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Hello, favorite friends! I hope everyone had a super duper week! Mine was pretty good...got my school picture back! This would explain why the photographer said, "Well, if that's the face you wanna make." IT'S THE FACE I WAS BORN WITH, BUDDY! One only a mama could love.  Monday!   I'm wearing my new Keith Haring shirt from Uniqlo and a skirt from the thrift store! This week wrapped up our second week of school. We watched our second video...this one titled Art Room Etiquette.  I like to meter our my rules and routines to give the kids time to create and not be bombarded with information. After that quick video, we learned about SCISSOR SAFETY with my giant scissors I scored at the flea market!     This week I also busted out the Quiet Critters ! It was kindergarten's second time in the art room...a perfect time to establish working quietly, staying in our seats and raising our hands. These lil fellas were certainly helpful!   If you follow me on Instagram ,...

We are wrapping up week two here at my school and it's shaping up to be a wild, crazy and colorful start! I decided to add another layer to our Getting to Know You Sculptures with another sheet! You can find the free downloadable link right here!    I was excited to add this second layer to their project. It allowed me to spend a little time continuing to teach our rules and routines...while still providing the kids with a much needed creative outlet. I was also able to share three NEW paper sculpture techniques. Creating a tab, cutting OUT a spiral and making fringe. I have a short video of me teaching this to my third graders so I'll be sure and share super soon.  Until then, you can probably take a look at these sculptures and figure it out! Now the one question I've been getting a lot of is...HOW ARE YOU STORING THESE?! Answer: ALL OVER THE FLIPPIN' PLACE! Seriously, I may have not completely thought this through. Story of my life. They are going to be hung up supe...

Ohhhh-whey! Don't mind me, it's just the second Monday of the new school year and I've already got my feet up and I'm surrounded by Getting to Know You Sculptures . Last week, I shared with you a video where I talked you thru what I do my first day with my 1st and 2nd graders for their first 30 minutes. Today I thought I'd share with you a video of myself with my kiddos to give you more of a visual. So, here you go! My very first art class with some of my very favorite people: Now, if you need more explaining about my very first 30 minutes and why I do what I do, you can check out this lil clip: I love seeing how other art teachers teach. I am loud, annoying and definitely not for everyone...but that's me. That's who I am and that's how I teach. I really think finding your voice in your classroom is the best way to be your best teacher. So while I like to share what works for me, it's by no means me saying that you should do it too. It's just an ...

  First Day of Art, 2018! I had to wear this costume I scored from Amazon. Y'all, it's THE WORST COSTUME. If you follow me here , then you saw what a limp (ahem) paintbrush I had. I seriously had to clip a small hole in the brush and insert a thin dowel rod into it. As for the palette, it is too small (it IS a kid's costume so there's that) and I'm not even sure if I'm wearing it right. No matter tho, the kids LOVED it! Happy first week of school with kiddos to me! To celebrate, I thought I'd share my school photo from third grade. This is pre-glasses and pre-(much needed)braces. I'm obviously channeling the sister-wife look with my Holly Hobby get up (you 80's kids know the reference) and my long hair. Can you believe that blonde? I'd love to have that cornsilk hair again! My week back was filled these rules and routines  and this Getting to Know You sculpture lesson . It was a super week back and I'm excited to start next week!   For my old...

Hey, friends! Today I'm sharing what my students, all of 'em, kindergarten through fourth grade, are working on to kick off the school year. I am calling them our Getting to Know You Sculptures! If you follow me on Instagram, than you know I've been sharing a lot of info about this. I've gotten a TON of requests for the sheet...so I thought I'd share it with you. I know this sheet has been unavailable for some time...the link has been fixed! You can get two sheets now!  Here's one! Here's the other!  I wanted to create a lesson that the kids would love, would be easy for all to be successful at and help me out...I have to be absent for the next couple of days. So I knew I'd want something that would be easy and fun for my sub. I created a video for my sub (I always do...it just makes for much smoother sailing) and I thought I'd share it with you...just so you could see how I explain this lesson to my students.  Note: I WILL NOT be using the sheet wit...

Well, all this week I've been experiencing my first day of art over and over and over. All y'all know what I'm talking about...with 20 classes, you have the joy of hearing yourself say the same things on loop. Most of my classes, kindergarten through 2nd, are 30 minutes in length. I thought I'd share today what I do in that very first 30 minute art class...and stay tuned. I'll be sharing my second day of art (and what I do with my hour long classes) later on this week. For now, here you go! The video I play on that very first day of art is one I created last year. My art room looks SO DIFFERENT NOW! It's kinda crazy to see how much I changed and redid last year. My students LOVE this video and it's such a great reminder of what is expected of them. Here it is: Creating videos is a great way to share with kids important information without putting yourself on repeat. My students love to see the adults in the building cutting up and misbehaving in this video! ...

Howdy, partners in art teacherin' crime! Today I thought I would share the video I created for The Art of Education's online conference last year. This will give you an idea of what their conferences are like if you've never been (read: they're super fun!). My presentation was all about clay projects for the kiln-less. BONUS: you can STILL do all of these projects even if you have a kiln...with some mild modifications to some.  This video was inspired by my book Clay Lab for Kids: 52 Projects to Make, Model and Mold with Air-Dry, Polymer and Homemade Clay . That's right...I had to dream up, write up and photograph 52 clay projects so this book is PACKED with STUFF. If you buy the book, I would love a review...a glowing one, of course.  In the video, you'll see just a snippet of some of the ideas from the book. My favorite air dry clays to use are Crayola's Air Dry (I'm not wild about Model Magic but their air dry is good) but my favorite is Amaco's A...