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. 

Build and Draw - Observational drawing with Kindergarten

Build & Draw

I took my first Studio class with AOE this past summer, Studio Drawing.  If nothing else, the course gave me the "courage" to try a few new techniques with my students.  I also re-evaluated some of the ways I presented a few of my lessons for Kindergarten.  After taking the Reggio Emilo class a year ago, I have been beginning the year with my Kinders doing creative play activities using a variety of manipulative and not jumping into the year with projects.  After four weeks of creative play, I introduced my students to a draw and build.  They used three children's blocks to build something and then drew the shapes using a whiteboard.  For an entire class, they built, drew, rebuilt, drew, etc.  This week, five weeks into the year, I handed them pencil and paper for the first time.  They repeated the build and draw on one piece of paper, three times, then were given colors to practice their coloring skills.  This was a terrific way for me to establish a baseline for observational skills, shape identification and reproduction and coloring.  I am so happy with the results!

Kinders are standing to do art this year

Progressing with their drawing

Ready to build again

Focus

Great Concentration

Building

Let's get started!

Trading blocks to build again.

Lots of building imagination

Starting to add color

Rethinking and executing a Kindergarten Lesson

 After taking the AOE course "Rethinking Kindergarten" this past summer, I decided to revamp this lesson and give students more choice with how they completed their sponge painted snowmen.  I gave each student a stack of multicolored papers and will just a few brief demonstrations on how they might cut their paper to create various parts of their embellishments, they went to work personalizing their snowman.  I started by sharing the book SNOWBALLS by Lois Ehlert so they had lots of great ideas for their own snowmen.  Some added hair and a few even added strawberry noses.  I love the new way this project took itself, a totally student guided project.

Kindergarten with Reggio Emilio

I have to be honest, I don't really understand the attraction to a light box.  When  taking an AOE class this past summer, my research often referenced the light box.  I knew I didn't have the funds to invest in a retail model so I went to pinterest in search of a DIY one and put one together a few weeks ago at minimum cost.  This week I introduced it to Kindergarten classes and sat back to observe the process.  It really is a mystery to me, the attraction to the light.  But, my students took right to it.  I even had to put it away in one class because they weren't yet ready to share.  I was able to gather up some cast off colored disk and teddie bears from a retiring teacher last spring that I supplied for the students to use for manipulative s.  I also cut some animal shapes out of colored transparent dividers.  Here are some photos of my students at work.  Can anyone share their personal expertise or experiences to help me utilize the light box better?  For now, I'm just letting students freely experiment and create in the Reggio style.  Please...comments!

Rethinking Kindergarten

I took an AOE class this past summer to re access my approach to teaching Kindergarten.  I thought it would be chuck full of new project ideas and how to better meet the needs of my youngest students.  I was think curriculum, skills and lesson plans.  Well, I was a bit off track but not completely.  The course, Rethinking Kindergarten, introduced me to the Reggio Emilio style of teaching.  What it made me do was to take a step back and re evaluate everything I have been doing with my kinders.  I spent the rest of the summer trying to put together some materials for students to freely create with that would take them away from the ordinary crayons and paper approach I had been using.  I made a trip to the local dollar store where I picked up some pool noodles and bendable hair curlers which probably turned out to be my best investment.  Other finds came from the dollar bins at Target and cast aways from class room teachers.  I am in the process of putting together a DIY light box for next week using a plastic bin and Christmas lights.  Scored those today at the local big box store because of course they already had Christmas shelves stocked before October 1st!!!  My approach with the kids was to talk about cooperation and sharing and just being creative.  Their focus was to build sculptures.  We talked a bit about sculptures before I ever laid out the materials and then I allowed creativity to blossom.  After two different classes, I have to say, this has been terrific!!!  I love how they have really gotten into it and just enjoyed working together and letting their imaginations flow.  Some even explained the purpose of their sculptures and named them.  All the while, I have my iPad in hand and am recording for Artsonia as well as shooting pictures for this post.  Reggio is all about documentation and the kids loved that I was valuing their work by taking photos of it all.  So here are a few photos of the process.

This student told me this was his car

students loved these twisty hair rollers

A tower on it's side

A flower

Yummy ice cream