Sketchbook Fridays!

Inspired by the website Illustration Friday :

Today, I introduced Sketchbook Fridays. The students will get a word each week and have to create a drawing interpreting that word however they see fit. They can use any media they choose and any style of art they chose. The first word assignment is Identical (from IF). Most of them really seemed to like how much creative freedom they have with this, while others were completely stumped. For the stumped ones, I suggested taking the first thing that comes to mind when you say the word out loud and just start drawing that, then you can later go back and change/tweak/edit the original idea into something new, no need to erase, just draw, draw, draw. That's what sketchbooks are for! My hopes are that this will stretch their minds and help develop their own personal styles.

Name Creatures

Today we started the first assignment of the year: Name Creatures! I can't recall where this lesson came from originally... I have used it every year and I get ideas from ALL over the place!!

**Sorry about the poor picture quality!! In order to save time, I just used my phone to take the pics.

Here's the instructions (just as they saw them on the smArtBoard)




And here is an example of a finished product from last year:


The following pictures are works in progress, a few from each class period today. So far, they are coming along great... I'm excited to see the finished products and will post more examples soon!






It was fun to hear the reactions of the ones who saw a creature right away, I heard one boy say "Dude! It looks like Darth Vader's little brother or something!"












This is a good introduction to using your imagination, especially with those "I can't do it" kids... I hear "I don't see anything, what could it be?" I don't like to give them a very specific answer, that way they can come up with the drawing on their own...I'll try to point out a pair of eyes to start with and see where they can take it from there.

 FINISHED PRODUCTS FROM THIS YEARS STUDENTS:

bits and pieces of the room

Here's some pics of my art room:
I got lots of poster ideas from pintrest this year! :)

Warm-up (draw nows) box

and

THINK before you speak:
Is it:
Truthful
Helpful
Inspiring
Neccessary
Kind


Reporting vs Tattling


Noise Control


Behind my desk...


Calendar, Character Pillars, Computers:


My continous classroom improvement wall:
including mission statement, PDSA, and Plus/Delta



Classroom Clock: YOU WILL TELL TIME! :)


In case you were wondering, HOW TO GET AN A IN ART:

We survived day ONE!

Well everyone, we made it through the first day (and the second). Go US! :) Since the first few days are filled with schedule changes and everyone is spending so much extra time just getting to class, we spent the first day just hanging out and sharing some information about ourselves. I always have my kiddos fill out a survey about their likes/dislikes, goals, reasons they signed up for art, etc. I like to see what I'm working with! So far, majority of my students seem like they really wanted to take art, which is AWESOME!

FAIL and FAIL again

I'm going to spend my last few days of summer preparing some inspirational posters for my classroom. I have lots of art posters in the room but after 3 years of hearing "I can't do it" "I'm not an artsy person" etc. etc. etc. etc. (I think I've heard every excuse on why someone "can't" make art), I want this years kiddos to really grasp the concept that anyone can make art, anytime, with anything.

August is here!

The first day is just around the corner. I am getting excited and starting to brainstorm new ideas for the year! This will be my 4th year teaching art and hopefully the best yet.