Ew, David : Plastic Canvas Sweater Magnet

My sister pulled out a little box of magnets the last time I visited. She showed me a great aunt on her husbands side gave her little magnets sewed on plastic canvas for each holiday. She explained that when she received them she didn't appreciate it the same way she does now... that she is older... and wiser. I thought I would send her a pick-me-up and started making some magnets to add to her collection featuring some of our favorite shows. For starts... $chitts Creek!  Check out the video for full instructions. Drawings below are my attempt at a pattern. Maybe you can make one for someone special this year for Christmas. 

Cut a black plastic canvas to 27 spaces by 34 spaces.

Trim down the plastic to create the shape of the sweater. Starting from each side helps to stay even. For example, cut the shoulder triangle on the right, then on the left. Then move into the center cut for the top of the sweater. 

This is an image of what the plastic will look like.

Start with the white yarn creating the words. If the first line on the left is number one... count to the seventh to start the 'D' for David. Likewise, if the bottom is number 1, count up to the number 9 to find the base of all the letters of David. These letters were created in a cross stitch motion.

Filling in the black in this chevron pattern helps the texture appear more like a sweater. 

Finish the black with a whip stitch around the edge of the of the sweater shape will create a finished look. 

Use white, place lines to separate the sleeves and add the classic 'David' lighting bolts to the top of the sweater. 

 

One Session Google Draw Lesson

Need a quick little lesson before a holiday. Here ya go. This will require a iPad or Chromebook and access to Google Draw. 

Students will learn...

• How to create an object using simple shapes.
• How to use Google Draw tools like; Shapes, Polylines, and Curve Lines.
• How to share the drawing. 

Corn Project to Celebrate National Indigenous People Day

Pulling out a lesson from long ago. Here is my original post. This year I chose to use this lesson to celebrate the importance of corn to the American Indigenous People. Plus, Kindergarten continued to practice cutting, and learned 3 ways to glue... glue stick, liquid glue, and glue sponge. Fun and successful lesson for the kids! 

Scroll through the slide show above. I also created a Seesaw Lesson if you would like to use it in your Virtual Classroom. 

'I Love My State', Inspired by Minnesota Artist, Adam Turman

I am so excited to do this Art To Remember project with. my 4th and 5th grade students this year. I am teaching students in-person as well as online. It has been a tricky balance (maybe balance is the wrong word, because... I don't feel balanced right now). I was excited to create a lesson inspired by a local Minnesota Artist named Adam Turman. He is really well known to our local area. His work is so bold and impressive that it could be inspiration for classes in any location while working on this lesson.

Here is how I introduced this lesson to my students (both online and in-person).

That led into showing this 'lesson video' in portions over the next couple of weeks. 

As I always have, I am presenting the lessons to my students on a smart TV in the front of the room. I'm glad to have this in my practice already... this is also how I present the lessons to my at home learners. This first lesson was created using Adobe SPARK. You can see that I broke down the steps into time.  See our State/District has allowed families to move into and out of Distance Learning at two points in the year. I need to keep all my students at the same point to easily bring them into and out of both platforms of learning. So, I would teach in person a week and then edit the times and how far the classes got... then I would share the lesson with my Distance Learning students. 

Adobe Spark is awesome... but it has one flaw that I couldn't get over. I like to show videos in chunks. I know Google Slides allows me to do this. I can edit and show only a portion of a video... so that is why I switched back to Google Slides (Slides is such a great platform). So, here was the lesson for day two. You can see that I'm able to gather students examples. This has been helpful (I hope) for the kids at home.

Moving into week three, we are really starting to see the product develop. Students are bringing their own supplies and tool boxes to create an environment where less materials are shared to reduce germ sharing as well. You can see that they are using different mediums to create their work. I love this! It gives choice. 

The final week of working was when the kids created their unique backgrounds. On a normal year I would have had them paint their backgrounds. This year, I'm just not ready for that yet. I need to figure out the logistics of painting and sharing supplies and NOT stressing myself out.  I hope to be able to 'get there' this year. 

Here are a couple of awesome works from my classes.  I hope the families love them as they make their way home this school year.

Art to Remember: Line Lion

Gearing up for Art To Remember Fundraiser this year. Our K's and 1st grade will be creating a 'Line Lion'. I have created a resource to assist with this lesson shared with you FREE on my Teachers pay Teachers Store.  

I also have a supporting video on my YouTube Channel. I will be using this lesson both in class and at home. Can't wait to see what the Hassan Artist create.