College Week

This week was College Week so it was filled with themed spirit days and door decorating.  One of the days was Career Day on which students were encouraged to dress like what they wanted to be after they graduated college.  There were so many cute kiddos that day dressed up from artists to lawyers and everything in between.  No literally in between… I had a student tell me she was dressed up as a lawtist, which she then defined as a lawyer and artist.

In addition to that as I was sitting in my classroom getting ready for the day my door was opened by one of the kindergarten teachers who posed the question, “Guess who she wants to be?”  Before I could ask her who she was talking about in walked one of my kindergarten girls wearing an Angelina Ballerina apron.  When asked what she wanted to be after college she replied, ” Ms. Schaefer!”  I literally teared up and took a picture!  I would love to share the photo but since her face is in the image you are going to just have to imagine the cutest thing you’ve ever seen and be satisfied!

In order to show our support of College Week, the teachers were encouraged to decorate their classroom door with their college colors.  Here are a couple images of mine, Go Mean GREEN!

The Collection…

Before I started teaching at Rasor I decided that I would start an apron collection since I wear one each day to hold supplies, positive behavior re-enforcers, etc.  Well I am thrilled to announce the arrival of my newest apron:  The Vera Bradely Apron.  I have not taken it off since I brought it to school!  On top of being a super cute and fun print it has two GIANT pockets that are amazing… I mean really who can put a stapler in their pocket and forget it is there?  ME in this apron, that’s who!  It’s a beautiful thing!  Here is a picture of the print of the apron:

Two things every elementary teacher needs to invest in…

If I have learned anything at all during my first year of teaching and daily carpool duties in the lovely state of Texas it is that every new teacher needs to invest in a good oversized umbrella and rainboots.  The weather here is crazy and I can not even keep count how many times I have had to use both of these things while greeting kids in the morning or seeing them off in the afternoon.  Sure, I could have chosen to be practical and get a solid dark color of each of those things but really would I be an art teacher if I did that?  So I went with COLOR…because it makes me happy, not to mention that it makes carpool on rainy days that much brighter!  Here’s a pick of mine

Ps. I did not mean to match my umbrella and rug but it was a fortunate accident

More Student Artwork…

Just wanted to upload more images of a few other lessons we’ve been working on lately.  Enjoy!

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2nd Grade ~ George Rodrigue Animals~ Students had to draw an animal of their choice and put it in an environment.  They then had to color their animal according to how they felt or what the animal was doing.  We discussed George Rodrigue’s artwork with Blue Dog.

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Kindergarten ~ Mixed Media Fish ~ The Students drew fish from images with crayons.  Next they painted the water in their cylinder and then I laminated the cylinders to make them look like glass bowls.  In the background they picked out a wallpaper for their table cloth and did oil pastel patterns in the background.

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3rd Grade ~ Compass Rose ~ The students created an 8 or 16 point compass rose. We discussed cartography, cartographers, and the cardinal directions.

This one was so detailed I had to include a detail shot below…

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5th Grade ~ Musical Cubism ~ The students studied Cubism and the artwork of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque to start this lesson off.  Next they arranged parts of instruments to create their composition and then selected a color scheme to complete their project by painting their piece.

2nd Grade Paper Sculptures…

We just completed a Paper Sculpture project in 2nd Grade that the students had a lot of fun with.  We started by picking out a set of complimentary colored construction papers (9×12) and filling one side of each paper with oil pastel patterns.  Once completed we glued the two blank sides together and let them dry.  During the next class we cut six lines and began to connect our paper sculptures using the slitting technique.  The kids really enjoyed taking something 2D and transforming it into something 3D.  They also enjoyed how this sculpture could be re-organized to create a new sculpture by connecting different slits than the first time.  Throughout the project we discussed the artwork of Frank Stella and Richard Serra.  Here are some student examples… ENJOY:

5th Grade Patterned Landscapes…

In 5th Grade we are just finishing up our Patterned Landscape project.  In this project students start by drawing the contour shapes they see within a landscape they have selected.  Once they have drawn their landscape in shapes using pencil and then traced them with sharpie they begin filling in their shapes with different patterns or implied textures using three different thicknesses of black sharpies.  Once they complete this step they select one shape to fill with color in order to create a focal point. We discuss implied texture, actual texture, line variation, and emphasis throughout the project.  This project is one of my favorites from the time I did my teacher example and it turned out that the students had a blast as well!  Here are some student examples:

A few new additions to Ms. Schaefer’s Classroom….

Over the holidays I picked up a few things that made it into Ms. Schaefer’s Classroom.  I have been meaning to replace my old green, orange, and black cardboard boxes that I had in my stations center, which you can see here, because the day to day has caused them to break down much quicker than I expected.  I was really excited when I found these polka dot fabric boxes at Target this past weekend for only $7 a piece!  They are a really cute addition to the room and they are bound to last longer, which I am super excited about!  

The next addition to the classroom is much more unexpected but very EXCITING!  I actually have my cousin Darcy to thank for this addition.  It all started with my family’s white elephant gift exchange tradition.  This year my cousin Darcy’s contribution to the gift exchange was a light teal porcelain size 7 women’s hand.  As luck would have it my sweet mother ended up with this gift, which she thought was a dud… little did she know that Ms. Schaefer was THRILLED about being able to take it off her hands (ha ha … no pun intended… well maybe a little )!  It is now proudly displayed next to art teacher barbie in my classroom.  As luck would have it… all my students noticed and loved the addition minus those few students who felt the hand was a bit…. creepy. Don’t worry they are far out numbered by those who think it is really COOL!

It’s been a while…

Well as the title suggests, I am long overdue for a post.  On top of being busy with the everyday lesson plans and various school activities or events I was also keeping busy with the TAEA Conference, which just happened to be in Dallas this year.

The Conference was GREAT as always.  My friend Amanda and I presented to a full room and also attended some very interesting sessions held by an array of fabulous art educators!  I am already looking forward to the NAEA Conference in Baltimore this coming April.  Amanda and I will be presenting again as well as attending plenty of sessions with our friends Kim and Alex!  Baltimore 2010 here we come!

Everything at school is going wonderful.  Rasor just wrapped up our second 9 weeks today with a fabulous assembly and holiday party day!  I really feel so comfortable at Rasor and in the classroom.  I love being able to say that I love my job!  After all who wouldn’t love to get to go play in the art classroom with kiddos all day!

I was honored to receive the Beginning Teacher of the Year Award for Rasor today at the assembly!  It was such an honor to know my peers think as highly of me as I do of them.  Here is a picture of the beautiful roses they gave me (forgive the quality, I only had my phone) ….

First Substitute Experience…

Well I am currently sitting in the hospital waiting to have my gall bladder removed either this evening or tomorrow morning but I thought I would go ahead and update the blog since this is my first experience with setting up a substitute for my art class room.  Thank GOD for wifi at the hospital!

Since this was not a planned absence, I was not as prepared as I had hoped but between my friends, the wifi, and my fabulous faculty at Rasor I think we got everything together for the substitute.  I had to modify some of my plans for new lessons because tomorrow my K through 5 students were scheduled for new lessons but instead we are doing prelim exercises to prepare for the new lessons we are starting next week when I return!  I am so thankful that someone along the way once told me to have lesson plans on my desk and that I followed that advice!

My team leader, Patti, has been amazing through the whole process in helping me find not only a substitute teacher but a sub that has ART training who can sub for me today through Thursday!!!  In addition she helped me get all the information on lessons to my sub! Thank you PATTI!  I could not have done it without you!  I continue to be amazed at how God put me in such a fabulous place! My administration, faculty and students are amazing and I could not have asked for a better experience!

UNT NAEA Art Education Panel Discussion

Last Friday I had the honor of being a guest on the UNT National Art Education Association Panel Discussion.  We had a pretty good crowd for a Friday night and they had very good questions ranging in subject from interviewing to professional development within the field of art education.  In addition to myself, their were four other guests including two other fabulous UNT ladies, Rebekah Luckett and Lauren Kolesar!  The panel ranged in expertise from new teachers and a graduate student to an experienced teacher turned private art school owner.  All in all it was great to be back at UNT and I was very honored that they invited me to come join in the festivities!  Here is an image from the end of the night: