Romero Britto

The kids were recently learning about Romero Britto, the Pop artist from Brazil. They love his bright colors and simple shapes. I only have 20 minutes with the Kindergarteners, so one day I showed them a quick video with him, and the next day they colored a sheet that I drew off in his style. The first graders drew their own versions of his fish, and they are adorable!

Tribute to James Rizzi

The kids absolutely loved doing this project! I must admit, it is one of my favorites so far this year. I showed the children photographs of Rizzi's whimsical paintings, and on Wikipedia, there are some great photos of the actual buildings he designed. I was so sad to find out he passed away just last year. The colors and designs are just perfect to replicate in a painting by children! Each student was given a heavy piece of paper, and either a sharpie or crayon depending on grade level. I showed them different ways to draw the buildings and let them go at it. Once the picture was drawn, they were allowed to go back to the paint tables to paint. I don't put the paint on the regular tables, because it seems to go better when they are separate. Anyway, here are the results. Fabulous!

Classroom re-do

Today was a productive day! We had meetings for a while, and this afternoon I got to work on my room! I am trying to move some things around, and I got started on my chalkboard with doodle frames wall! That makes sense, right? I have one wall in the back of my room that is sheet rock, (the rest are concrete block) and my principal gave me permission to paint on it! I have completed the basic rectangle shapes, and can't wait until I get to doodle with my favorite Sharpies on the wall! Fun, fun, fun!!! I will post pics when I finish. Have a great weekend! Back to school with kids on Monday, with lots to do to prepare for the upcoming Art Show!

Ready for some snow!

Ok, so tomorrow I have to go back to school. It's an in-service day, so there won't be any kids. Hopefully I will get my planning complete for the next couple of weeks! Dare to dream, baby! Before we got out for Christmas, the students made snowflakes from coffee filters. I turned this into a math lesson by discussing fractions! First, you fold the filter in 1/2. Then fold again in 1/4's, then 1/8th's, then 1/16ths. That is about as far as we can go! Then I showed them how to cut the snowflakes from the sides and edge, without cutting through. Before the kids actually cut the coffee filters, I showed them the website where you can make virtual snowflakes This really helped them figure out how to cut the filters. (By the way, I bought the filters at the Dollar Tree, which made this project quite economical!) Here you see the beautiful outcome! These were all made by 5th graders!

Happy New Year!!!

My one little word for this year is DO. I have a bad habit of wanting to wait until I have everything under control and knowing just what needs to be done, and I run out of time. So, here is one of my goals for this year- I am going to post my successful art lessons in order to share with those other Art teachers out there who just need some inspiration. I know that there are lots of blogs out there, but I am determined to make this one very useful to those who need it! I have many photographs that I have taken and I have decided to collage them instead of posting numerous ones. Maybe soon you will find some inspiration from this blog! If you do, please leave a comment...I am really into positive affirmations! (Just ask my kids!) So anyway, cheers to a new year guys, we are all in this together!