• Subscribe to Blog via Email

    Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 4,538 other subscribers

William Wegman: Photomontage Project for Kids

William Wegman:  Photomontage Project for Kids

My third grade students learned about the photography, films, paintings and children’s books by contemporary artist William Wegman.  I actually talked to Bill on the phone and had an interview with him, which you can read in this blog post. William Wegman is known for his anthropomorphic photos of dogs dressed in various costumes. Anthropomorphic means giving human characteristics to animals (or other non-human things.) We read his books, watched some of his short films and saw pictures of his … Read more…

Reach for the Stars – Back to School Bulletin Board

Reach for the Stars – Back to School Bulletin Board

I hope you are enjoying your first few weeks back to school!   Here is a Reach for the Stars bulletin board my students made as their first art projects. The tape letters were made by 1st graders.  I don’t know how people use painter’s tape for this technique, because it just caused my paper to rip.  I discovered the Post-it Label Roll which worked great to block out the letters. The kids painted over the label tape with a crayon … Read more…

Secret City Drawings: 3rd & 4th Grade

Learn shading!  Practice drawing cubes, spheres and more.  Add dimension and depth to your drawings!  All this can be achieved with SECRET CITY DRAWINGS.  Check out this awesome video.  GUYS, LOOK AT HIS CLOTHES!  amazing. Once in awhile I will show the kids this goofy video and have them draw along for kicks and giggles. If I’m running low on time, we’ll skip the video and just use handouts from his book  (affiliate link to Amazon). The kids practice drawing … Read more…

Foreign Language Art Postcard Contest

Foreign Language Art Postcard Contest

Last fall, we participated in the Wisconsin Association for Language Teachers postcard contest. The theme was Languages:  Literacy for Life.  The students created postcards to fit this theme and one winning card was chosen to be reproduced in a pack of postcards that was given to all of the association members.  The members were encouraged to use the postcards in correspondence to parents or administration.  This would be a wonderful idea for arts advocacy! This is the card that was … Read more…

Adventures in Shapes, Shading, Texture and Lines

First of all, thanks for being a loyal blog reader (or) welcome, if you are new!  I have a personal update to share with you… I went on medical leave this week and Monday was my last day of work for the time being.  My pregnancy is complicated and I could not work anymore.  The baby is healthy, but physically I need to lay down as much as possible and it is really hard to sit or stand without a … Read more…

Paper Mache Masks — 3rd & 4th Grade

Paper Mache Masks — 3rd & 4th Grade

These paper mache masks by the 3rd/4th grade received lots of compliments when they were hanging in the hallway. The class was studying Native American history in their Social Studies and we looked at some Pacific Northwest Coast masks and we discussed the functions of masks in general throughout the world. We started with a mask form (made of paper mache) that I ordered in a class pack from Nasco.  From this starting point, the students built up and embellished … Read more…

Have You Ever Drawn Flowers with Watercolor Pencils?

Have You Ever Drawn Flowers with Watercolor Pencils?

The week after winter break was up in the air.  Due to construction, we weren’t sure if we were going to be able to use our art room and we didn’t know if we would have easy access to supplies.  I planned for most of my classes to complete observational drawings during that week period, since they all could use the same supplies and learning to observe the edges and shapes of objects is great training for the eye. It … Read more…