What I Did On My Christmas Vacation

During the holidays, I decided to focus on some personal arts and crafts. This allowed me to kills two birds with one stone, by allowing me to stay in a creative frame of mind as well as get some things done around the house.

On a Goodwill jaunt, I found some really cute handmade paper with dried flowers in some really beat up and mismatching frames. With a little paint, tape, 150 grit sandpaper and a little elbow grease, I was able to turn this:

Into this:

They now hang happily in my downstairs bath.



Sorry about the bad picture. I'll make a
better one when it's complete.



That little bit of exposure to paint had me itching to do a little more, so I found another old, beat up frame and started work on this:

It’s incomplete, at the moment, but a few finer touches should have it ready to hang very soon.

I also was pointed towards Pinterest on the web. I am hooked! I have found an amazing array of art lesson ideas, math lesson ideas (for Moving Math), hundreds of famous artworks as well as images of the artist themselves. I plan to use the variety of images as art prompts in the classroom very soon. I also have found hundreds of very interesting DIY techniques, and I decided to try one right before coming back to school. There is a project that involves an old frame as well as window screen to create. I didn't have a window screen handy, so I substituted an old doily from one of my grandmothers. I rarely put them out, and I can't bring myself to give them away. Now one is put to practical use!

Sans earrings

With earrings!

We're back in school mode now, and we're working on some great projects. K-1 are getting ready to produce Snowman Closeups, 2-3 are looking at the color wheel and pointillism, and 4-5 are painting Winter Cardinals. What can I say? I fell in love.

My best Christmas present came in the form of an email. I received notification from Donors Choose that my clay project for the students had been funded! I was SO very excited. You can take a look at my proposal here. I'm so encouraged by the whole experience, I plan to create a new, more ambitious proposal very, very soon. I can't tell you how impressed I am by this organization. If you're in the mood to give, this is a very deserving and trustworthy site.

Tidings of Comfort and Joy

A week ago, I mentioned my students had made holiday cards for the patients at our local VA facility. Students from Kindergaten to 5th grade made over 100 cards.

Today, these cards and many others were delivered to the patients. They were thrilled, and I'm thrilled the cards were such a hit. I cannot wait to share this with my students in January!

Another Cute Gift Idea

This has been around since the Stone Ages (literally), but it still makes a cute and personal gift.

I have a TON of old, discarded mat board that was donated to the Fine Arts department, and I cut some into about 4 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch squares. To complete the 'frame' I used some wallpaper scraps, and card stock, shorting each one about a 1/2 an inch.

I use the School Smart Metallic Tempra paint (LOVE IT!) for the fingerprints.

Since this was a mother gift, we used the thumb for the mother and the pinkie for the child.

After the paint dried, I added the bird features and the text.

For the gift bags, I found a pattern for a Reindeer Gift Bag complete with templates, if you like. I let the kids freehand their antlers, and we made a red construction paper nose to help hold the bag closed with the gift inside.

Cute, simple, easy and cheap. Only thing missing is glitter!

Sharing the Joy

My school is somewhat of an odd duck. We're a charter school in a low-income school zone. We are also America's Choice and Title 1. We have alot of chiefs and many hats to wear. While our students have every advantage at school, many have little or nothing at home. I wanted to encourage them to look beyond their own circumstances. I wanted them to see other people who need support and assistance as well. I decided my Wednesday classes would make holiday cards to take to the local Veterans' Administration hospital.

The kids actually enjoy the process, and after some explaining, really don't mind they are making something for someone else. Like all my projects, I provide support, step by step, as these students haven't yet developed the skill to work without close direction. We're working on becoming more independant, but we're not there yet. For the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade, we made cards with wall paper sample trees. I LOVE wallpaper books. They provide a variety of styles and prints, but only in a small amount, perfect for encouraging choice and design selection.

Our procedure was:

The kids really did a nice job with the lesson. And, like many of my projects a glitter bath was a requirement.



And, I apologize for the formatting of the pictures in this blog. I'm not sure what's going on!

Cute Gifts on the Cheap

Parents are always looking for cute, inexpensive gifts to give to teachers. We want to thank teachers for the wonderful job they do. However, it's not unusual for a child to have 6 or 7 teachers. Multiply that by 2 kids, and that's close to 15 gifts. It adds up quickly.

I try to find gifts that are cute, inexpensive and memorable. This year, when looking around on the web for holiday themed art projects, I ran across this cute reindeer pin on the DLTK site. I'm never one to just take things at face value (most art teachers aren't), and here's my take on the project.

First, old puzzle pieces. I chose the head and antler pieces carefully. For the head, I made sure it was an edge piece with a joint on the bottom. Antler had joints on each side. I painted them brown on the backside, so I wouldn't have to worry about covering the puzzle design.

Next, the trusty glue gun. I attached the antlers on the top, backside of the head.

Add a small red pom pom for the nose.

A couple of googly eyes.

And, a pin back.

 

Voila!

I happened to have all the necessary parts and pieces, but all of this can be picked up at any craft store.

Merry Christmas!

Polar Express and Cookies for Santa

It's 4 days and change before the December holiday break, and I decided it must be a good time to start an ART class blog of things we cover.  Each month the principal choses a book, and December's was The Polar Express. Right now, our school is in full Polar Express mode.

I have been asked to help promote the Polar Express, so I am showing a story video of Chris Van Allsburg reading the book. We discuss a bit, and then I turn the project over to the kids.

This time of year, ART teachers have to weigh the depth of the project vs. time vs. the children's attention span. I chose to use this time to work on some basic fine motor skills I've noticed lacking in some of my younger children. This week, Kindergarten and First Grade are making a plate of cookies for Santa. My students need this. Coloring inside the lines is a skill, and one many of my students don't have. They also have a lot of difficulty cutting, so I encorporated the two skills into one project.

I have the kids decorate their plate (leftover paper plate centers) and their cookies (on a coloring sheet).

After coloring the plate and the cookies, the students cut the cookies out and glue them onto their plate. I also have a glue mantra in my classroom. "Baby dots of glue".

The kids have fun, they are uselizing fine motor skills, and I have a quick project that keeps their attention for the classtime.

Win - Win.

Georgia Performance Standards:

VAKPR.2.j - Develops manual dexterity through craft techniques.
VA1PR.2.g - Develops manual dexterity through craft techniques.