Christmas Posters

Students were designing Christmas Posters on the computer.  They were to show the main idea in the title and key details were the characters and setting.  This is a 2nd grade class after one day of working about 30 minutes.

Collaborative writing about MC Escher's Prints

  We are in the process of writing collaborative stories with 4th and 5th graders.  The students are in groups and writing parts of the final story.  They chose the print they wanted to write about and started writing knowing that another 3 groups will edit, add and change the story before they see it again.  I'll upload at least one final story.  This may not be complete until after Break.

This is the story so far without an ending...

One day a man and his kids were on the balcony watching the TV. When they were watching TV bob said “look a spaceship in the water” Emily said “I see it to” their dad said “ I do see it too.” So they went to the backyard to the water when the aliens came out and they were talking funny. They said “blab la bb la la la la la la la la la la la la la l la la”.  Once there was a big mansion with a big balcony that was modified by a famous illustrator. one day my balcony started getting bigger.  2 people were leaving a three-dimensional building popping out to eat. When they left they left the terrace door open. Right at that moment a man was walking by. A man looked up to the sky and when he did he saw that the terrace door was open with a beautiful plant sticking out. The man had an idea he built a jetpack to get up to the terrace. The first jetpack that he built was a flop. The second time he built a super pogo stick but it broke on its first jump. But the third thing he built was perfect he built a robot.  The robot suddenly started to spit fire and bake pies at the same time the robot ran to the balcony and yelled “yummy” really loud. The whole balcony started to shake from the loudness of the yell.  The robot went back inside and put the pies in the oven for extra heat. Aliens came to find the guy building the robot.    

The different colors of words are different editors.  Students were encouraged not to delete someone else's work, but could add more descriptive details.

Christmas Trees for Winter Performance

  To decorate for Winter Performance, K and 1st grade drew, collaged tissue paper, glittered using line and dots, and created a focal point at the top of the tree.  This will be updated as I take the photos of the student work.

Seeing Decorated Christmas Trees

Today, 24 2nd and 3rd graders saw the decorated trees for Caroline Hospice House.  The walking field trip to The Shed was a fun one.  They enjoyed seeing our tree and were all concerned about finding their own ornament.  I get the ornaments back on Sunday and will return them to the students next week.  A practical example of how to use art.

Working on Main Idea using Art

Because we are a TAP school, I have "homework assignments" that help me learn new things each week.  Right now the school is working on "Main Idea" in informational text.  As an art teacher, I can use my own medium art to help students look for main idea.  I also have them create main idea.  The fifth graders are working on hurricane landscapes.  These landscapes should have key details that support the main idea. Several students want their main idea to be that "Hurricanes are big storms," or "Hurricanes are destructive to property and people."  I was surprised when all the students had gotten their "main ideas" then realized that working backwards as they do in art that makes sense.  What I mean is that they brainstorm main ideas and key details, talk with partners and describe what they want to do, draw ideas on white boards, and finally start on a final drawing or painting.  We don't start the way a student reading a text would.  They look at key details, illustrations, table of contents, and bold print to infer a main idea.  This is more difficult in general than working on main idea, then adding key details that support it.  I'll add some drawings in progress.

Geotagging with the Art Club

  The 4th graders will explore geotagging tomorrow using a cell phone with GPS enabled and 4 photos taken near the school.  As a scavenger hunt they will try to find each of the 4 places near the school and carry out a drawing, find focal point, find an item for their landscapes, or find a background for their landscapes.  We will take photos and try to match the image and the coordinates using the GPS to find each location.

Hurricane Story for Art project

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I wrote and recorded a podcast for the 5th graders to hear as a way to make living through a hurricane more real to them.

Today I had an interesting idea to about drawing a Thanksgiving Feast still life.  The students were to draw one object as the focal point.  These were just line drawings to think about still life in that way.  I'll add photos.

Westward Expansion Letter

As a part of my graduate class, I created a podcast telling a story and details of a woman moving across the country during the Westward Expansion to introduce to the students.  I forgot how engaging storytelling can be; I told the woman's story.  I will let the students listen to the Audacity file.  That should work.

Festival of Trees

http://youtu.be/RGO7jYF6Zog
  This is an annual fundraiser for Caroline Hospice House.  The Caroline Hospice House
provides care for dying patients.  This fundraiser includes decorating Christmas trees, touring Christmas trees, and auctioning off trees to raise money for the organization.  The Town of Port Royal always buys a tree, and I help decorate the tree with child-made ornaments.  This last week has been getting ready for the tree decorating.  This year the tree display will be down the street at The Shed.  I'm taking 2nd and 3rd graders that made the ornaments to decorate and see the trees.  We will be going on Dec. 6.  This is the first time the students will get to see the tree they decorate.

 I want the students to see there are many ways and places that art is used.  There are many reasons to make art also like raising money for hospice care.

Four students helped me decorate and create this video.  Thanks to Eliana, Alan, Mackenzie, and Skylar.

Art Show at LowCountry Medical Group

  This show has been hung for about 2 weeks.  It will be up for the next 3 months.  I like the students' art to be hung, so they know their art is important.  This year I thought about videotaping the show, so the students that can't get there will see it.  Here it is. 

Observing Another Art Teacher

  How infrequently that I get to see other art teachers let alone watch them teach?!  I was lucky enough to observe a new teacher starting in my School District.  It was fun to watch her teach and interact with the students.  The students were kind enough to humor my "art teacher questions." I enjoyed looking around her room and seeing how she organized procedures and the lesson itself.  I've observed other teachers before, but never an art teacher since I started with the School District about 12 years ago.

Veteran's Day Program

Today was an interesting day preparing for Veteran's Day program.  The program was student-led.  Our 2nd and 3rd graders created stars and letters thanking our veterans for their service.  We also drew the 5 flags for the Armed Forces.  The students also interviewed veterans to find out about the military and why people joined.  I wanted the students to see how art makes connections with writing and interviews to present information they learned about veterans.  Happy Veteran's Day.

First day

I have subscribed to http://www.freetech4teachers.com/  and http://www.classroomchronicles.net/.  I'm not sure what to write in this blog.  Will continue tomorrow.