Line Vines

I did a quick lesson on lines with my K's. I called it 'line vines'. I asked the kids to create a straight, curved and zig zag line for vines. They then used what I called 'circle makers', known to most adults as wine corks, to make the grapes. I also had them do a little worksheet to place on the back as an ART note for parents to know what we talked about. If you would like to see that please check click here.

This project was inspired by one of my favorite blogs… Jenny from Artolazzi. I didn't know that I pulled it off from her blog until she let me know (Thanks by the way!!). I went to the blog to find the exact location of this project and was reminded of the MANY ideas I wanted to try off from her blog. I would suggest everyone go and do an extensive look at this WONDERFUL blog. Thanks for the inspiration Jenny!!!

Are you having a hard time?

I have been told that it is hard to get onto my blog. Are you having a hard time? Does my blog freeze up for you when you come to visit? If so, please tell me what it does and what browser you are using. If you can't comment please email me at.

Nicholechahn@yahoo.com

Update: Thanks to all that responded. I am going to try another template for a while. This might not be the last one I try but I want you to be able to read my blog. Hope this works better, you can email me if you are still having a hard time.

Those smart kids...

I asked my 4th grade students to place their work on the 'side counter top' one time and one of the kids took his scraps and folded it so it make a small paper easel. When I went to pick up all the work I saw the small structure and was amazed. I took the idea and used it for 'free' displays for clay slab work.

I took a small cardboard and folded it in 3 places as seen above.

I used a little hot glue to make the whole things stick together. They were wonderful. Thank goodness for teaching the teacher!

The tiles are all turned in...

I took a class a couple of weeks ago set up by the MN ART GAL. She has fallen in love with Zentangles and is contagious. At the end of the class we all took a tile. I posted my tile but just got this beauty today with all the tiles finished. Very nice job to all my tangle friends.

Stylish Blogger Award

Trisha Smith is an amazing art teacher with LOTS of great ideas. Her blog, Art with Mrs. Smith, is a great resource for other art teachers. I appreciate her selecting me for a Stylish Blogger Award.

Here are the request of the game.

1. Link back tot he person who awarded you.

2. List 7 things about yourself.

3. Pass the award along to 5 other blogs that you enjoy.

About me…

I love my life. Teaching is wonderful, my family is a blast, and I find humor in most.

My positive outlook on life is not who I have always been. It is just a better way to live and I made the choice to be happy in life.

I went scrapbooking last weekend. This is what mid western people do in the bitter cold of winter. I'm happy with my spreads and tear up with ever page as I admire the pictures of my family. I am rich with great family.

I love my grandparents. I'm 32 and have 4 grandparents between my husbands side and my own. My kids are close to their great grandparents and grandparents.

I was nominated for Mn Teacher of the Year but recently found out that I did not make the top 30. I was excited to be honored with a nomination and know that this is not a loss. I see great teachers everyday and so many that are masters. I have so much growth to do before I will even consider to call myself a master teacher. In fact… I don't know if I would ever give myself that title.

The picture on my blog is only my face. The hair and glasses are added with a fun site called yearbook yourself. I love that picture of me because it is what I imagine a 'perfect' teacher to look like. I think it is funny because I feel I am everything but perfect:)

I have two kids and a wonderful husband who are my life. Sawyer (boy) is 5 and his favorite things are legos, and sewing on my machine. Matisse (girl) is 3 and the funniest thing ever! She is our favorite tornado some times we call her our wild flower. My husband is so funny, tall, good looking, talented, caring… wait where was I:) Oh yah... this whole family got start with a wonderful man who came into my life.

GREAT BLOGs…

1. http://seewhatwedidtoday.blogspot.com/- Cute blog that has some great ideas for tiny minis.
2. http://karenogen.blogspot.com Technology baby! This blog has so many great resources.
3. http://onecrayolashort.blogspot.com/ and http://vividlayers.blogspot.com/ - I may be missing some WI bloggers but these teachers deserve a award right now. What a tough situation these days.
4. http://snippetygibbet.blogspot.com/ I love all of Jan's blogs, you should become a fan of all of them.
5. http://kids-finelines.blogspot.com/ Wow! You know that 'master teacher' that I was talking about in the above… This lady would qualify.
6. http://mymessyartroom.blogspot.com/ I love a messy art room:)

I just listed a few blogs that I check all the time. Please look at my blog roll for so many more blogs that I love and visit all the time!

Digital Collage 'How To'...

… long over due. I wanted to share the 'how to' of the digital collage earlier but things kept coming up. Here is a look at how we created the digital collage in my 2nd grade classroom. We are showing the project to the school this week. The subject matter of nursery rhymes enhances the music program at RES the later this week.

Here are all the YouTubes for the digital collages.

• Mrs. Hartneck's Homeroom Class
• Mrs. Anderson's Homeroom Class
• Mrs. Clifford and Mrs. Roberto's Homeroom Class
• Mrs. Flatgard's Homeroom Class

ATC Jr. Ning

I found this Ning a could months ago and it is just starting. It is all about ATC for Jr. I have been asking for other classes to trade with and they have added a conversation for that. If you have students who are interested in creating their own trades or might be looking for classroom trades, this might be the place to start. Check it out for your self.

Art Show at the Arts Alliance

Our district art teachers were asked to submit art work to a local show at the Elk River Arts Alliance. It was a fun honor for two or three students from each school. I love having opportunities to let our little artist shine!

More about the Digital Collage.

I want to explain a little more about the digital collages. I started out by talking about Matisse. Check out an earlier post about the lesson I created on ArtsConnectEd. This lesson emphasized Matisse's work and organic shape. It left the question, 'How do you think Matisse would make his art work if he had technology like we do'? This is where the digital collage came in. Check older posting for an example…

After the lesson the kids were placed in groups. They were each given jobs via a worksheet to help the flow of the group. Worksheet is on the ArtsConnectEd lesson. They also received a story for the group to develop their ideas around. Our kids are doing a program in Music class based on nursery rhymes so I went with their theme. Collaboration ROCKS!

Here you see students working together to make a collage. This collage is NOT glued down. The pieces remain loose on their background. The background simply give them the perimeter. They took about two days on this process so a zip lock bag helped them keep all their little pieces together from class to class. Most groups ended up working really well together.

Homework for Parents was a success!

Artist Trading Cards have been the theme for this school year. I wanted each student to know what a ATC was by June 2011. Kindergarten students recently completed their trade. They traded with their parents/or caregiver. Every student made several cards and picked the best one to be put into an envelope and sent home. I then gave the parent homework...

I sent home a letter explaining what a ATC is and provided a 2 ½ X 3 ½ inch card stock for the parents to make and send back to their child. If you want to see the letter I sent home click here. The art the parents sent was perfect. Each card told their child how much they loved them. The kids were excited and I found it a great way to 'get to know' these kids better. I got to see what is important to their child, through their parents eyes. Here are a couple of examples of parent work.

This was a hit! The kids loved opening up their ATC and looking at it. They loved sharing it. I heard more then once how their parent is the best artist in the world. It was a special day with lots of love and smiles. Thank you to all Kindergarten parents who participated!

PS. I know that if you are an educator reading this you are wondering what I did with the handful of kids who did not get a card sent back. I made about 20 cards with a special saying on them. We had the art turned back on the 9th so it gave me time to get a card ready for anyone who needed on. Even the kids that got a card from me were totally excited.

Exquisite Corpse Relay by Art Ed 2.0

Image from Nancy Walkup's Exquisite Corpse Article.

If you are having a hard time reading this form please view it at it's URL (click here)

If you are having a hard time reading this form please view it at it's URL (click here)

AYM Poster Winner is from RES!!!

Rogers Elementary School fifth-grader Anna Kiffmeyer was selected as the top Elementary Poster Designer in Art Educators of Minnesota's "Art Shapes the World" Youth Art Month poster design contest. "I love that this gives our Gifted and Talented students in Visual Arts a chance to shine," said Art Teacher Nichole Hahn, who coordinated students' participation.

Kiffmeyer's state flag design will be displayed throughout the state as the promotional poster for the State Capitol Art Show, Feb. 27-March 12. Kiffmeyer will be recognized at the State Capitol opening reception on Feb. 27, 2-3 p.m. The artwork will then be shifted to the North Corridor for display during the remainder of the show.

This image was a clip from our Staff Happenings from our district.

I'm proud of you Anna!

Digital Collage

I finally finished my part of the Digital Collages my students have been working on for a couple of weeks. These turned out so cute! Here's how it all came to be…

It all started with the ArtConncectEd iPad Challenge. I created a collection asking the question, "How would Matisse make his art if he had the technology of today". I posted the collection in an earlier post. So I had my kids create these great collages as a small group. Check in the next couple of days to see how this came to be.

Cow Jumping over the Moon

These first grade 'Cow's Jumping Over the Moon' could be my favorite so far this year. I always give a 'pre test' on weaving in the middle of the year to my 1st grade kiddos. Then I send them home and ask parents to help the students. To give them more weaving opportunities explaining that we do a large weaving project at the end of the school year. Our music department is putting on a program with theme of nursery rhymes. This project is going to look sweet adorning the halls of our school!!

Amazing prints from Japan

IMG_3537, originally uploaded by nch1979.

This amazing woodcut is just one of the wonderful images that we received from our exchange with Japan. The school sent us several, very individual images. The quality and craftsmanship is amazing. Woodcuts… for 5th grade? Amazing. I still get cills every time I look at them. Enjoy more at my flickr account.

Line Hearts

IMG_3495, originally uploaded by nch1979.

The 1st grade kids created these wonderful hearts to learn about vertical and horizontal lines. Each of my 1st grades classes have different needs so each of them created this same project in many different ways. All started out with a cardboard base (some a rectangle and others a pizza base, circle). Some drew the lines on 1st and then placed yarn on the lines with white glue. This way when the heavy duty tin foil is placed on the top, it created a textured line. Others classes it was best to simply put the tin foil on and draw the image with a sharpie. All students finished by coloring the image with permanent markers. See more at my flickr account.

Love words? You'll love this...

Looking at In Tech Insight blog today and found a cute word application that you could use with your class. It's fun to watch the words appear on the screen if you have a way to project the image. Check it out for yourself.

Thank for the resource Mr. R...

Check out a wonderful resource I read about, Art Projects, powered by Google. My Messy Art Room posted about it yesterday and HOO RAY!! So go on over to Mr. R's Messy Art Blog and check it out for yourself. He has some great stuff and wonderful personal art on his blog.

Update: I just found a video tutorial about The ArtProjects by google. WOW! It will give you a great idea of how to use this site and all the capabilities of it. (Click here for the youtube)

Organize your blog ideas...

I have to share on of my favorite things these days. It was introduced to me by my blogging friend Christy Newhouse Branham from, My Crayola Classroom. It is called LIVEBINDERS. It is a place or a format to allow you to organize great blogs. I have one binder that is public right now and you can check it out to see if it would work for you. I also have one for recipes and personal craft ideas. It is a great way to keep your ideas from blogs organized and if you blog it makes it easy to site a person if you are quoting their idea. Check out Livebinders for yourself, you might even see one of your ideas on my binder!