Fundraising, Supplies, and Parent Volunteers

During our Back to School Night a couple of weeks ago, I hosted an activity in the art room for people to do while they waited to see their teacher. I also used this as an opportunity to meet the parents, make connections, and give them a chance to get involved.

While the kids created scales for our Artigator (how nice does he look in the hall?) parents had the chance to sign up for volunteering in the art room. I had a sign-up sheet with information about what they could do, like helping to set up an art show, chaperoning, guest speaking, or even just being an extra set of hands in the room. I had a lot of people sign up and I can't wait to start on projects with them!

I also had a list of free items, like newspapers and egg cartons, that they could donate as well as some items they could buy. I found this idea Teach Bake Love and modified it for art class. I wrote some basic (mostly cleaning supplies) on crayons and set them out. One week later our wonderful generous parents had stocked us with more wipes and sanitizer than I could think to use! I would really recommend that other art teachers try this out. :)

Idea from Teach Bake Love.

Prehistoric Cave Carvings

We started our the school year in 3rd grade with clay in the second week. During our cave art unit, we looked at cave paintings and cave carvings. This was a simply project done in one day. We squished a ball of clay into a pancake shape and used a pointy stick to carve in our drawings. We looked at prehistoric figures found in many famous caves to inspire our work. 

When they dried, we painted them with natural colors of tempera paint and hung them up. 

This Week in Art

Kindergarten got an intro to art by creating Art Books. We practiced lines, shapes, and basic pictures. They had fun and I got to see what they can do. 

1st grade began work on the backgrounds for their Stonehenge paintings. We practiced value by painting lights and darks to create a "moon in the night" effect. Next week we'll add our Stonehenge with foam brushes.

2nd grade used various painted paper techniques to create cave-inspired papers. Next week, we'll learn how to draw some basic cave art images and cut these into shapes to create a collage.

How awesome are these wire racks I found in surplus? Perfect for 3D drying.

3rd grade began work on their cave carvings. They were so excited to get to do clay in their second week of school!

4th grade created collages of Meath Spiral designs. Next week, we'll add metal sheets over these to create a relief sculpture. You can see some of those on the left side of the rack.

5th grade began the background of their Aboriginal Dot Paintings with black and white patterns. Next week we add dots!

I am very happy with these kids so far! Guild is a spectacular school! :)

Back to School Night

For our open house this week, I hosted an art-making activity for the parents and kids. I drew an alligator on the board (he's under there, I promise, and he looks great) and the kids decorated a scale with their yearly goal written on it. Here are a few pictures of their work. I also met some incredible parents and got some volunteers signed up for the year. :)