Coloring Kroger

In the Fall, Kroger (across the street from our school) asked us to paint a mural on their store-front.  The students designed a theme and painted with tempera paints on the glass facade.

Rainbow Royalty

Kindergarten painted rainbows then drew wavy and zig zag lines and practiced cutting skills to make these fabulous pieces!

A must watch.

A friend's husband was an Academy Award nominee for his fabulous short film, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.  It is a MUST watch.

Back with a BANG!

After an enjoyable year-long hiatus in the world of fundraising with The Nature Conservancy, I'm back to teaching kids ART!  It has been an invigorating return with new lesson plans, new kids, and new energy in a whole NEW TOWN!  I'm posting some of our early lessons here.  
First, an oldie, but goodie.  Kandinsky circles are a great way to introduce paints to little ones (K-1).  We look at Kandinsky's paintings and then talk about concentric circles found in nature like tree rings, bulls eyes, and ripples in water.  Then I demonstrate proper use of paints.  Making concentric circles in different colors gives kids the opportunity to use many colors, but concentrate on doing it properly (since they're not focused on a creative image).  The results are literally no-fail... and I never say that.

Next, I came up with a fun lesson for Kindergarten while reading my daughter a book at bedtime, On the Night You Were Born.  It is full of affirmations.  I thought it would be fun to make affirmations to put around the school.  Also, there are buntings all over Pinterest so I thought an affirmation bunting would be super fun to create.  We did rubbings with crayons on rubbing plates then painted in resist.  The results are quite cute. They might have been more legible had I done it with an older group, but I'm a sucker for true KID ART!

 

 This one says "You Are Fabulous!"  Other affirmations say "We are special every day", "This is a fantastic day," and "Today you are amazing!"

Alberta Elementary School

As many of you know, Alberta Elementary School, where I have been teaching art for seven years, was hit by a tornado along with much of Tuscaloosa on April 27th. The faculty and students of Alberta are an amazing bunch, the PeaceBuilders. The community has rallied with school supplies for our students. Financial support for the arts in our district is essentially non-existent, so the art supplies that were in the building were quite precious (the product of many grants and fundraising projects).

I have set up an Artroom Aid list with Dick Blick. Please visit and consider supporting our program and the art program at University Place Elementary (also hit by the storm).

Also, I have included in this post photos from the art room at Alberta from before and after the storm. You will find that the purple tables and steel sink are all that is left to identify the room by.

Thank you for your support. When students return it will be my number one priority to get them creating-- helping them process this experience through the powerful tool of visual art!

Pint-sized Potters

Is there ANYTHING on earth better than opening a kiln full of childrens pottery? If you ask me, absolutely not! I am still excited after the craziness of firing work for my 1223 students!

CHOM APRIL 27th!

The Tuscaloosa City Schools Kids Art Show returns this week with a culminating open house on Wednesday, April 27th from 6 PM to 7 PM. Feel free to drop by and view the show during CHOM's hours of operation.