Arts Festival Day

Lots and lots of wonderful colorful circles.

 Mosaics

Miss Swiderski receiving a group hug from Second Grade students! 

We will miss her when she goes back to Western Michigan University. 

 Styrofoam pieces dipped in black paint and stamped.

Small clay tiles made by stepping onto moist clay with interesting treads on the bottom of student's shoes. These tiles will be grouped in a larger square and turned into pavers for the gardens.

Today was Arts Festival Day at NSE.  Every grade level came to the cafeteria for 45 minutes to create beautiful pieces of art for the school. Grades 3- 5 also made large clay beads that we will turn into a totem pole.

Native American Storytellers

Forgive my absence. Not sure what happened to March but it has been weeks since I posted. Oh, yeah that crazy Masters program that is consuming every single free moment of my life is what has happened. Hang in there with me, December will be here soon and I will be finished!

I tried a new project to support the study of Native Americans that our third graders do every year. Also our grade levels have reading buddies so I wanted to do something that celebrates the idea of reading to someone. Not all my students have had a parent read to them or have time to pass family traditions or stories down. I tell them the story of my brother leaving me while I got stung by bees (Oh no Jeff, it's now in print for the world!)

Anyway, I'm having some trouble transferring pictures from phone to email to blog so I can only get two of them to appear. I love the faces on these. You have to realize the students had only two 30 minute sessions to complete their person and tree.

 I just love the print the student added to his book!

Color Theory for Second grade

I really like this lesson for all the ahh ha moments it creates.  First the students must fold a piece of 12 x 18 paper in half both landscape and portrait style, then I say "fold to a  Party in the middle" bringing both ends to the middle. This creates 8 boxes. Then the students draw or paint black lines down the creases and add loops to the sides. Someone said they look like Easter eggs but honestly I never even thought of that.

Now they have 16 spaces and only 9 colors of paint. The rule is that they can only use a color ONE TIME. So they get so excited to mix the remaining 7 spaces. The students are constantly saying, "Look what I made!" When they are dry they can add patterns to their colors.

Valentine Clay Tiles

Happy Valentines Day!

Last week the kindergarten students made clay tiles. They used a paper cut heart to protect the center of their heart from the texture stamps they used around the perimeter. The students used their finger to outline the heart shape so it would show up better. Then they found their name on a tray of alphabet pasta to push into the center. We glazed in shades of red, pink and purple. For a final touch we added a red string to hang from the holes inserted with a straw prior to firing. I really like how they turned out.

Sealife Printmaking

The third grade studied different kinds of sealife. The completed sketches and then selected one to draw with a dull pencil into our donated foam. We covered the "plate" with printing ink and then laid the paper on top of the foam. It's great if you have old spoons to rub the back. Make sure they don't rub too long or the heat will make removing the paper difficult.

Meet Miss Swiderski

       I have a new student teacher. Her name is Katie Swiderski. I am so excited! Katie is a senior at Western Michigan University with a major in Art Education AND Spanish. As you can see she is an amazingly talented painter. I think the students thought they were in the presence of a celebrity. She is going to be a great addition to our art room. 

New Clay Owls

Just out of the kiln, this years first batch of clay owls...stay tuned for more!