K explore different marks they can make on clay....using various tools

Thank YOU REGINA!!

Regina Holliday deserves a BIG hug and thank you....she came in yesterday and in one hour helped me straighten out my classroom.....She is an organizing WIZZZ! Love you Regina! ....My room has not looked this neat in ages!! You are what makes a school a feel more like a 'community'!!!

Bookbinding done.......they will be journal/sketchbooks instead

Children in 3rd grade have been learning all about bookbinding. I taught them the same lesson I got while in college finishing off a studio art major. They fold sets of paper and sew them together, then they attach the pages to a cover. The children were going to use these books to show off these fables they created, yet most of them, once they saw the end result preferred to turn them into sketchbook/journals instead.

I introduced them to an artist I LOVE.......who posts her own creative journal pages online, Judy Wise at http://Judywise.blogspot.com . They were very inspired and like Judy Wise, they used mixed media to decorate their covers. Parents, please feel free to watch videos on YouTube under the search 'bookbinding'...they will make wonerful summer projects.

Samples of finished masks

5th graders are done with their elaborate 3d/textured animal mix masks.....I am trying to set up a time when all of them are able to pose for a picture with their masks on.......I will post pictures of each individual mask as well once I have all of them done.

3rd Grade Halfway Done Bookbinding Project

Here are our halfway done bound books. We were going to use the images from our class-created fables to illustrate it, but now that they are almost done, children have expressed that they'd rather use them as journal.sketchbooks. I will do one lesson on journaling and sketch booking to get them excited about continuing this process during the summer.

These books were created by folding 3 sheets of paper and sewing them together. We did this process three times and at the end sewed all 3 booklets together.

Drawing Leaves using images of real leaves (PreK)

Children used lines and shapes to create images of various types of leaves.

Children are so proud of their work!!

Look at that beautiful large leaf with veins.

Using rich visual resources is very important when introducing new images.

5th Grade Mask Creations are on their way to being completed

Children in 5th grade are working on 3D masks. Children brainstormed everything from types of hair to head shape to eye and mouth design. I am working on teaching the children to use resources such as our brainstorming poster and other resources to help them create a better 'end product'. Come back to the blog in a few days to see ALL 75 masks!!! They are all uniquely amazing.

Wet-on-Wet and Wet-on-Dry to create depth...

Children created their 'oceans' using the wet-on-wet technique and the ocean creatures were created by using the wet-on-dry technique. The result is a painting with depth. The fish look closer than the ocean waves.