Toucan't Miss Out On These!

 

Continuing with our theme of "Travel the World in Art" we "visited" Central America and discussed toucans! We began by reading a hysterical book called, "Toucan Toucan't" by Peter Francis-Browne. My pre k-3rd graders made these fabulous birds by coloring beaks with oil pastels or crayons, and cutting, tearing and gluing shapes from construction paper to make a collage.



 

 

 

 

 

The toucans were a bit ambitious for my little ones, but wow! did they look fantastic when we finished! Way to work hard my little artists, it paid off!

 



Shimmering Aztec Suns

Okay, fellow art teachers.... DON'T JUDGE: I just used glitter. Yep, glitter, the art teacher equivalent of handprint turkeys and macaroni rooster. BUT... Look at the end result!]

My 3-5 graders did excellent Aztec Suns. We first looked at the Aztec Sun Calendar and discussed Aztec Culture. This collaborated (ding! ding! ding!)  perfectly with the fifth grade social studies curriculum. The students then drew circles, a sun with a face and radially symmetrical designs around it.

 

Using construction paper crayons, they colored in the designs.

 

And finally.... THE GLITTER! It doesn't matter how much, how often or what color,

 

KIDS LOVE GLITTER...

and I'm beginning to like it a little more.

 

Fancy, Schmancy.

 

 

Happy Friday Folks!

I have to unabashedly brag on the latest contribution to one of my schools... Thanks to a fundraiser night from Zoe's Kitchen, generous parents and extremely talented students, I was able to purchase and fill ten large frames with student art work. Voila! AN ART GALLERY!

 

The plan is to change out artwork every 6 weeks with the help of parent volunteers and the Student Council. Come by and visit. It even has free admission!

 

 

Super Secret Native American Bandolier Bags

 

My fourth and fifth graders learned a lot about Native American bandolier bags this week. As usual, we looked at examples on the ACTIV board and discussed details and pattern.

 

 

 

My students also learned some pretty interesting facts about how the medicine men of the tribe carried bags with very sacred, secret items in them. These bags were so special that no one in the tribe was allowed to look in them, and the medicine men were actually buried with their bags.

The students really took ownership in their bags and did a marvelous job of decorating them with traditional Native American symbols as well as creating their own symbols.

 

 

Great job kids! One more country checked off our list!

 

 



Moody Artists from Spain

Yep, that's right... believe it or not artists can be a little moody...passionate even about their work.
When I was in college, I had a professor who made us complete a 24"x30" pencil drawing of a magazine collage. It took me around 20 hours to complete. Using my drawing as an example, he took a brand new pink pearl eraser and ERASED parts of my drawing in front of the class, looked at me and said, "Don't ever get too attached to your work."
Ouch. So that's MY story.

This week in art class, we talked about Picasso, and his moodiness and passion for his work.

 

The students immediately saw happiness in the bright, beautiful PRIMARY (ding, ding, ding!) colors and loose, passionate lines.

 

 

Pre K, Kindergarten and first grade, y'all. Awesome.

 

My 2nd and 3rd graders also discussed color and line, but we kicked up a notch and added ANALYZING (buzz word) subjects. Basically, just breaking them down into simple shapes to make it easier to draw... a prequel to introducing Cubism.

 

Looking first at this work by Picasso:

 

 

We created this:

 

 

I don't know about you, but it makes me want to strut around a bit.

 

More to come with the moody blue period guitar collages.... Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

Stomp Out Bullying!

Welcome back my friends!

I'm so glad to be back in the swing of things... our first art class was a collaboration between the guidance counselor and myself. Our school system has started a new campaign called, "Stomp Out Bullying" and we decided to work together to create fantastic footprints to incorporate this theme into the art class.

 

Fourth and Fifth Grade used rulers to create parallel and intersecting lines (sound familiar?) and added their name to the footprint.

 

 

Second and Third Graders drew an abstract organic design and colored it in using warm or cool colors (lots of vocabulary, right?)

 

 

 

And my brand new kindergarteners and first graders practiced their cutting skills and used tissue paper squares to fill their footprints with color.

 

All the footprints will be hung around the school as reminders of our zero-tolerance policy for bullying. I love the way every footprint, just like every child, is different and special. and I love the was the lesson teaches children how art can symbolize a big idea or movement... pretty big abstract thinking for such little minds. Amazing what art can teach.

 

Thanks Zoe's Kitchen!

 

A big Blossomwood "THANK YOU" to Zoe's Kitchen on Whitesburg drive for our school fundraiser!

Zoe's provided our school with canvases and paint, and in turn, we provided them with beautiful artwork to display during the Summer season.

With the money raised from the sale of our artwork and Zoe's Blossomwood Spirit Night, we are creating a Blossomwood Student Art Gallery!

 

Be sure to visit our Gallery soon!