Friday, November 11, 2022

Kindergarten Flags for Veteran's Day


 My kindergarten students painted flags on 12"x18" paper this week in honor of Veteran's Day. They learned about the principle of art movement, and they learned the concept of "dot, dot, not a lot" while using "drippy glue" for the first time!

Before the students understood that they were gluing stars on, not painting their own, I had one very concerned looking kindergartner raise her hand and tell me worriedly, "but I don't know how to make a capital star yet!" Now I'm wondering what a lowercase star looks like, and if she knows how to make it! Her comment definitely made me chuckle.

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Van Gogh Painting Sunflowers by Paul Gauguin

 For the past several years, my 2nd graders have been learning about Vincent Van Gogh painting sunflowers. The sunflowers were painted to welcome his friend Paul Gauguin, another artist, who was going to visit Vincent in his yellow house and paint with him. To decorate the guest room for Paul, Vincent painted several paintings of sunflowers. He painted them as a still life; he placed real cut sunflowers in a vase, and painted what he saw. In some of his paintings, a flower is wilting, or falling over. He included these details because that is the way the sunflowers really looked. 

Most art teachers reading this post are familiar with Van Gogh's sunflower series, and know this story quite well.  Here is an example of Van Gogh's sunflower paintings:

Here is a lesson that I have taught many times to students in 2nd and 3rd grade about Van Gogh.

Today I learned something new. Paul Gauguin actually painted a portrait of Van Gogh painting the sunflowers! I discovered this painting while double-checking my facts on my Van Gogh lesson before posting it on Google Classroom for virtual students today. What an incredible piece of art history!

      Van Gogh Painting Sunflowers by Paul Gauguin

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

"Welcome Back" Bulletin Board 2020

 What a different year we are starting out! I remember as we wrapped up online teaching in May, we all said we couldn't wait for things to be "normal" again in the fall! Well, now we are at the fall semester, and school starts tomorrow, and things are far less "normal" than they were in May. Our state governor has mandated masks for grades 3 (age 8) and up in Indiana. Here is my welcome back bulletin board, trying to shed a little humor on the difficult situation we are in! None of the Photoshop work is my own; I found all the art on Google.



Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Bug Bowl 2018

I never posted our entries for Purdue's Bug Bowl art contest last year! Here are some submissions from 6th grade students at Carroll Elementary School:



































We also had several winners last year! Here are the pictures that received a ribbon:








Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Welcome Back Bulletin Board (2018)

School starts tomorrow! For my "welcome back" bulletin board, I recreated Starry Night out of paper.


Tuesday, April 10, 2018

YAM 2018 Art

Well, I have certainly gotten behind on blogging! Taking pictures of my students' art has not been at the top of my to do list for the past few months.

I just picked up my students' artwork last night from the Youth Art Month exhibit at the Indiana Statehouse. I was able to enter 5 pieces, and I was excited that my 3rd grade student won an honorable mention award! Since this is a large, state-wide art show, any award is a huge accomplishment. I am proud of my student's work!

Here are the 5 pieces I submitted:

Kindergarten:

2nd Grade:

2nd Grade:

3rd Grade (this piece received an honorable mention award!):

5th Grade: