My new Youtube channel!

Hello followers of my humble art ed blog!

I've recently been venturing into the world of flipped lessons and have created 2 videos that I've used to teach with in my classroom. They are posted on my Youtube channel. 

Here is one I created for my 2nd graders learning to hand weave. 

I have now added my channel's link at the top of my home page for easy access.
Stay tuned for more videos!

Woven Alligator Puppets in 1st grade

A student favorite! I originally found and adapted this project from my favorite art ed blogger's site, Cassie Stephens. She is my official art ed guru!

The first graders have worked hard in creating woven alligator puppets. I taught this lesson last year and a lot of my students demanded their chance to create one this year.

It begins with a lesson on texture. I have a little poem I teach the kids so they can remember the vocabulary word. It goes like this:

Texture (make a T with hands)
is how something feels (rubs hands)
it can be sharp (say OW! and pretend to touch something sharp)
it can be smoooooth (pretends to touch something smooth)
it can be sticky (pretends to touch something sticky with fingers)
like goo
EW! (pretends to fling goo from hands)

It is super fun.

I then show a visual presentation of alligators in the wild and a close up of their skin. I ask the students to describe the texture to me, they determine it to be bumpy and dry. They then talk to me about how they can recreate or "simulate" that texture in a drawing. I give them green construction paper and they draw their alligator texture with crayon.

We then review how to create a paper loom...we already did this with the Chinese Lantern project for the Lunar New Year. So they were familiar with the process.

Then they were supplied with pre-cut strips of weft in 2 values of green, light and dark. They were instructed to weave a light dark pattern with their paper loom.

The next class the students were shown how to create the puppet alligator head. They created the puppet mouth first out of pre-folded manila paper (check out Cassie's blog for amazing details in creating this device). They were then instructed how to add collage paper in producing the alligator head and attaching it to the puppet mouth.

They are mastering the pop-up collage technique.

The following class they glued their weavings to the puppet head to create the body, cut and glued arms, legs, and a tail. To finish they added additional textures on the body parts with crayons.

Look at those teeth! I love this level of engagement with detail.

Great patterns for texture!

They loved chomping their alligator puppets when they were finished. I was pleased to see their smiles and successes.

Thanks for stopping by!

"Only One You" - Paper Loom weaving in Kindergarten

Yes, kinders can weave! I began by slowly introducing the concept of weaving with centers and then instructed them in weaving with a paper loom. We read the book "Only One You" by Linda Kranz for visual inspiration.

 The students noticed the bright colors and patterns in the fish designs and then used them in their own drawings on construction paper. They outlined their designs in black marker and practiced their coloring technique with crayon.

The next class we practiced weaving on a big classroom paper loom. They were then instructed to cut out their fish, fold it in half  (taco shape), and cut 4 warps from the folded edge (taco bottom). Then they set to weaving pre-cut paper strips.

The final class they worked in centers again or as I like to call them, "creation stations". At one station, they glued their fish weavings onto blue construction paper and added bubbles with white crayons.

They sculpted fish forms out of modeling clay.

They practiced coloring pre-drawn fish drawings on large paper.

They practiced drawing fish designs on dry-erase boards.

They sculpted a fish with chenille sticks strung with beads and wrapped with yarn.

We had a lot of fun working in so many different modes of creation and I was pleased to see growth in so many skills.

Thanks for stopping by!

Weaving Warm Ups across the Grade levels

A mix of weaving works on progress...

It is that time of year to explore the wonderful world of weaving. When I was an elementary student, I remember getting to weave a small textile weaving that hung from a piece of branch. Even though that weaving is long gone, I still remember the excitement and pleasure that came with learning how to weave. Now that I am an art educator, I teach each North Star student, kindergarten through 5th grade, how to weave.

I begin this unit teaching students how to produce and weave a paper loom.  We use this project as a means to learn or review basic weaving vocabulary such as:

Loom: a device used for weaving

Warp: the vertical fibers attached to the loom ( I call them the "bones")

Weft: the fibers that move through the warp

Weave: a form of art that is interlaced fibers producing a textile

Textile: a woven fabric

I use these paper weavings as an assessment tool to ensure that the artists are understanding the process of weaving and can successfully weave a basic tabby weave (over/under/over/under weave).

Kindergarten learned how to add woven tassels to pattern rug they drew in response to the book "The Goat in the Rug" by Charles L. Blood and Martin Link. They just begun working on a basic fish shaped paper loom weave in response to the book "There is Only One You", by Linda Kranz.

 

They had to hole punch and loop the yarn for the their rug's tassels.

I am also introducing them to fine motor hand sewing in a learning station of 4 kids a rotation. They use a chenille stick that is fashioned into a "embroidery needle" to which I tie a yarn string. I demonstrate how to do a running stitch and off they go. They loved it!

They had "wiggle wiggle" their stick through the burlap fabric

Working hard on those fine motor skills!

1st grade created picnic blanket weaves and added a picnic food collage. Currently they are doing a texture weaving to simulate alligator skin. These will be used for their puppet project.

2nd grade explored textures and layers with their paper weavings. They started with a basic paper weaving where they had to create their own weft. I usually pre cut weft for kinders and 1st graders. They could then add layers of yarn and paper to their weavings.

I love all the variety in their choices in color and layers.

3rd grade produced optical art weavings by altering their warps on the paper looms. I gave them a series of options for creating an optical effect or they could create their own. They also had to cut their own weft.

4th grade were introduced to weaving drafts and compared them to pixel art examples. We talked about how they were similar and created our own drafts on graph paper. They were then tasked with translating their graph drafts to an actual paper weaving. I plan to post more in depth on this later as they create their radial weavings.

Space Invaders pixel inspired weaving.

5th grade got to peruse magazines for an interesting image to use as weft and then could create any type of paper loom they wished. They just had to piece their original image back together in a weaving. I'll post more on this next week.

Next up, 2nd through 5th are creating fiber weavings while 1st and kinders continue to explore paper weaving. I promise it will be un-beweave-able!

Thanks for stopping by!

Paper Mache Monkeyshines

Each lunar new year in the city of Tacoma a wonderful band of artists come together under the stewardship of the elusive Ms. Monkey and place their artistic treasures all around the city. This article from the Tacoma News Tribune provides a lot of details about this unique community event. Ms. Monkey's work is inspirational and uplifting. The glass art brings beauty, hope, adventure, and joy to the Tacoma community. We are so lucky to have this going on in our art scene!

Glass Monkeyshines in the hands of the fortunate finders!

A monkeyshine is typically a piece of glass art such as a medallion or orb with the imprint of the year's Chinese zodiac animal stamped upon it. For the past 3 years I've searched around the city to find one but never had luck. When this year's lunar new year approached I shared my excitement about the hunt with my 5th grade students. They were impressed by Ms. Monkey's story. They really liked how she remains anonymous and is so giving to the community. They couldn't believe you could keep it if you are lucky enough to find one. The Monkeyshine endeavor is purely done on donations! I admit I am a Monkeyshine enabler, I made sure to donate money to their work so they can continue the tradition this year. I received a beautiful glass cup!

I got Monkeyshine after all!

Since I'm working on including "living artists" into my curriculum I thought it would be really fun if the 5th grade art students created their own version of a Monkeyshine in response to the work of Ms. Monkey. They told me they probably wouldn't have many chances of searching for one since they live nearly 20 miles away. So, why not make one? They loved the idea!

We began by blowing up balloon a little larger than a softball. I supplied them with pieces of colored tissue paper and art paste. They've had previous experience working in this medium with their "Slice of Cake" sculptures. They were to add as many layers of paper on their balloons as possible in the 2 classes I budgeted for this process. We also included a chenille stick ring around the balloon knot to mimic the lip of the glass Monkeyshine stamp.

Once they were dry, students cut the balloon knot and pulled out the balloon.  Some balloons didn't have enough paper on them due to absences or less production time. These were converted into a medallion shape.

I then instructed students to create a monkeyshine drawing within a traced circle. They could then color them with watercolor paint. These were then cut and attached on top of the raised lip. They then coated their entire form with Mod Podge to seal it and give it a gloss luster similar to glass.

 The artists had to be very careful in painting this on as it compromised the paper form's shape causing it to become soggy. I didn't anticipate this so if I were to teach this lesson again I could use stronger news print instead of tissue paper and have the students paint with tempera and leave the balloon in when then coat it with Mod Podge. The tissue paper gave a beautiful color but overall needed so many layers if the spherical shape were to be maintained.

All in all I think the students enjoyed the art of paper mache. I told them that when you find a Monkeyshine it is customary to take a selfie with it and post it online. They asked for snapshot so I obliged. I encouraged them to hide their Monkeyshine in their neighborhoods or even create more at home. Most of them wanted to keep theirs of course!

Some of the happy artists! Since they didn't have signed photo release forms from their parents/guardians I thought some sweet happy emojis would serve as identity protection. I suppose it'll do!

So, I'll finish this post saying, "Thanks, Ms. Monkey!"