Aboriginal Folk Art

One Art Project- Two Grade Levels

If you're like me you've switched around and taught at different  grade levels. Me, I've taught  them all-   high school, middle school and elementary level. What if you have a favorite lesson, but you're switching to a different grade level? You might think- can I take this lesson with me and make it work at a different grade level?

I thought it would be fun to look at one art lesson- Aboriginal Folk Art, and see how to interpret it at two different grade levels- 2nd grade and 7th grade. You'll see that you can make it work.

Second Grade

The second grade  made a mixed media version. We started by drawing our animal with colored pencils. We then created a  colored paper collage background. The last step was to add in white painted dots. 

      

Seventh Grade

This seventh grade version is a drawing projects. It was made with a combination of markers and Sharpies for the stripes and patterns in the background. Colored pencils were used for the animal and metallic pencils for the internal organs. 

They're still learning about Aboriginal Folk Art, but interpreting it at a more sophisticated level.

So, you can see. If you do have a favorite lesson, you can take it with you when you switch grade levels. There are ways to change up and modify them and have them work. You don't have to leave them behind.

So you have any favorite lessons that you've had to change up when you changed grade levels? I'd love to hear about it. You can comment below.

How Do You Handle A Noisy Classroom?

Is your class too noisy at times? Come on... You can be honest. You know we all have them. Or  maybe you'd rather call them your really active class or maybe your class with a lot of enthusiasm. Well, I'm going to tell you about an app called Too Noisy. It works as a classroom sound meter. And it can be really helpful for classroom management.

I've written about this app before, but in this post I'll go into a little bit more detail about how it works.

I travel room to room, so I hook my IPad to the classroom teacher's Smart Board and pull up the app. Below are a couple of the screens I can chose from. You can see at the bottom of the screen there is a dial with a needle. The needle moves up closer to the red zone as the class gets louder.  When the needle moves into the red zone  an alarm sounds and the class will lose a star. If the needle stays out of the red zone after a set amount of time, the class will earn a star. Earn all ten stars and the class wins an  flashing star award with a lot of fanfare.

The Setting Options

The setting offers you numerous options you can chose from in setting the meter up. Check 'em out below.

You can actually chose how your screen will look when you go to the setting page. Below are the screen styles you can choose.

You can adjust how many minutes it takes to earn a star. You can also add a star or remove a star.  When you move on to a new class you can also reset and start all over again with your new class.

Another option you have on the settings page is how sensitive to noise you want the  needle to be. You can adjust it more or less sensitive. You can also adjust how sensitive you want the needle to be when it moves from level to level with the dampening option. The two settings can be seen below.  

The style of your dial is another option offered. Below are the variety of styles.

Too Noisy has been an app that has worked well in my art class. What do you think about it? Do you think it would work well in your art room. I'd love to hear what you think about it?

Mondrian- Shapes And Color In Kindergarten

Mondrian Inspired!
Do you need a way to introduce some basic color and shape vocabulary to your kindergarten students?

Piet Mondrian's art work may just be  the inspiration you need. Here's a lesson they may work with your littlest artist.

After showing the kids some visuals of Mondrian's art work, we start discussing the colors used in his paintings. This is where we start talking his use of the Primary Colors- Red, Yellow and Blue.
After our color discussion we move on to talking about the shapes that Mondrian used-  squares and rectangles.  The discussion mostly revolves around the  characteristics  of geometric shapes- straight edges and angles.
Then it is on to the project itself. 

The project starts with the kids  drawing a simple fish. Next they  draw in vertical and horizontal lines on the fish, dividing it into square and rectangle shapes. The shapes are then randomly colored in  red, yellow and blue colors. Keep reminding them to leave some shapes white.

After they are done coloring, the fish is cut out and glued onto a black background.

Next we move onto the collage step. The kids are given strips of red yellow and blue strips of colored paper. They cut off small squares and rectangles. And glue them around the edge of the black background creating a frame for  the fish,

Here are some finished projects. You can see this is a simple project that helps the kids understand some basic art vocabulary involving color and shape.

What do you think about these Mondrian inspired fish? Would you try these in your kindergarten art class? I'd love to hear about it?

Bring Storytelling Into Art Class

Making Art Come to Life- Telling Stories in  Art Class

Adding stories to you art class will help bring art and artists to life! They help artist become human. Your kids will connect to them as real flesh and blood people.

Do you need to add some storytelling in your art class?

Georgia O'Keeffe on a motorcycle.

Check out my Arty Facts here. They're free, printable pdf's. You'll find stories about Picasso, Henri Rousseau, Romare Bearden, Mary Cassatt and others.
What do you think about my Arty Facts? Would you use them in your art class?  I'd love to hear your thoughts.