raheem tech

  So this was a lesson that I came up with just the other day as a way for my fourth graders to 1. have a quickie lesson after working FOREVER on their snow globes  ...which look amazing, by the way! Check it out: (these just need their bases!) and  2. Use the practice papers they created before painting their snow globes. You see, before making the background of their globe, they had to do three painting sketches: The kids asked me several times what the plan was for their sketches and I was like, I dunno, planets?! The other day, I thought marbles would be more fun...and a shorter lesson. A friend over on IG ( thank you Mrs. Cook! Y'all give her a follow! ) suggested the artist Glennray Tutor as an artist inspiration...and that's how the lesson came to be. Here it is, if you are interested: I was SO EXCITED to do this lesson today with my kids that I actually got to work EARLY (which never ever happens) to prepare. The minute I walked in the door, they'd cancelled schoo...

  One question I get A LOT is about supplies...what supplies are the best to order? It's scary, putting in a supply order! We have such little money we don't want to waste it! You can check out some posts about my favorite art supplies to order here . In this video , I'll even walk you thru some of my favorite things for my art room. These posts are a couple years older and definitely need an update but many of my fave things remain the same. Especially my fave watercolor paints.    Only with quality watercolor paints will you get beautiful paintings! That and teaching kids HOW to use watercolor paints correctly. If you lurk this blog, you'll find plenty of posts of me teaching my students how to use their paint the right way to create amazing masterpieces. THIS LESSON (arrow pointing up) will be posted here super soon! So...instead of typing it all out, I thought I'd create a video to share my favorite paints with you, all available in your favorite art supply cata...

  Hey, friends! A while ago, I created a Chris Uphues-inspired video for my sub to use. Because my classes are either 30 minutes in length or an hour, the video is broken up a bit. For example, as you watch, you'll see that my 30 minute kids learn about Chris and then do some sketching on dry erase boards before tackling paper. My older kids did this too...and then about 30 minutes in, met on the floor again to view the rest of the video. As I've said before, I LOVE having my students sketch on dry erase boards...it's their favorite because of the slick and forgiving surface. And it's mine as it uses less frustration and time with erasing and reworking. Here's that sub video...feel free to use it in your art teacherin' world. All I ask is that you give credit to lil ole me when you share your student's work or resources.  Side Note: Jen and Chris Uphues are some of my most favorite folks on the planet. You'd be hard pressed to find two kinder or more dow...

  If interested, you can pick up your Yayoi Kusama needlepoint, latch hook, cross-stitch and plastic canvas design in my Etsy shop, right here!  Well, I finally finished my Yayoi Kusama latch hook design shortly before heading to Atlanta with some art teacher friends to see her exhibit Infinity Mirrors. You.Guys. If you ever get the chance to see it, you must go! During the four hour car ride to Atlanta, I started working on the plastic canvas of my design, making some alterations as I went. Can you see the difference? Fuller hair on the right side and a more narrow face. I'm pleased with both but the design on the right is the one that you'll find in my etsy shop. Feel free to alter when you are creating your own Yayoi! While creating the latch hook, I decided to watch the documentary on Yayoi that you can find on Amazon. I'm so glad I did. To be honest, prior to watching, all I knew about her was that she loved spots and painted them on pumpkins. That's not at all wha...

Well, hello lovies! In this blog post, I thought I'd share with you 14 of my very favorite Valentine's Day inspired lessons...perfect for these chilly and cold months. Let's let warm fuzzies abound in the art room!  To find the lessons, just follow the link. Many of them have a video to share with your kids. Also...several of them are sub plan videos! Perfect if you have to take a day. I know I could use one.  First up are these sweet Jim Dine-inspired heart sculptures created by my second graders. We used Celluclay and aluminum foil to make these beauties and the kids loved making them.  Next up are these amazing LOVE prints created by my first graders. We chatted about Robert Indiana before diving into these. We had a whole lotta printmaking fun with this one.  Last year, I did this lesson with my second graders. They were able to choose their own "kind" four letter word (we had: nice, kind, love, glow, hope, good, etc.) and used strips of paper to create the ...

Hey, friends! If the winter weather is causing you to have brain freeze and you are stumped for ideas on art lessons, I've put together this HUGE blog post filled with my favorite winter art lessons. Many of them also include instructional video...this way if you are out sick or find yourself feeling a little under the weather, you can simply have me be your art teacherin' sub. All I ask in return is that if you post projects that your students have created, inspired by my lessons, you give me a shout out. It's always nice to give art teachers credit for their lessons...especially when they share them for free as I'm doing here. I also LOVE to reshare your projects on my Instagram which would gain your more followers. So it's a win-win! The Heather Galler coffee cups were created by my second graders some years ago and they are still a fave lesson of mine. You can find the details here.  A HUGE hit with my students and other art teachers has been this Jen Aranyi ins...