Archives for category: art & oral language

Design a Postage Stamp

February 11, 2014 //

I don’t know about you, but I feel like the USPS really outdid itself with the release of this heart stamp… just in time for mailing out your Valentines the old-school way.

Have you ever stopped to consider postage stamps as art? (I’ll wait while you consider it.) They’re like teeny-tiny little canvases hiding out in plain sight in the midst of our everyday lives! By calling attention to postage stamps, you begin to get your students thinking about the fact that someone has to design those stamps. Someone has to come up with an idea and then create the artwork that eventually becomes the stamp that gets printed and used by many, many people! (Talk about great exposure!)

Now consider having your students design their own postage stamps. The beauty of this art lesson is that the subject matter is virtually limitless, meaning you can connect it to any subject you are teaching! Learning about geography? Students design stamps based on geography! Reading a certain book? Students design stamps based on something related to that book! It’s Black History Month? Your students can design stamps based on someone they admire that you are currently studying! Learning the alphabet? Students design stamps based on the first letter of their names! It’s genius, right?!

Keep the materials simple for this lesson: A sheet of 9X12 inch drawing paper (plain white construction paper — or even 8.5X11 inch copy paper will do in a pinch) for each child, with two 3X4 inch rectangles on it. (Depending on the age and ability levels of your students, this could be a great opportunity for them to practice their measuring skills.) Then you just need some drawing tools… whatever you have on hand like crayons, colored pencils, and fine tip markers.

I would spend a few minutes talking with your students about postage stamps and maybe even have some actual stamps to show them. There is a tremendous variety so you won’t have any trouble finding some that they will be able to relate to and get excited about. For example, click here to see some wonderful Harry Potter themed stamps. (Be sure to put all samples away once your students begin designing their own.)

Tell them that you’re going to have them work about 4 times larger than an actual stamp, so they’ll have a nice big surface to decorate. (For the very young, you might want them to work even larger than the 3X4 inch rectangle suggested.)

Then talk about the subject matter you’d like them to use for their stamp designs. As mentioned above, your options are many here. In my experience, it’s best to decide ahead of time what the “theme” will be rather than telling them they can design “anything”. Sometimes having no restrictions becomes almost paralyzing, and trust me — you’ll still get a tremendous amount of variety within your theme. (Unless you say something very specific like, “Everyone design a stamp with George Washington on it.” You get the idea.)

Depending on how involved you want to get, when the stamp designs are finished, you can use a single hole punch to punch around the edges of the stamps to make realistic looking perforations, or you can use scissors with different edged blades to get a similar look. Still looking for more? How about having your students write something about their stamp design and why they did what they did? Or perhaps they can write a short piece about the subject of their stamp? Ask them to share what they’ve drawn and written with a neighbor or the whole class, and you’ve got some oral language thrown into the mix!

Have fun with this, and please share your results if you try it with your students. I’d love to see how it goes!

Categories 21st Century Skills, Art, art & math, art & oral language, art & science, art and language arts, art and writing, Art Education, art lesson, career choice, creative process, critical thinking, drawing, fun, holiday, holiday lesson, illustrations, lesson idea, personal statement, postage stamp designs, postage stamps, Uncategorized, visual representation

Art Lesson: Holiday Streamers

December 2, 2013 //

With the holiday season upon us, what better way to decorate your classroom, or another location at school, than by having your students make some festive, one-of-a-kind holiday streamers?! This idea can be used at any grade level, and materials can be as simple or as complex as you’d like them to be.

MATERIALS: You will pre-cut one long, thin strip of butcher paper for each child in your class, plus a few extras in case of any “disasters”. 🙂 A good size for these strips would be about 6 inches wide by about 5 or 6 feet long. Decide what materials you’d like them to use to decorate their banners. Depending on your time frame, the age and skill levels of your students, and how involved you want to get, materials can range from crayons only to things like, construction paper and glue, cotton, buttons, brads, tissue paper, and more. You might consider limiting their color choices, so that all designs will be created using red, green, and black for example.

MOTIVATION: Before distributing the banners and supplies, tell your students that they are each going to decorate their paper strip with a vertical (tall) design. This means that they will work from top to bottom and not from left to right as they usually do. Talk about all the possibilities for holiday images including things like designs, lettering, and symbols. Time spent brainstorming before you distribute supplies will pay off greatly once everyone gets to work. In fact, you might consider making a list of things during brainstorming, so that students have something to return to if they feel stuck. (Great language arts connection opportunity, too!) Be sure to stress that the decorations for these streamers need not only be “representational” art. (Art that looks like something.) Images of pure design (nonrepresentational art) can be fantastic here, too. (New vocabulary words!) This will help alleviate stress for those students who might be insecure about their drawing skills.

Once everyone starts working, you might get questions about how to draw this or that. The way I handle this is to “talk them through it” without solving it for them. Ask them questions about the thing they want to draw or represent, leading them to create something themselves. Depending on your students, you might make little pieces of scratch paper available, so they can work out some rough sketches before committing their idea to their banner. This kind of thinking and decision making is a vital part of any meaningful art experience and distinguishes it from merely being a “craft project”.

Once completed, the streamers can be suspended from a line stretched across your room or will even look spectacular if they are taped or stapled to the walls. If you don’t have space in your room for display, perhaps you might consider hanging them in the front office, library, hallway, or cafeteria? If time permits, invite students to describe their streamer decorations and talk about why they did what they did with the class. (Oral language!) Or perhaps you might have them write about their streamer decorations and their decision making during the creative process. (Written language!) If you really want to try something fun, consider introducing the idea of a “critique”. This teaches students how to be careful observers, and how to speak respectfully to each other about the work that has been done. A thoughtful critique also shows students how many other creative solutions there are to any given art problem. When the time comes for winter break, the streamers can be simply rolled up and held with a rubber band or paperclips to be taken home for family and friends to enjoy.

For more ready-to-use art lesson plans, consider registering for my affordable, convenient, self-paced classes here.

Categories affordable professional development, Art, art & oral language, art and language arts, art and writing, Art Courses, Art Education, art evaluation, art lesson, art vocabulary, brainstorming, convenient professional development, creative process, critical thinking, critique, distance learning, drawing, fun, holiday, holiday lesson, horizontal, independent thinking, lesson idea, nonrepresentational, Professional Development, realistic drawing, representational, self-paced professional developemnt, symbols, Uncategorized, vertical, visual representation

The Magnificent Colors of Fall

October 8, 2013 //

I love this time of year! This season of magnificent color presents an exciting opportunity for students to notice and record what they observe happening around them. If your students aren’t already keeping “art journals”, I suggest that now is the time to have them start! You can read my earlier posts about the ease of setting up and using art journals here, here, and here. There’s also a post here about observational drawing that you might find helpful.

My proposal is simple. Have your students observe leaves, one at a time — over time — as they change colors throughout the fall. While many different approaches are possible, I would suggest that you begin by simply having them each select one leaf to bring into the classroom. For this first observation, I would encourage you to suggest that they look for leaves that are primarily green. You might say something like, “We’re going to go outside (to some specific area) and spend just a few minutes while you each find one green leaf to bring back inside our classroom.” This sets a few basic parameters as well as your expectations: A) we will all be staying in the same area together, and B) we will be spending a very short amount of time doing this.

Once back inside, the process of carefully observing their leaves can begin. (Having each student set his or her leaf on a small, pre-cut square of black or white construction paper will help simplify the background, and will make each leaf seem “special” as if on display.) I would not have any pencils or paper out at this time to help focus their attention on their leaves only, and on LOOKING. Oral language and sharing would be great here… what do they see? Students can share their observations with a neighbor. Perhaps you could make a list of class observations. Vocabulary words like line, form, shape, color, and texture can be introduced or reinforced.

When it’s time to draw, journals/paper, pencils, erasers, color pencils, crayons and anything else you might make available can be distributed and the drawing can begin. You might encourage your students to draw one large image, or perhaps you might encourage them to draw several smaller images — or “studies” — of the same leaf from different angles. (This is great for those students who always finish at light speed! Ask them to move their leaf and take another look at it from this different angle.) Most of all, encourage them to take their time, to slow down, and to really look at what makes their particular leaf special and unique. The trick to observational drawing is to actually draw what you see in front of you, not what you THINK you see. Every child in your class has seen a leaf, and generally knows what leaves look like, but today you want them to do the best drawing they can of the particular leaf that is right in front of them.

If you have the time and the inclination, you might attach a writing component to this activity, having students describe what they see, or perhaps how they felt looking at their leaf and trying to draw it, or maybe even compose a poem about it. This writing could be as structured or as “free form” as you want it to be. The writing and drawings can be shared aloud with a partner and/or with the class. Another idea is to have everyone leave their journal open on their desk (or their paper out) and everyone moves around the room doing a “journal walk” or “gallery walk” to enjoy everyone’s work. (If this type of activity is new for your students, you might need to spend some time talking about how important it is to value all efforts, and to stick to constructive comments.)

As you notice the leaves changing colors over the next several days or weeks, explore this same process all over again, but this time you will encourage your students to select leaves that are say, yellow. Maybe a few days or weeks after that, everyone will select red leaves. Reinforce for your students how amazing it is that while you are returning to the same area over and over again for leaves, they have changed color dramatically.

This simple, multi-step journaling practice can be repeated using a multitude of subjects, some of which include growing plants, trees budding out in the spring, or something rotting like a small piece of fruit — kids LOVE the gross-out factor of this last one! Once kids get the hang of what you expect from them out of this process, this type of drawing can even be something that your students can do independently like at a station or center, or perhaps when other work has been finished. When practiced frequently, observational drawing is so much more than an art exercise for students, but rather it becomes a thoughtful, meaningful way of viewing, thinking about, and of understanding their world.

Categories 21st Century Skills, Art, art & oral language, art & science, art and language arts, art and writing, Art Education, Art Journals, art lesson, Autumn, color, Common Core, creative process, critical thinking, drawing, effort and involvement, elements of art, Expectations for art experiences, fun, group lesson, Homeschool, illustrations, independent thinking, lesson idea, line, observational drawing, realistic drawing, shape and form, texture, Uncategorized, visual reference, visual representation, vocabulary, warm colors

Art Lesson: My Life Pop-Up Book

April 25, 2013 //

With graduation season upon us, and another school year drawing to a close, this is a great time to help students think about where they’ve been, where they are, and where they’re headed. The “My Life” pop-up book is a small, three-section book that invites students to think about significant events/people/places from their past and present, and to imagine their future. Breaking the book down into these three main time-frames will enable your students to more easily focus on significant details without being overwhelmed.

Here’s what you’ll need: Sheets of 9×12 inch construction paper in a variety of colors, construction paper scraps, scissors, tape, staples, glue, and markers. You might also want to include other materials such as brads, cotton, yarn, buttons, ribbon, string, fabric scraps, hole punches, and construction paper sheets larger than 9×12.

Each child will ultimately need 6 sheets of construction paper — 1 sheet for each of the three pop-up sections, and 1 “backing sheet” for each section. Because this book will consist of 3 separate sections, students may begin on any section they choose — past, present, or future. After all sections are complete, the book may be assembled in the correct order.

Begin by demonstrating how to make a simple pop-up tab. Fold one sheet of 9×12 inch construction paper in half, and make two parallel cuts along the folded edge for each pop-up tab you want to have, like this:

After cutting, open your paper, and push the tabs you just cut to the “inside” of your folded paper. Close the folded paper with your tabs inside. When you open the folded paper back up, your tabs should stand up like this:

Elements that will pop-up when the book is opened will be attached to the front of these “tabs”. Encourage your students to get fully involved in the surface decoration of each section of their book using construction paper scraps and any other materials that you have provided. For example, if their own birth is the significant event from their past that they want to represent, perhaps they will have a small crib as one pop-up element, with another being a large cut-out of the numbers for the year they were born. The “background” of the scene could be decorated like a wall in the baby’s room, and the “foreground” area decorated like the “floor” of that room. In other words, encourage the creation of entire settings or scenes to fully represent their significant event/place/person, etc.

Depending on the age and ability levels of your students, a bit of writing for each section can be included to add depth and description to what they’ve created visually.

After a section is complete, a second sheet of construction paper should be folded in half and attached to the back of the section sheet like this:

Once all three sections — and their backing sheets — are finished, the sections can be connected together using staples, double-sided tape, or glue. (Hint: you’ll need to be very patient if you use glue!) If you desire, you can have the students decorate the “cover” sheet of their book. For a more finished look, you can wrap a larger sheet of construction paper around the outside of all three sections of the book, and after attaching it, trim off any excess. (A 9×12 sheet won’t be large enough once you’ve connected all three sections of the book together.) This then can be decorated as the cover.

Not only will you learn a great deal about your students during this process, but they will love sharing the highlights of their lives with you and with their friends.

Interested in more fun art ideas like this one? Check out the affordable, self-paced, and convenient professional development art classes I teach through Fresno Pacific University here!

Categories 21st Century Skills, 3-D Art Lesson, affordable professional development, Art, art & oral language, art and language arts, art and writing, Art Courses, Art Education, art lesson, background and foreground, books, convenient professional development, creative process, critical thinking, distance learning, effort and involvement, Fresno Pacific University, fun, Homeschool, independent thinking, lesson idea, personal statement, Professional Development, self esteem, self-paced professional developemnt, symbols, Uncategorized, visual representation

Art Lesson: Career Cubes

April 24, 2013 //

It’s never too early to encourage students to begin thinking about careers that interest them. This simple, yet powerful art experience called “Career Cubes” is a fun way to do just that, while incorporating critical thinking, writing and even a little research if you desire.

You will need the following materials: Light-weight cardboard — used file folders work great here, masking tape, construction paper scraps, scissors, glue, color pencils, crayons, and markers. Additionally, things like yarn or string, staplers, brads, and discard magazines could also be included.

Each child will need 6 light-weight cardboard squares. They can be any size, but I’ve found 4 inches by 4 inches to be a nice, workable surface. Depending on the age and ability level of your students, measuring and cutting out their 6 squares can be great math practice. You could also provide a template for tracing, or you could provide the squares to them already cut out. (The more carefully the squares are measured and cut, the better the resulting cube will fit together.)

The reason 6 individual squares are used, rather than a “cube pattern”, is that the separate squares provide a more challenging set of 6 individual compositions, and a more interesting approach to cube construction.

I would suggest deciding ahead of time what your expectations are for each side of the career cubes. (Your specific requirements for your students will vary greatly based upon the age and ability levels of your students, but even for the very young, I would be sure you have some sort of guidelines established for them.) For example, if your students are older, you might require the following: One side devoted to “naming” the career, three sides will be visual representations of that career, one side will be a written statement about why the student has chosen that career — or is interested in that career — and one side devoted to some basic research on the career such as schooling required, etc., for a total of six sides.

Before handing out the first square, encourage discussion and brainstorming about what types of careers your students are interested in. Talk with them about how different careers could be visually represented… for example, what sort of symbols might one make if they wanted to become an architect? A nurse? Make a list if you like of the many possibilities your students come up with. After you feel your students have been sufficiently motivated, concentrating on only one square at a time, have your students begin the process of surface decoration. Depending on your available art supplies, the squares could be decorated with a variety of materials, or you might limit them to just using cut and/or torn construction paper. The choice is yours. If you decide to require a written component, you might like students to write in their own best handwriting, or perhaps you’d like them to write and compose something on the computer that they can attach to one square. Depending on your schedule, you might have students work on this in one, uninterrupted block of time, or perhaps you might break the process into smaller, shorter work sessions. (Squares, along with bits and pieces, can be easily stored in ziplock bags while in progress.) Lots of options here to make this work for your students, your curricular objectives, and your time frame.

When all 6 sides of a student’s career cube are complete, the cube can be constructed. First, lay out four sides. Be sure to leave a small amount of space between squares to serve as a “hinge”, and tape with masking tape like this:

Then attach the remaining two sides to the four you just taped like this:

Now bring all sides together to form a cube and tape securely.

Masking tape used neatly on the “outside” of the cube is fine and can become part of the surface decoration. Once complete, each student will have created a unique, concrete representation of his or her desired career choice. Career cubes are fun displayed individually on student desks, stacked up as a group, or can even be hung from the ceiling if you are clever. Your students will love not only making them, but looking at them as well!

Categories 21st Century Skills, 3-D Art Lesson, Art, art & math, art & oral language, art and language arts, art and writing, art lesson, brainstorming, career choice, creative process, critical thinking, Expectations for art experiences, fun, group lesson, independent thinking, lesson idea, personal statement, reading, self esteem, symbols, Uncategorized, visual reference, visual representation

Free Art Kits!

April 12, 2013 //

I’m so excited to introduce something brand new on my blog! I’m calling them “Art Kits”, and it’s super easy to be entered into a drawing to win one.

Each Art Kit is valued at over $100.00, and includes everything you see in the photo above, as well as an easy to follow, step-by-step lesson plan and 50 sheets of white drawing paper — And it can be YOURS for FREE!

I’ll be giving away a kit exactly like the one you see pictured above, every three months for the next year — that’s four kits in all! This is called Art Kit #1: Observational Drawing: Sea Shells. In addition to all of the fun stuff you see in the photo, you’ll also get a step-by-step lesson plan that you can use in your classroom immediately. (No art experience on your part is required or necessary.)

Students of all ages will love looking through their magnifying glasses to see a detailed view of any one of the interesting shells included. The lesson plan will walk you through an easy to present lesson that will encourage your students to carefully observe a shell and then create an original drawing of what they see. Soft lead pencils and special erasers will help them get their drawings “just right”. They will be thrilled to then add color with chalk using the ordinary blending tools of cotton balls and Q-tips! In addition to the excitement of creating art, you’ll see lots of valuable curriculum connection possibilities for your students in science, math, and language arts.

Here’s how to win!

1) Register for one or more of the affordable, convenient, self-paced Professional Development Art Classes that I teach through Fresno Pacific University here. Each registration will earn you 6 Entries into the Art Kit drawing.

2) Refer a colleague who registers for one or more of my courses and you’ll earn another 6 Entries into the Art Kit drawing. (I must be notified via email of the name of the person who made the referral in order for them to be given their 6 entries for that referral.)

3) Comments on my blog or Facebook page will each earn 1 entry into the Art Kit drawing. (Only one comment per person, per day will count towards entry into the drawing.)

Registrations, referrals, and comments will earn entry into the Art Kit drawings based on the following time table:

April-May-June: Winner’s name drawn on July 1, 2013

July-August-September: Winner’s name drawn on October 1, 2013

October-Nov-Dec: Winner’s name drawn on January 1, 2014

January-February-March: Winner’s name drawn on April 1, 2014

As you can see above, I’m breaking the year into quarters with April-May-June being the first block of time for the first Art Kit drawing. So for example, all course registrations received, colleagues referred & registered, and comments made from April 1, 2013 until June 30, 2013 will be included, and I will draw the winning name on July 1, 2013. Then the process begins again for July-August-September and so on, until the fourth and final Art Kit winner is drawn on April 1, 2014.

So what are you waiting for? Head on over to Fresno Pacific University and register for one of my art classes! Then get a friend or colleague to do the same! While you’re on a roll, comment on any of my blog posts or head on over to my Facebook page and get typing! You can’t win one of these great kits if you don’t enter… so get going and get excited!

(If you’d like to purchase Art Kit #1: Observational Drawing: Sea Shells, please contact me via email for information at JGomasFaison@gmail.com)

Categories affordable professional development, Art, art & math, art & oral language, art & science, art and language arts, art and writing, Art Courses, Art Education, Art Kit, art lesson, art supplies, color, convenient professional development, creative process, distance learning, drawing, enter to win, Free, Fresno Pacific University, fun, giveaway, group lesson, illustrations, lesson idea, observational drawing, Professional Development, realistic drawing, Sea Shells, self-paced professional developemnt, Uncategorized

Earth Day Hats

March 23, 2013 //

Looking for a unique and creative way to celebrate Earth Day with your students this year? Allow me to suggest Earth Day hats! (Pictured above is a basic, undecorated scored paper hat shown from the side/back.)

The idea here is to have each student in your class create a hat, and then decorate it using Earth Day as the theme. While the basic hat shapes will be the same, each child’s surface decoration will be distinct and unique, making each hat a personal statement about how that child feels about protecting and celebrating the earth.

You will need one sheet of 18X24 inch construction paper for each child in your class — color choice is up to you. You will also need a stapler, any type of glue, scissors, and lots and lots of discard materials for the students to choose from. This could be anything from a scrap paper box, to things like, ribbon, buttons, cotton balls, tooth picks, fabric, feathers, tissue paper, brads, yarn, pipe cleaners, glitter, etc. This art experience is the perfect time to use up a variety of random things you have on hand, and to recycle old things into something fresh, fun, and new!

To make a basic hat, just make one simple scored line in a half circle shape on the long side of a sheet of 18X24 inch construction paper. (See diagram below.) If you’ve never scored paper before, you will simply drag the pointy end of a pair of scissors — or even the tip of a paper clip that’s been bent open will do — gently across the paper. This “scored” line that you’ve just created will allow you to then fold the paper along this curved line. (Scoring as a technique is amazing! Once you start exploring it, you’ll be hooked!) Attach points A and B together with a staple, and you’re done. Super simple! (In the photo at the top of this post, you can see this stapled connection point at the back of the hat.) If you’re working with very young students, it might be a good idea to have the hats made ahead of time for them so that they are all ready to be decorated. Scoring takes a little bit of practice so as not to cut through the paper while you’re doing it, but after a few tries, you will learn what amount of pressure is just right.

If Earth Day is going to be your theme for hat decoration, it might be a good idea to spend some time talking with your students about all of the different ways they could decorate their hats to show how they feel about protecting and celebrating the earth. They could cut out letters to include words on their hats, they could cut out, or tear out, and create symbols to place on their hats (think earth, sun, clouds, water, plants), they could add fun, three dimensional things to their hats such as paper streamers, ribbons, and more. (I would strongly suggest that you not use drawing materials such as markers, crayons, or pencils for hat decoration, as drawings tend to lack the excitement and involvement that other types of surface decoration provide.) Perhaps this brainstorming could be captured as a list that the students could refer back to while they work?

By this time, your students will be highly motivated to get started creating their hat masterpieces, so there is little left to do beyond getting their hats and materials distributed to them. They will have a blast making something that is such a personal statement, and the fact that they will be able to wear them when they’re complete just sweetens the deal. (I’m envisioning a photo op in here somewhere!) Have fun with this, and I’d love to hear how it goes if you decide to try it! (Pictured below is a basic, undecorated scored paper hat from the front.)

Categories April Lesson Idea, Art, art & oral language, art and language arts, Art Education, art from recycled materials, art lesson, art supplies, brainstorming, color, creative process, critical thinking, decorated paper hats, Earth Day, Earth Day Lesson, effort and involvement, fun, independent thinking, lesson idea, Paper Hats, paper scoring, personal statement, recycle, recycled art, recycled materials, shape and form, Uncategorized

February Lesson: Bouquet of Hearts

January 22, 2013 //

With February right around the corner, here is a simple and fun art lesson that will teach your students some important lessons about giving, and about the value of working together, all while challenging them to be creative.

The basic materials required for the Bouquet of Hearts lesson are things I’m sure you have on hand already such as, construction paper, glue, tape, staples, and scissors. For extra embellishments, check around for any fun and unusual materials you might have for the kids to work with like, glitter, ribbon, yarn, buttons, rhinestones, cotton, lace, brads, and so on. You’ll also want something to use as “stems” — like small wooden skewers that can be found in most grocery stores.

Begin by talking to your students about flowers and bouquets. Talk with them about Valentine’s Day as being a day traditionally reserved as a day to proclaim love for others, and tell them you have an idea for how they can participate in this. Tell your students that they will make their own “flowers” out of hearts using all of the fun materials you have provided for them, and that you will be gathering these special paper “flowers” that they make into bouquets that can then be given away. At this point it would be a good idea to have decided how you’re going to distribute their bouquets… will they be going to someone at your school such as your principal, or maybe to a local senior citizen’s center or hospital? In my experience, the students love knowing who the recipient(s) will be. I’ve also found that it’s important to ask them before they even begin, if they are ok with the idea of making their art specifically to give it away. They always are. 🙂

So using heart shapes as the basis for their “flower”, allow students the freedom to explore both cutting and tearing construction paper. They might want to use layers of heart shapes to create their flowers, as well as combine several different colors of paper. Once the foundation of the heart “flower” has been established, encourage your students to utilize the variety of decorative materials you have made available for their use. Once their “flowers” are complete, and have been allowed to dry if necessary, attach their “flower” to a stick or “stem”. You may also want to have them use crepe paper to wrap the stick and perhaps even make construction paper leaves.

When all of the “flowers” have been completed, stand them in a container such as a vase or flower pot. If desired, you could place a small ball of clay in the bottom of the container first to help the “flowers” stand. Lead your students to see that while each of their “flowers” are fantastic on their own, when grouped together, they become magnificent! Each individual “flower” makes an important contribution to the whole bouquet.

At this point, the bouquets are ready to be presented to the lucky recipients. For a meaningful language arts connection, students could be asked to write a brief note to the recipient(s) of their work. I did a project very similar to this one with my continuation high school art classes, and I’m telling you they worked harder and with more focus on this experience — that they knew was going to a local residential facility for senior citizens — than on anything we did before or after it. They encouraged each other to keep working so that every person at that facility would get something from them. It was touching and inspiring.

Categories 21st Century Skills, Art, art & oral language, art and language arts, art and writing, art lesson, art supplies, color, cooperation, creative process, critical thinking, February Art Lesson, fun, gift idea, group lesson, holiday, holiday lesson, lesson idea, self esteem, Uncategorized, Valentine Art Lesson, Valentine Lesson Idea, Valentine's Day

Secret Door Ornament

November 14, 2012 //

Here’s a fun way to engage your students’ powers of critical thinking while allowing them to explore their individuality and creativity at the same time. The “Secret Door Ornament” is a lesson that works for virtually any grade level, is easy to present to your students, and uses materials you probably already have on hand at home or in your classroom.

You will need the following: construction paper in a variety of colors, glue or paste or rubber cement, crayons and/or markers, tape, scissors, and old magazines. Optional items could include things such as yarn, glitter, buttons, brads, cotton balls, rubber stamps, sticker dots, and more.

Depending on the age of your students, you will want to either have large ornament shapes pre-cut, or allow your students to draw and cut out their own shapes. (I would suggest using 9X12 or 12X18 inch construction paper for this.) Invite the children to decorate their ornaments any way they like using any materials you have available for them. For older students, expectations could be set very high and be very specific about the level of involvement and sophistication you expect in their surface decorations. Once anything that needs to dry has been allowed to do so, cut the secret door flaps in the ornament. (You might want to do this part depending, again, on the age of your students.)

Next, have the kids look through old magazines for a picture of their own “special wish” that will be placed “inside” their ornament. These wishes could be anything such as a vacation, a toy, or even a special thought. What matters most is that it has special meaning for the child. (You could opt to have your students draw their wish if you don’t have magazines available.)

Finally, have each student tape their special wish to the BACK of their ornament so that it will show through when the secret door is opened. The kids are fascinated with this and will have fun opening the little doors again and again to reveal the special wishes of their classmates. (Be sure to display these on a wall or bulletin board so that your students can reach them.)

While these large ornaments are spectacular and fun for their own sake, opportunities abound for connections to other areas of your curriculum. For example, ornament decoration could be related to a specific area of your curriculum such as science, math, social studies, or even to a book the class is reading. You can make many language arts connections by having students share orally with the class — or even just to a buddy — about their secret wish and why they selected it. You might ask students to journal about the process of decorating their ornament, selecting their special wish, and about what makes that wish meaningful to them. These journal entries could be kept between teacher and student, or could be shared with the class.

Categories Art, art & math, art & oral language, art & science, art and language arts, art and writing, Art Journals, art lesson, art supplies, books, bulletin boards, creative process, critical thinking, drawing, Expectations for art experiences, fun, holiday lesson, lesson idea, Uncategorized

Art, Language Arts, And A Free Giveaway

November 9, 2012 //

Today’s post is about a really great series of art books that I think would make an excellent addition to any classroom library. These little books, “Getting To Know The World’s Greatest Artists”, are written and illustrated by Mike Venezia. Apart from their availability (Amazon.com) and their great price ($6.95), each of these terrific little books presents a succinct focus on one artist in an informal, engaging, and highly informative way.

Whether teaching first grade or high school, I always kept a variety of these books in my classroom’s library. When I taught first grade I read these books to my students, and they loved hearing them over and over again. When “reading” on their own, my young students would consistently select these books to enjoy by themselves or with a reading buddy. My high school students perused these same books, and I believe they enjoyed and appreciated learning about the famous artists in a more “relaxed” way than they might otherwise have through a typical art history textbook.

One look through these books will win you over to Mr. Venezia’s engaging, conversational style. He makes the artists seem like people who might have lived in your town and perhaps even been a neighbor. Through words and pictures, he brings each artist to life by revealing them to be real people we all can relate to. People who accomplished great things — yes, but people who struggled and suffered through hardships as well. Reading these books is so engaging and is so much fun, kids of all ages might not realize how much they are actually learning!

If you’d like to receive one of these books by Mike Venezia, just leave a comment on this blog post. The first 10 people to leave me a comment by Friday, November 30, 2012, 5 p.m. (PST) will each get one free book from this series of “Getting To Know The World’s Greatest Artists” books. (Artist subject of the books will vary and cannot be specified by the recipient. One comment/entry per person, please.)

Giveaway Update: As of 11/14/12, I still have 4 books left to give away!

Categories Art, art & oral language, art and language arts, Art Education, artist, books, Common Core, Common Core State Standards, critical thinking, Free, free book, fun, giveaway, illustrations, reading