WARNING: I WILL FLOAT MY OWN BOAT. PROCEED WITH CAUTION. Anyone who personally knows me knows that "good" is never "great" enough for me when it comes to my own personal accomplishment. I am the kind of person who has that internal drive to try to be the best at whatever they do (which is a great personality trait... except when I become an obsessive perfectionist). This is probably how I managed to have (and then raise) a baby at 19 years old, work near full-time hours at my job, all while continuing to go to college full-time and maintain a 3.99 GPA. Yep. I'm that kind of crazy. :) So when I got my teacher evaluation last year and ranked "proficient" instead of "exemplary" in all 10 teacher evaluation areas: professional knowledge, instructional planning, instructional strategies, differentiated instruction, assessment strategies, assessment uses, positive learning environment, academically challenging environment, professionalism, and communication; I was a little disappointed. The only thing I could take solace in was knowing that I was a first year teacher and that my evaluation was based on a combined total of 1 hour and 40 minutes of administrative observations (our school employs around 200 staff members.. so there are a lot of people to be observed and assessed). So this year I have made it my personal mission to step my game up and try shining even brighter at my school. I already know that my abilities and effectiveness as a teacher are far greater this year than last (yay for year two)... but I still felt like I needed to do more. So in addition to having my weekly art club, involvement in our girl's mentoring program, putting up art displays for our counseling department, Hispanic heritage month, Black history month, Artome art show, Tapestry Art Show, Capital Arts, participation in student art competitions, attendance at both the GAEA and NAEA conferences, integration of the core curriculum in my lessons, actively writing and maintaining this blog and creating additional visuals to aide teachers, and putting up my own art displays... I've also decided to do a few more things this year. :) I've already volunteered to be a committee member on a few different school committees, have taken up writing an arts integration column for our school's weekly teacher newsletter, have gotten involved in a local charity benefiting the visual arts programs of local schools, headed a new marker recycling initiative at my school, and am now presenting a session at our state art educators conference ("The Art of Blogging: Surviving the First Year Through Social Media and Technology"). Of course I will be looking for additional ways to get involved (I WILLLLLL BE EXEMPLARY) but for now I really just want to take the opportunity to tell you a bit more about the charity and marker recycling initiative. I must admit that my involvement in the "Chairs for Charity" event was mostly driven by my school's other full-time art teacher (who is crazy amazing herself) and I'm glad we did it! "Chairs for Charity" is a silent art auction in which attendees bid on previously old and worn chairs which are then re-envisioned and creatively painted by art students from local schools. My colleague and I decided to do two chairs for the auction - one painted by my art club and one painted by her art club. They turned out super cute!! We painted one red and black (either ladybug themed or University of Georgia themed) and one yellow and black (either bumblebee themed or Georgia Tech themed). We figured this would appeal to a greater audience. The auction isn't until this weekend so I'm not sure how much they'll go for... but I guess we'll see! Next I wanted to tell you guys about the marker recycling initiative that I am heading at my school. The Crayola ColorCycle program is a marker recycling initiative started by the Crayola company. Schools sign up on their website, begin collecting dead dried up markers, and then send them (free of charge) to the Crayola company. The company then sends these markers to another manufacturing facility run by an outside company who then melts down the thick polyethylene marker shell and turns it into a liquid clean-burning fuel. According to Crayola, just one pack of recycled markers is enough to cook an egg, make toast, and brew one pot of coffee; so just imagine what millions could do! In order to get the kids excited about this recycling program I've made a really cool looking collection box which sits outside my classroom door so whenever kids have dried up markers they'll get excited about getting to put them into the box! I'm also currently working with one of my 4th grade classes to create an extremely entertaining commercial advertising the program, which will later be aired on the morning announcements. Anyways... that's it for this rant/boat floating/whiny baby blog post. I'll get back to writing my lesson posts. :)
At the end of the school year I will collect all sorts of odds and ends that other teachers normally throw out. Short nubby little crayons have become a large collection in my room filling two copy boxes. I've heard of people melting them in various manners to create batiks, or even new crayons, but melting isn't something I'm comfortable with. I wanted to do something safe with my 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders with minimal chance of bleeding and blistering. This idea originated at a conference years ago where an expert art teacher told me how she would use marker tops to create small scale murals. I didn't have a lot of marker tops at the time, but I did have tons of nubby crayons. Hence, I would give it a try! I assigned this project to a small group of fourth grade girls, however I think with proper guidance much younger ages could also accomplish this. We used the following materials: one side of a cardboard box, crayons, and glue-all. I would not recommend school glue because it doesn't have the permanent quality needed. We drew out a pencil sketch of Van Gogh's Starry Night on the cardboard, then we poured glue in lines across one section at a time, placed the corresponding color crayons on the glue, then continue forth across the entire image. I think the results are rather impressive considering all the materials used to create this work were discards. Our interpretation of Van Gogh's Starry Night A couple of pointers about making something like this: I recommend shaving one side of the crayon to create a flat edge that will rest parallel to the cardboard base. I've found that many will pop off easily if they remain cylindrical. This project takes a while and a lot of crayons. If you are working small then I would expect you could finish quicker, but this particular piece is over a foot and a half wide. Lastly, use a lot of glue. Pour it on seams, fill in little gaps. So far I have a crayon mosiac started at my primary school (K - 2) of our mascot, a giraffe. I would also like to create one at my intermediate school although I'm not quite sure what we should create yet. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to share them!
Genius Tricks to Transform 7 Common Art Room Leftovers % %
by lucy, grade 11 in the past when i've taught this project, we've used toothpicks to create a sculpture that uses modules to demonstrate pattern, space and line. instead this term, we used rolled magazine strips. the color in the strips enabled students to use color and employ movement.
You can recycle glue sticks, markers, crayons and MORE! This post has so many ideas and resources for starting a school-wide recycle center for Earth Day!
Amazing colors and designs with post-its, stickies, sticky notes or whatever you call them.
Although I am not Jewish, my mom’s best friend is Jewish and growing up, I was fascinated with all things Hanukkah. As a mom of 2 young kids, I want to learn and explore other cultures and holiday traditions with my kids. Hanukkah crafts seems like a great place to start with my almost 3 year old son. I think we are going to start by sending my mom’s best friend a pop up dreidel card, see #5 on the list! 7 Hanukkah Crafts for Kids: 1. Dreidel Garland: Just in case you are not Jewish, a dreidel is a 4 sided spinning top. Each side of the dreidel has a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The 4 letters form the acronym: Nes Gadol Hayah Sham, which means “a great miracle happened there”. This festive garland is crafted with felt and can be hung anywhere in your home and will hopefully encourage the conversation of Hanukkah with the kids. 2. Spin Art Dreidel: This is a great use for all of those CD’s stored in a box on the top shelf of the closet! I love that the art made by the homemade dreidels could be turned into handmade cards to send to Bubbe and...
Brand: The Paper Factory LLCColor: WhiteFeatures: MULTIUSE: Ideal for arts, crafts, drawing, and painting. This is not a butcher paper.DURABLE: Industrial grade paper that is sturdy for projects at home and school.ACID-FREE: Great for acrylic and oil paints, watercolor, markers, crayons, and colored pencils. Paper is designed to be long-lasting and fade resistant.VALUE: Available in a variety of sizes and lengths for different arts and crafts projects.Proudly made in the USA.Details: Our durable white easel paper is acid-free, designed for arts, crafts, drawing, and painting. This is not a butcher paper. Use at home or school. All Paper Pros papers are proudly made in the USA.Package Dimensions: 76x457x1089UPC: 642782999242
UPDATE!!! I got an amazing comment from Phyl...if you are going to do this, you might try these tweaks to my lesson that was left in the comments section by one of the greatest art teachers, Phyl, that ever lived!! I used to do crayon batik every year when I taught 7th and 8th graders. It was one of my favorite things to do. We also did some 'authentic' batiks with clear wax and multiple dye baths. Anyhow, your results are absolutely lovely. I did a few things a little differently when I did batik with my classes. First of all, we put our wax in muffin tins floating in electric fry pans - that way you don't have to worry about cracking glass. We used some paraffin and then added crayon color. The paraffin crackles quite nicely, and extends the crayon color so you don't need to use quite so many crayons. We also had a couple of wax melter units that could be used for smaller amounts of wax. For fabric, to save money we used old white sheets. The whiter the fabric, the brighter the results. So if you buy muslin, you want to make sure it is BLEACHED. We did not use Rit Dye, because at the time they did not have cold water dyes. I recall using Procion cold water dyes - the colors were very vivid. If you add water to dye, it cannot be warm! We ironed between newspaper, and used a LOT of newspaper to get out all the wax for a whole class of students. I would be concerned that all the colored wax of the crayons could really ruin a dry mount press. I had an old iron that was just designated for wax stuff. Today we had our art in-service and the AMAZING Kathy Frith, taught us all about BATIK MAKING!!!! Tomorrow I will post another class we had making jewelery with metal and resin by Mrs. Mary Tavares and Stephanie Walton!! Thank you Mrs. Frith for coming and teaching us ALL about BATIKS!! Batiks origins can be traced back to Asia, India and Africa. Some say the word is of Malay roots and translates "to write" or "to dot". Batik is an art medium and methodology for creating design, usually on cloth, by applying wax to portions of the material and then dyeing it, then removing the wax. This can be done to make vibrant colors and incredible designs. Batik is said to be an ancient art that has been handed down for thousands of years. It is said to be wide spread as the Middle East, Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Thailand, Philippines, India and more! Although the exact origins of batik are unknown, it is most common on the island of Java, Indonesia. It is known when the art of batik was first practiced in Java, batik belonged only to royalty and families of wealth and position. It was a hobby for the royal woman. Aristocrats and royalty had certain designs identifying a family, social status or geographical location on the island. Many of these designs have survived to this day. Today it is believed that certain patterns have special meanings and are thought to bring the wearer good luck, wealth, prosperity, health, etc. We hope it brings you good luck and prosperity when you wear your sarong from 1 World Sarongs. Currently, batik art has spread to India, China, Malaysia, Europe and Africa. It has become a skill and art of many great cultures. Today it is worn world wide by men and women, and can be seen almost anywhere. Artists typically decorate their batik fabrics in any way they are inspired. Because the art is becoming more and more popular there are lots more resources for the artists. This is yielding many types of designs, colors, and patterns. Batik is being used to make many different items some of which you'll find on 1 World Sarongs. Mainly clothing and sarongs, but if you go to our Indonesian Art page and look under Masks you'll find batik is being used as well. First off, here are the directions with the materials listed… Kathy lets her students peel crayons when they finish their work through-out the year You will need muslin, and a paper to draw on. Another paper is needed to put on top and trace to make sure there is room for tape and a nice border draw your simple design and trace with a sharpie. Then tape the drawing down to a piece of cardboard with two pieces of tape and tape the muslin on top( all four sides ) Use baby food jars in an electric frying pan filled with water. Heat the water until the crayons melt inside the baby food jars. Make sure the water doesn’t run out or the jars will crack. The construction paper crayons work very well because they have white in them. Use crayola crayons, because any others tend to get clumpy and gooey. You can add white to the colors to make them appear brighter on the muslin. I used an image from my ipad of my daughter, but I would not recommend doing a portrait since it ends up all wrinkly looking!! A simple design with little detail works best. After you draw the design, outline with sharpie. Tape the muslin over your drawing on a piece of cardboard Then paint!! It was really fun painting with melted crayons! Remind students that they can’t overlap. Whatever color hits the muslin first, is the color it will be at the end. If they drip on their design, tell them to wait for it to dry and then scratch it off. When the painting is finished, peel it off the cardboard, and crumple it up into a ball OVER THE TRASH (the crayon crumbles off a little) Don’t crumble too much just one or two times, then open it up and shake it a little over the trash) Pour some Rit dye into large, labeled containers. Add a little water, but you want it to be very thick and dark. Royal blue, red, purple, and black work best Let the muslin soak for 10-20 minutes or more if desired, and then pull it out and ring it out a little. You can rinse a tiny bit if desired, but not necessary Place the design on a clean white paper to create your print. Then put five pieces of newspaper on top and five pieces on the bottom Place it inside a dry mount press or use an iron for about one minute. Do not over do it or the colors will all melt together. When you take it out, you will have two works of art. A print, and the batik!! It will be dry, and flat, and beautiful!!! This melts the wax out of the fabric and into the paper, so all that is left behind is the beautiful colors on the fabric!! Judy specializes in Zen tangles, which make beautiful designs for batik!!! She ended up with a beautiful print on the paper AND the newspaper! This project works well for fourth grade and above. If you want to modify it for the lower grades you can use melted clear parafin wax to paint with, and then one color dye, as seen below. You can also paint a design with the clear paraffin wax, and paint it with watercolor paint!!! You will do the same thing as with the crayon batik, by ironing or pressing it after its painted to melt the wax out of the fabric. If you try this, pleas send me an image to add to this post! I love when my readers send me examples of what they have made!!!
The National Crayon Recycle Program and Crazy Crayons is currently accepting crayons for recycling @ 8110 S Houghton Rd #158 Tucson, AZ 85747
EASY APPLE FRUIT DONUTS: HEALTHY KID SNACK
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We are done with our lesson study....I learned a lot but I am glad to have that checked off. The lesson/unit we worked on was about prefixes...
This rainbow painted leaf art is a beautiful nature craft you can make with the kids with simple materials and vibrant results!
When I was growing up, I had several pen friends and I think it’s a shame that children today are pretty unlikely to exchange letters with a friend overseas or from an old school. A text mess…
Find solutions to organize all of the kids art supplies you've collected.
And it's completely free if you live in the continental US.
These incredible sculptures are done by Colombian artist Federico Uribe. Federico is well known for using materials that we use in our every day life for
Color all the sweeties at the Cutie Critter Cafe! Our child coloring book features 40 pages filled with yummy cupcakes, cookies and more. Paper is thick enough for crayons, markers and pencils. Perforated pages can be torn out of this coloring book for children for sharing or hanging on the fridge.Printed in Canada on 30% recycled paper and featuring wonderfully inventive art, the coloring book is a fresh take on a classic activity.This kids coloring activity book has a generous 8.5"" x 11"" size book.Sku: CC-04
Woah. It’s 2015 in almost 24 hours. How did this happen??! I don’t know. But I do know that we’ve shared some super fun art ideas and art projects for kids this past year so I thought I’d put them all together in one place to make life easier. I’ve definitely had some misses (like this one was […]
True ART is all about the JOYFUL and CAREFREE process of creating something that is inspired by the deepest part of the artist’s soul. Instructions: Cover table with plastic table cloth or newspapers. Encourage the children to draw outline shapes on the sandpaper with a crayon. We used a black crayon. It is important to put emphasis on using heavy pressure when drawing with the crayon. The next step would be to paint with Dot –A -Dot markers. Lastly, paint with liquid watercolors. Please offer the children various colors of liquid watercolors and Dot A Dot markers. The children should be allowed to experiment and use their imagination. You could purchase Liquid Watercolors and Do-A-Dot markers from, http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?Product=23420 http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/product/ProductDetail.aspx?product=16821
You can recycle glue sticks, markers, crayons and MORE! This post has so many ideas and resources for starting a school-wide recycle center for Earth Day!
Talented artist Jennifer Maestre captures a new perspective with her uniquely beautiful and eye-popping sculptures, made entirely out of colored pencils.
