Sep 25, 2011

Native American - Kachina Dolls

My fourth grader's are learning about Native American culture and I chose to do an art project focusing on ceremonial art and Native American Kachina Dolls - found in the Hopi tribe.

The book we read before starting our project helped students to better understand about the Kachina Dolls and what purpose (ceremonial) it served for the Hopi tribe.

"The Lost Kachina" 
by Heather Irbinsks


September 21st

My enrichment classes and art club created banners, a bulletin board and "Pinwheels for Peace" to celebrate 
"International Day of Peace - September 21, 2011" 

I think it's important to incorporate real-world topics into the curriculum. The banners and pinwheels turned out fantastic! We also included the event in the school's morning meeting in which we played the video: "We Are The World"! If you get a chance check it out. Celebrate Peace everyday...

3rd Grade (girls) Bulletin Board
5th Grade (girls) Banner
4th Grade (boys) Banner

Sep 11, 2011

Skyping with Paul Owen Lewis


3rd grader's skyped with author/illustrator Paul Owen Lewis about his books and art. We are studying Native American culture and Paul Owen Lewis is famous for his books "Frog Girl" and "Storm Boy" which are Native American stories. He even has a totem pole in his house and the students thought that was awesome!



The Nelson's "Stone Carving Workshop"

 What a BLAST! Each grade got a chance to be a part of history by participating in a stone carving workshop. All students got to carve stone, get a necklace created from their stone they carved and add 2 new piece to the front of our school. 

4th graders carved a "Marker"
3rd and 5th graders carved a "Sundial/Time Capsule" - the time capsule insertion is going to be held in October so keep checking my blog for more photos and information on what we're going to be inserting into the timecapsule.

Everyone had a GREAT time and learned a lot. A Special Thanks to Mr. Albert & Mrs. Penny Nelson for such a wonderful time. Check out their website to learn more about their wonderful work: Nelstone



Marc Chagall Stained Glass

5th Grader's created a stained glass landscape piece using recycled DVD and CD's.  Their artwork is based off the art of Marc Chagall and his famous painting "Paris Through A Window"

After listening to a Podcast on ITunes about this painting and reading the book "Dreamer from the Village", students created their own version of Marc Chagall's art.

These turned out fantastic, all the wonderful colors and the use of a new medium was interesting to see.

Aug 30, 2011

New Door Design

We're studying about college's and universities throughout the school. I chose "The Art Institute" since I'm an art teacher.

I wanted my students to learn how many careers their are as an artist and the kind of living they could have as an artist.

1. Did you know their are over 100 careers in the field of art?
2. Did you know you could make up to $100,000 per year as an artist? 

I think that's AMAZING! To find out more about "The Art Institute" visit them online.



Warm & Cool Color Landscapes

Grand Canyons



I got this great idea from a really great website! http://www.thatartistwoman.org/

I thought it was perfect for assessing their knowledge of color. So I tried it with my 3rd graders and look at the fabulous results! I love all the colors and my students loved it! Way to go 3rd Grade...


Aug 9, 2011

School Pointe

Check out our new school pointe website, see our new school and find important classroom information for your child. http://carroll.web1.schoolpointe.com/

Important information about what your child will be learning, doing and creating will be posted here. Take the time to look it over! We have some exciting things planned in the Art Room!

Jun 7, 2011

Attention Parents...

Encourage your child to be CREATIVE! 


Encouraging Creativity from Samuel Harding on Vimeo.

TED Speaks!

I found a website that talked about TED and it was titled "Schools Kill Creativity" so of course, I had to take the time to find out what this was all about. And, I loved it...

Schools Kill Creativity

May 11, 2011

"Champion Artists"

Skateboard Art
My "Champion Artists" - Gifted Artists - have been studying "skateboard art" by looking at various artists and types of skateboard art. With this in mind, my students had to design and paint their own version of what they thought their "skateboard art" would look like. I think these turned out FANTASTIC!!!!!


3rd Grader - "Death Rider"
4th Grader - "Skater Dude"
5th Grader - Graffiti Art

4th Grader - "Love"
4th Grader - Abstract
5th Grader - "Fury of the Night"
3rd Grader - "Evil Girl"
4th Grader - "Bob"

3rd Grader - "I'm Watching You"
3rd Grader - "The Eyes  

Apr 12, 2011

Check this Out!

I Just Created a WebQuest for Art


I can't wait to see how my students do. I know they are going to love trying this out.                                                                        The idea is based on the artwork of George Rodrigue and his famous "Blue Dog" Portraits

Mar 29, 2011

Video Conference with the American Art Museum

Today some of the 3rd graders got to do a video conference with the Smithsonian's American Art Museum and learn about "Found Object Art". Here are some pictures from the conference. I really loved it when I had some students tell me that they were going to go home and create a sculpture with objects they would find at home. Hopefully I don't get an angry parents calling me cause their child glued their favorite spatula or comb to his/her sculpture. :)



Mar 28, 2011

Children's Museum in Indianapolis

Every once in awhile, I find a website that has things about art that we don't get to cover in class. I wish we had more time sometimes but, here's a website that I think my students would really like. It's the "Indianapolis Children's Museum". This site has really great interactive games and videos about Glass Blowing/Glass Art!