One of the best parts about lesson planning and blogging is the ability to get all sorts of new ideas quickly on the Internet. This was a fun lesson I saw first on The Busy Librarian. We read the book The Dot and the students received papers with their first initial drawn in pencil. The students then used crayons to draw dots and circles on their initial. Using watercolor paints, they painted dots and circles and made marks in the … Read more…
Are you nervous about starting the school year? Or are you excited to get things going? Even though this is my lucky 13th year teaching, I still get anxious to go back. It’s a combo of nerves, excitement and anxiety about getting back into a different routine. I still have dreams that the class is out of control, I forget that I am scheduled to teach or I oversleep. Recently, I asked readers to share their top tips for starting … Read more…
Hello! I love giveaways and thought it would be fun to have a summer art teacher giveaway in honor of reaching 400 likes on Facebook. To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this blog or on the Facebook post about it answering this question: “What is one tip you would give to art teachers (or other classroom teachers) to make the beginning of the year go smoothly?” or “What do you do with your students in the first weeks … Read more…
Missy left on comment on a previous post: ” LOVE that you’ve included some of your favorite kids books! Any other books you’d recommend to the mom for reference for trying to teach her kids basic art principles?” I use children’s books all the time in the art classroom. It is a great way to tie in literature and inspire the kids through stories and illustrations. Here is MY list of favorite books for teaching about art. I highly recommend … Read more…
Perhaps you are new to my blog or you would like to see some of my favorite kindergarten art projects from the past. Look no further! Here is a round-up of my 10 favorites. 1. Cool Hands, Warm Heart 2. Map of My Heart 3. Paper Mache Rattles 4. Texture Teddy Bears 5. Line Sculpture with Wire and Pipe Cleaners 6. The Dot 7. Clay Leaf Dishes 8. Paper Weavings 9. Line Paintings 10. Sunflower Observational Paintings Also, I updated … Read more…
Peter Reynolds, author of the book The Dot, posted this on his Facebook page yesterday.
Welcome to the 3rd post in my series On Teaching Art. The first post and the background behind this series is On Teaching Art: Art vs. Craft. The second post was On Teaching Art #2: Organizing Curriculum. The question posed for this installment is: How can art be integrated into math, science, social science, and literacy? That is a great question and I very often connect art lessons with their units of study in the classrooms. Integrating art with other … Read more…
