Mrs. Latimer's Busy Brushes

It's THAT time of the YEAR! Red Ribbon Weeeeeek!!!! Lots of dressing up and saying "No" to drugs! (Remember when Red Ribbon Week was just wearing a Red Ribbon on your shirt ALL WEEK until it fell off?) Now, we have cool themes, we get to dress up in funky ways, and learn about all the ways we can turn our backs against drugs. I remember in school alot of us thought that drug free week was lame and a waste of time. BUT-- in all honesty we knew the importance of this week especially if we had experienced the trauma of drug related casualities. I was asked by our School Counselor to create some type of art project or lesson based on Drug Free Week. At first, I was busting my brain trying to come up with a project that would match our "Not-Disney" theme (copyright reasons). Annnndddd.... I could not think of ANYTHING. SO I decided to go simple and do a line design project. We would draw ourselves plegding to be drug free. ...

It's Hispanic Heritage Month!!! I am so excited to teach my students about the importance of other people's culture! This month we are focusing on the artist, Frida Kahlo. Frida is one of my favorite artists to study because she has such a phenomenal story. I was so PUMPED about this lesson that I even painted Frida on the back of my jean jacket to wear to school the next day!    I presented a Google slideshow to my students that displayed some of Frida's work and tidbits about her life. The students were MOST interested in the story of her trolley accident. My sweet babies were so concerned about her. They also thought her painting apparatus was neat! She made use of her bed bound days! We took some time to analyze her artwork. We focused on a few comparisons, what we enjoyed about them, and what struck us---(of course, many of us talked about the unibrow and mustache.) ;)   Then we hopped into the guided drawing! The extra fun part! :) I drew a...

I am ALWAYS looking for a fresh idea! Unfortunately, at times that means I am looking for another person's wonderful idea. Let's be honest, creating your own lessons can be exhausting. BUT-- this year I am challenging myself to create my OWN lessons from scratch more often. Now, this isn't going to be something that I am able to do ALL the time but I am attempting to be CREATIVE more often. I've realized that being an art teacher doesn't mean that I am simply teaching, writing lesson plans, planning, and assessing. That can get boring. IT MEANS THAT I CAN BE CREATIVE---WHICH IS WHAT I ASK MY STUDENTS TO DO EVERYDAY. Surely, I can do it too.I'm the ART TEACHER. SO- I went a little crazy with this lesson! I decided to call these lessons ART MASHUPS! Its where I take two artists and mash them together to create a lesson/project. I taught about the artists Picasso and Modigliani with my 4th grade students. We discussed how both artists abstracted their portrai...

New year, new ideas- right? It's only my second year, but I was so excited to try new things in my classroom. Last year, I had such a hard time getting everyone settled in once it was time to start. My classroom is on the 4th grade hallway. Transition time can get crazy when they are switching classes. So, by the time my students get in the art studio, they bring chaos into the Studio as well. I had to come up with a way to get their attention in the hallway while making sure they were ready to go in quietly.  This year, I came up with the idea of giving out Art Jobs in the hallway. I have three jobs in the studio: Orator (RED CARD): begins class by starting the classroom chant. Distributor/Collector (YELLOW CARD): distribute and collect a given material at the beginning and end of class. (One card for each material/item used) Clean Up Captain (ORANGE CARD): watches for four "star students" who are being great examples during clean up time. These four students...

SUMMER FLEW BY! .... and we find ourselves getting back in the crazy routine of school. We are prepping materials, ordering supplies, cleaning the storage room, and even decorating our space.  The back to school crunch can get a little crazy- BUT WAIT! We haven't even thought about the lessons, yet! The first lesson of the year can be stressful. WE WANT IT TO BE FUN. However, we also want it to be easy, creative, and satisfying. This year, I decided to take a different approach. I started the school year with a collaborative project.  I got the idea from *THE* Cassie Stephens! We created a collaborative banner. I painted shapes, objects, and words with black tempera paint. Cassie used a paint dobber but, I figured my kiddos could stay inside the lines better with the paint-and it worked. The tempera paint was almost like a barrier and it made it difficult for kids to draw outside the border. The oil pastel didn't like the surface of the tempera.  Oh! Yes, we a...