Special Surprises

It's notes like these left by an anonymous student that really makes my day! :)

Classroom Behavior Chart

The school where I teach has implemented anindividual behavior color chart I have modified for the art classroom.  Each day when they enter the art room, they entire class is "Ready to Learn" the green color in the middle of the rainbow.  As the time elapses, I move the class up to the next color (yellow) for "Good Day," then orange for "Great Job," and finally red for "Outstanding."  I have challenged the students by giving them an incentive for reaching "Outstanding" three times.  Once they have achieved that as a class, the next time they come to art, they will get an extra special treat for just their class.  I told them it would be a surprise and vary from class to class.  A majority of the students are very motivated and intrigued by what that special day might be like for them once they get "Outstanding" three times!!

Students can also move up and down
the chart by their table number

I also have slips of corresponding paper for each class to bring back to their homeroom teacher.  That way, their teacher knows how well they were for art class!

The teachers then return these papers to me via my mailbox or just stopping by so I can recycle them!  Please notice I do not have any purple slips... that is because Purple is not a good color to end on.  I have informed my students I never expect to hand out any purples; therefore I don't even have any made!

Picasso Inspired Cubism Self-Portraits

The first lesson for my 6th grade students was a self-portrait. This way, I could start to learn a little bit about them as well as give them a project that would be successful. These self-portraits turned out better than I expected!

We started our lesson by learning about different types of self-portraits throughout history... Van Gogh, Kahlo, Close, and finally Picasso.  After describing Pablo's cubism style of portraiture, they were given their assignment.

We also discussed using warm and cool color combinations, one for the the background, and one for the face.   I also gave them the option to use imagery in the background to help describe their personalities. 

New Job

I have recently accepted a job as a full time art substitute at an elementary school and I am just loving it! I knew I needed to immediately make a positive impact on the students so that they would be excited to learn about the new art teacher.  The first activity I did was a ice breaker for me to get to know them and for them to learn a little about me.  I asked my students to write down their most favorite thing about art and this is a compilation of all their answers! I thoroughly enjoyed writing down their answers and all the students were excited to see them posted in the art room.