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Silhouette Paper Cuttings for 3rd and 4th Graders

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Did you know Hans Christian Andersen was an accomplished paper cutter?  He created some very intricate and amazing silhouettes. I used a chapter from the book The Amazing Paper Cuttings of Hans Christian Andersen to teach about his paper cuttings. Perhaps if your students are reading fairy tales, this would be a great author/artist to incorporate. The third and fourth grade class drew silhouettes on black paper (using regular pencils) and cut them out.  (Some chose to create their picture … Read more… →

Contour Line Shoe Drawings by 3rd and 4th Graders

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Take off your shoes and make yourself comfortable. This fun lesson is perfect to teach observational drawing with minimal supplies and easy set up. 1.  Take off a shoe. 2.  Observe the lines, shapes and contours of the shoe. 3.  Concentrate and draw all of the lines you see on the shoe.  Don’t forget the little details, such as shoelaces, the tongue and any patterns you see on the shoe. *Optional Step*  Enlarge the shoe drawings on a photocopier. 4.  … Read more… →

Cardboard Creations and a Blog Layout Review

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Hello all! Wow, summer is almost here! It’s hard to believe, right? I entered a blog giveaway to receive a free layout review from a web designer. I won! She posted the review on Blacksburgbelle’s blog. Bottom line: reduce the clutter.  I think it was very useful and gave me a lot to think about! Maybe you will get some ideas from her review. This will be a little project to work on during the summer. Building with cardboard and … Read more… →

Smart Fab Winner

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Congrats Melanie!  Send me your address:  marciadotcom@yahoo.com so we can get your samples sent out.  If you didn’t win (or enter the contest) stay tuned as I will have another product giveaway shortly. Melanie May 14, 2013 at 5:09 pm who said, “I got a roll at the FAEA conference but not sure what to do with it and that one roll would be enough for an entire grade level to use. Would love to win some more AND to … Read more… →

Still Life Paintings in the Middle School Art Class

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From time to time, I will show you some artwork from the middle school classes.  I teach K-6 and Rebecca teaches the older students.  These paintings on canvas were particularly beautiful. Painting water and glass is definitely challenging, but these kids did an awesome job!  The 7th/8th graders set up their still lifes and took a photograph of the setup.  Then, they used acrylic paint to paint them. I will be picking the winner of the Smart Fab sample rolls … Read more… →

Finding Kind: A Documentary about Bullying

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Finding Kind: A Documentary about Bullying

Colette Smith, from IndieFlix, shared with me the Kind Campaign and a new documentary Finding Kind about girl against girl bullying.  She offered a free 2-month trial subscription to Indie Flix (no credit card needed) to 10 readers. If you are interested in checking out Indie Flix, leave a comment on this post and Colette will hook up the first 10 people who are interested. I thought this was relevant to teachers, because we all unfortunately have seen girls (and … Read more… →