Welcome to the Art Room!

My first week of teaching is under my belt and all went well. I had a few moments to stare at my blank walls and took a tip from Painted Paper and created a colorful door decoration featuring birds painted by my second graders.
It's an exciting time of year for me as I have developed many new lessons that I'm eager to test on my willing subjects! A trip to the library is all I need to get inspired. Picture books are an incredible source for art lessons, but it does take some time and some vision. Often times I love an illustration in a book but can't quite figure out how to translate the energy into an art lesson suitable for a youngster. But then it happens; the right illustration collides with a great idea.

I don't have any new lessons to share (next week) but this is what I'm working on:

Kinders: A turtle drawing lesson with a south west style background painting based on the adorable book Manana, Iguana by Ann Whitford Paul, Illustrated by Ethan Long

First Grade: A scarecrow collage painting done two ways: one with watercolors and the other with tempera. I'm testing this out at two different schools to see which method is easiest for first grade students. It's like my own art lab!

Second Grade: Bird House paintings with tempera and collage birds.

Fourth Grade: Intricate Insects: A detailed line drawing of some very cool bugs!

Fifth Grade: My Matisse Inspired Self-Portraits in Tempera Paints. (See my "Fun with Portraits" PDF for the tutorial).

Sixth Grade: A line drawing based on St. Basil's Cathedral in Russia.

I won't be teaching third grade until October, so if you are a third grade teacher, consider doing either my second or fourth grade lessons. Until then...
Happy Creating!