2 Stars and a Wish: Art Gallery Walk for Elementary Students

I am starting 2 Stars and a Wish Gallery Walk critiques with my elementary students. We've done formal, all class critiques before but I thought they may like a chance to move about our classroom "gallery" like people do in real galleries. I created slides with art vocabulary to post during the walk with directions to help guide them. This will also help them with spelling.

I will have students walk the room for a few minutes and then stop at one work of art. (One student per art piece so everyone gets feedback). They will then get my 2 Stars and a Wish paper (I made them small enough to save on paper but large enough to write sentences) and critique the art they are standing in front of. If they don't have a wish for improvement, they don't have to provide one.

Elementary students love showing off their art to their peers so this is a quick way to do critiques when you don't have time for presentations. I plan to do this with grades K-5, with plenty of guidance for K and 1st grade. 

See my example below:

3rd Grade Low Relief O'Keeffe Flowers

These are the first four students to complete our O'Keeffe Flowers. There were so many steps and directions to my project but my 3rd graders met every expectation I had. They actually exceeded my expectations. They mixed their own tempera paint colors for the leaves and petals and mixed their own watercolors for the background. Their craftsmanship of cutting the petals and leaves was awesome! Next I will have them bend their petals and leaves slightly to make them pop. I also connected this project to science as we discussed the parts of a flower. 

Beautiful!

2nd Grade: When Pigasso Met Mootisse Watercolor Portraits

I've taught this lesson for several years but changed it up a bit this year. Students used watercolors instead of crayons. I also differentiated the lesson by encouraging my "out of the box" thinkers to combine both characters to make a new abstract portrait. I did a guided drawing using my computer and projector and the students met every learning target. The students that combined both characters followed my drawing to an extent but had to figure out how to combine them on their own.

Square 1 Art Fundraiser 2013: Schaffner Traditional

Our Square 1 Art fundraiser is already off to a great start! Thank you to all that are placing orders. 

The proceeds from last years Square 1 fundraiser payed for clay, glazes, aprons, paint, construction paper, crayons, brushes, drawing paper, a field trip to the KMAC for the 2nd grade, markers, texture plates, modeling clay, printmaking ink and more! Art supplies are expensive. They are also consumable and have to be replaced often. This fundraiser is what keeps my art program growing so please consider making a purchase if you haven't already. The students art will look fantastic on any product and make wonderful gifts. 

The deadline for orders is Thursday, November 14th, 2013. 

www.square1art.com

How to Make Beeswax Clay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l5DGdCMqIM

Square 1 Art Fundraiser: 5th Grade Haring Figures

After learning about Haring and seeing his art, my 5th graders were hooked. I think sharing himself would have been impressed with my students. 

They had to show movement using Harings "motion lines." Each student will tell a short story about their works upon completion. 

Square 1 Art Fundraiser: 4th Grade "Picasotec" Suns

Inspired by a project I saw on Pinterest, I introduced the Aztec Sun Stone and compared it to some Picasso portraits. Fourth grade students viewed a PowerPoint I created and set to work. They learned about contrast, shades, tints, geometric and organic shapes and more. This student showed her creativity by using gradiated color. 

Kinder Square 1 Art: Rainbow Fish Sketches

My Kinders show great talent in this Rainbow Fish inspired project. And these are just their sketches! I gave them a tracer for the body and they followed a guided drawing (I drew and they copied me via Microsoft Paint and a document camera) for the rest. Each is a little different and very well done. 

Square 1 Art: Fall 2013, 3rd Grade Project

Here is an example of my third grade project for my Square 1 Art fundraiser, 2013. This student is showing so much creativity in her hippo portrait. A bathing suit! I love the humor my students show in their art. It's inspiring. 

Kinders: The Dot, Ish and Sky Color Projects

These are my Kinders very first drawings of the year. We read The Dot by Peter Reynolds and made shape drawings. The following week we made line drawings after reading Ish. This week we read Reynolds book Sky Color and mixed primary colors to make secondary colors. They now understand shape, line and color and will be ready for their first big art project, Pattern Owls. 

Carolyn Braden's Ultimate Art Teacher Cart

Being an art on a cart teacher, I needed more organization. I searched for the perfect cart, ordered one and it still wasn't right. I thought about my needs and just decided to design my own. Thankfully I have a very talented husband who was able to make my ideas come to life. With a little organization supplies from Lowe's and IKEA, it's perfect. I think I may need to market this. It would work as a great mobile organizational unit for any teacher.

Welcome Back! 2013-2014 School Year

Welcome back to school! I am sending home my newsletter with students through next Monday. Here is the electronic copy of it. If you click on the photo it will enlarge.

 

 

 

Art Education: Back to School Bulletin Boards

Carolyn Braden's TOIE: The Artist Series with Marvin Finn

Keeping up with the arts this summer! Here's a new idea I had for videos; Carolyn Braden TOIE: 

The Artist Series.

I want to capture students attention about artists that may not be as well known to the world. 

I started my series with Marvin Finn. He was a folk artist that I hope many can be inspired by.

Here's the video I created:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CajpzDEsmaQ

First Grade: Scratch "Sgraffito" Art Owls

We've finished our big projects and are ending art this year with some mini-projects. I did a guided drawing with 1st grade on drawing owls on metallic scratch art paper. They loved learning about contrast (gold and black) in this form of art. 

Fifth Grade: Practice and Final Coil Pots

We practiced our coil pots with oil based clay first, then created final pots. Here are the practice pots from one class and final pots from another class.