to let them know about the award

1st Graders Purple Crayons!

The students really liked this lesson. The librarian told me the other day that all the 'Harold' books had flown out the door after I had done the bulletin board. I was a really simple lesson to teach. It took 4 sessions. The first session we read the book 'Harold and the Purple Crayon' by Crockett Johnson and we practiced using our imagination to make objects out of cut pieces of construction paper. The students were not allowed to glue this first session, they could only play with the pieces, in order to help them come up with ideas. We then closed the first session by sharing some ideas they had come up with while experimenting. I posted all the ideas for all the class on a piece of 18x24" paper and posted it throughout the lesson. The second and third session the students worked on creating their images. I discussed the idea of details with them and why it is so important for artists to make sure their work has tons of it. They were allowed to use scissors to cut their pieces and as they worked, I went around helping and making sure they all had concrete ideas that they were working on (to make sure I didn't get any "I don't know's' when I asked the question What are you making?) The last session was spent adding details using pink, purple, and white oil pastels, crayons, and a silver marker. In addition to their finished piece we discussed why artists give titles to their work and I had them each create a title for their piece.

Here are some pictures from the lesson:

kinder Mondrian

This was a nice short first lesson of the year. It took 3 sessions. The first was used to lay down black 'lines' using glue-sticks. The second session was for painting, and during the last session the students used markers to 'touch-up areas that they didn't completely cover. I used paper that was 12" x 14" but next time I would like to make the paper larger, maybe 20x20 so that the students would have had 2 sessions of paintings. Overall they came out great, and it makes for a nice bulletin board!

Finally, some completed lessons!-First Frank Stella...

Here's the first:

2nd graders studied the art of Frank Stella, specifically, his protractor series. Students used protractors to create an overlapping collage (6 or more) and they could only place the protractor horizontally vertically. After that, they chose a 6 color scheme, in which no two colors could touch. I told them they had to become 'shape detectives' making sure that they found all the new shapes that had been created by the overlapping lines.
The concepts in the lesson were:

-Frank Stella
-Art does not always have to be recognizable objects, sometimes art can be about lines, shapes, and colors.
-Horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines
-Overlapping
-Color Scheme
-Protractor

This was a pretty intense lesson for them, with a lot of focus required to get all the coloring done neatly, but they did fantastic!!!!

Quick post-New site to check out

The site is called 'blabberize'. You upload images then add talking mouths to them. The mouths can say whatever you record. It's hysterical. AND, its a great tool to use in the elementary art classroom. You can add a bit of humor and bring images of artists 'to life', what better way to get your students into their learning. Alright, I'm going to stop right there for fear of sounding like an advertisement. (but I can't wait to try it out! :))

www.blabberize.com

Jean Francois Rouzier's Hyperreal Photography

This photography reminds me of a cross between an M.C. Escher print and the movie Inception.

This excerpt is from PhotoJoJo.com, a great site for photo-enthusiasts or photography teachers. I know I've posted a few things from them before, they're a good resource.






This excerpt describes Rouzier's photography:

"Mad man constructs faux reality by assembling deceivingly realistic structures that are maze-like when observed too closely.

Surprisingly, not Inception! Jean Francois Rauzier’s Hyperphotos are photographic reconstructions of real places often created from between 600-3,400 individual photos.

A bit like Hockney, Jean photographs a single place for one to two hours. He uses a telephoto lens to collect close-up shots of his scene.

The compilation is where his vision or dream, if you will, takes over and the thousands of photos translate into Babylones, Voyages Extraordinaries, and Cités Idéales. We can take a gander at what most of these French titles mean!

Looking at a single image will have you lost in its architecture for hours! (Kind of hoping we’ll find a Leo or Juno if we stare long enough.)"

The link to Rouzier's website (it's in French)
http://www.rauzier-hyperphoto.com/babylonsbabylones/

Getting Back to the Phantom Skill

Here's a link to an article posted in the NY Times that is part of a series by James McMullan on drawing. Each article in the series will contain a drawing lesson that connects to an art history reference with explanation. It's sounds like agood mini-lesson/exercise, but I've been so busy I haven't had time to do it. If you do, let me know what you think! :) Happy drawing!

NY Times-"Getting Back to the Phantom Skill"

Some New Photo's of my art room...a work in progress

Yes, I also did a jungle theme for my room this year, although, outside of my bulletin boards it doesn't look very jungle like. Some other themes I thought of for next year include, outer space, ('stellar students', 'out of this world artists', etc.) and an under the sea theme, and of course there's always a traditional 'artsy' theme that can be fallen back on. But anyways, I cant let myself think to much about next year when I've only completed the first week of this year!
Here are some pictures of my classroom bulletin boards, I only have two, but I'm working on getting some more in-class display space to hang student work and some art prints.

3D Street Art

I have an article I wanted to post from a few days ago. I find it a bit humorous that this would even be done, but you see for yourself. Also, on the topic of street art, on drawpaintandcut.blogspot.com there is a cool video that's been posted on Julien Beaver. Here are the links below:

Canada unveils new speedbump: optical illusion of a child:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100908/od_yblog_upshot/canada-unveils-new-speed-bump-optical-illusions-of-children

Julien Beaver video:
http://drawpaintandcut.blogspot.com/

A question regarding 'meet the teacher' nights...

Tomorrow is our open house. I'm nervous...Not because I don't like to meet my students parents or anything, just because I'm expecting a pretty large turnout from parents and I'd like to make their trip to the art room a purposeful one. I'm new to the school and don't have any artwork from previous years to show them, I only have completed examples of projects I've done, or some examples from students from previous schools I've worked in. I have a few ideas of things to show them and discuss, but I'm a bit antsy. What do all you art teachers out there do for meet the teacher nights in art?

2 websites of interest:

The first website is something you may have all heard of before. It's called 'Teacher Tube' and is similar to the idea of 'youtube' except its, drum roll please...for teachers! (How'd you guess?) Anyways, I find it to be an o.k. resource, every once in a while you hit a good video but I find it a bit to confusing and time consuming to search through the video descriptions. Just the same though, I thought I'd post it. You never know what's on there that might be useful.

The other site is more, what I like to call, 'art-teacher' friendly. It's called 'Teaching Photo's' and it has a bunch of bulletin board images that may come in handy when brainstorming ideas. The links are below:
I also added the teaching photo's website to my 'websites of interest' column for easy reference.

http://teachertube.com
http://www.teachingphotos.co.uk/main.php

A good Video about the value of hard work

'The Grasshopper and the Ants'

A GREAT site for resources!

While lesson planning yesterday, I was thinking to myself how nice it would be to find a website where you could type in some sort of keyword search for artworks and find what you needed to use as a resource in your lessons. I was looking for an artwork that demonstrated the use of different types of lines, and so, I googled 'lines in artwork' and I came across a website called 'artsconnected.org' and they have a link that is called 'the artists toolkit'. Not only did they have short child-friendly animations on some of the elements and principles of art, but they also had a link to the artsconnected site which is a database of resources where you can type in a keyword and scan through tons of hit of artwork examples that contain that topic. Ka-ching! I was so happy to stumble upon this site! So if you're ever in the same predicament as I often find myself, than this could be a great resource for you too!

http://www.artsconnected.org/toolkit/index.html
http://www.artsconnected.org/

Blog from Crizmac

Crizmac art and supply company has just started a new blog. For their first post the show you a picture and short video of a mermaid costume (a functional one!) they created. It's very cute! Here's the link:

http://www.crizmac.com/artandsoul/

Short, Sweet, and Music Related

I just learned a new website. it's called 'Groove Shark'

http://listen.grooveshark.com/

It's a website that streams free music, but you can also search for certain songs. I wandered around on it a bit and it seams pretty easy to navigate. I tried it at home on my PC so I'm not sure if it will work on my Mac at school, but it's worth a try instead of always bringing in CD's.

Fortunato's Smile

I'm always looking for ways to get involved and help out with things. A friend of mine sent me this and I think the cause is truly worthwhile. Take a minute and check out the link.

Is it too soon to cheer?

*Image from www.todaysteacher.com

A new school, new students, new room. Pretty much new everything. I'm in the process of ordering art supplies for this year and when I was told the budget a big smile came across my face. I'm so fortunate to landed in a place where I have such great resources accessible to me. I feel like I'm on a shopping spree, actually being able to order all the things I'd like for my students.
Although, I must say that the expression about the hardest steel is only forged through fire is very true. As thankful as I am for my current job, with all the bells and whistles, I am just as thankful for my past experiences, which sometimes were, let's just say, challenging. If you think about it, it's really through those tough times and the situations where you look around and all you have is 17 blue markers and toilet paper rolls, that you really push yourself to rise above your circumstances. I have to always remember not to get comfortable and to always push myself. Those of you that are out there everyday making great art programs out of underfunded and under-resourced areas deserve to be commended, it's easy to do a lot with a lot, but it isn't easy do to a lot with a little. Kudos to you and don't give up!


Now that I've completely digressed....I originally wanted to post my first art class activity. So far its been going pretty well. For my 3rd-5th graders I've come up with an art scavenger hunt. Like I had mentioned, I'm new to the students and they're new to the way I operate the art room, so what better way to get them acclimated to the rules, routines, and procedures I use then to let them figure it our by themselves.
Basically I go into the hallway to greet them, I let them know that in order to enter the room they need to be invited in, and to get an invitation, they need to be waiting silently in straight lines. They enter, sit at their seats (which are numbered and color coded) and then I have them come up to the front where they sit on the floor by the blackboard. I talk about transitioning and how it should only take 30 seconds or so and should be done silently. I then have them return to their seats and work as a group at their table to complete the handout. It's about 10 questions which include getting them used to the reading and writing center, finding the art rules and picking one they feel is the most important, identifying my volume level chart and the class green, yellow, red, chart, and choosing and identifying consequences for inappropriate behavior. I set a timer and when the timer goes off, they return to the front and we go over their answers. It's a perfect activity for a 40 minute period and it sets the foundation for classroom management, which is my primary goal this year. I have the lesson and worksheet I made up so if you are interested you can leave me a comment and I can email you the lesson.