Stamp print hearts for K!

Instead of my standard "stamp print architecture" lesson, this year we stamped hearts instead - I couldn't resist since the timing was just before Feb. 14. We had fun with our "pop-up architecture" this time around, though!

 

For the hearts, we started with 12x18" paper and drew really big hearts in pencil. Next, we rotated around our six tables, each with its own color tray and a varity of gadgets for printing - empty tape spools, Legos, marker caps, plastic geometric shapes from an old math set, etc. I also had a few homemade stampers made from wooden spools and foam stickers. Teacher tip: I left all the stampers on the trays all week without washing them and they worked fine every day - that way I only had one messy washing session, after dumping everything in a bucket and letting it soak about an hour.

The next week we cut out the hearts, pasted on a bright red background, and added emphasis with some line patterns around. I hope these are on many fridge doors on Valentine's Day this year!

 

Valentine Monoprints, 2nd grade

 This is a fun one-day printmaking project, although we will spend a second session retouching our smudgey prints with a little oil pastel. Printmaking is an indirect method of creating an image, often in multiples, and we learned that adding the prefix "mono" meant that our prints would be single and unique. It has a certain quality that can't be achieved through direct drawing/painting, and I just adore it. We used laminating film ends for our printing plates, after collecting plenty of ends by keeping a collection box by the laminator! I traced rectangles on each one with a sharpie to maintain the border, and we brushed the tempera inside. We used Q-tips, forks, Popsicle sticks and paint scrapers by Roylco to create our textures, lines and shapes. We each printed two white and two red, rotating to different tables. Clean up involved a spray bottle of water and a good paper towel wipe down, so the plastic plates would be ready for the next day's use.

Count on at least one smudgey print, but everyone got at least one great one. Some even figured out how to do the backwards writing! Such fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top three reasons I blog (and voting link!)

Dolvin families and MKSA readers - I am proud to announce that this blog (featuring the amazing work of Dolvin student artists) has been nominated among many outstanding Art Ed blogs for 2013 Art Ed Blog of the Year! It is quite an honor to be listed among such a talented group of art professionals - please take a moment to click the link below and vote for us, Mrs. Knight's Smartest Artists! You can vote for more than one, so choose any of your faves - shout out to another Fulton county art teacher nominee Laura Kim at "Art in the Big Green Room." Please vote by midnight on Friday, Feb. 7. Thank you, and keep reading below the link to find out why I think this blogging thing is so cool:

                           

http://www.theartofed.com/2014/02/03/finalists-announced-and-voting-open-2013-art-ed-blog-of-the-year/

Here are the top three reasons I continue to blog as an art teacher...

1. Keeping families in the art loop - I began my blog as a way to show off our art learning, because moms and dads have to wait all year to see their children's art from the year, as everything is compiled in portfolios until our Fine Arts Night show in May. Showing pictures of the processes, the inspiration, and the concepts behind the pieces really adds more meaning to the final works. In addition to blogging, we are building connections on Twitter and Instagram - see the links on the right sidebar.

2. Making authentic global connections - Not only did I connect with parents and students, I made art education connections across the country and even around the world! I have shared plans and stolen ideas from a huge variety of talented art educators, both seasoned pros with seamless style and fresh-faced, energetic newbies. Authentic learning and making connections to real world experiences is a big part of education these days, and we have had email communications with several current artists about their work and how we made pieces inspired by them. We have participated in art trades with other schools in multiple states and countries, and it is so exciting to feel like a part of something global when I spend so many of my days in my art room in Johns Creek, Ga! (I almost added it up, then I decided it was probably best not to - ha!)

3. Collaboration benefits all students - Bottom line, everybody benefits from shared knowledge - the teachers and the students. Sharing ideas in a huge pool of resources, like the art blogs listed in the link above, is an unparalleled benefit in this age. We all work hard planning, creating, rethinking, assessing, and I am so grateful to those of you who continue to share your knowledge for the benefit of all our students and I love it when I hear that our experiences have helped others.