TAB-Choice Art at McAuliffe Elementary

Construction Station

2009-01-25T18:10:00.002-06:00

At the Construction Station, students find a variety of materials for creating three-dimensional sculptures: cardboard, bottle caps, marker lids, prescription bottles, yogurt containers, frozen food containers, wire, and various other found objects. These can be connected with slotted construction, L-tabs, glue, and moderate uses of tape.

Man and Bike

2009-01-25T09:37:00.001-06:00

Figure of a man, with the bike that he can ride, created by a fourth grade student.

Paper Mask

2009-01-25T09:35:00.001-06:00

A mask made from construction paper and colored tape.

Zane's Street Bike

2009-01-25T09:34:00.001-06:00

A street bike made from wire. Notice the "leather" seat!

Aniq's Standing Wire Figure

2009-01-25T09:32:00.001-06:00

Aniq created a stand for his figure of a man.

Brent's Helmet

2009-01-25T09:31:00.001-06:00

Brent worked really hard on this helmet made for when riding a motorcycle. Notice the black speaker that goes in front of the mouth for communicating.

Kimmy's Figure

2009-01-25T09:29:00.001-06:00

Kimmy is in kindergarten. She created this figure from pre-cut shapes.

Ramsey's Flowers

2009-01-25T09:28:00.001-06:00

Ramsey made her drawing with white charcoal pencil on black paper, which was very effective in showing the glass vase.

Wire Sculptures

2009-01-25T09:21:00.002-06:00

This year I was able to rescue a lot of colored wire when our building got new light fixtures. The students have enjoyed creating figures with the wire. Some of them have added a wire figure to existing cardboard constructions.

Paper Station

2009-01-25T08:56:00.002-06:00

At the paper station there are a wide variety of materials to use: construction paper, gift wrap paper, tissue paper, animal print paper, patterned paper from several different cultures, gold and silver paper, doilies, scrap yarn, craft sticks, stickers, foam shapes, and a variety of shapes left when making cosmetic and candy boxes at a professional packaging company. These can be torn, or cut with regular scissors or scissors that make decorative edges. They can be attached with glue, staples, and colored tape. They can be attached to white paper, colored paper, paper bags, or paper plates. They can be used to create collages, masks, puppets, or paper sculptures.

The following are some creations from our paper station.

Robbie's Castle

2009-01-25T00:40:00.002-06:00

Robbie is a 5th Grade student who has been drawing castles with battles for several years and showing improvement in skills on each one, demonstrating the value of a choice-based class in which the art room is run like a studio where the artist (student) makes their own choice of subject matter.

McKenzie and Cat's Rug Remote

2009-01-24T15:56:00.004-06:00

McKenzie and Cat began this composition with pre-cut shapes, then used oil pastels to create shapes around it. They thought that it looked like a remote control lying on a rug.

Drawing Station

2009-01-24T15:51:00.004-06:00

Our drawing station has many materials for use by students: pencils, pens, sharpie markers, colored pencils, crayons, glitter crayons, construction paper crayons for use on colored paper, and oil pastels. There are texture sheets for creating rubbings of a variety of textures. There are objects to draw, such as toy vehicles, dinosaurs, and fantasy creatures. There is a large photo reference file. There are many drawing books. There is a still life set-up of objects to draw such as vases, flowers, and stuffed animals.

The following pictures are ones done with drawing station materials.

National Standards for Art Education

2009-01-24T15:48:00.013-06:00

These are the National Standards for Art Education, and the way that they are followed in a choice-based art room:

Content Standard #1: Understanding and applying media,techniques, and processes

With six to nine stations operating at a time, demonstrations of materials and techniques given at each one, and the opportunity to experiment at each one, the students become versed in more varieties of materials, techniques, and processes than in a traditional project-based art classroom setting.

Content Standard #2: Using knowledge of structures and functions

This content is covered at the cardboard construction station, where three-dimensional found-object sculpture can be created with movable parts.

Content Standard #3: Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas

The choice-based classroom allows the student to choose his or her subject matter and evaluate the best way to present that subject matter to his or her audience.

Content Standard #4: Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures

In five-minute demonstrations at the beginning of each class, multiple cultures and historical masters in art can be presented.

Content Standard #5: Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others

We discuss the importance of reflecting on one's work in order to continually improve and grow. Students in second grade through fifth grade write a statement about their artwork every time that they finish a work. Third grade through fifth grade students keep all work in a portfolio, which is used by the teacher for assessment, and by the student and teacher together twice a year. The work of master artists is viewed and discussed frequently.

Content Standard #6: Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines

With individuals, I discuss how the problem-solving done in each art work transfers to learning in their other subjects. With whole groups, we discuss how the skills used in the art room transfer to math, science, cultural learning in social studies, writing, and everyday lives.

Oklahoma P.A.S.S. objectives

2009-01-24T15:27:00.008-06:00

These are the Priority Academic Student Skills for Art for grade three in Oklahoma. They vary slightly for grades above and below this grade level in age appropriate requirements.

Standard 1: Language of Visual Art - The student will identify visual art terms (e.g., collage, design, original, portrait, paint, subject).

These and other terms are used in five-minute demos at the beginning of each class. We have two word walls with pertinent vocabulary words and material terms, as well as color, shape, form, and texture words The use of these words is pointed out frequently.

Standard 2: Visual Art History and Culture - The student will recognize the development of visual art from an historical and cultural perspective.

Many master artists from other cultures, as well as from a historical standpoint, are presented and discussed. Since there is a five-minute demo every class period, rather than a repetition of instructions for a project, there is much more time to introduce a wide-variety of artists, history, and cultures.

Standard 3: Visual Art Expression - The student will observe, select, and utilize a variety of ideas and subject matter in creating original works of visual art.

How can a student select subject matter in a traditional classroom where projects are selected by the teacher? How can a lesson taught by a teacher be considered original works of art? In a choice-based classroom, the art room is a studio, and the student is treated as an authentic artist who makes their own selections of subject matter and materials

Standard 4: Visual Art Appreciation - The student will appreciate visual art as a vehicle of human expression.

Many prints are displayed in the classroom, as well as the work of current and previous students. Many of discussion questions asked are about these works of art, displaying the students' appreciation for and interest in these works.

Airplane

2009-01-19T16:33:00.003-06:00

A fourth grade students sculpture of a plane constructed from found materials.

Airplane

2009-01-19T16:31:00.002-06:00

A side view of the same sculpture.

Hope's Sack Puppet

2009-01-19T16:29:00.003-06:00

Hope loves the paper station, and does most of her art work there. On this day she created a dog puppet. Hope is in the third grade.

Playground

2009-01-19T16:28:00.002-06:00

A fourth grade students design of a playground. The marker lids represent people.

Johnny's Fantasy Land

2009-01-19T16:26:00.002-06:00

Johnny is a first-grade student who loves to draw.

Hope's Stick Puppet

2009-01-19T16:25:00.004-06:00

Hope used a variety of materials to create her stick puppet.

Mother and Child

2009-01-19T16:23:00.005-06:00

This third grade student was inspired to make a wire family.

Wire Sculptures

2009-01-19T16:23:00.003-06:00

Two figures created by fourth grade students.

Israel's Figure

2009-01-19T16:21:00.001-06:00

Isreal created this figure out of wire. Later he added clothing made from colored duct tape. Israel is in the third grade.

Block Picnic

2009-01-19T16:20:00.001-06:00

This picnic lunch was made by several fifth grade girls at our building station, creatively using wooden pre-cut shapes donated by a packaging company, as well as scrap lumber scavenged from new construction. The wooden shapes are created when the company makes cutting dies for packages.

Israel's Wire and Tape figure

2009-01-19T16:17:00.001-06:00

After thinking about it for awhile, Israel added duct tape clothing to his wire figure.

Jazmin's Still Life

2009-01-19T16:14:00.003-06:00

Jazmin used a bear from our still life set-up as inspiration for her drawing. She is in 2nd Grade.

Robbie's Battle

2009-01-19T16:13:00.001-06:00

Humza's Football Game

2009-01-19T13:39:00.001-06:00

Humza loves football, and draws games over and over. He is in 2nd grade.

Brittany's Line Composition

2009-01-19T13:12:00.002-06:00

Notice the variety of decorative lines that Brittany used here.

Grace

2009-01-19T13:08:00.001-06:00

Notice the thick and thin lines that Grace used in her non-objective line composition

Brittany's Non-objective

2009-01-19T13:04:00.001-06:00

Brittany started with a variety of fine lines, then began adding color.

McKenzie & Cat's Line Composition

2009-01-19T13:03:00.003-06:00

Notice the collage frame that these two fifth-grade girls made for thier line composition.

The girls used a variety of drawn lines with a background of collage to create their artwork.

Madison's Many Wonders

2009-01-19T12:50:00.006-06:00

It was Madison's idea to mount these small vignettes on another sheet for this display of her skills and creativity.

Our Fourth Year of Choice

2009-01-19T12:17:00.010-06:00

This is my fourth year to have a choice-based art room. It is satisfying to observe that students who have been with me for several years have grown in their skills, creativity, and craftsmanship. They seem to need no direction at all from me. I have many older students who automatically use a variety of media to create a mixed media art work, and many who go to the painting station to finish a cardboard sculpture. I seem to have drawing clubs in each class, in which groups of students who love to draw do so day after day with concentration, improving their drawings of their favorite subjects. I am going to introduce plaster cloth soon to the sculpture area, to see what the students can create with it or how they use it to add to existing sculptures.

I currently have a group of second grade girls working on a village. I had shown them how to fold origami houses during one of my introductions. They have each created a variety of houses, decorated the interiors and exteriors, and made cars and families to go with them. I am going to encourage them to mount these on a large sheet of roll paper for a mural.

I just posted a mural on the wall outside of my room that two fifth grade girls made. It has collaged portions, stickers, and splatter paint, and looks similar to many of the modern art creations that I have seen in museums. Jackson Pollock is one of the artists that I introduced this year, so these girls were familiar with controlled splatter painting.

One new activity this year has been wire sculpture. All of the light fixtures in the building were being replaced with more eco-friendly and economical ones the week after school was out. I was in and out of the building, and noticed all the boxes of scrap wire in red, yellow, blue, white, and brown. I asked the electricians to save them for me, and now have enough wire to last a couple of years. The students have loved sculpting with this material, and adding clothing made from the colored duct tape that I found at an overstock store.

I purchased two new sets for our building station: Dado Cubes, and Dado squares. I introduced the sets early in the year, before I opened the cardboard construction station for the younger students. I think that using these sets has helped them to understand slotted construction with cardboard. I have noticed them using slotted cardboard pieces more than they have in other years.

All in all, I continue to strongly advocate for this method of teaching. I see my students developing a wider variety of skills, and a much broader knowledge of techniques than they ever did before when I taught traditional lessons, in which every student made the same project. I am able to introduce master artists much more frequently in our daily 5 minute introductions of each class.
The questions that they ask during our introductions are about the visual displays in the art room, in which I have many prints of master art works, as well as menus for each station: drawing, paper, fiber arts, which includes weaving and stitchery, computer graphics, construction, wire sculpture, painting, and clay. I am able to switch out stations at will, adding such things as clay, printmaking, and papier mache and plaster cloth.

Many of my students tell me that this is their favorite specialties class, and I believe them when I hear them groan when it is time to clean up. How much more satisfying can teaching be?

Hand Puppets

2008-05-04T15:24:00.007-05:00

Our third, fourth, and fifth grade students have had the option of creating hand puppet. They have been very creative in their choices of how to decorate them.

Night Light

2008-05-04T14:25:00.001-05:00

Jacob made this cool abstract drawing of a car and titled it "Night Light.".

Back Yard Garden

2008-05-03T11:15:00.004-05:00

Callie, Emily, and Mary, three 5th Grade Girls, created this found-object sculpture. It includes a backyard lawn area with a pool and lawnmower, a flower garden, an eating area, benches, a fence,a fishing pond,and a stroller for a baby.

2008 Spring Art Show

2008-05-03T10:52:00.001-05:00

This is some of the art work that was on display for our annual art show, in which every student in Kindergarten through 5th grade had something on exhibit.

2008-01-10T22:27:00.000-06:00

A ship made of blocks

2008-01-10T22:26:00.000-06:00

A block castle

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A first-grade modeling clay man.

2008-01-10T22:20:00.000-06:00

A dragon hand puppet

2008-01-10T22:18:00.000-06:00

A creative collaborative holiday greeting made by two girls.

2008-01-10T22:15:00.000-06:00

A bird's-eye view of a super-fast race car.

2008-01-10T22:14:00.000-06:00

An interesting point of view of one of Santa's elves!

2008-01-10T22:12:00.000-06:00

One of our 5th grade students chose to create three-dimensional lettering for this sign.

2008-01-10T22:10:00.000-06:00

Many of our students enjoy making portraits of royalty.

2008-01-10T22:09:00.000-06:00

Kimmy was inspired by ceramic comedy and tragedy theater masks that she had seen at a friend's house.

2008-01-09T16:51:00.000-06:00

I have been a little slow this year in updating our class blog, due to injuries and surgery that caused me to miss some school at the beginning of the year. But we are catching up quickly in our choice-based art room. We currently have a drawing station, a paper station, a weaving station, a three-dimensional construction station using found materials , and a painting station open in grades three, four, and five. 1st and 2nd grades are able to go to the drawing station, paper station, modeling clay, and painting. 2nd grade also uses the construction station. Kindergarten has choices of drawing, pre-cut paper shapes for collage, modeling clay, stamping, and blocks They have just been introduced to cutting out their own shapes for a non-objective collage.

On Fridays, all students may go to the conceptual building station, where they use creative ideas for three-dimensional constructions that are temporary. The building station has a variety of 3-D sets: k'nex, kid k'nex, legos, shapees, tinkertoys, 4 large tubs of blocks, bristle blocks, space links, jigsaw puzzles, tangram puzzles, plastic and rubber shapes for making 2-D designs, and magnetix. They may also use the graphic programs on the computers on Fridays.

Third, fourth, and fifth grade students weave with yarn. Third grade students learn finger weaving and cup-weaving. Fourth grade and fifth grade students learn straw-weaving and rectangular weaving on pasteboard looms. These are, of course, a choice to work on.

I have recently introduced bookmaking. First grade students can make their own books using yarn for binding. Second grade students are making altered books by selecting cut-up nameless art work to add details to and change to their own art, then bind with yarn. Third through fifth grade students are using old books from our library to make their own altered books. First they are painting the covers, and then will add their own artwork to the inside pages.

I plan on introducing some new stations in the next semester, which may take the place of established ones. We are also beginning to get ready for our all-school spring art show, which takes place on March 27th.

Reflections on the Year

2007-06-18T15:58:00.000-05:00

As I think about the past year, and begin to get ready for the new year, I am very pleased with what we were able to accomplish, and am looking forward to new explorations in the coming year. I have learned so much from watching my students create, and sincerely hope that they have learned from each other. Many of them are very pleased to see themselves improve, and are so proud of themselves when they find ways of making what they want to make - using found materials, and with creative solutions to problems. I love to see the light in their eyes when something that they have tried works, and have been particularly pleased with the many collaborations between, two, three, and even four students. We spent more time than I intended to on certain aspects of art, culture, procedures, and history, and therefore didn't get to some things that I had hoped to include, but the extra time spent was at the direct request of the students, and therefore worthwhile. Next year, through our continuing growth together, we will try to get to those things that were skipped this year. Our curriculum will continue to spiral around the stations that we have used for the last two years: drawing; collage; paper puppets and masks; paper sculpture; cardboard construction; papier mache`; weaving; stitchery; painting; printmaking; conceptual building with reusuable sets; and clay. I received a grant for our classroom for an architecture station from the Union Education Foundation in the spring, and have spent a lot of time researching what activities and materials I would like to include in this station for next year. We had several students show an interest in architecture this year, which led me to apply for the grant. I am excited to begin our third full year of allowing students to choose subjects, methods, and materials.

Printmaking

2007-05-06T15:34:00.003-05:00

Kindergarten stamping

First grade gadget printing

In the spring, in each of our first through fifth grade classes, we did a printmaking rotation. First and second grade did gadget printing, third grade did monoprinting, 4th grade did screen-printing, and 5th grade did styrofoam block printing. Kindergarten had been doing stamping all year, but in the spring we emphasized stamping patterns. Unfortunately, in the rush and changes of schedules at the end of the year, I did not get pictures of all of these activities.

Hand puppets

2007-05-06T15:34:00.001-05:00

Tyren's dog
Emma's Tinkerbell
Teddy Bear
Madeline's dog
Bride

At the end of the year, many of the students were anxious to finish their hand puppets and stuffed dolls. I was pleased to see how many of them made characters from stories, or created their own character that had a story to go with it. These are just a few of the ones made in 4th and 5th grade.

5th grade art work in the art show

2007-04-15T19:30:00.000-05:00

Jorddeah's paper mache' mask

Adelaide's oil pastel dog.
Briana's Indian.

2nd grade collaborative mural - War of the Worlds

2007-04-15T17:14:00.000-05:00

Jack, Cole, and Isaac started a collaborative drawing about a space battle one day near the beginning of the year. They were so excited about the way that it was turning out, that they asked if they could add another piece of paper. Every day for a couple of months, they would come in, get another sheet of paper, tape it on, and continue the battle, until they ended up with 24 sheets! They would have started with our big mural paper if they had known how fast their ideas would flow. Every class period, I would only see the tops of their heads as they were bent over their work and drawing excitedly.

4th grade art in the art show

2007-04-15T16:38:00.000-05:00

Mason and Aaron made a "stretchy maze."
Jacob and Alex made a colorful non-objective.
Saketh worked for days on his haunted house.
Joseph, Hunter, and friends worked on their collaborative work about good and evil.
Annalise made her church out of clay.

3rd grade art in the art show

2007-04-15T16:26:00.000-05:00

Emily's Pollock-style splatter painting

Kimmie's oil pastel drawing of a jewelry counter
Dylan's painting
Brandom's drawing of race cars

2nd grade art work in the art show

2007-04-15T14:46:00.000-05:00

Murtaza's dinosaur
Lexi and Brianna's collaborative painting
Anah's white charcoal pencil drawing

Jacob's football player

First grade art work in the school art show

2007-04-15T14:33:00.000-05:00

Tallon's rocket ship
Casey's men fighting mammoths

Ashad's space battle
Isaac's army helicopters with birds
Payton's race cars

Slideshow of some of the art from the show

2007-04-15T11:23:00.000-05:00

http://slideroll.com/?s=mz305828

Copy and paste this address to view many of the pieces of art from the spring show.

Spring All-School Arts Festival, 2007

2007-04-14T20:25:00.001-05:00

These are kindergarten artworks from our recent spring all-school art show in which we had over 600 pieces of artwork displayed.

1)Kiana's collage castle for her grandparents, in which she started with a paper bag. 2)Susie's painting done with 3 colors of paint in spray bottles, torn-paper shapes, and a paintbrush. 3)Sydney's mixed-media collage, which she started with a painting using spray bottles and a brush, then added specialty papers and ribbons. 4)Latiana's painting of a dinosaur.

2007-03-04T11:02:00.001-06:00

This robot's mouth was made from a parmesan cheese lid. How creative! It also made a perfect location for the robot to have three eyes!

2007-02-18T14:04:00.000-06:00

Elizabeth made a papier mache doll using a plastic bottle as armature. After she had painted it, she dressed it with fabric, added yarn hair, and a hat from our collection of "beautiful stuff."

Gala masks

2007-02-18T13:54:00.000-06:00

We have these unusual shapes of cardboard donated by the packaging company where my husband works. They make great gala masks using mixed media and "beautiful stuff" (anything that can be used to decorate).

Construction plus!

2007-02-13T20:16:00.000-06:00

Madison, a third grade student, started at the construction station to made this chapel. Then she chose kraft sticks to make a bride and groom, and yarn to make their clothing and the bride's purse. At the front of the chapel is an urn with flowers. Madison worked on this for several class periods, painting the chapel and adding accesories until she got it just right.

Non-objective Painting

2007-02-12T18:26:00.000-06:00

Madison told me that she wasn't sure what she was painting, but I told her that it was a beautiful non-objective painting!

3-D masks

2007-02-12T18:25:00.000-06:00

Doesn't Taylor's mask remind you of a little old lady with her Easter hat on? She even has a black lace shawl.

First grade students love to paint!

2007-02-12T18:24:00.000-06:00

China is very proud of her flowers growing in the rain.

Some creative constructions

2007-02-11T14:54:00.000-06:00

Santa and his reindeer- Madeline and Abeer

Man with a heart

Flower pot with flowers

Grace used some of the cut up "orphaned paintings" to decorate her flower pot with a collage. She decided that it needed flowers, so created her own out of tissue paper.

Papier Mache` Masks

2007-02-11T14:42:00.000-06:00

A group of our fourth and fifth grade students have enjoyed making papier mache` masks and dolls. These are just two of many.

Ruby used finger weaving for

hair

Meghan's mask

Another Station

2007-02-11T14:35:00.000-06:00

The construction station, where students create three-dimensional sculptures out of found objects, is one of our most popular stations.

Mixed Media: finger weaving, construction, and paint

2006-11-12T09:07:00.000-06:00

K has spent several weeks working on her representation of a bedroom. She did the finger weaving first, then started a construction of a room. She decided to use the finger weaving on the bed. The orange ball is a light fixture. She has painted rugs on the floor and a trash can with a lid.

Bristle Blocks

2006-11-12T09:03:00.000-06:00

I purchased the bristle blocks this summer because we were going to start teaching kindergarten this year, but some of my older students have really been creative with them; for example: this space station and robot created by two boys working together.

Working Airboat

2006-11-11T21:31:00.000-06:00

Several boys have been working together on a fan-powered boat. One of them brought a small motor to use. It has rudders to give it direction. We tested it in water in the sink this week, and it works!

Stick puppets

2006-11-11T21:14:00.000-06:00

Many of our younger students have been making very creative stick puppets. This is S's puppy puppet. It even has a leash!

Collaborative Super Jet, completed

2006-11-11T21:10:00.000-06:00

This is the super jet that M & C have been working on for several class periods. You can see a view of it before the color was added in the previous posts. I was very pleased that they could work so well together to make such a personal artistic statement.

More Stations

2006-11-05T11:32:00.000-06:00

These two photos show the many varieties of construction sets and
manipulatives in our "building" station
Painting station, which has watercolors, liquid tempera, and tempera blocks
Word wall and reading station, with many books on master artists

Stations

2006-11-05T10:53:00.000-06:00

Three-dimensional paper sculpture Our still-life materials for drawing or painting
Collage, puppet, and mask-making station
Our drawing station with a large variety of drawing materials, objects to draw, drawing books, textured rubbing materials, and a picture file
Our weaving station

Some of our parents never have a chance to visit our art room. I thought that they might like to see the set-up of our stations.

Collaborative Super Jet

2006-11-05T10:52:00.000-06:00

Who would have thought that making a detailed jet plane could be a collaborative project?! Only two very creative students!

Kindergarten Masks

2006-11-05T10:48:00.000-06:00

These kindergarten students enjoyed making paper masks with different personalities.

Castle Complex

2006-11-05T10:45:00.000-06:00

These boys created quite an elaborate castle complex with moats and bridges, using extra shapes from wooden die cuts.

Giant Hand

2006-11-05T10:39:00.000-06:00

I don't know the significance of the giant hand, but just think of the possibilities! And check out the blue shadow!

Shapes Collage

2006-11-05T01:17:00.000-06:00

First grade students have been using pre-cut shapes to form collages. The first student made a girl and her dog. The second one made a mouse, then made a handle to carry the picture. The third student made spiders with clever expressions.

Paper Sculpture Station

2006-10-08T20:01:00.000-05:00

Roberto's spring man

Blake's freeform sculpture

These students enjoyed making geometric forms out of paper and creatively adding details to them.

Tony's sculpture

Drawing Large on the Dry Erase Board

2006-10-01T08:52:00.000-05:00

Students in the lower grades enjoy being able to draw a large composition on the dry-erase board on my easel.

Collaborative Mural

2006-09-30T23:54:00.000-05:00

Many of our students like to work together. These two boys spent many days last spring working on their ocean mural, using oil pastels and cut paper.

Conceptual Building Center

2006-09-30T23:49:00.000-05:00

Over the summer I found many new items that I could add to the building station, where students create conceptual designs in three dimensions, then take them apart and create again. The new sets are K'nex and Kid K'nex, wooden Tinker Toys, plastic Tinker Toys, another set of Constructo-Straws, so that students can make bigger constructions, Space Links, Bristle Blocks, a plastic Erector set, another set of magnetic rods, and Toobers, and Zots. I also added a set of small people, furniture, and animals so that students could add these to their buildings.

A lot of the students like the large building blocks, which are really just sanded pieces of scrap lumber (they like to help me sand them), but these students decided to build their castle on the bottom of the box that the blocks were stored in!

Students like the magnetic rods so much that I got a second set this summer.
Students like to use magnets on the chalkboard to create outlines, or contour line.
Students use the Riviton set to create objects with moving parts, and use problem-solving and engineering skills.

Pattern Blocks

2006-09-30T22:42:00.000-05:00

The student who made this would be well-served to try to create the same design in paper. Trying new designs, and trying and trying again is why we have a station for conceptual art.

Collaborative Collage

2006-09-30T21:55:00.000-05:00

Two girls worked on this well-thought-out collage together for several days, carefully searching for just the right items to add to their beach.

Our Second Year as a Choice Art room

2006-09-30T16:14:00.000-05:00

This year is going very smoothly. Many of the students were already accustomed to the routine in our studio. They fell right in to the routine of making their own choices of materials and subject matter. We began the year with a discussion of where artists get their ideas, but I found that many of them were all ready with ideas that they had thought of during the summer. They are not nearly so hesitant this year to strike out on their own.

They were anxious for the stations to open, but I have opened them slowly. At each one I wanted to teach them additional techniques, as well as offer additional materials. In the upper grades, we have drawing, computer graphics, collage, paper sculpture, weaving, conceptual building in 3-D, and painting stations open so far. In 2nd grade, we have drawing, collage, computers, clay, stamping, painting, large drawing on the dry-erase easel, and building in 3-D open. 1st grade students have just learned that they can make choices in our art studio, as a real artist does. They may choose between drawing, computers, clay, stamping, building, and drawing on the dry-erase board.

Kindergarten students are new to our specialties rotation this year. I have not yet introduced to them the concept that they can make a choice, but I am rotating many different materials between their tables: drawing materials, stencils, clay, stamps, and three-dimensional building sets. I plan to ease them into the concept of making a choice, but each group always has the choice of drawing rather than the other activities, and so many of them are fascinated with my variety of drawing materials, that they choose that over the other activities.

Clay Station

2006-03-10T12:59:00.000-06:00

Clay was added as a station in the spring in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. Techniques were demonstrated, then the students chose their subject matter. The clay was then fired in the kiln. Some students used acrylic paint to add color.

One of the techniques demonstrated at the clay station was building by coils. This student added coils to a pinch pot to create this unique pot. The other techniqes demonstrated were pinch and pull, and additive sculpture. This student used both coiling and additive techniques to add the decorations on the pot.

Puppets and Dolls Station

2006-02-12T11:12:00.000-06:00

We have a new station in which we can make hand puppets, sock puppets, or dolls. We are learning how to thread a needle, knot the thread, cut fabric from a pattern, and sew a running stitch.

The student who made this puppet gave him sunglasses, a pair of shorts, and a vest with buttons.

Artist Study

2006-02-12T11:11:00.000-06:00

One of the reasons given by the students for making art is to become an artist who makes a living by making art work. We took our discussion of "why make art" one step further and began to study master artists. For several class periods we discussed Picasso. We viewed his abstract art, his realistic art, his ceramics, his cubism, and his one-line drawings. Our younger students even learned a song about Picasso.

We have been learning new techniques at the painting station, such as wet-on-wet, splatter, dry brush, and layering thick paint. All of these techniques led us to a study of the French Impressionist painter, Claude Monet.

Why Make Art?

2006-01-08T16:02:00.000-06:00

As soon as the winter break was over I began a discussion on why people make art now or have made art in the past. I have a tablet in which I am recording the ideas from each class. We are spending five minutes at the beginning of each class, then go to work making art. I'm planning on posting some of the most clever responses.

Creative Santa

2006-01-08T15:55:00.000-06:00

This is an inventive way to make a Santa using our recycled materials!

Hands, Head, and Heart

2006-01-08T15:31:00.000-06:00

This student created her heart-felt art using oil pastels.

This student has demonstrated the concept that if you use your hands, head, and heart to make your art, then you are a true artist. She used tempera paint and oil pastels in this mixed-media picture.

Painting Instruction

2006-01-08T09:24:00.000-06:00

I decided that we needed some instruction in painting in third, fourth, and fifth grade. I chose to use an idea from a book by Cathy Weissman Topal called Children and Painting. I set up all of the tables for painting. We discussed thick and thin lines, and listed a variety of decorative lines such as zigzag, wavy, looped, crenellated, scalloped, broken, dotted, spiral, and even have some that we made up and call tepee lines and mousehole lines. Each student was to use a large brush and black paint and scatter eight different thick and thin lines across their paper. Then they used a smaller brush to connect the lines so that their paper was divided into shapes and spaces. Afterwards they filled in the shapes with color. This is the only lesson so far that we have done as a group since we began choice art, but I think that it was effective. We had discussed the non-objective style of art before, but I think that the students have a better understanding of how to create it now.

The Creative Process Menu

2005-12-30T04:22:00.000-06:00

Before the winter break, we spent a couple of weeks discussing the steps used by an artist in his or her creative process. I like the words used by one of the other TAB-Choice teachers in hers, so I borrowed it. First we Explore (all of the stations and the materials available), then we Plan (what we want to make and what materials we will use), then we Create (the actual making of the art), then we Refine (look at our art to see if it needs anything else or if we need to make any changes), then we Reflect (this is when we write our artist statements). One of my goals this year has been to have the students reflect on what they have created and document it in an artist statement for every piece of art that they make. I think that this will help them to remember the steps in their creative process and then build on what they have learned in this piece on each new piece of their art. This is what I hope every student can take away from art: to know that they are creative thinkers who can solve, decide, create, and learn on their own. I think that this will also help them to realize the importance of their art work. In their artist statements, I ask them to document the steps that they took or tell the viewer what they were thinking about as they made their art work. If their art work is three-dimensional, I also ask them to draw a picture of it to have a record in their portfolios. Three-dimensional art must be taken home when it is completed because of our limits on storage in the art room.

Tyler's airplane is an example of a finished product that shows careful planning, refining, and reflecting.

Blake's City

2005-12-30T04:13:00.000-06:00

Blake worked for several class periods on his city, carefully cutting out the windows to go on his buildings.

Autumn's House

2005-12-30T03:46:00.000-06:00

Autumn's house has furniture inside, a gate that locks, and a door with hinges and a working doorknob that latches.