Foreground, Middle ground, and Background Landscapes

Hello and Happy October!

Here is a breakdown of the first involved lesson of the year that I did with my third grade students; it's a favorite from last year that I borrowed from Art Projects for Kids.

This lesson is packed with so much visual art goodness- oil pastels, space, and perspective- your elementary students will love it.  My favorite part of the lesson (besides the easy prep of a tray of oil pastels...) is that it was accessible to every student in the room.  Each and every student felt like an artist with this project, got to make their own creative choices, and was wildly successful.  That's an A+ in my book!


This lesson took us two 45 minute classes to complete. 
 Materials: 

• 9 by 12 white sulphite paper
• Pencils and erasers
• Thick black Sharpie markers
• Oil Pastels
• Paper towels for blending

1-  First we talk about Space.  I printed out some handy visuals from Art Box (check them out, they are perfect!) and we explored Foreground, Middle ground, and Background.
Here's a small version of the examples from Art Box:

2-  Next, we talked about landscapes and followed Art Projects for Kids' steps and drew our landscapes in pencil.  We outlined after in black Sharpie marker.

3- The next day (I have 45 minute art blocks), I introduced my third graders to oil pastels, gave a demonstration on how to mix colors with a paper towel wrapped around your finger, and the kids got to work!  They had so much fun blending, choosing colors to create different seasons, and adding little details to their art.

Take a look at the finished products!

I hope you enjoyed one of my favorite, simple elementary art lessons.  If you share it with your class please share a link to your students' art in the comments below!

Thank you Art Projects for Kids and Art Box for the lesson and inspiration.

Until next time!

-Jayme

The Green Paintbrush

The First Week!

Ahh, I have made it through the first week (fine, four days...) of school.  It wasn't so bad!  It seemed long and tiring after two months of summer though.

The art room rules and consequences I shared last week went over well, and the kiddos all seem excited to hear about my new "Art Buck" reward system next week.  I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has a reward system in place in their classroom?  It really isn't something I'm crazy about, but I'm trying it out this year.  Do you love yours?

We concluded class by creating Ed Emberley drawings together.

I told the kids that I was "quizzing" them to see how respectfully they listen and follow directions and how safely and responsibly they use the art tools.  I also reminded them to try their best!  (Since those are my three art rules, it was a fun way to reinforce them).

Each grade drew a different, simple animal.  I told them they were creating "creatures" and that if they weren't listening and following directions that they wouldn't be able to finish their "creatures."  I explained and drew out each step without showing them the end product... making them guess.  It was funny to hear what they thought we were drawing.  At the end, I let them go crazy, add details, and make their animals their own.  Then we looked at the class' artwork and realized  that we were all given the same directions to create our animals, but our animals all turned out different.  The objective of this activity (besides reinforcing the art rules) was that different is okay!

Kinder Caterpillars 

 

First Grade Cats

Second Grade Frogs

Third Grade Owls

I was pleased with how this lesson turned out... very positive, creative, informative, and a little bit goofy.  What first day lessons did you teach this year?  Were they golden oldies or something new?

-Jayme

The Green Paintbrush

Back to School Organization and Classroom Management

It's that time of year again, when the nights get crisp and cool and your weekday beach days are sadly coming to an end...

While I love Fall, the start of a new school year is a bittersweet.  I am losing my summer full of "Me Time," but I also get to meet hundreds of new budding artists and organize for a year of teaching elementary art.  Yes, that's right, I get excited about organizing, color-coding, page protectors... yes, all of it.  Aren't art teachers supposed to be crazy, wacky ladies who live in organized chaos?  They should thrive in the kind of mess where only the mess-maker knows where everything is.
Not me.
Although, I 'm pretty sure I register somewhere on the crazy/wacky scale.  Anyways, my organization will work in your favor- I will be posting many clearly outlined and illustrated elementary visual art lessons this year!
Stay tuned for The Green Paintbrush's 2014-2015 Elementary Art Adventure!


With only nine more days until I see my paint-smearing Munchkins again, I am in poster-making central at the moment.  Here are some screen shots of smaller versions of my Classroom Management posters.  Most were inspired by fellow art teachers on Pinterest, feel free to be inspired by mine as well.






I've simplified my Art Room rules to just three rules that are easier for wee minds to remember but broad enough that they still cover all the bases.
My consequences last year left much to be desired... they required too much busy-work on my part (running to the board to write up names or make check-marks) and they were too harsh.  As a result, I wasn't the enforcer I should have been.  This year it will be different! (Maybe?  Hopefully?)  I now have four steps of Art Room consequences, which (unfortunately, yes) are necessary for some individuals.

I feel like having the Notes Home and Office Behavior Forms ready to fill out immediately and with the problem student present will have a big impact. We shall see . . .











I'm also going to post visuals of my daily grading rubrics in my classrooms (and on my cart) so that students are aware of how their effort and behavior affect their daily and quarterly art grades.




Well there's the start to my Classroom Management system this year!  I will post about Art Stars, Art Bucks, and Art Jobs next week.  What management systems are you planning to use with your art classes this year?


-  Jayme

The Green Paintbrush

A New Journey...

Hello and welcome to my blog The Green Paintbrush!

I have created The Green Paintbrush to document my upcoming year as an elementary art teacher and connect with the fellow art room bloggers;  I will be sharing lessons, student work, and art room happenings on this page starting September 2014.

I teach full-time at two schools on Cape Cod, Kindergarten through Third Grade, and have a passion for designing thoughtful, standard-based (I like doing this, what?!) and fun lessons.  I try to incorporate new materials and techniques as well as environmental awareness into my art activities.

I hope you to see you in September for a year filled with lots of messes, creativity, and (hopefully) success!
See you soon, enjoy your summer, and get in touch with YOUR artistic side, I hope to do the same... :)