Alexander Calder Inspired Fish

I love teaching my third grade students about Alexander Calder. They find it fascinating to learn that he invented the mobile. I love showing them the image Lobster Trap and Fishtail. It is always great to hear what they think the image is. Building off of this I create hanging stuffed fish. I use 9x12 inch drawing paper. I model how to draw a fish on the board and have them follow along. Once they have their fish drawn they decorate the fish. I have them use the window as a light table to trace the other side of their fish (make sure you have the front and back of the fish lined up for when it is stuffed). Once they are finished I staple the fish leaving the top open so they can stuff it. Once the fish is stuffed I finish stapling it. I use fish line to hang the fish up. My students were very excited to come back from vacation and see their fish hanging in the hall.

Exciting Things Happening

There have been many exciting things happening in my classrooms since my first blog post. Too many to post about. This blog post will be an overview of what has been happening. The following two photos are Kindergarten Landscapes.

They reinforce shape. The supplies needed for this activity are construction paper, in different sizes and colors, scissors, and glue sticks. The next image is a project that second grade made using markers. They worked with line and shape.

The following project was made by grade five.

For this project the students made three-dimensional letters. I have them use their initials. The next step is to decorate the letters with markers. Once they are finished with decorating their letters a background is created. The background covers the entire page. The background can be in crayon or colored pencil. As an art teacher I have found it is important to continue to make art. The last few months I was able to do that through a class I took. I found by doing this it made me a better teacher. I was more enthusiastic. I feel we sometimes lose that when all we do is teach and stop learning and creating. Below are some of the pieces I made in the class I took.

My goal is to continue to keep creating art. I hope yours is too if you are an art teacher. If you are not find something that makes you happy and do it.

Here I Go!!!

I have been wanting to do a professional blog for a while. This is my first post for it. This is my 12th year teaching art. I truly love what I do. I can honestly say I go to work and have fun everyday. Below are a few examples of what I do:

The above weaving mats were made by Second Grade. They used Rainbow Weaving Kits from Nasco. They each made two weaving mats. When they were finished they mounted them onto black construction paper. The results were wonderful!! av

The above butterflies were made by Kindergarten. They used coffee filters that were painted with metallic watercolor paints. After the paints dried I let them pick a pipe cleaner to make the body of their butterfly. I formed the body for them with a pipecleaner. Some of their teachers added their butterflies to their spring murals.

The two pictures above are the Second Grades before and after pinch pots that were made last year. I find all students are the elementary level love clay!!