Keep Calm and Teach Art

After teaching first grade for six years, I have decided to switch gears! Starting this year, I will be teaching Elementary Art at the same school, Moseley Elementary in Grand Prairie. I am very excited about this change but know that I have a lot of learning and work ahead of me. With this change, several people have asked me what I am going to do with this blog. I am still undecided at this point for the future of the blog as far as art is concerned. I am wrapping my brain around the logistics of getting permission to display student created art online for a school of over 600 students. But, at this point, I will continue sharing various ideas for Elementary Education as a whole. I will share ideas I've stumbled upon from other sites, creations I have made for Teachers Pay Teachers, and more. You can also follow me on Pinterest here. I will continue to have boards for first grade as well as new boards for various art topics.

Cherry Blossoms

The students researched facts about Cherry Blossoms during a mini-writing lesson. They then wrote the information they found on a Circle Map. As a class, they decided what order to put the facts in for their shared research paper. They then told me what they wanted their paper to say and I typed it for them. I printed it on poster paper to hang with their Cherry Blossom art. The students used a mixture of brown and black paint to paint a branch of a Cherry Blossom. They then used the bottom of a recycled coke bottle to paint the blossoms in pink. I found this fun art idea from Pinterest. You can follow my educational Pinterest boards here.

Summer Bucket List

The students created a summer bucket list of things they would like to do this summer. I found this idea on Pinterest. I believe the original idea came from TeachWithMe. After creating the buckets and writing their lists, the students visited the computer lab to write a friendly letter to their parents using the Letter Generator from ReadWriteThink to tell them about one thing they would like to do this summer.

If Santa Got Stuck in the Chimney

On Thursday the students wrote responses to the prompt "What would happen if Santa got stuck in the chimney?" to use creative problem solving. (I found this great idea from Pinterest - follow me here!) The students then colored legs and shoes to show Santa sticking outing of the chimney.