And guess what? I have more cakes to share (this time from my other building)!
FYI, you can find the original post (along with some Thiebaud resources) here, and the first batch of projects here.
Have a sweet weekend, everyone!
Friday, March 8, 2013
Let them eat MORE cake!
I wonder if Wayne Thiebaud knows just how inspirational his work is? My blog stats skyrocketed with this week's earlier post that showcased some of my kiddos' delicious projects! And the buzz all over school is "those awesome cakes in the hallway." Thank you, fifth graders, for makin' me look so good! ;-)
And guess what? I have more cakes to share (this time from my other building)!
FYI, you can find the original post (along with some Thiebaud resources) here, and the first batch of projects here.
Have a sweet weekend, everyone!
And guess what? I have more cakes to share (this time from my other building)!
FYI, you can find the original post (along with some Thiebaud resources) here, and the first batch of projects here.
Have a sweet weekend, everyone!
Monday, March 4, 2013
Let them eat cake!
Oh ma goodness, things are CRAZY right now! Anyone else feeling totally overwhelmed by March despite being just four days in? I can't believe the amount of grading, displaying, organizing, planning, and everything-ing I have to accomplish this week. And I'm not even running my own YAM extravaganza like Mrs. Impey is (girl, how are you doing it all!?)... I'm gonna YAM it up toward the month's end. BUT STILL. Does the "in like a lion" thing apply to teachers' work loads? I'm thinking yes. Hopefully "out like a lamb" applies, too!
Anyway, here are some of my fifth graders' finished Wayne Thiebaud-inspired desserts!
I'm hanging all cakes in the hallway without labeling them with student names, but instead assigning each cake a number (hence the little white rectangles in some of the pictures). This week, the teachers will vote on their faves! The kids are very excited about this--it's "Next Great Baker: Dillsburg!" I whipped up a little voting card for all teachers to vote in five categories.
The winners get gourmet cupcakes from a local bakery. (Obviously, I get one, too, bah haha.) I'll post results when they're in!
Meanwhile, thank goodness someone brought in a teacher birthday treat today 'cause I'm having serious baked good cravings.
Anyway, here are some of my fifth graders' finished Wayne Thiebaud-inspired desserts!
The winners get gourmet cupcakes from a local bakery. (Obviously, I get one, too, bah haha.) I'll post results when they're in!
Meanwhile, thank goodness someone brought in a teacher birthday treat today 'cause I'm having serious baked good cravings.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Read Across America
Happy (day before) Read Across America Day! One of my buildings is celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday with a "Dr. Seuss Travels the World" themed day. Every classroom was charged with picking a country to study, then decorating their door to match. The kids, many of whom are dressed up as their favorite Seuss character, are wandering around with 'passports' to learn about the various countries.
The art room door is dressed to impress...
Okay, so I'll be the first to admit that it's not that impressive. Portfolio-worthy it is not; my half-Italian husband should be ashamed of me. I had set aside time to do it on Wednesday during my planning period, only to fall victim to the stomach flu earlier in the week. After two agonizing days spent on the couch, I'm back to nearly normal. Admittedly, catching up was my priority--a decorated door, not so much. In my defense, last year I won the "Favorite Book Character" door decorating contest with my girl Fancy Nancy. And one outta two ain't bad!
Anyway, one of my Art Enrichment (art club) fifth graders showed me a great book last week: The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss. Have you seen this? Some of the illustrations are slightly racy (whoa, Theodor!), but all are really fun to look at, there's a beautiful tribute by Theodor Geisel's wife, and an intro by Maurice Sendak. I highly recommend tracking down a copy if you haven't seen it already.
I have several finished projects to share next week! Till then, happy weekend (hallelujah!)!
The art room door is dressed to impress...
Okay, so I'll be the first to admit that it's not that impressive. Portfolio-worthy it is not; my half-Italian husband should be ashamed of me. I had set aside time to do it on Wednesday during my planning period, only to fall victim to the stomach flu earlier in the week. After two agonizing days spent on the couch, I'm back to nearly normal. Admittedly, catching up was my priority--a decorated door, not so much. In my defense, last year I won the "Favorite Book Character" door decorating contest with my girl Fancy Nancy. And one outta two ain't bad!
Anyway, one of my Art Enrichment (art club) fifth graders showed me a great book last week: The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss. Have you seen this? Some of the illustrations are slightly racy (whoa, Theodor!), but all are really fun to look at, there's a beautiful tribute by Theodor Geisel's wife, and an intro by Maurice Sendak. I highly recommend tracking down a copy if you haven't seen it already.
I have several finished projects to share next week! Till then, happy weekend (hallelujah!)!
Monday, February 25, 2013
Dali Portraits
I laughed out loud when I saw this project on There's a Dragon in my Art Room. How great are the expressions and the mustaches on the portraits and photos alike!?
I used two(ish) days to do this project with my second graders. On the first day, we had to add gloss to our Pinch Pots, and I knew that doing that as well as introducing and attempting to complete this new project was too much. So, on the first day, we finished our pots, then discussed Salvador Dali and his wild ways. The kids really liked his Surrealist paintings and LOVED his funky mustache! Also, I'm pretty sure some of my students will be asking for a pet ocelot.
As each kid finished their pot, they began sketching portraits. We talked briefly about facial proportions as well as facial expressions. Admittedly, some of the sketches made me think that these may not turn out, but on we forged.
On the second day, kiddos drew their Dali portraits with black crayon. And to my relief, those black crayons were like magic wands, drawing beautifully expressive Dali-esque portraits on each page! The drawings were cut out and glued onto the 9 x 12" colored paper of choice, given a pipe cleaner mustache, and sent on their way!
And of course, we made paper mustaches of our own. The whole thing was a BIG hit with the kiddos! And I laughed audibly for the duration of the time it took me to hang them up. So now people think I'm even nuttier than they did before. Oh well.
Happy Monday, all!
I used two(ish) days to do this project with my second graders. On the first day, we had to add gloss to our Pinch Pots, and I knew that doing that as well as introducing and attempting to complete this new project was too much. So, on the first day, we finished our pots, then discussed Salvador Dali and his wild ways. The kids really liked his Surrealist paintings and LOVED his funky mustache! Also, I'm pretty sure some of my students will be asking for a pet ocelot.
As each kid finished their pot, they began sketching portraits. We talked briefly about facial proportions as well as facial expressions. Admittedly, some of the sketches made me think that these may not turn out, but on we forged.
On the second day, kiddos drew their Dali portraits with black crayon. And to my relief, those black crayons were like magic wands, drawing beautifully expressive Dali-esque portraits on each page! The drawings were cut out and glued onto the 9 x 12" colored paper of choice, given a pipe cleaner mustache, and sent on their way!
And of course, we made paper mustaches of our own. The whole thing was a BIG hit with the kiddos! And I laughed audibly for the duration of the time it took me to hang them up. So now people think I'm even nuttier than they did before. Oh well.
Happy Monday, all!
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Gifts
This week has been an odd one. I woke up on Monday with a tightness in my chest that told me it might be a tricky few days, and despite setting my attitude to 'positive,' my instincts were right. It hasn't been a bad week, per say--just not sunshine and rainbows.
Yesterday, when things were not looking so good at school, I was perked up by a fabulous delivery:
It felt like it was my birthday or something! Very cool.
And that was just the icing on the cake--before that, I had checked my RSS feed to find a sweet post by one of my favorite online gals, Jen, who had shared a list of blogs to check out, and included mine! I felt famous. And I felt so good!
So thank you, Sax Arts, for your bountiful gifts, and thank you, Jen, for your undeserved kindness. (By the way, if you don't read Jen's blog, you're nuts. Stop being ridiculous and go subscribe. And look at the other blogs mentioned, because theirs are fabulous.)
I'm not sure this counts as paying it forward, but for those of you who are like me and can't find the time (or the attention span, hehe) to sit down and watch the news, or read the newspaper cover to cover, here's a little something for you. Each morning, as I check my email and prep for the day, I also take a few minutes to read The Skimm, a daily summary of important news stories sent right to my email account. Since I started reading it a few weeks ago, I am much more up to date on current affairs, and more understanding of the big headlines. If you want to check it out, visit http://www.theskimm.com/?
Now, let's make the rest of this week wonderful!
Yesterday, when things were not looking so good at school, I was perked up by a fabulous delivery:
It felt like it was my birthday or something! Very cool.
And that was just the icing on the cake--before that, I had checked my RSS feed to find a sweet post by one of my favorite online gals, Jen, who had shared a list of blogs to check out, and included mine! I felt famous. And I felt so good!
So thank you, Sax Arts, for your bountiful gifts, and thank you, Jen, for your undeserved kindness. (By the way, if you don't read Jen's blog, you're nuts. Stop being ridiculous and go subscribe. And look at the other blogs mentioned, because theirs are fabulous.)
I'm not sure this counts as paying it forward, but for those of you who are like me and can't find the time (or the attention span, hehe) to sit down and watch the news, or read the newspaper cover to cover, here's a little something for you. Each morning, as I check my email and prep for the day, I also take a few minutes to read The Skimm, a daily summary of important news stories sent right to my email account. Since I started reading it a few weeks ago, I am much more up to date on current affairs, and more understanding of the big headlines. If you want to check it out, visit http://www.theskimm.com/?
Now, let's make the rest of this week wonderful!
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
(Jump Rope for) Heart Collages
Happy Valentine's Day, friends! Oh wait, that was last week. Looks like I've fallen behind. Or I'm intentionally extending the looooove. You decide.
This is one of the only times I've ever done a project that was somewhat related to a holiday. Ukrainian Pysanky around Easter, check. Chinese Dragons at Chinese New Year, yup. And now some hearts at V-day... but they have so much meaning, I promise!
This was not an intentional Valentine's Day tie-in at all, actually. When I saw this project on Draw the Line At, I immediately changed my plans for that day's first grade art class so we could do this! It's a great and inclusive project that covers geometric shapes (which we were slated to study), collage, overlapping, symmetry, cutting, and more. And it's a great tie-in for those of you whose schools participate in the Jump Rope for Heart program like my schools do!
For details, check out Jen's post, and/or this post. I followed along with these ladies' instructions, though I used 9 x 9" poster board for the base (making the square paper 4.5 x 4.5") and Mod Podge as the adhesive.
Here are my first graders in action, and a few results!
I ended the lesson with a few slides of Jim Dine's work, to show the kids that a simple shape can be transformed into a beautiful work of art.
This is one of my favorite new projects. All 100-plus projects turned out beautifully, and that is really something!
This is one of the only times I've ever done a project that was somewhat related to a holiday. Ukrainian Pysanky around Easter, check. Chinese Dragons at Chinese New Year, yup. And now some hearts at V-day... but they have so much meaning, I promise!
This was not an intentional Valentine's Day tie-in at all, actually. When I saw this project on Draw the Line At, I immediately changed my plans for that day's first grade art class so we could do this! It's a great and inclusive project that covers geometric shapes (which we were slated to study), collage, overlapping, symmetry, cutting, and more. And it's a great tie-in for those of you whose schools participate in the Jump Rope for Heart program like my schools do!
For details, check out Jen's post, and/or this post. I followed along with these ladies' instructions, though I used 9 x 9" poster board for the base (making the square paper 4.5 x 4.5") and Mod Podge as the adhesive.
Here are my first graders in action, and a few results!
I did not have stencils/tracers for the kids to use; some students needed help drawing a half-heart before cutting, while others dove in and experimented till success. I'm so glad I had the kids make their own heart shapes, as it brings individuality to each project.
I ended the lesson with a few slides of Jim Dine's work, to show the kids that a simple shape can be transformed into a beautiful work of art.
This is one of my favorite new projects. All 100-plus projects turned out beautifully, and that is really something!
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