"Happy" by Schaffner Traditional Elementary

Thank You Schaffner: Square 1 Art Fundraiser

I just received my supplies I was able to order thanks to the large check I received from Square 1 Art. The parents at Shaffner are amazing! They purchased many items from the fundraiser and it helped my art program tremendously. 

Here is what I am doing with the funds:

2nd Grade will go to the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft and create clay masks. 

Every student will receive a poster with their self portrait project on it.

A mural will be created with the students portraits on it and it will be hung in Schaffner as a permanent art installation. 

Metal tiles were purchased for the 5th grade to embellish with tooling techniques and ink. Each square will be put together to create a large scale art piece to be hung as a permanent art installation.

I purchased these art materials for future art projects:

Class set of Crayola watercolor pencils

Class set of Crayola oil pastels

Class set of Crayola color sticks

Class set of tempera cakes

Crayola Tempera paint

Clay tool set

6 boxes of clay

Glazes in various colors

Edging scissors set

Kraft paper

Waldorf supply of beeswax clay

Magnetic architecture set

Watercolor paint refills

Embroidery floss

and more!

Most art supplies are consumable materials, meaning they are used and then gone. I have to replace materials often so having such supportive parents truly helps the students have art materials that help them create amazing art.

Many, many thanks!

The Big Self Portrait Poster Project

As a thank you to parents and the school for supporting me in my Square 1 Art fundraiser, I am going to give the gift of art to everyone. My students are creating self-portraits in various forms. I am going to have grade level posters made of the portraits to give the students. Each student will receive a poster that has their art along with their entire grade level on it. I am also having a mural created with each portrait on it to hang up as a permanent art installation in the school. I varied the types of self portraits the students created. Kinders created Roger Hargreaves inspired "Little Miss" and "Mr. Men" portraits. 1st grade created abstract portraits. 2nd-4th grade created realistic portraits that showed their individual personalities and 5th grade concentrated on their eyes. Some grade levels did my "2 Stars and a Wish" critique after completing the art. They gave great feedback to each other. 

Here are some photos of their incredible and awesome art. 

I love this students interpretation of the eye focused project. He said it didn't show the eyes yet it was all about the eyes. What an amazing thinker. Some students didn't get it but I totally get it. I told him it's an "artist-thing".

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