pet pARTners: serving our community with ART!

I am so excited about our community service project in art class this year! We are calling it "pet pARTners" and we will be promoting our local animal shelter, FurKids, by making portraits of pets who need homes and posting on our school social media accounts as well as in locations around our community. We would love to see all the homeless pets in our neighborhood find loving homes!
We will also donate a portion of our profits from Artsonia, and will collect donations at out art show in the spring.
The kids have been so thrilled to hear a bit about this - audible gasping even! We will begin the portraits in September so please follow us on Instagram for the latest posts - @smartestartists.
For more information about adopting a pet in the Johns Creek community, please visit FurKids.org.


Here are a few pet portraits from years past...

Artsonia Station display and handout

At the end of last year, we created an area of the artroom designated for photographing, editing, and publishing our artwork independently as students completed projects. It is called the "Artsonia Station" and it is awesome! Students in grades 2-5 used it a lot during those last weeks and I had a lot of comments on Instagram about the center.

Great news! I have a new printable format available on Teachers Pay Teachers, including five printable pages that can be enlarged to bulletin board size or used as is for a smaller center. I have also condensed the pages into a single-page, 2-sided handout if you don't have room for a center, or just want a small one for sketchbooks.

Artsonia has been a really popular addition to our art program - families love how easy it is to share the artwork. The students are taking great pride in publishing their art along with thoughtful artist statements. We even get rewarded with a portion of the gift shop profits! 

Here's where you can find the Artsonia Station : https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Artsonia-Station-instructional-display-and-handout-2722191

Catching up, and a Best Year Ever sale

It's back to school for me this week! I love starting a new school year, even though it comes with the end of summer. I hope all of you have had the summer you wished for, whether adventurous and fun-filled or relaxing and restful.

Kicking things off is a big back-to-school sale at Teachers pay Teachers - I have uploaded lots of new materials for both the art teachers and elementary classroom teachers - I would love for you to check it out! Be sure to use the code BestYear for your best savings - Sale starts Monday morning: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Knights-Smartest-Artists

Our family's summer vacation was early in June, and it was a trip I've wanted to take my whole life -New York City! We did and saw all the big stuff, and I can't wait to go back and do more exploring. I will leave you with some of my favorite shots, and I'll be checking back in soon from the art room!