In the art room...#10- Painting, Planting, Publicity and Portraits

Ya see that, I've been doing this roundup for 10 weeks. I think it's a habit now! This week was a bit short because we started Spring Break on Friday. We wrapped up our Youth Art Month celebration by having students vote in the Faculty Drawing Contest. Students wrote why they chose the artwork and I am looking forward to reading their responses. We also did our last scavenger hunt and student drawing challenge. Oh, and we did projects too. 

Oh, and we did projects too.

I spent the weekend in Albany. I am a Board of Trustees representative for the New York State Art Teacher Association. It was really productive, lots of ideas and discussions but I didn't feel like I had much of a weekend. Then came Monday. 

In the art room...#9- Glazing, St. Patrick's Day and Arts Fest

March has been insane. There are so many school and art events happening- it's awesome, but super busy! I can't wait for spring break!

So that being said, we had three days of art this week. 

In the Art Room...#8-Glazing, Youth Art Month & Art Shows

It's been a busy week. I feel like this is the first time I have had a chance to think about it. Students are finishing their clay projects and starting new ones. It's also Youth Art Month. I am hanging a ton of artwork. My Brain hurts.

We are finishing first grade wall hangers, kindergarten pinch pots, second graders slab boxes. I finished a new chip and dip bowl style this week too. 

In the Art Room...#7- Youth Art Month, Glue Sponges & Clay Projects

It's Youth Art Month!

It's March! Which means it's time to celebrate all things art education! 

If you aren't using this month to showcase your art program you should. It's a perfectly good reason to brag about how awesome your art students are and what an amazing program you are running. Seriously. Start bragging. 

So in case you hadn't figured it out. I spent the week encouraging my students to brag about our art program. Here is what down. 

I got to use our new display screens that were made by our BOCES students. A metal frame with a wire screen. I dropped SmartFab behind them to jazz them up. Sorta easier than taping. 

We are very fortunate that we can go into our building on the weekends. I spent several hours transforming the art room this weekend. I brought my trusty sidekick Libby because the school is dark and creepy and we have a phantom that flushes the the toilet periodically. 

The hallways are pretty dark at night.

Besides the hallway decorating, I do several activities for students to participate in. A weekly drawing challenge, a scavenger hunt (where they have to search the hallways and student artwork to find a tiny hidden picture of me) and a YAM Celebration and Art Show Night. All the students get this information and overview when they came to class this week. it takes 10-15 minutes and leaves us a bit of time to do some work. 

It's not to late to start your own celebration!!

 Head over to TeachersPayTeachers and get my Youth Art Month Starter Kit.

It is editable so you can modify it for your art room! 

Not too much art making this week with YAM introductions. Plus I wore skirts a few times and was pocketless/cameraless.

Took a workshop on classroom management. The video we watched had such horrible acting it was hilarious. More on what I actually learned soon. 

I decided to reclaim some clay first thing in the morning and got this dirty...

First graders rolled out slabs last week. They cut rectangles using stencils and fettling knives. They used slip and score for the first time to make their pockets for their wall hangers. Yes. They use knives and I make them roll their own slabs. I give them new clay so I am not being too hard on them. 

We used glue sponges for kindergartners this week. Cut sponges down, get them wet, stick them in a container, pour some glue on top and let it soak for a bit. Pour more glue on if you want. Perfect for sticking tissue paper or making collages. Cover with saran wrap between classes. Or get fancy and buy some gladware. My gladware is being used for slip right now. 

The kindergartners that were done with tissue paper made pinch pots. This is a one day project. We make flower pots out of these for Mother's Day. As long as it can hold water, dirt and a flower I am okay with it. I would rather have the students explore than make perfect matching pots. When done they get a bin of found objects and decorate. I love when they make their own patterns!  

If you didn't see this post week's post on my ThrowBack Thursday, go check it out. 

I have been saving my students portraits for 7 long years and was finally able to pull them outta storage and hang them this week. I paired their kindergarten portrait with their recently completed 6th grade portrait. Their reactions were priceless. 

The reveal. 

My, how they have grown! 

Seriously awesome stuff. 

We finished the week with Talent Show assembly. This is put on by our student council. Students practice their acts and the show is on Friday night. I love seeing how brave these students are getting up on stage in front of the whole school! 

Whew! Week one of Youth Art Month 2015 is in the books! 

Weekend here I come! 

#ThrowbackThursday - Art Teacher Style

I am beyond excited to reveal my #throwbackthursday to my 6th graders today!

I have been somewhat secretly been saving all their portraits since they were in kindergarten. In kindergarten, we made life size self portraits. It was my first year teaching elementary art and I had a grand idea that would take 7 years accomplish. What if we made portraits each year and then during their last year did a retrospective show?

Visiting Artist! Face Painting and Folklore with Christopher Agostino!

This past Friday we had an amazing visiting artist to our school, Christopher Agostino from Agostino Arts! 

Telling a story about the sun, moon and ocean. 

Christopher is storyteller and face painter. He tells amazing folklore and life stories all while painting the faces of volunteers (who turn in a permission slip). The experience is absolutely amazing and completely captures the students' imaginations. I was able to attend both performances- Pre-K through 2nd  and 3rd-6th. 

His visit was funded through our Arts In Education program that brings artists, performers and authors to our school. We chose the Storyteller program for our students. Our students were so entranced by his stories and waiting to see what the students faces turned in to. Christopher also has a great repertoire with students, he handles behaviors well and gently reminds students to sit on their bottoms, look at him when he picks volunteers and when to bring the noise level back down. The students would get very excited when he came off the stage to pick volunteers.

A simple set-up with outstanding results! 

All in all it was an amazing performance and I would highly recommend him as a visiting artist. I had several teachers complementing me on my arts-in-ed pick this year! 

Christopher has a variety of programs including classroom presentations. He is located in NYC and will visit the tri-state area. He had a 5-6 hour drive to visit our school and he performed at another elementary school in our district the day before. Check out more at Agostino Arts  and his book Transformations! I have about 100+ photos of day- I will share more soon! 

A few of our students-a fish and octopus! 

Have you had an amazing Arts-in-Ed performer? Please share!

Time to Celebrate Youth Art Month!

It's that time of year-Youth Art Month!! Every March since 1961 art teachers have been celebrating and advocating for young artists! There are tons of ways you can promote Youth Art Month in your school and district. Put your program out there and spread the word about all the awesome things you do! Contact you school's PR person, local newspaper and even tv station to share what you do! Head over to the NAEA website for more ideas and information. If you currently don't have anything to share during the month of March start planning for next year and check out my ideas here! You can even head to my TeachersPayTeachers page and get all the activities and handouts!

I spent last weekend decorating my room and hallway for our celebration. After this long winter some bright colors is what everyone needed, teachers and students are loving the makeover! 

Photos of students with their work and visiting bakers. 

Have you heard of SmartFab? I came across this product at the NAEA National Conference, fell in love and ordered big bright rolls of it this year. It's a lightweight fabric that is easy to cut and won't fade. It is so much easier to use than large paper. I was able to decorate by myself and not worrying about ripping or crinkling because this fabric is flexible. I am figuring out the best way to hang and make it stay put and have found duct tape works pretty well. I put it everywhere! I wrapped my big pole in it, put it around the tables and bookshelves, and made my own 'bulletin boards' (there is not board underneath it, just looks nicer than that green tile!). You can buy it in rolls or sheets from your favorite art supplier. I bought the 48x40 foot rolls in about 8 different colors. Not only can you decorate with this fabric, but you can use it for projects with your students because it is so easy to cut!