Call to Art: An Un-Conference for Art Teachers

Cindy Ingram and her team at Art Class Curator have enlisted many Art Educators to present at a FREE online Un-Conference. It's been a lot of work for all... but with a lot of passion, so it's been amazing to be part of it. Here are just some of the faces you will see if you join us for the un-conference...

If you would like to see the conference, simply sign up, click here. I will see you on Monday, March 30th. I'll be presenting on the following. 

Distance Learning: Creating a Choice-Based Art Studio for At Home Learners
Nic Hahn
This presentation shows Nic's planning process in the ever-changing world with Covid-19. The information shared in this presentation will change and develop as the weeks continue. Nic will continue to update the processes of her plan on her blog and on social media. Distance Learning can look different for all of us, as our classrooms do as well. Nic's school classroom has been set up as group instruction this year. She has chosen to adapt to the large class sizes by giving more group assignments and less choice. With the change in education currently, her class sizes have reduced in a way. She's able to give her students a choice. By doing this, she is meeting the needs of most of her students and allowing them to choose a process or project that best matches their ability level and interest. She hopes this will create an opportunity for students to be passionate about how they are experiencing their Art Education.

The presentation requires an update... Distance Learning has forced us into continuous learning adjusting and so here we are... This is what I am presenting to my students today... March 30th. The first day of distance learning. I have made a Google Slide show to share with them on a classroom spread sheet (provided from their homeroom teacher), on Seesaw (for K-2 Grade), as well as on Schoology (3-5th Grade). These are the platforms that my district uses. 

Slide #1: 

Slide #2:

This is an image of the slide... however the links are all live... not so much for the students, but more for the parents to connect with me if needed. I also help that the kids will use the resources I've made for them like my YouTube Channel (linked at the top of my blog... see above).

Slide #3

Again, in the slideshow, all the links are available and the video is embedded so the kids can just click and view. The links are to the other slides in the presentation. The video highlights the expectations of the week. 

Slide #4

Every week I will have a new theme... The theme of the week has it's own slide. The main video gives a QUICK explanation of the theme and the choices the students have to create their project. I mention they can do this on their own, or the whole school has the same theme so students can work collaboratively as siblings. The other videos I have are just fun videos revolving around the theme. 

Note: I have the Theme Video on my YouTube the week before however, I have set the video to Premier so it will not be able to be viewed until the week of distance learning starts. 

Slide #5

This is the choice board for ALL students for week one. They get to choose one project, take a picture and post it to Seesaw or upload it to their Google Drive. 3-5th Grade has practiced putting it in their work into a folder titled Art.

Slide #6

This page is all about uploading their work. Students have practiced this a ton in my classroom so this is just to help the parents and the students who need the reminder. 

Slide #7

This is an extra slide that is built for my Gifted and Talented kiddos or those who have a high interest in Art. Again... all the links are live and I have checked with my tech department to make sure they are all open to students. 

I have chosen to share screenshots rather than this slideshow presentation so that you can see what I've created... but it was made for my students.  A lot of this content is specific to my classroom or to the skills my students already have. 

Continuous Line Bunny

Here is a sweet little spring lesson that is sure to capture your student's interest. I don't know why, but continuous line drawing is always an interesting practice for students (and adults). It's fun to take the challenge of not lifting your pencil until a drawing is complete. I have found that in the past, breaking down one subject and having students master that lesson has helped to encourage students to try it with other subjects on their own. 

I showed the video of the project that we would be doing. I had them divide a sketchbook page into 4 spaces. Then I had the students practice in four times as a group. the first time they were able to lift their pencil... the second time they were asked to keep the pencil down but we went slow. The third and fourth time we did quicker but together. They loved showing each other and telling each other how theirs turned out. Download the step by step worksheet here.

Students were asked to practice 4 more times on their own. I had a drawing sheet to help them out showing the steps if they needed it.  Then I challenged them to draw it large and if there was time we practiced coloring it in... all the little spaces that were created by a continuous line drawing.  I explained to the students that we would be creating this project in a final format next time. If they didn't want to make a bunny they could practice a different animal outside of class. They needed to show me that they had created and practiced the drawing at least 8 times and they could do their animal instead of the rabbit.  KIDS DID IT!! Not many, but enough to tell me choice is worth doing 'homework'. 

To increase the checking for understanding I created this background for them to do for their drawings.  They were to paint ovals and when dry, they could 'continuously line' design the ovals as decorated eggs. Unfortunately... this is where we have taken a break from school. Our students are now doing distance learning so I'm not able to show you more student samples... but rather just my finished products. 

Here was my set up for the painting day...

I had lots of tracers ready for students to use and I created a mixture of white and color so they could mix a tint for their ovals. I had each class use one color of paper so I can identify what art belongs to what class.

The papers match the kids color table so when the Art is when I can place these large sheets on the drying rack and when dry, I can put the work in the correct color folder for easy distribution the following Art Class.

This kid brought his work up to me and said... if you're going to paint ovals... then you might as well paint a lot of ovals. These kids make me smile every day.

Are you seeing the progression... These will look so great when/if they are ever finished.

You think this is fun... Join me in the #12eggs Challenge!! 

Sketchbook Posters

Recently on Everyday Art Room, I talked about how I used Sketchbooks in the classroom. I have created these posters to help support the ways I use the sketchbooks. I'm excited to share these with you on my TpT Store. 

Sometimes I let my students use the sketchbook for doodling. This is a hard one because it sounds like it's a free for all. I have found that putting expectations on this activity has really helped to identify what these pages are for. 

The next three ways I mention using the sketchbook are the most often ways I used them in my classroom. Pre-Planning is a MUST. I used to believe I didn't have time for this in my classroom but since implementing Pre-Planning... My student's work is so much better. I like to assign a preplanning page to my students a week before we get started. I have noticed that some students go home and add to the idea and bring their pre-planning ideas into class with them to add to their sketchbook.

Reflection is HUGE as well. This does two things. It allows students who need a little more time to complete their project the time while the rest of the students have a quality activity to work on. It also creates deeper learning and understanding. I have found students go back to this page as they are creating and using these processes in the future.

Finally, sketchnotes! I not only have this poster to help identify sketchnoting, I also have a full lesson on the subject also found on TpT.

Obviously, I'm in love with using sketchbooks in the classroom! It was fun to share the processes I take to create quality sketchbook use. Be sure to check out the podcast as well as my new posters.

#12eggs Challenge

This planning sheet correlates to a recent podcast on, Everyday Art Room. It gives the challenge of creating an Egg-a-day for the first 12 days of April. We are celebrating that together on Instagram. The goal is to spark your creative self! Here's how it works.

1) Download the FREE planning sheet on Teacher Pay Teachers, and start brainstorming the eggs you will create. (or here to get the Egg Sheet on Google Docs)
2) Create your eggs (12 of them) and take pictures.
3) Share the eggs on Social Media with #12eggs --- Also, tag me so I can celebrate with you. (Twitter: @MiniMatisse and Instagram: @MiniMatisseArt)
4) Smile because you have had fun creating!

For more information, listen to my podcast, Everyday Art Room. The podcast has links in its notes and if you listen, this episode is meant to inspire your creative self. OR click here to see the previous post last April with lots of inspiration and examples.

Visual and Tactile Texture Sunshines

Day 1 (60-minute Classes): We started with this presentation of Tactile Texture that I have used in years past. Click Here

Then I asked the students to create sunshine using tactile texture as you see in the video below creating a cute little sunshine. 

I tried a couple of air-dry clay products for this project. I found the Activa to be strong and dry really nice. The JOVI was really good too but there was one of the white clay projects that did crack in half.  I'm not sure if that was due to the product or the design. I like the results of both. 

Day 2: I had a station set up for students to paint their now dry clay projects. They came to this painting table in small groups. 

Using craft acrylic paint was successful for this project. I liked giving a choice of colors but also loved that the colors mixed. When whet I thought they all looked like blobs and thought that I would have to add some googly eyes to save them... but I did not have to do so once they dried. The paint evened out and adhered to the clay very nicely. 

In the meanwhile, I taught students how to create visual texture using texture plates. Here are some of the projects the kids created and the video that I used to show them this new skill. 

Day 3: Students strung beads onto their plastic lace. See the video link below or check out the IG story by clicking here, @MiniMatisseArt.

I used the video from this sweet little Tactile Owl necklace that I have done in years past when it came to stringing the beads. The kids are very successful when adding the beads on with the plastic cord and the loop on the beads. It has been very good practice for young hands. Click here to see the previous video and post.