Sculptured Donuts

One of the presentations in the Art of Education Winter Conference was sculpture donuts presented by Sarah Engel.  I immediately knew this was a definitely project to include in my Art club plans this winter.  Sarah suggested referencing Andy Warhol and Pop Art as a historical connection but it really spoke Wayne Thiebault to me.  So that is the approach I used.  This took two 45 minute sessions.  Week one they formed the donuts out of newspaper and covered them with Rigid Wrap.  Students created 2 or 3 donuts.   Week two they were painted with a light brown paint, iced with the glue and shaving cream mixture and covered with art foam sprinkles.  To finish them off, after they had set up a little, we placed each donut on a doily and 6" plastic plate.  The kids were so excited with anticipation of pranking their families into believing they were really donuts!

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Covering for Common Planning Time

 This year's schedule looks a little different in my elementary art room.  Because we lost one class in our schedule; we now cover a class each week on a rotating basic.  This allows the classroom teachers a bit of common planning time.  We were given the freedom to handle this extra class time in any way we felt worked better for our curriculum.  After some thought, I knew I didn't want to just continue with the current lesson as that would put that class ahead of the others.  I stumble across a great idea on Art of Education and immediately implemented it for this one time a week space in my schedule.  Here is the link to the article on Art of Education.  Now students are given the opportunity to explore careers that are supported by the Arts.  My students love the freedom to explore on their own and it's a great way to not disrupt my curriculum and instead to enhance it.

Most classes have only visited one time so far this school year and at 

most I will probably see them only twice.  Each time they come, it is fresh and new as they experience a new station.  I have set up six stations.  I initially was afraid too many students might be drawn to the iPad station or the Architect station but have found they are eager to experience them all.  I am evolving with this as well as I think of new ways to build the stations through supplemental materials.  For instance, I just purchased a Sphero ball to attempt so coding and drawing.  I also have one of those cute little trucks that follows a drawn line.  I should mention that I only use the stations for 1st-5th grades,  for Kinders I pull out some manipulations for a bit of Reggio play.  You can see post about my use in the classroom in previous post on my blog like here and here.

 Take a look at the AOE article and explore how you might implement these stations into your art room as well. 

Just Sharing

Last summer I took an Art of Education course where we talked about critiques.  I have adapted the use of TAG critiques into my classroom this year for grades 3,4, 5.  My goal it to get them thinking more deeply about their own art and the art of their peers and famous artist by writing about them.  Here is what TAG stands for:

T: tell something you like

A: ask a question

G: give some advice

For their first experience in writing a TAG, I used one of my own pieces of art that I had created as an example for a project we had been working on in class.  Since I work in two buildings, I use the example from the opposite buildings so the students would not recognize it as mine.  I refused to divulge who the artist was, saying only it had been made at the other school.  It was interesting to see how seriously they critiqued my work and gave me a great deal of insight into their thinking processes and the information they had retained from the lesson.   For one of my personal student goals, I had pledged to practice TAG with students four times over the course of the year.  

 To have students apply understanding of the purpose of Art making by writing artist critiques in the form of a TAG. Critique their own work, the work of peers, and the work of professional
artists, and demonstrate an understanding of the formal, cultural, and historical contexts of the work (National Art Standard - Responding, Anchor standards #7, #8, #9; MA: Re7.1.4, MA: Re 8.1.4; MA:Re 9.1)

For their second tag, we wrote based on the Artist Trading cards we received from the Mini Matisse' card exchange.  Throughout this process, students have wanted to be able to communicate more directly with the artist of the work they were viewing.  For their third TAG, I have decided to pair them with a classmate.  They will exchange papers and TAG an actual work from that classmate.  We will call it a Valentine TAG because these will be happening the week prior to February break which also occurs during Valentine's week.  I am sharing the worksheet I have put together for them.

With this being our third attempt at a TAG, I will be looking at the language they are using as they talk the art, specifically the use of Art Vocabulary.  Please feel free to download and use my handout to practice TAG critiques with your students.

Summer Conference Time!!

I am so ready for Thursday and the AOE summer conference!  I've been watching for my Swag box for days and never expected it to arrive on a Saturday, but it did!!

There is so much coolness this time and think the box was more full than ever before.  I can't wait to try the projects that came with supplies, maybe for an interactive on Thursday?  Even KitKat is ready to join in!

Back to Class with AOE!

                 Showing Student Growth in Art

I just joined the community and gave my introduction bio. Off and running for AOE class #2.  I took the Assessment course a couple of months back.  It really challenged me to think about my teaching in a new way and also to analyze my feelings about assessment.  With the Common Core in place and the new teacher evaluation expectations, Student Growth is something I need to know more about.  I'll try to post as much as I can this month, especially since it is our final weeks of school and I will have lessons I want to share but please bear with me if I seem to disappear as the ever studious student.  I'll let you know how the course goes but I know I will walk away with new information for the fall and how I will document Student Growth with my students.

In the house and watching it snow

Haven't had much to post lately.  We were on February vacation, it snowed way too often and I've been busy working on my readings for an online course through AOE.  I'm enrolled in Assessments in Art Education.  If you haven't checked out AOE classes you truly should.   They will work for Professional Development or can be taken for Graduate Credit.  I am feeling just as challenged with this course as I did while working on  a previously completed Master's degree and am particularly appreciating the opportunity to dialogue with other Art Teachers.  Too many of us work in a bubble, this is a terrific way to poke a hole into that bubble.  With that said, I promise to work on posting students projects again really soon but for now, just have patience with me and stay warm!