A little black dress looks good on everyone... and everything:)

My parents own a pumpkin patch in southern MN called Tweite's Pumpkin Patch. I have seen every way to dress a pumpkin but I still like to play. We decorated our pumpkins with some simple black tulle and gauze. I think we could dress them up with some glitter and a fancy bow but this is perfect for us this year! The kid's teachers each get one tomorrow:)

Spooky Rocks

Gets some rocks and be creative!

My son is a crazy rock collector! There is no reason (that I can see) the rocks he collect are special, but he knows when they are missing. He let me use a couple of rocks from his collection for this fun Halloween project!

1. Spay some rocks with white paint. I would guess you could paint them too.
2. Add a skull face on the rock with some black paint.
3. Set them out for some scary fun:)

Friendemy!

Friendemy: a "friend" whom you usually hate or fight with.

Silly Bandz are my friendemy!

I know... I said I hate them. Well when I decided to write about it I had an overwhelming response of comments. I mentioned that I was going to try to develop a lesson with the bands. My husband, kids and I went into a local mega store to find quite a variety of Bandz. I saw Toy Story Bandz and thought, perfect, my son loves Toy Story. They were $4 for 20. I put those down and concentrated on the packs of 12 for $1. This is just for a lesson anyway... right? $12.00 in silly bands later, I'm heading home. That's right... I couldn't stop myself! There were so many different fun shapes and I wanted them all. We got letters and number, US states, baking supplies, and robots. I couldn't stop myself until my husband finally did. Can't wait to try all the fun ideas we shared. I love this form of collaboration!

Shout out for my Art Project Girl!

I support the "No Cookie-Cutter" Art Projects movement.

Thanks to Erica at Art Project Girl

I am a step by step teacher, but I will not use cut out sheets for every single project, I will not draw everything out for the child that doesn't understand. Instead I will encourage and show the student that if you "Make a Mistake, Make It Great" - Adventures of an Art Teacher

I completely agree with Adventures of an Art Teacher. I do step by step a bit too! These are little kids and their little lives are so short and a little to go back on... If I tell them to draw a cat kids always for get some of the steps (cat's with no ears, mouth, tail). Step by Step is a teaching tool that works. Take the steps and become creative with it!-- minimatisse.blogspot.com

SILLY BANDS wil be the DEATH of me!

I get it! I get that kids have to have something that is 'cool' and fun! I really do! I was a child of slap bracelets, scrunchies, and hyper-color everything. However I know that I'm old when I say I can't stand the newest craze... Silly Bands. My students are coming to school with hundreds of silly bands on their arms. They are bracelets that are in the shape of different figures. I have decided that I will use this miserable new toy for good however... I'm going to make it into a lesson. I'm thinking contour line. Anyone have other ideas? Are these little bracelets taking over schools in other parts of the country. Let me guess... California had them four years ago and they are just getting to the Midwest now:)

Shape Pizza!

Welcome to the weekend! I thought I would show you a 'Shape Pizza' my son did at his Montessori School. I have been really impressed with the cute projects and great knowledge my kids are coming home with. I feel I am getting learning new teaching techniques from bringing my kiddo's to this rich environment. I love that I am always learning how to teach and getting ideas to make my classroom better.

PS. We sure have had fun with that mustache! I think I'm seeing his future:)

Circle Flowers

Once again, I let the kids lead me and this K group was not going to be able to handle chicks and penguins this time around. This group would do well with Circle Flowers. Here is my final group of K's. I think the flowers turned out pretty good as well. Lot's of Circles!

That's Right... Penguins...

Another circle project for the kids. They brought me into this one... I was planning on making chicks with this group and as I was drawing it one or the kids guessed that I was making a penguin. (Light bulb on...) "Yes, yes... penguins... that is what I am making!" I don't know if I will do this all the time but it was fun to use the same concept (circles) and use different subject matter for all classes.

Day of the Dead

Are you starting a project concentrating on Day of the Dead? I just got my school arts magazine today and it had a whole article on the subject. It also was highlighted on SchoolArts Room a couple of weeks ago. I'm starting a project around the theme of Day of the Dead, 5th grade working on color study and 4th grade working on contour line. I'm finding some great resources... do you have more?

azcentral.com

inside mexico

pppst.com

Free Clip Art...

Found some fun free clip art today. I also found a bunch of resources for a variety of topics and themes. You'll get lost in ideas... I did. It's cutesy but has a ton of options for education. Check both out...

Picasso Dolls

This summer I did a couple of classes and made what I called Picasso Dolls. I just ran across the images and thought to post them now. Past posts will explain what I did for warm ups for this small class.

First the kiddos drew out a pattern. This was inspired by the materials they had available.

They used the stitches they learned the day before to put the images on their 'canvas'.

They signed their name on the back panel. I sewed the edges for them with a machine.

Then they stuffed the 'bag' dolls with stuffing. I closed it up with my machine again.

For a two hour class, I was really proud of these kids and their skills. Great doll girls!

All levels...

It always amazes me the different ability levels student come into kindergarten with. These students sit by one another, had all the same instructions, and these are the products they produced. This is why I start out with simple lessons. I concentrate on just circles, then triangles for a second lesson, then squares and rectangles for a third. K's are raw and some of them may have had lots of time coloring and working with arts and crafts and others this is their first time with art tools.

Drawing Circle Chicks

Circles WITHOUT paint! Here I had the kids draw, outline, and color chicks. We used circles to create chicks. These will be cute little fundraising images. Out of the 4 K groups. I didn't do the same subject matter/ or method once. They did however all work on circles.

What was I thinking?

I've been teaching for several years now and I was feeling really good about starting school. I thought, I think I'm going to try something new... I'm going to try stations! This is not the moronic part of my story. The choice of stations was as if I was the most unexperienced teacher in the world. I decided on the FIRST day of school, the SECOND hour of the day, with KINDERGARTEN to paint! What was I thinking... The three stations consisted of blocks, drawing circles (concept covered for the day) and visiting me for a painting station. Needless to say, I made adjustments for the next day. I will be sure to share them soon. It was a fun learning lesson:) I'm still sure they will look cute for the fundraiser:)

Thanks to Art is what I teach for this lesson plan idea. I may try it with the others later in the year when I have a routine down:)

Square 1 Art

This is my third year working with our parent group on a fundraiser called Square 1 Art. The first lesson of the year for all grades is a review of something from the previous year. This way students feel confident in what they are making and it gets them back into the 'grove' of the art room. Sq 1 is easy to work with because they have a timeline set up for you, they send product to explain the process and every kid get a free product wether they buy or not. This was key to me.

Here is how it works... The art teacher does the art with the students on a provided sheet of paper. Then my parent group gets it organized and sends it back to Sq 1. They create a personalized packet for each student with their art on it. Parents can buy any number of cool products with their little artists art on it. If they choose not to order they just get a free gift anyway. The products come back to the families right before Holiday Break in Dec (perfect timing)! Even with all the 'free' product, our school has always made a profit. Parents ask for it now and it is a hit with the kids. The next couple of posts will be about the projects we did with each grade level at RES for this fundraiser.

Teaching the K's about circles...

This is why I teach,

K: My circle dosen't look very good!

Teacher: It's OK. Circle are hard. Your circle isn't going to be perfect.

K # 2: Well, my circle is perfect.

Teacher: No one can make a perfect circle.

K # 3: Jesus can make a perfect circle.

Hum, once again, trumped by Jesus:)

Learning about them...

One of the best things about being an art teacher is you get to see kids for many years. You get them when they are little K's and when they are in 5th grade you see how many changes each kid has made in their adventure of growing.

As you know from past posts, the first day our students drew a card entitled, 'What I did this Summer'. This trading card I wanted to share with you. We will call the kiddo who made it 'Sweet' instead of his real name. I have had Sweet from his Kindergarten year and he is now in 5th grade. He has had some hard days in art class but we have been able to get through it. Sweet tries really hard and I have to say I'm proud of this work he presented me. This is amazing for Sweet! He did a great job!

When he came up to me to show me the card he had this to say...

Sweet: Mrs. Hahn, do you know what I did this summer?

Mrs. Hahn: It looks like you played baseball.

Sweet: Yep, and see that... that is when I finally hit the ball!

Mrs. Hahn: (BIG SMILE)

Sweet: Mrs. Hahn, I almost made it to first base that day!

Mrs. Hahn: (with chills down my back) I bet that made you feel good!

Sweet: (with the most sincere eyes, and honest voice) Mrs. Hahn, That made me feel real good!

I tear up telling the story again. This is why I teach, this is why I love my job!

Welcome Back!

(above) Going to the state fair this summer

I'm on my fifth, first day. Art teachers, you know what I am talking about. I see a rotation of students every 5 days and today is my last, first day. On each of the 5 days I see 5 classes for a total of 25 per 5 day rotation. It totals some where around 650 students a week.

For the first day, grades 2 -5 worked on trading cards. I explained my goals for the trading cards this year and we did a card titled, "What I did this Summer". After explaining several times the 'I' in the title is not me (the teacher) it is them (the student), the kids were excited. My instruction is to draw in pencil first, sharpie and use man y colors (leaving no white spots behind). As they are working, I am making their class seating chart. When the music stopped (about 18 minutes worth) they moved to their new seats and explained to their new table buddies what they did this summer. It worked out great!

5th grade, 1st trading cards

Another thing off my list:)

I'm so excited to finish my Quilting Challenge before school starts! This is my entry for a local quilt shop. Quilted Treasures sold me fabrics are from the Christmas Spice Collection by Michael Miller Fabrics. I had to use some of each fabric in the bundle. Viewers choice voting will take place from November 8th-14th. They will award the TOP FIVE viewers choices! All bundles include 12 fat eighths. Wish me luck!

I fell in love with the fabrics!

Close up view of the stocking.

Front and back view of the stocking.

Don't we love FREE STUFF?!

I got this email yesterday offering a free Magazine subscription to the online issues of SchoolArts Magazine.

I signed up by filling out a survey and it was quite easy. I love the hardcopy but thought with a interactive whiteboard I could really use the digital version too.

Official!

This week the official award was given to me in front of the 700+ other teachers in my district. It was so fun to have the warm cheers of my friends and coworkers. So now I have a new addition to my desk for this year.

I also was able to brag about my ATC experiment! Today I went to a cultural competency class today and was called on to share something that I do in my classroom! I'm so excited to share about our outrageously spectacular endeavor! On a side note, I will be writing to all my ATC trades this weekend. I have to get through open house:)

I also included a video of a interview they did recently. Check it out and see what a dork I can be at time:)

The energy is high and the kids will be knocking down the door in a couple of days:)