If you came into the art room lately, you may have heard kids talking about whether they could afford to buy bottle caps or a balloon, or asking whether I take returns. You may have seen kids in deep discussions about what supplies they really need and what they could live without. You may have seen me handing back change after they handed me a dollar and thanking them for doing business with me.
So what’s the deal? Have I started actually charging kids for their supplies?! YES!!!!
6 Maple Winners!
Snowstorm Stella is approaching, and we’re in full snowflake alert mode in the art room today. All art students are taking a break from business as usual and competing in a SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE!
Kids are being given a variety of paper choices and are challenged to each create a snowflake using whatever method they want. Snowflakes can be 2D or 3D, and can be any shape or size. After 20 minutes of research and development, kids are marching two by two up to the second floor and dropping their snowflakes off the stairwell. Each head to head match yields a winner- the kid whose snowflake takes the longest to hit the ground.
Giulia tries a 3D design
Today the two go hand in hand. STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) in the classroom is a big part of the ever evolving art curriculum, and today we are sneaking a little engineering into the festivities. Talk of drag, weight and surface area can be heard as kids are designing their flakes. They’re testing their theories, and re-evaluating as they go. Some ideas get scrapped, some get modified. Some are big, and some are small (some are the size of a quarter!). Whatever shape or size, though, we’re all having a (snow) ball!!
Just a quick post today, and an explanation of the really awesomely amazingly cool kit I’m fundraising for. Many of you have already gotten a text or an email with a link to my Donors Choose project, but for those who haven’t, it’s Here.
So, what’s a Makey Makey and why do I want one? Or, rather, 6?
Every class has a ‘feel’, created by the mix of personalities on both sides of the teacher’s desk, as well as the room itself and the subject matter being taught. The beginning of the school year is always an exciting and interesting time where classes that are randomly thrown together begin to settle in and develop a personality.
One of my goals for this school year was to make my classroom a dynamic place where kids have lots of choices as they learn about art and get to express their ideas. I would love to see kids choosing topics to explore that pertain to their own interests and creating projects that they have a part in designing from start to finish. This…. is a lofty goal. Continue reading
Exploration Kit Series from littleBits on Vimeo.
Now that I’m thinking about Challenges as a way to get my kids inspired, I am finding more and more of them every day. Continue reading
A few summers ago I was challenged by my friend Lindsey to dump a bucket of ice over my head Continue reading
So here’s a secret: being an art teacher at this point in time is one of the greatest jobs on earth. Continue reading
As this new school year is getting started, Mrs. Shemansky and I are finding ourselves so busy every day with tasks that range from the mundane (attendance) to the idealistic (teaching our kids to express their ideas and make connections with people and projects from around the world!!). I think I can speak for us both when I say that there is not a minute in our day that we are idle. So when a student asked me the other day, ‘Do you only teach art?’ I saw this big opportunity to tell her everything I do that is art but is so much more than art. Unfortunately, after a long pause, I said, ‘yes’. I wasn’t prepared to put everything I do into words- let alone a few really well crafted words that a polite response would entail (I’m sure she didn’t want a dissertation on everything I think I do all day). But I knew right then that I had to do some serious thinking about this so that next time I’m asked what I teach I have a better answer.
First and foremost we are here to provide students with a space to learn and talk about their art. We give them a vocabulary to use that allows them to see art in a more knowledgeable way. For example, in our Continue reading
…with the world! International Dot Day is a world-wide movement that inspires kids to make their mark on the lives of others in a positive way. It is inspired by a story about a little girl who thinks she can’t draw. Her teacher tells her to simply make a mark- which she does by making a single, angry, dot on the paper. The teacher asks her to sign it. The next day in class, she sees her dot in a frame over the teacher’s desk and thinks to herself, ‘gee, I think I can make a better dot than that’. So begins her odyssey of dot making, until she has a whole wall of really neat dots to hang in her school’s art exhibit. The book ends with her telling another little boy who thinks HE can’t draw to just start with a mark, and sign it.
Our kids got a big introduction to Dot Day, and were encouraged to think of how they, too, can make their mark. On Dot Day everyone gets to decorate a paper plate (their ‘Dot’) with all the crafting materials we could find. They are coming out awesome. When they finish, they are writing down one way they think they can make their mark. It’s getting kids talking…..
As teachers we do everything we can to give kids a fun experience while learning and growing as people. This particular endeavor has moved the boundary of how far Mercy and I will go to do that. Wow, what a huge amount of feathers, paper, pipe cleaners, glue, and ribbon! We’re just glad we kept the glitter in the closet!!