Thumbprint Art

When I was a kid I adored the book by Ed Emberley.   This cover was the one I remember, but there are several new versions, too.  Thumbprint art is fun and inexpensive.  It doesn't require fancy materials or extensive set up or clean up.

Now I have a son who also enjoys thumbprint art!  Here is work he recently  created on his own.

How could we use this in the classroom?

• Illustrations for a writing narrative
• Reviewing characters in an animal story
• Creating a character to write about
• Illustrations for math number stories
• Art component for science unit on animals

Other possibilities include:  greeting cards, indoor recess, free choice center, art or creative expression, and creative thinking.

Some tips:

• Have a moist paper towel close at hand
• Don't have colorful stamp pads?  Use washable markers.
• Pintrest has many examples
• Have examples younger students can recreate and model the process, and then the rest can be independent

Happy thumbprint creating!

Seasonal art

Even if you can't find much time for art at least once a quarter make some seasonal art.  Fall is a great time to start because pumpkins and gourds make wonderful still life.  You can see some drawings that some kids started one year here.

I love art as a process so I would do several quick 15 minute sessions.  Here is what I would do:

Plan to model each of these for one or two minutes.
1.  Sketch the still life with pencil
2.  Trace around the objects with crayons.
3.  Add color with watercolor paints.  {If you don't have paints, crayons or color pencils will work nicely.  This would be a lovely way to teach kids to use several colors together, working lightest to darkest.}

Need a reason to justify season art?  Write poetry or seasonal narratives, and display them together.

Two Cool Workshops for Teachers and Other Humans

I'm guiding two great workshops this month at ACoT.  They are perfect for teachers!  You can use what you learn with students of for your own creative expression.  They are open to EVERYONE--so bring your sister, neighbor, kids, best friends!


July 28, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., PAPERMAKING

Enjoy the process of making your own paper from recycled scraps using a dip method.  This paper is great for collages, book arts, cards, and other creative endeavors.  It's fun to make with children in a classroom, too.  After a demonstration you will be able to create and experiment and make as much paper as you like during this workshop.  $20   Sign up HERE

Creative Workshops For Teachers and Other Humans

7/9/2015 18:05:43

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I'm guiding two great workshops this month at ACoT.  They are perfect for teachers!  You can use what you learn with students of for your own creative expression.  They are open to EVERYONE--so bring your sister, neighbor, kids, best friends!


July 28, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., PAPERMAKING

Enjoy the process of making your own paper from recycled scraps using a dip method.  This paper is great for collages, book arts, cards, and other creative endeavors.  It's fun to make with children in a classroom, too.  After a demonstration you will be able to create and experiment and make as much paper as you like during this workshop.  $20   Sign up HERE

July 30, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m, BOOK ART


Have you ever wanted to make cook books for sketching or journaling or gifts.  This is the place for you!  We will learn simple book techniques that even young children can make.  I will show you a variety of samples of various cutting and sewing methods, and then you will create until your heart is content!  Most students will make 3 - 6 books or booklets.  $40, all materials are included.  Sign up HERE

A few samples I've made for our workshop!

I look forward to sharing these workshops with you!  It would be extra fun to make paper at the first workshop that you use to create books in the second workshop!  Do you have questions? Contact me

Art In Math: Picture Pie

So I'm still trying to use this blog as the place to share the real stuff I did in my real classroom with my real students.

Today's topic:  Art in Math:  Fractions

Several areas of math lend themselves well to art.  The first two that pop into my mind are geometry and fractions.

Now for the problem. . . when do you have the time to do this cool stuff?

My best response is that every single day I make decisions to shorten or sacrifice part of some sort of learning for some other sort of learning.  The pragmatist in me says, do it as a station on a day when you do a variety of different thematic activities.  I've done that a lot with Fridays with Everyday Math, and it's worked very well.  {A Practice Page, A Game, and Creative Activity}

Now for Picture Pie!  {I have used this very successfully with both 2nd grade and 4th grade.  The difference was 4th graders used compasses to construct their circles, and I had already punched out all the circles for 2nd grade.}

Picture Pie by Ed Emberley cuts circles into halves, quarters, and eighths to make all sorts of plants, animals, patterns, and scenes.  It is soooo COOL and totally worth a look!  {I think it could also be a fully integrated math, art, and writing activity if given the time.}

So here is what I did with 2nd graders:

1.  Everyone starts with one circle in their hands and scissors.  We fold and cut in 1/2.  Then we take one half and cut into fourths.  Then we take one fourth and cut into eighths.  We identify the math fractions terms, too.

2.  Then I give them a couple minutes to make anything using any parts of the circle they want.  It is surprising what kids are starting to see already!

3.  Then I reveal the book.  I'm walking around and enthusiastically pointing out how the butterfly is just 4 fourths and so on. { I'm a HUGE believer in teacher enthusiasm!}

4.  I pass out to each team a few idea pages and a load of different colored circles.  Each person has a small black or white piece of construction paper (4 1/2 x 6 inches)  I have plenty of extras because some people make lots of stuff and some just make a few.

5.  I let them work, and I only try to intervene when a child is doing nothing or appears frustrated/overwhelmed.  Below was a fairly standard amount of work a second grader could do in about 20-25 minutes.

Making Paper With Kids

I love to make recycled paper.  It's an earth friendly craft.  The new paper can be utilized many different and creative ways.  It's messy and fun!

I love to make paper with kids even more!  At this point I have made paper with way more than a thousand kids and a few dozen adults.

Papermaking is a great activity for close to the end of the school year.  You might even want to do it outside, as it involves lots of water and can be messy.

Here's what I use:  lots of used paper in various colors, a blender, water, dishpan, towel, drying paper or thin towels, sponge, mold and deckle--you can buy these at many craft stores or online.  That's the only special tool and the wooden ones last FOREVER!

Here's what I do:

1.  Tear paper to the size of postage stamps
2.  Add about a cup of paper to blender and fill with water.  Blend.  The more you blend the finer it becomes.  I like big bits of paper still showing.
3.  Pour the pulp from blender into the dishpan that is already 1/3 full of water.
{You may want to repeat 2 & 3 several times.}
4.  Place the mold and deckle in the water and pull it out with pulp on the screen.
5.  Turn this over on a paper and dab the back of the screen to get lots of water out.  You have gotten enough water out when you can lift the screen without tearing the sheet of pulp.
6.  Hang these to dry--a clothesline is great for this!
7.  Peel the recycled paper off the other paper.  (I use drying papers many times and then eventually recycle them!)

You can make many amazing projects with recycled paper.  I love to use the paper to make cards, journal covers, and collages.  The recycled paper is very absorbent so if you paint, don't use too much water, and I don't recommend markers but other pens work fine.

I hope you find some joy in papermaking or any artsy project.

Fun For All: Rock Painting

I've had loads of fun this week painting rocks with my son.  It's so simple.  And so fun.

All you need are some rocks--try landscaping and gardening places.

Acrylic paints and brushes and newspaper to cover your work surface {and a spray sealant if you're leaving them outside}

Enjoy!

Here are some of our creations this week:

Sam's smiling head and mommy's help with body!

You can see other art I made this week HERE

What have you been creating in your corner of the world this week?

Autumn Art With Kids

This year I'm trying to spend 30 - 45 minutes at the very end of our week doing something FUN!  You know the kind of stuff that kids will look forward to all week.  {The kind of stuff that can be hard to justify inside Common Core and other regulations that suck the joy right out of the whole deal.}

For my students this year one of those things is watercolor painting.  We played with paint on paper to just see if we could follow the procedures for a whole class of wet paint and dirty water.  Then kids went to town on self portraits.  I realized that most of these kids have not done this sort of stuff in their life away from school.  So all week I said we would water color on Friday.

We were running out of time, but I had some fruits of the season--gourds, apples, corn.  We talked about how they could be inspired by these pieces to do whatever they wanted.  I also invited students to stay and sketch because sometimes it's just fun to draw what you see.

I loved what they saw!  I only had a chance after school to snap a few pieces that were left behind or unfinished.  Aren't they cool?

So how to fit this in with CCS:  I think writing/speaking are the perfect places.  I don't have the standards right here with me now, but a huge focus is giving reasons to support your choice or argument.  Here are a few ideas that have come to mind:

Is Fall your favorite season?  Give 3 reasons for your answer.
Explain why it is important for our class to watercolor paint.  Support your answer.
Explain the process of water color painting.  Explain the steps of the process in order.

I think these could be both written or oral arguments/discussions.  I also think it would be very fun for kids to make little movies responding to one of these questions.  {That will probably require a month of Fridays!}

We're on our sides!  Can you see the ghosts and pumpkins and big moon?

What are you doing to have fun with your students?

Make It For Mom Or Anyone

Mother's Day is just around the corner.  Some years it comes and goes with little acknowledgement in my classroom.  It really depends on the lives of my students.  I always try to emphasize that we can honor everyone who loves us.

The next step is finding something to make that is not too difficult or too expensive.  This year my friend Kathy showed me these great paper and pipe cleaner flowers.  I thought they would make great pins.  So here is our flower pin project that we are making in stages this week.

All you need for this little gem is a piece of scrapbook paper, 4 pipe cleaners--12 inches and cut in half (8 that are 6 inches long),  one or more buttons, glue and a pin back

Twist the pipe cleaner so that it looks like a balloon with a string.

Glue all 8 of these onto the scrapbook paper.  Let dry overnight!

The next day cut out these paper petals.  Then choose the six you like the best and twist together to form a flower.  This step might need the most help!

Then glue on the button(s) and the pin back.  Let these dry overnight.

Then we are going to put them in decorated white lunch bags and make cards.

I wore the one in the top picture on Monday, and that made the students more excited to make these.

Are you making anything fun in your classroom these days

Kids Encouraging Kids

Do you ever notice how the role models most kids have are not showing them how or why to be kind to other people?  It feels to me like just the opposite, but I am old!  This drives me crazy!  I want kids to know how really really good it feels to encourage someone else or extend yourself in kindness!  {I think it's one of the BEST feelings in life!}

In the spirit of this belief my 4th graders did a "secret mission."  They wrote inspiring messages on 4x6 index cards for the other 3rd and 4th graders in our building.  (They didn't know it, but there was another class doing the same thing for them!)

They also made posters to hang all around our classroom.  This is the lazy teacher's method of covering all potentially helpful tools and charts in the classroom during state testing!

How do you encourage and empower acts of kindness in your students?

Spring Art and Writing in 4th Grade

I love combining art and writing. (The truth is I love having kids make art, but I have a hard time justifying it, unless I attach some academic bit.)

Here is the most recent project that my students did--cherry blossoms with spring writing!

This project started as all good projects do with inspiration--this time it was from Little Notebook. I heart this project of making cherry blossoms with the base of a 2 liter bottle.

Here were the steps:

1. Demo the project to avoid a big mess! This also lets students decide where to place the art and the writing as part of their layout.

2. Use black or brown crayons or markers to make the trunk and branches of a tree.

3. Use pink paint, empty liter containers, and unsharpened pencils to apply paint to the tree branches. (I demonstrated, but the techniques varied as much as my students do!) We had 3 paint stations set up at one big table. That was enough for 24 patient kids.

4. Lots of room is required for drying, unless you have a drying rack. We just place them around the perimeter of the classroom.

5. On another day we journaled about what we like about Spring. (This would be a great place to add some poetry, too!)

6. Students wrote their thoughts in a final copy of the pink paper.

This can be as free form or controlled as you want it to be. This project has gotten lots of positive feedback from other staff members and parents.

What Spring projects do you have brewing?

Watercolor Painting With Kids

I LOVE to watercolor paint. I've had so many happy surprises, despite the fact that my skills are limited. I also love to share painting with kids. My two year old "needs" to watercolor at frequent intervals.

Here are some of the things I think kids gain from painting:

• patience with themselves and the paint
• focus on a specific task
• acceptance that things might not work out the way you expect
• confidence in their creative abilities
• appreciation for their work and improvement with practice
• joy in something that is neither immediate nor action packed nor technological

I know, I know. . .it sounds like I'm pinning a lot on one little activity. That's just it. It doesn't have to be just one little activity. It can happen regularly and frequently. It does not require lots of fancy tools or space.

I painted with 24 4th graders on Friday, and it was the absolute delight of my week. They did a great job at taking care of the materials. It was a gift to witness the variety with which they approached this experience. I'm already plotting future Friday paint dates! Students chose one of their little paintings to hang on their lockers with their first writing sample of the year. (This is how I justify this experience within the context of stifling standards driven school life.)

What delights you at work?