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What are Kwik Stix? My first vlog.. video blogging!

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What are Kwik Stix? My first vlog.. video blogging!

What are Kwik Stix?  Today I will share with you my first vlog.  What is vlogging?  Video blogging.  In this video, I will share with you a new product I am loving and tell you my opinions. In the picture below, the butterfly was painted with paint dotters.  The background designs were drawn with Kwik Stix. The designs drawn on top of the shapes are drawn with Kwik Stix. You can blend the Kwik Stix with water and a paintbrush. … Read more… →

Huge Printable Art Advocacy List! What Do Artists Do?

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Huge Printable Art Advocacy List! What Do Artists Do?

Many of you probably know of Ian and Melissa from Apex High School.  They have developed a list of Artistic Behaviors for the high school level.  I have been following along and seeing how they teach their students.  Seeing their list gave me the idea to create posters that shows kids what artists do and what exactly is an artist.  I decided to simplify the behaviors for elementary school students and start from the basics.  Start from the ground and … Read more… →

The Value of Independent and Exploratory Art

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I wanted to explain to you how our art class periods are structured.  Students have art twice a week for 40 minutes.  Typically, we start with a 5 minute art warm up drawing in a sketchbook.  Then we move to instruction, demonstration, art history or literature connections.  Finally, for the majority of the time, the students work on their artwork.  Students work at all different paces.  Some students work very quickly and others take as much as double the amount … Read more… →

Sand Art Pictures with 5th & 6th Grade

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This project was a huge hit with my 5th/6th grade classes.  There’s something about the feel of sand through your fingers that is soothing.  I’m telling you, every kid was very engaged.  I got applause after one of my demonstrations.  Applause!  When was the last time you had your class cheer and applaud after a demonstration? We used Sand-O Adhesive Boards and X-Acto knives to make our pictures.  First, we drew the design with pencil.  Then we carefully cut one … Read more… →

Peanut Butter and Jellyfishes Book

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I want to show you a beautiful book I discovered called Peanut Butter and Jellyfishes: A Very Silly Alphabet Book by Brian P. Clearly. The book was illustrated by Betsy E. Snyder and I think the pictures are fantastic.  The style of the book is reminiscent of Eric Carle’s painted paper collages. Aren’t they beautiful?  On each page of the book are pictures that feature things that start with one letter of the alphabet.  My first grade students created an … Read more… →

Some of My Favorite Presentations from NAEA 2016

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In my last post, I wrote an overall recap of the National Art Education Association conference.  I also gave a summary of the artist Jesse Reno’s speech.  In another post, I put together a little art history quiz of artworks from the Art Institute of Chicago. Today I am going to share with you some highlights from a few of the presentations.  If you would like to see all of the handouts from the presentations that were uploaded, they are … Read more… →

NAEA Convention Recap Part 1

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  Hi, artsy friends!  It’s taken awhile for me to gather all my pictures and information from the National Art Education Association conference and compile them into a recap.  At my school, if you go to a conference, you present something about your experience at one of our weekly staff meetings.  So I am “killing two birds with one stone”.  If you have never been to an art conference, it is really fun! There are many, many sessions to choose … Read more… →