Your artwork is ready to go home!

I am so happy to share that all of the artwork we made this year is sorted, packed into your portfolios, and ready for you to take home on the day you are picking up your belongings. The only exceptions to that are the incomplete clay creations and sewing/weaving projects that were still on looms or hoops - I have all of those safely tucked away and we will start next year off with those, so don’t be disappointed! Even the bulletin board works are down and packed - whew!

Even though we missed our art show (for the first time ever!) and didn’t quite get to all the projects we had planned, we still accomplished a lot of work and have impressive portfolios to be proud of. Please take the time to go through these as a family and celebrate your progress as an artist.

Here’s a little look at the art room how we left it - I promise it will look back to normal next time you visit! 

If you have any unfinished work in your portfolio, it's not too late to put the finishing touches on and upload to Artsonia or Seesaw. Remember the High Museum is also accepting student art submissions on their Facebook gallery - just click this link.https://dolvinartknight.blogspot.com/2020/04/high-museum-virtual-student-art-exhibit.html?m=1

My favorite new resources in the weekend sale!

Today starts the weekend sale in my Teachers pay Teachers store, so I thought I'd tell you a little more about some of my top sellers AND new things for art teachers as well as classroom teachers who want more art-infused lessons and activities. Everything is 15% off, and some are always free.

New for the art teacher:

Very Fancy Vocabulary - a set of 10 important art words that deserve the fanciest treatment. I like to feature one per month - this month we are showcasing "inspiration" - you will also find portfolio, figure, critique, silhouette, composition, illustration, thumbnails, observation, and craftsmanship.

New portfolio design! I have a set of different portfolios from over the years, and I just added this new one to the set that I will use with all my grades this year. I print them on 11x17" paper and it is a great way for students to keep important words and concepts right at their fingertips while storing their art inside. The portfolio bundle has many options for the art room at all different levels - students really take pride in their collection of work each year.

New for the elementary classroom teacher:

My Goal Plan: for setting project or learning goals

Finish Line self-assessment - a fun way to reflect at the end of a unit or project, with illustrations to keep the student engaged.

Drawing My Future self- portrait activity

Writing exercises that use art as inspiration:

Some best-sellers:

These handouts are perfect for student sketchbooks or enlarged and displayed at centers.

So much more at my store!
Please stop by and shop the sale this weekend - I hope you find something to enhance your classroom! https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Knights-Smartest-Artists

Art & Life: finding inspiration everyday (and a free resource)

Each year I challenge myself to artistically engage more students who may not have had previous interest or exposure. Many kids think that art is just about "making stuff" and don't yet feel confident with their skills in that area, and shy away. When I think about what it is that I TRULY love about art, and how I can share that, it is a much broader picture than just making. This "big picture" approach to learning about art will focus on daily life experiences and choices, and how they have inspired well-known artists and can even inspire us as beginners. I thought about a number of catchy names for my theme but what it really comes down to is life, and students of all ages can grasp Art & Life - can't get much more "big picture" than that, right? :)

                             

This picture is from art teacher Nic Hahn's Instagram - it shows how her garden was very productive while she was away on vacation. All the colors, shapes, textures, and even flavors are very inspiring, and a perfect example of finding art in daily life - her blog, MiniMatisse can be found here.

                                     

                                                 Observational drawing of living things

The root of my connection to art is just that, connection - to nature, to ideas, to others - and I am always fascinated by the way artists can communicate these things visually with the simplest of tools like color and line and shape, pencil and paper. As always, we will explore many varieties of media and techniques - painting, drawing, collage, weaving, printmaking, 3-D and tech - and how to use these tools most effectively using the principles of art. At the same time, we will keep at the forefront WHY a particular artist created in this way, WHY we are using certain symbols or representations of our own life experiences. I love seeing students make personal choices in their artworks, and learning design skills at the same time helps them to more effectively communicate as an artist.

American landscape painting inspired by local art exhibit

and student choice

Pet portraits created to raise awareness of the homeless pet

population in our own community

Frida Kahlo will be the first artist we will get to know - she shares so much of her life experience through her self-portraits, her symbolic still lifes, and even her style of dress. In an age appropriate way, we will find out how the  physical struggles of her youth and her brave accomplishments as an adult are reflected in her art.

                                   

We will kick off our theme this week with some fun introductory exercises and also a planning sheet for our portfolios that we can refer to throughout the year for inspiration. If you'd like to have your own Art & Life planning sheet, it is available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store  FREE for the month of August. Now get out there and find your inspiration!

Mid-year updates from Mrs. Knight's Smartest Artists

Class Dojo Rewards Day was at the end of December - Congratulations to Ms. Alton's 4th grade class, who had the highest number of Class Dojo points for the whole school at the end of the second 9 weeks! They received the hand-printed Art Stars shown in the pic above. Other top classes were:
K - Cameron
1 - Petrina
2 - Shaffer/Popola
3 - Windle
5 - Holden
These students received these handmade Art Star crayons...

Individual students who had reached the 10 or 20 point levels received their rewards on the day before winter break.
You can read more about how I use Class Dojo in the art room in this post from earlier this year.

Dolvin families have been doing a great job following our Artsonia site and leaving wonderful comments for the students - it is so great to get feedback from outside the classroom! Students are becoming more and more confident in their publishing skills and we have really enjoyed using ipads to share our work in this way. Today's Artsonia counts for this school year so far:
15,003 visits to our gallery
2,280 published artworks
1,825 artist fans (family members who have connected)
516 comments from fans

Student portfolios are filling up with some amazing work and students can easily access vocabulary words and concepts on the word walls and track our media use with the media talley section - both found on the front covers of our portfolios. When the students take them home in the spring, after our big art show, they should be brimming with art learning!

Our third nine weeks is filled with kid favorites like clay, printmaking, weaving, and perspective drawing - stay in touch with daily updates on Instagram @smartestartists , and thanks as always for your support! #dolvinFAN

Dolvin parents: Art News you can use!

News from the Art Room

It’s the end of the first nine weeks and students are excited to begin sharing the artworks they have created in art class. Although the actual works of art are being collected in student portfolios until the end of the year, there are several ways parents can enjoy and share the artworks all year! The first way is through Artsonia, our online gallery and digital portfolio. Artsonia allows families to share artworks online, leave comments for the artist, become fan club members, and even purchase products printed with the artwork all year long. It is a fantastic resource and the students are learning to use our class iPads to photograph and edit their art, as well as create artists statements, all online. We are beginning uploads this week as students select their favorite piece from the first nine weeks, and all should be available online in the next few weeks.

Another great way to stay up to date with our art learning is through  the art class Instagram and Twitter pages. Instagram is my current favorite social media - so quick and easy and really shows a lot of the great things we do daily. I post pics here almost daily, as I enjoy reflecting on the day in the evening while posting. Mrs. Knight’s students also get updates through Class Dojo using the Class Story feature – an Instagram-like feed of pics and updates. All student portfolios will go home with the students by the year’s end after all art shows and special displays are complete for the year – we love showing off our accomplishments!

Here are all the links you need, and thank you for your support of our art program at Dolvin:

Artsonia - http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=147943

Blog – www.dolvinartknight.blogspot.com

Instagram - @smartestartists

Twitter - @MKSAfaf

Class Dojo – parent codes for signing on were sent home with students. Here is what Class Story looks like:

 

Wrapping up the year

The year's end is always a whirlwind of activity, from finishing those last projects to wrapping up clay and packing portfolios. We always try to get in a little reflection time in that last week too, by reviewing some of our favorite moments and media from the semester. We have a "media talley" section on our portfolios and we were successful at checking off all of them this year.

 Every portfolio contains a handout with instructions for our "Summer Sketch" activity - a list of suggested topics and directions for posting them online. #dolvinsummersketch

Teachers, I have a generic version of this handout on my Teachers pay Teachers page: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Knights-Smartest-Artists

Another big event happening now is prepping for a major renovation in our forty-year-old building. All the framed student art collected over the years was removed from the walls and will be reconfigured, and many of my murals, like the Jack in the Beanstalk inspired one outside the media center, will be painted over - bittersweet, but excited about a fresh start too.

Weaving is part of our final curriculum unit and we didn't get much time to complete these due to interrupted schedules during testing weeks. I sent the looms home with instructions on finishing them up, and this student did a great job working on her own.

Our Artsonia page was super successful in our first year - we are ranked #2 in the state! It was so exciting reading the parent comments that poured in. I have to say that developing this program and watching the kids take it over with our iPads was one of the highlights of the year. Profits from sales will go toward keeping our studio stocked with tools for creation :).

Notes and gifts of appreciation are always a highlight of the year's end, so thank you so much to the students and families who brightened my days with flowers, notes and gift cards!

Happy summer to all - I'm looking forward to seeing those summer sketches very soon! 

End of year portfolios: paper AND digital!

About five years ago, my students began collecting their art in personal portfolios all during the year, instead of taking each project home separately. The original reason for the change was to keep lots of art available for all of our art shows, which mostly occur in the second half of the year. I really like for the students to have their choice of art in our exhibits, rather than a teacher-selected project made just for the show. This way, the show is more interesting with a variety of lessons displayed, showing off more of our learning and more of the kids' personal voices and choices.

The reason I am now a serious portfolio devotee is not only for the reason above, but also because I have seen a huge improvement in the level of respect, care, and ownership the kids have for their work as we build these folders. In addition, they make great reflection and assessment tools because we can look back anytime and compare projects, review vocabulary, and just feel the pride of accomplishment. Here is my storage closet, full of portfolios. As you can see, not everything goes in, like 3D work or oversize work, but the majority does. Art teachers, check out my printable portfolios on Teachers pay Teachers if this looks like something you may want to try - https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Knights-Smartest-Artists

If you follow my Instagram (@smartestartists) you see these portfolios peeking into our work shots quite often, as seen here...

This year, we added DIGITAL portfolios to the mix, using Artsonia and our new class set of six iPads, which were purchased through fundraising the previous year with Original Works and Artome. Our goal for the first year was for every student to upload one piece of art (their choice) per nine week period. The students loved it, and it has been a great learning opportunity for them to take a proper photo of their art, upload and edit it, add a title and an artist statement. The portfolio grows with the student from year to year, and family members can share the art and write comments, which is wonderful feedback for the students. Comments must be approved by parents before they are published, which is a great feature. 

Here is the link to our Artsonia page - http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=147943

We are starting our last set of uploads for the year this week - if you are a parent, make sure you check out the Mother's Day promotions they have going on right now! Artsonia offers a great variety of products printed with student art, and Dolvin's art program benefits greatly by your purchases. Also, be on the lookout for the arrival of your child's portfolio during the last couple of weeks of school - see the tab at the top of the blog for some great conversation starters to talk with your kids about their art, then maybe pick a favorite for their scrapbook. :)

I hope you enjoy looking through both portfolios this summer, Dolvin families! 

End of Unit 1: what have I learned so far?

Keeping track of what we have learned so far, and assessing ourselves and peers - it can be a time consuming task. I've been working on ways to make these activities not only engaging but also quick and easy. Here are some of the methods we have used and are beginning to use now that we are starting up our second 9 weeks unit - already!

First graders are using a rubric created by Artful Artsy Amy to review their favorite piece from Unit 1, then they are commenting on each other's work using symbols we created in class. Kindergarteners are also learning the Art Walk, when we check out each other's art and offer compliments.

Our first grade portfolios show our word wall progress and our media usage so far.

Second and third graders are tracking artistic behaviors and accomplishments on a chart which we will return to each 9 weeks. We also use The Art Stack critique for ourselves and a peer. 

Here are some shots of my 4th and 5th grade portfolios and rubrics, including self-portraits that show off our new facial proportions knowledge.

Each of these activities only take between 3-10 minutes at the beginning or end of a project or unit - it is not something we do every week, but it does play a big part in student ownership of learning. Keeping portfolios has created a whole new level of respect of our artwork from the students.

On a fun note, here are some pics from Reading Extravaganza, when art students were treated to a reading of "The Day the Crayons Quit" and a letter writing activity.

What's to come in unit 2, you ask? Printmaking, lots of landscapes, K-2 clay projects... and Artsonia, our digital art gallery - Stay tuned!

If any of these teaching tools interest you, please check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Knights-Smartest-Artists .