Art I: Mandala Color Wheels

My first high school post. FINALLY. Here is one of the first projects Art I has created. Aren't they just gorgeous???

Mandalas are symbols for the universe in Buddhism and Hinduism religions. They demonstrate radial balance, have geometric shapes and repeated patterns. 

We divvied up big ole' circles into 12 pie slices. Each student was to have at least 12 shapes in each slice so that eventually they could have 6 shades and 6 tints for each color on the color wheel. 

More examples:

These make me happy. 

P.S. I got the inspiration for this lesson somewhere in Pinterest-land. I can not find the link to share who the originator of this lesson is but here's your plug anonymous art teacher lady or gentleman. Thank you, human. 

Kindergarten: All Kinds of Lines Windsock

My sweet little kindergarden students made some sweet little windsocks that are all about line. 

These are the final products! They will be hanging in the hall by the end of the week *cough cough- hopefully- cough cough.*

 We started with white crayon. They wrote the word "Line" with a capital "L" reeeeally big on the front side of an 18"x"6 piece of black construction paper.

Then we flipped them over and wrote our name reeeeeally tiny on the top. 

One at a time we discussed different kinds of lines especially zig-zag, curly, wavy, dotted, and strait lines. Each time we talked about a line we re-created that line three dimensionally. We accordion folded a long strip of colored paper for zig zag. Wavy pipe cleaner. Straight streamer. Dotted line on colored paper. Curly ribbon. You get the idea. 

After each one was completed the students were to use their white crayon to draw that line above the streamer. See Kenadee's example below: 

Someone likes curly lines. 

I stapled these bad boys together, hole punched them, and tied some string in them to finish up. 

This lesson was AWESOME on so many levels. First of all- we finished in one class period even though we just HAD to take a bathroom break. Secondly, the kiddos learned so much. Creating each line 3D and 2D really helped the lightbulb go off for a few of the littles. Plus, kids are weird/ wonderful and are excited by the little things i.e. curly ribbon and bright colors. 

Kindergarten: Colorful Mice inspired by "Mouse Paint"

My brand new baby Kinders are already mixing primary colors like pros thanks to the book Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh.

This book is a less than 5-minute read (perfect for five-year-olds). Three little mice find three jars full of red, yellow, and blue paint. *Fast forward* Each mouse climbs their little mouse body into a jar of paint and they all play in each other's paint puddles. They end up making the secondary colors: purple, orange and green. They proceed to wash themselves off in the cat's water bowl. It's precious.

All of that to say, I read the kindergarteners the book then we mixed our very own colors and made them into cute little mice! 

I traced the circles on to the paper for them so I wouldn't want to pull my hair out by the end of class. You fellow art teachers know what I mean...Anyway, they first painted the red, yellow, and blue circles. Then they mixed colors to fill in the dots.  We finished by adding black marker details. If you zoom in close enough you will see that each one is unique, quirky, and cute as a button!  

5th and 6th: Andy Warhol's Funky Soup Flavors

Yo! I'm glad you're back. During the first week of school all of the elementary classes made "Art Holder Folders" a.k.a. portfolios for the littles.  The 5th and 6th grade classes made these fun little Andy Warhol copycats.  They picked their favorite flavor of all time and made it into soup. Many giggles were had about all of the silly flavors they came up with.

I mean seriously...I did not even tell the kids to put a barcode at the bottom OR a tab on top OR cursive bubble letters. This young man came up with those ideas all by himself. Bravo!

It's just too cute. Look at that little cookie in the middle.

HAHAHA kids are amazing. I am almost positive that this young lady didn't actually know what blue cheese was but she certainly did a good job and made my day a little brighter. 

Check out our Art Room

First of all, thank you for checking out Ballard R-II's Art Classroom Blog. Secondly, LOOK AT OUR SWEET ART ROOM. The challenge in creating this space was that I teach art to every single grade in the Ballard School District. I didn't want it to feel too juvenile but I also didn't want it to be boring to the youngsters. I've got to say that I am pretty proud of the outcome and the students seem to enjoy it so far. 

In this photo:

1. Stoplight: This is a classroom management tool that I use for grades K-6. Green = good to go. Yellow = warning.  Red = note home to parent/ guardian. 

2. Classroom Rules 

3. Paintbrush hall/ bathroom/ nurse passes

4. Mona Lisa Pose classroom management tool. When I say "Mona Lisa pose!" all students must immediately sit with straight backs, eyes on Ms. Wirsig, and a smile on your face. The kiddos eat that stuff up.  Tami Cook, my amazing cooperating teacher during my student teaching semester gave me the idea for this one. Thanks Tami! 

My Dad built these cute little paint palettes (Thanks, Dad). Each of the elementary classes gets one.  At the end of the hour if the class has had a "good day" I will add a paint blob (a.k.a hole punched paint strips from Wal-Mart) to their palette. I let a student who did an exceptional job in class pick the color. Whichever class has the most "paint blobs" on their palette by the end of the month gets a special art day. The 7th- 12th graders have a similar system. Instead of these cutsie little paint palettes they just have a regular old chart that they put a checkmark on if they've had a good day. I bring them a little treat once they get to 20 marks.