My 1st grade son has been really on a Perler bead kick lately. He made all of these designs this week. Here is a beginner’s guide to Perler (or fuse) beads. I thought this might be something my readers would be interested in learning about as a gift idea for a young child in their life. My son looked at some examples on the internet for Mario designs and then made them by looking at the pictures. These are from … Read more…
We are still fully virtual over here! I feel like I have been getting into a groove and things are going pretty well. Here is a lesson I did for kindergarten and first grade. Repetition in art means to repeat something again and again. If you have been making distance learning art lessons and have shared them on a website, please comment below! I am always looking for new ideas.
I have a whole slideshow that I will show my students about Claude Monet and his Impressionist artwork. This is a project I have adapted for distance learning. All of my kids have watercolor paints as part of their art supplies at home. I used this lesson as an idea to adapt my lesson. Usually I have the kids paint on cardboard circles, then attach lilypads using construction paper and tissue paper, but I figured most would not have tissue … Read more…
Here is a fun social emotional project that works for distance learning too. I started with a how to draw a turkey sheet I found online. I wanted to link it here, but when I went to look for it again, it had disappeared! I’ve searched and searched and can’t find the original tutorial. Anyways, you can do the same thing by finding a “how to draw a turkey” step by step online and then doing the next steps you … Read more…
Last blog post, I showed how to make different types of painted papers with watercolor paints. We are still doing distance learning, so my students did this lesson at home. These are the slides that I used to show them how to make a shape collage. Shape is an element of art. I like to show a lot of examples from different artists, contemporary and modern.
I had my students make painted papers for one week’s assignment. Their task was to make 4 painted papers (two with swatches of color and two with line patterns.). Then, they are going to turn their painted papers into collages the next week. Here are the steps I gave them. We are fully remote here. Watercolor paints was something I put on their supply list.
From Wikipedia, “National Hispanic Heritage Month is a period from 15 September to 15 October in the United States for recognizing the contributions and influence of Hispanic Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States.” Our Spanish teacher invited us to bring some children’s books that highlight Latinx authors and artists to our classroom this month. With the librarian, language arts teachers and Spanish teacher, I brainstormed books to read to my classes. These are some of … Read more…
Here is my lesson on patterned circles for distance learning. I used this with 3rd-5th grade. A pattern is a design, line, shape or color that is repeated.
Mark your calendars for the week of November 9-13. Cindy Ingram is hosting another Un-Conference, which is sure to be filled with fabulous information and ideas. Last summer, over 8,000 art teachers participated in this online conference which had so many wonderful presentations about equity, inclusion, classroom management, STEAM, choice based art and tips for teaching online. This Fall, Cindy is back again with another exciting FREE professional development opportunity for you! Free Online Conference for Art Educators Call to Art: … Read more…
Overlap means to place one object over another object. This is a simple project that easily transfers to distance learning. I did not create this lesson, it was given at my daughter’s school last year by her wonderful art teacher. The example above is by my daughter- she made it in 4th grade at home for distance learning. The concept is about overlapping and repetition. Also, more advanced students can bring in some shading and contrast. The example below is … Read more…
When I first started distance teaching, I tried all different types of camera arms and stands. This is the one I found that works best for me. It is not perfect, but it works pretty well for my needs. First, the stand is an Arkon Pro Camera stand. It is sized to fit cell phones. This is perfect for when you want record a video of your hands making art from overhead. The cell phone sits securely inside the clamp. … Read more…
Here is a great project for the first week or day of school. I put up these directions in my Google classrooms for my students and they completed them in their own time, asynchronously. Here is my example of a Name Design NOT using block letters if that is too difficult for your students. Here is a book I read to go along with this project.
I apologize for not regularly adding to the blog lately. It’s been a bit overwhelming here and I haven’t had the motivation. With the day off today, I felt like sharing one cool new book I bought that I have been using with my little students (grades K-2). This book called Studio, A Place for Art to Start is perfect for the first weeks of school. (Affiliate link has been used at no extra cost to you.) This book shows … Read more…
This is Part 2 in my blog posts about the Black Lives Matter murals in downtown Madison, WI. There were so many of them, lining the streets of State Street. See my first post with more murals here.
After the death of George Floyd, protests happened here in Madison, WI (as well as all over the country). Some businesses had windows broken. Artists covered the boarded-up windows with beautiful murals calling for justice and equality. I will have two posts of photos of some of these murals, because there were so many amazing artworks.
