Back to School on Monday

Wow, summer vacation is rapidly coming to a close.  Here in Vermont, teachers begin reporting at the beginning of the week and students start as early as Wednesday.  I'm sorry to have disappeared on you, but I'll share with you that I've had a busy and enjoyable season working at my lakeside store.  (What I do in the "off" season).  I met so many, many fabulous people this summer. Thanks to everyone!  See you next season.

I purposefully have taken a complete break from blogging, but not from art or education.  And I am coming back really excited about the coming year, about my students, and about resuming my blog.  I can't wait to get started, and to share my ideas with you all!

This month I managed to squeeze in a little professional development.  The course I am working on is titled "Studying Skillful Teaching."  It was really great.  I came away with a binder full of information that I will be working into lesson plans to improve my practice.  Tons of fabulous ideas here.  If you have the chance to take this course in your area, I highly recommend it.

Endings and Beginnings

The last week of school is upon us and this year I've taken a new approach.  Instead of ending the year with those inevitable filler activities, we decided to utilize the last days of the year to get a jump on the fall. 
I know that next year I will begin the year with a unit on Andy Goldsworthy and the Land Art movement.  I also know that I will be doing a beginning-of-the-year grid drawn portrait project with my older students   So instead of my usual "filler" activity for our last classes, I decide to show the Goldsworthy video "River and Tides". (Love it.)  The video does a great job of introducing concepts related to Land Art.  It also freed up some time for me to photograph my fourth graders.   They'll use the photographs for their portrait project next year.

The kids LOVED the video.  We viewed it in chunks with lots of breaks to discuss the material presented. It feels great to end the year by getting a jump on next year and we're all really excited about trying out these ideas in the fall.

But now it's nearly summer and we're looking forward to that as well.
Thanks for viewing and special thanks for your input and comments.
See you in September.

Rag Weaving

This month we received a lifetime supply of big and colorful mat board from Apple Jack Press.  I'm not kidding. This is a serious assortment of mat board in all colors, shapes, and sizes.  Thank you, Apple Jack Press, for supporting the arts in Bennington County!

I'm still in the process of going through the big unwieldy pile and trimming it down into uniform sizes that will fit on the art closet shelves, but decided to take a break from that, and make some cardboard looms.  We're going to finish up the year with some weaving!

My students love weaving.  Of course, there are a million ways of doing things, but here's what I do.  For simplicity sake, I use the paper cutter to cut the mat board (or cardboard) to a uniform size.  I chose 7" X 11", because this worked for the size of the scraps I had after trimming.  I measured and marked the spacing for the notches on the first loom.  I found I could quickly transfer the notch-marks to the other looms if I staggering the edges (so they looked like steps), and placed the marked loom on top as a guide.  With a pencil I ran down the steps.  I found I could mark 20 looms in about 4 minutes.  Of course, you could have the kids measure and mark their looms, but again, for simplicity sake....

Kids began by cutting the notches and writing their names on the back of the looms.  They warped their loom by taping the warp thread to the back of the loom then bringing the warp to the front, down, around the peg, back up and around.  They ended by taping the warp to the back of the loom.  

We made "yarn" from old T-shirts by cutting a continuous spiral around, and around, the body of a shirt.  On some shirts, we found we could give the yarn a little tug to make the yarn curl up--like the loops sold to make pot holders.  Tug, and wind up into a ball as you go.  There you have it.  The rag yarn helped to stretch our limited yarn supply.

I'm a big fan of this video and always use it to introduce the basic do's and don'ts before we begin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbtKnvc_9No


 

Here is a link to the handouts I use for weaving patterns.
http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/middle/weave.htm

I assess students on their ability to discuss weaving using a weaving-specific vocabulary (warp, weft, shuttle, shed, tabby weave, basket weave, rya, twill, selvage).  Demonstrate three different weaving patterns (either in their own weaving or on our shared Friendly Loom).  They must also demonstrate that they can control the tension of their weaving to create even selvages.

This year we are relating our weaving to weavers in Guatemala.

I find that some students will take longer than others to finish their weaving so it's good to have a secondary activity handy.  Straw weaving and homemade knitting nancy's work well here.

Doodleball

This looks like fun.  Here they build their ball around an old tennis ball (which i don't have).  I think I'll try a core of newspaper and masking tape.

2010: Year of the Tiger

Natty241 posted a lesson on her blog last month that she calls "Big Cats".  I loved what she did and thought we might give something similar a try.  As it was, we'd been talking about Chinese New Year, Spring Celebration, and the Year of the Tiger this month.  We'd done a little Chinese brush work, and some practice drawings of tigers.  Her lesson really pulled a lot of things together for our kindergarten, first, and second graders and we owe her a great big thanks.
To make our cats, I first brainstormed with the kids about what kind of animals are called "big cats".  I collected their ideas.  And we looked at some reference photos from the library. Next, I did a quick demonstration to get them started.  I showed my students how to start big by drawing two dots for the eyes.  I showed them how to add the nose, mouth, muzzle, head, and ears. I really emphasized "big", and using the whole paper.  We used 12"X18". I showed students how that they could let the cat touch the edges or flow off the paper.  I had ready an example that was finished as a tiger, so in my demonstration, I showed students how to add a mane to the basic cat face if they wanted a lion, or spots for a cheetah, or leopard.
Students were given brushes and black tempera, thinned with a little water so it really flowed off the brush.  No pencils, just paint and brush.  If students felt ready to start on their own the dug right in.  I did a step-by- step demo at the board for little ones who wanted the help. 

We finished our big cats in three different ways.  I loved the way first grade work looked as a brush and ink drawing and these were mounted on orange paper for the art show next week.  Second graders finished their cats with chalk pastels and got some experience blending analogous colors.  Kindergartners finished their cats with crayons practicing coloring "the kindergarten way", and blending oranges and yellows to get those in-between colors.
Check out the original lesson at http://elementaryartfun.blogspot.com/

Walking Field Trip

On this fabulous spring day, sixth graders took a walking field trip to the Silas Griffith Inn in Danby, Vermont where we viewed Kevin Keeler's first art exhibit. Kevin's show officially opens on Saturday, March 24th, but he kindly invited our art students to the inn to preview his work.
Kevin Keeler is a Danby artist who is passionate about painting. His work, mostly landscapes, captures the beauty of our local farms, barns, ponds, and views.  Kevin shared his enthusiasm and expertise with our young artists,  and after viewing the show we gathered outside in the sunshine for a wonderful demonstration of painting en pleine aire.
For many of our students this was their first encounter with oil painting.  Kevin demonstrated putting down an under painting, laying in the sky, color mixing, and adding details into the landscape.  
Kevin's work is a source of inspiration for young and old.  He is largely a self-taught artist whose love of art and our local beauty come together with a whole lot of charm.
Students were asked to consider the idea of style in viewing Keven Keeler's work.  Sixth graders, complete your worksheets and be ready to discuss style on Thursday.

 

Good Luck!

Third graders learned about Chinese New Year and made these good luck banners.  The banners are traditionally hung in the home, or on the door, as part of the celebration.  I know we're a little late, but spring is exploding all around us, and I just couldn't help myself.  This is students' first attempt using the Chinese brush.  They wrote their characters and assembled their banner all in one class.  I wish I had more to show, but they couldn't wait to hang them in their own homes.  The glue had barely dried when they packed them up and took them home. 

Goals:
Understand the meaning and traditions surrounding Chinese New Year Celebration.
Recognize calligraphy as an art form.
Be able to create a piece of calligraphy using traditional brush and ink.

Vocabulary:
Calligraphy: literally, beautiful writing.
Chinese New Year:  most important Chinese celebration also known as Spring Festival.
Pi: brush.
Mo: ink.

There a lots of good resources on the net.  This is the source I used for the banners whose characters mean "good fortune". http://www.asia-art.net/chinese_brush.html

We're moving on to Chinese brush painting and will post the pictures soon.