Week 1 in the Art Room...

 My first week in a public school was amazing and went much smoother than I expected!! I was overwhelmed with the amount of hugs I received. Kinders and first graders are always willing to give out hugs, but this week I also received hugs from my 4th and 5th graders.... you know you have hit the "Cool Teacher" status when the older kids hug you (and tell you that you are the BESTEST art teacher ever)!

"We are looking back at Summer"... To start the school year off, after reviewing all the classroom expectations and rules, students got to reflect back on what they did this summer. I gave each student a large pair of sunglasses that I drew on paper and they got to design the frames how they wanted and then draw a picture of what they did this summer in the lens section. All grade levels loved this and it was a huge success! My bulletin board has over 400 pairs of sun glasses on it....

There were a few things that the students could not stop taking about this week... Mark the marker eater, the paint buckets hanging from the ceiling, Artist of The Week,  the treasure chest, and my icarly remote (that I hope to have in class next week).... who doesn't love random dancing in the art room! Here is my Artist of the Month Bulletin Board I made to display student art...

This week and the next few weeks....
- Kinders learned about Roy G. Biv (Colors of the rainbow).

- First grade  learned about Mona Lisa and are working on making Mona Lisa smile.

- Second is learning about warm and cool colors and are using watercolor paint.
- Third grade is learning about foreground, middle ground and background and using watercolor paint.
- Fourth grade is learning about negative and positive space in art and using markers.
- Fifth is learning about complimentary colors and they are using colored pencils.

Back to School... Classroom Visuals Galore!

It is hard to believe that school will be starting in just a few weeks! This year I am starting a new adventure and will be teaching grades k-5. I am very excited and can't wait to meet all the amazing artist at Bradley - who knows, one of them could be the next Van Gogh, Monet or even Picasso!!!

I've had a very busy summer writing lesson plans and creating visuals for my classroom. I know what you're thinking - busy summer? But you're a teacher and teachers have the summer off. Yes, you are correct, I do "have summers off", but this does not mean I am lucky enough to sit around all summer long (well, ok - sometimes I sit around) but, I promise you that no teacher has ever said " I am all caught up on lesson plans and will sit around all summer".

Our school mascot is a pirate and I could not resist on making a pirates treasure chest. I'm sure you're asking, why do you need a pirates treasure chest in your art room? Great question. Well, it holds all the goodies that my students will earn for good behavior (positive reinforcement)!!! Who wouldn't love to get a treasure from this one off a kind treasure chest..... Here is my before and after picture of my completed project.

I can see myself having a pirate addiction in the near future and may need some kind of intervention. I couldn't resist  turning myself into a pirate. I decided to paint a life size painting of me (pirate style) to hang next to my classroom door, right before you enter the room... I hope my students will love it as mush as I enjoyed painting it. I am thinking about greeting them with an ARRGGGHHH as they enter the class on their first day, but they may think I am a kooky art teacher :)

 This week I also added some Curtains to my class - to cover some of the storage shelves. There are 6 shelves above the art sink (with no doors) so I made curtains "rainbow color" style... Before and after!

Stay tuned for more artsy creativity....