700 followers! Week four accomplishments, too

Just saw that I reached 700 followers on my Blogger dashboard - thanks so much for keeping in touch with my Smartest Artists :). (Thanks to Bloglovin' readers too!) One of the most popular things on my blog has been my student portfolio posts, and after a few years of sharing them through email, I am happy to announce that I will have them available for you on Teachers Pay Teachers in the next few days! Stay tuned for that announcement/link.

I can't believe we are a full 4 weeks in - there is so much to do in those first few weeks and I feel like I should have more work to post, but honestly we are still putting touches on a lot of it. I do have some that I'm proud to show you though:

Kindergarteners continue the tradition of starting the year with Mo Willems' Pigeon, who found a friend or two in our drawings. Focus: combining simple shapes, illustration, filling the space

First grade family portraits - focus on filling the space, drawing portraits with overlapping, using materials correctly

Second graders will be revealing their colorful tissue paintings next week, based on Miro's abstract style. Focus- abstract art, drawing from our imaginations, using good craftsmanship

Third grade positive and negative dots based on The Dot. Focus - illustration, craftsmanship, positive/negative shapes

Fourth graders created observational drawings, first gesture figures then contour still life with shading.

Fourth and Fifth graders made color wheels, value scales, and notes on their portfolios to refer to - these and other things now available on Teachers Pay Teachers! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Knights-Smartest-Artists

Fifth graders made black and white observational drawings of rocks and shells to warm up, then moved on the contour line gem stones which we will fill with hues, tints, and shades, creating form.

More info on these soon to come, see you soon!