Bored with Boards!

My school has the BIGGEST BULLETIN BOARDS I'VE EVER SEEN!!!!! Instead of mounting the bulletin boards horisontally they mounted them side by side, vertically! They are 10 feet tall! I'm 5'3". Need I say more? I'm also 60 years old. I'm not climbing on 8'ladders anymore. Nada! My school is 8 years old this year and I have put color on top of color on my HUGE bulletin board y

ear after year. This year I decided it was time to put up fresh paper and get rid of all the old layers. After all, the gym teacher who originally helped me the first year we opened is a stay-at-home mom now and the mother of two! I called my PE partner and he helped me get rid of the old and hang all of the new. I dediced to add flourishes just for fun. I was happy with the results.

Henri ...snif.....snif.....Matisse, 2nd grade

Each year I teach Matisse at the end of the year to my second graders. I save it for the end of the year because the flowers are blooming in the spring and I have so many colored paper scraps that I need to use up! We talk about how Henri still contniued to cut paper even while he was in a wheel chair and how we can remain artists all of our lives. Last spring I attended a wo

rkshop at the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the instructor shared with me that there would be an Matisse exhibit this fall. She said that children's artwork would be a part of the exhibit. When I told her my 2nd graders had just finished their Matisse lesson she asked me to save them for the museum's exhibit. I did and I was so excited for my students! They made such beautiful still life paper cuttings. Well, the information about the exhibit came this fall and the museum restricted the dimensions of the artwork so none of my student's work was submissable! Grrrrr! I was so disappointed. Thanfully my students knew nothing about my plan. I featured their work on the bulletin board outside of the art room and they were "happy campers". Live and learn.

Blue Dog by: George Rodrigue, 2nd grade

Have I told you how crazy I am over Blue Dog? He is so much fun to teach with his Cajun ways and his spooky stories. My second graders love this lesson and are so successful drawing their Blue Dogs using lines and basic shapes. Here are some of the best examples from this year. Check out the Blue Dog with the swimming goggles. What will they think of next!

Wassily Kandinsky, 1st grade

Hello! I recently returned to school after having foot surgery. As I walked in the back door of my school I was greeted with the finished paintings by my first graders. I was so thrilled with the results and so proud of them that they remained HARD WORKING during my time away. Enjoy! P.S. Thanks so much to my wonderful substitue teacher. I am eternally grateful!

A New Blogging Attitude!

Hello Elementary Art Enthusiasts!
I really enjoy having a blog about my classroom.  I originally created this blog to support a yearly goal at my school.  I posted often and I posted about each lesson for each grade level thinking that my parents would log on and view what their children were doing in art.  Well, that was not the case and I became discouraged spending so much time blogging with so few parents reading my blog.  After all, I created it for them. 

So...I met my goal for that school year and now my blog is going to be about my lessons and my thoughts as an elementary art educator.  I love my job!  I love children's artwork!  It is so pure and from the heart and totally unleashed....at least until the age of 10!  I hope you enjoy your visit and that you'll return to visit often!

Sincerely,
Beth