How I Stay Organized...

I teach six art classes per day with a 5 minute transition in between. I'm naturally pretty organized but I've found I have to be even more organized now that I teach art. So, I set up all the supplies I need sorted by grade level on a back counter. I can quickly grab whatever I need and pass it out. The students know where to get supplies as needed which helps a lot. For paint, if there are certain colors that they will all be using for their project, I pre-pour them in take-out sauce containers with lids that I pick up from a restaurant supply company in my neighborhood. I like having the lids because I don't have to do set up every day since the paint doesn't dry up. I do the same thing with liquid water colors. I place them in some old tempera cake trays or muffin tins for easy distribution and clean up. I also put whatever book I'm reading to a particular grade level with the needed art supplies.

 

Gelli Print Flowers

Here are some large scale flowers that my students made from Gelli Prints. I talked about Gelli Printing in my previous post. My kids absolutely love making Gelli Prints and I think these turned out awesome. The students worked in stations to trace and cut out circles and petal shapes. They then glued them together. I hung up their flowers in the back hallway of our school by the art room.

 

Gelli Prints

I took a professional development class this year from one of our district's awesome high school art teachers. The class was over Gelli Printing. I had never heard of this technique before but found it very interesting and so did my students. I used a recipe I found online to make more permanent Gelli Plates although you can buy them. I could not find where I had written down the recipe we were given at the professional development session. The recipe I used just called for gelatin, glycerine, and rubbing alcohol. I made several plates over Spring Break in various sized casserole dishes. My principal approved the purchase of a small refrigerator to keep in the art room for Gelli Plate storage. Here are some prints my students from Kinder all the way through Fifth Grade made. They used whatever colors of tempera they wanted and a variety of texture tools. I'll post later some of the finished projects they turned their prints into.

Kindergarten Kandinsky Inspired Art

Kindergarten created abstract paintings based on the works of Wassily Kandinsky. They first used cardboard tubes to stamp black circles all over their paper. They then added implied texture by printing small circles on top with bubble wrap and peach paint. Once these had both dried, the water colored the inside of the circles and painted over the rest of the white space. The use of water colors on top of the peach tempera paint allowed the bubble wrap design to still show through.

Wayne Thiebaud: Collaborative Projects

The students typically work on collaborative projects each Friday once their individual projects are completed. During our study of Wayne Thiebaud, the students created large scale drawings, paintings, and collages of cupcakes and cakes. Some of the cakes were painted with water colors. Some of the collages were made with torn and cut pieces of paper. Other collages were created with magazine pictures in a color blocking style. These were displayed in our cafeteria on three new display panels our school was able to purchase this year. We use the panels as backgrounds for music programs and to display art throughout the year.

Wayne Thiebaud: Fifth Grade Donuts

During a study over artist Wayne Thiebaud, fifth grade drew and cut out their own template of a donut. They then used their template to draw repeating and overlapping donuts to fill an entire picture plane. They added various details to their donuts. Their work was displayed in the hallways at Open House.

Wayne Thiebaud: Fourth Grade Cakes

Fourth graders learned how to draw three tier cakes as a part of our study on artist Wayne Thiebaud. They reviewed basic types of lines and used those lines to create interesting designs on their cakes. We discussed various jobs that you can have as an artist including a cake designer. They then added a border with various lines.The students outlined their drawings in permanent marker and then painted them with water colors. These were displayed across from the art room as a part of a larger Wayne Thiebaud inspired display at Open House.

Wayne Thiebaud: Third Grade Popsicles

Third Graders had a mini measurement lesson during our study over artist Wayne Thiebaud. The had to measure four popsicles, two on each side, that were exactly five inches long. As a part of this lesson, we talked about symmetry and repetition. They then worked together to add white to various colors of tempera paint to make lighter tints to paint their popsicles. These were displayed as a part of Open House.

 

Wayne Thiebaud: Second Grade Ice Cream

Second graders drew various ice creams cones in a radial design as a part of an artist study on Wayne Thiebaud. They completed their drawings with colored pencils, markers, and crayons. They mounted their designs on colored construction paper. Their work was displayed for Open House as a part of a larger Wayne Thiebaud inspired display.

Wayne Thiebaud: First Grade Ice Cream

First Grade used pieces of cut paper to create ice cream cones inspired by artist Wayne Thiebaud. They folded a piece of construction paper in half and cut out a triangle shape thus creating two at once. They glued these onto a piece of paper folded in half vertically. They then cut various colored papers into small squares and rectangles. They glued this into rounded shapes on top of the triangular cones to create ice cream scoops. These were on display for their families to enjoy at our Open House.