2nd Grade learn 2 simple techniques of clay sculpting

In class, children were shown two techniques to manipulate clay when constructing.

To make this face I added the features.
To make this face I took away or pushed into the clay.
Children explored creating marks with various tools and personally experienced the indentations they left behind on the clay.

You too can do this at home. You don't need anything fancy. In fact aside from the modeling clay, most of the tools used are items you can have at home such as forks, credit cards, corks, paper clips, etc.




Here is a salad bowl.
This artist is very proud of her work.
This artist made girl scout cookies.

1st grade pracitce using a flat brush to make various

Children observed me drawing various types of lines using a flat brush. Then created their own work of exploration.

My demonstration example and some other resources.

Rainbow secrets-JKindergarten

Children in Kindergarten are studying colors and how they change when mixed. Right now they are mixing primary colors and experiencing the results firsthand.

Here are the finished secondary color paintings which will be used as background to our giant insect painting.

Scissor Practice in PreK

Children in prek are cutting, tearing and cutting. We practiced using a blunt scissor and cutting 'invented shapes'. When you do not focus on the shape being a perfect 'math shape' children are more apt to try. Parents, please support this effort by setting time aside at home for your child to cut anything using a child-safe scissor. Fiskars make great child scissors. If your child is left-handed, please make sure to get the left handed scissors.

Above is a detail on a collage made by a child. During recap of the lesson we played 'art detective' and children had to guess whether the side of the paper was cut or torn and explain why they thought the way they did.
The artist above chose to 'overlap' her pieces; which are mostly torn.
We also tried to figure out which pieces were placed first and last and to explain their ideas of why they felt the way they did.
At the end of the lesson, children got to see their work hung beside each other's. They look fantastic. We also touched slight on basic composition concepts.

Grade 2 alphabetize their name folders

Children in grade 2 (Ms. Stephen's class) were given the task to alphabetize their names. Look how proud they are of their work!!

3rd Grade create cyclical designs using shapes

3rd graders learned about what is a shape in art. They learned that a shape begins with a line and only becomes a shape once its ends touch each other. They also learned how to create simple cyclical designs by tracing cardboard shapes.

A young artist tracing a shape onto his folder.


Each table gets 2 buckets of supplies per table so that children do not have to get up to get what they need. That way they can focus instead on their work and not on finding the tools they need to work.

Pre-Kindergarten News

PreK artist are getting a refresher on various forms of lines used in drawing. We labeled these lines so that in the future we are able to refer to them during discussions. Here are children decorating their portfolios with various types of lines.

Ms. Lipshie's 1-2 class in action

Above all my classes these 3 days Lipshie's 1-2 class worked together as if they've been a class for months. It surprised me to see them work so well together on day 3 that I had to take pictures. You too will be impressed!!

Young artists worked on decorating their portfolio folders using their names in block letters.
What a focused student!
So proud of their work.
Now this was fairly unusual. Four boys sitting around talking about each other's work. It was very heartwarming.

A young artist experimenting with his tools. That looks like fun.
Artists call this being "in the zone".
I just wanted to hug them all, they worked so nicely. You could have heard a pin drop.
Another very focused artist.
And another...
Look at that name!!




Once in a while the kids want to pose for me.....

Kids peacefully sharing supplies.

Art Classroom Tour FALL 2010

Hey all!! I have taken a few pictures of the studio art room.....enjoy!

Here I keep all my art book resources, and my library books related to lessons we are learning.

Here are my vocabulary walls, one for each grade. The white cards are vocabulary words we have already worked on during these past 3 days.
This is my portfolio and anecdotal notes corner. Each class has a cubby that will hold their 2D work, and a folder for professional notes about each individual child. Yes, each child!
Over 20 types of paper varieties.
General supplies, easily labeled. I love labels...can you tell?
I write down objectives, agendas, prior knowledge and essential questions for every lesson I teach during the day. Here is a close up of the pre-k one.
Here is what all 6 classes I teach during the week looks like.