Kindergarten Self-Portraits

I like to do a portrait project with each grade level in the year.  With Kindergartners, my focus is on students including all of the vital parts of a portrait (eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hair, eyebrows, neck).  I remembered Bruce Blitz, the cartoon artist who was on TV when I was younger. He would use little tricks to help build drawings, for example using a letter or number as the base for a portrait.

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Technology Integration in the Art Room

I am lucky to work at a school with three school-wide technology integration specialists. Teachers are able to collaborate with these tech specialists to enhance the learning experience for our students. I am quite confident with my own technology skills, but I decided to team up with one of the tech specialists to create a video reflection for a recently completed Kindergarten project. I enjoyed merging ideas and learning from her expertise as we created a polished video using iMovie. 

I adore hearing these sweet voices as the children reflect on their artwork. It melts my heart!

SmockTip #9- Slideshows Made Easy with PhotoPeach

I recently started using PhotoPeach and I couldn't wait to share it with you!  I am always looking for quick and simple ways to share student work electronically. With PhotoPeach you simply choose a batch of photos to upload, organize them, select music, and voila! You have an awesome slideshow to share with students and parents.

Check out my PhotoPeach stream here.

2A Radial Symmetry Designs on PhotoPeach
1C Mondrian Project on PhotoPeach
KA All About Me Robots on PhotoPeach

Kindergarten Kindness Quilt

At the start of the year I plan projects that enable me to assess students' baseline skills. I always aim to reinforce larger learning concepts from the classroom in the art room as well. This year I was able to do both with the creation of a kindness quilt.  The Kindergarteners begin the year learning how to behave positively in the school community.  The story The Kindness Quilt touches on the idea of being kind to others.  In the story, the school children design quilt squares that show acts of kindness.  I decided to have my Kindergarten students to the exact same thing.  

The project was great because I was able to assess drawing, coloring, cutting, and pasting skills.  The students enjoyed creating their quilt squares and were so excited to see them assembled into a large paper quilt. Our Kindness Quilt is a wonderful visual display in the Early Childhood building that will serve as a reminder of kind behavior throughout the school year.

Dr. Seuss

When I stumbled upon this Dr. Seuss project idea, I knew it would be a fun way to reinforce primary colors and introduce perspective to my Kindergarteners. It was also a great way to help prepare them for the upcoming Dr. Suess Day celebration organized by the librarian every March 2nd. 

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto

I recently had my Kindergarteners work on a project that I saw in SchoolArts magazine titled Building a Better Robot (January 2012 issue). This mixed media project seemed to have it all- found object printmaking, pencil drawing, coloring with marker, and shading with chalk.  I was excited about exposing my students to a variety of media while also teaching them about the concepts of foreground and background.