Illustrator visits Thomas!

Recently, students at Thomas were lucky enough to be able to host illustrator/author Steve Harpster. Steve is a local illustrator who does free (can you believe that?!?) school visits in Ohio and free electronic visits around the world. He has illustrated over 100 books including many how to draw books. Steve sent several of his books in advance and my students couldn't wait to see him. 

Steve's presentation was primarily a drawing lesson. He drew many characters from his books. Students (who brought paper and pencil) drew right along with him. Watching 125 students all drawing something at once was priceless. It was the art version of watching a crowd at a tennis match. Everyone would look up at the screen to see the next step in the drawing. Then they would all look down to work on their own paper. Then the would look up, then down, then up, then down, then up, then down. I think you get the point. 

Pure fascination.

Steve drew on his tablet which was projected on the wall.
It was incredibly easy for all students to follow along.

My students were extremely engaged with the presentation and were incredibly excited and motivated about how good their drawings were. All of the drawings are based around letters or numbers, so it's a totally different style than what they typically see in drawing books. I saw more successful drawings with Steve's presentation and books than I've ever seen from any other drawing book. 

If you're interested in having Steve Harpster visit your school, I would highly recommend it. More information about his school visits (along with drawing lessons, printables, and other materials) are on his website.

4th Grade Totem Pole Collage

This project has become one of my absolute favorites for 4th grade. I think I tend to say that a lot. From the online response to previous versions of this project, I think a lot of my readers and pinners like this one as well. 

I think this is the third year I had students do their final artwork entirely with construction paper. The first few years I designed this as a painting project, but I wasn't getting the overall success I wanted. I switched it over to collage and, BAZINGA, success! The results from students this year are the best I've ever seen from this project. My 4th graders are an exceptionally talented group this year. 

The toughest parts of this project for kids to grasp are stylizing their chosen animal and filling the vast majority of their paper. I try to get them to think like they are actually carving it out of wood like a real totem pole. The sketching phase takes longer because of this, but it pays off with the final results. 

Check out the lesson plan here!

Check out my digital presentation here!

**Note about accessing my plans**

If you click on one of the links above, it will take you to the file in Google Drive. Feel free to download my lessons for free for your own use. Please don't ask to "share" the file because I have already allowed access and I can't allow further access without enabling everyone to edit my files. I can't do that for obvious reasons. If you click on "File" once you've clicked on the link, you can go down to "Download As..." and select the file type you'd like to download. After that, you can make changes and tailor it to your own classroom use. 

5th Grade Personal Logos

Close-up of selection of original sketches for one logo. 

This project has quickly become one of my favorites in 5th grade. I feel like I'm constantly coming up with cool projects for my older students and I don't have enough time to teach them all. 

The underlying theme with my 5th graders is careers in art. Not every project hits on it, but many of the 5th grade projects directly relate to potential art related jobs. It's pretty obvious that this is one of those projects. 

For this project, each student comes up with a personal logo. We get really in-depth about the design process. Students usually come up with at least 20 thumbnail sketches before getting together with two friends for peer reviews. They then create two second drafts in color before choosing the final design. I would love to have the kids do their final art on the computer, but computer access isn't terribly easy here and I don't have access to color printer anyway. We rock the colored pencils instead. The final logo is presented along with a selection of first and second draft sketches. 

Check out the full lesson plan here! 

A sharpening dilemma...

Sharp pencils are important in an art room, right? I'd say so. The problem I've run into is how to consistently keep the pencils sharp. This is the sixth year I've been at Thomas, and I have lost track of how many different electric pencil sharpeners I've had. They all work great for a while, then, without exception, FAIL MISERABLY. I only allow my students to sharpen regular pencils (no colored pencils) and I even have hand-held sharpeners at each table. Nothing has helped. 

Two years ago, I thought I had finally found the best sharpener out there. It was very nice X-ACTO sharpener with auto shut-off, a little blue light that came on when the pencil was sharp, and an 8 year warranty. I thought I'd buy two so they got half the use and would last twice as long. Both failed before the end of the year. True to the warranty, X-ACTO has sent me replacements (3 now), but each of these has eventually died as well. One I'm currently using still sharpens well, but makes a sound like a dying animal.

The culprit.

Have any of you ever had much success with electric (or even good hand held) sharpeners? I would love to have something that actually works for multiple years. Is there even such a sharpener out there? The best sharpeners I've ever used are little metal hand-held sharpeners, but I really don't want to deal with the mess from the shavings. Maybe I just need to hire this guy-->

 

2nd Grade Summer "TV Shows"

I worked up a new second grade project for the beginning of the year. In the past, I had done an expanded images project that tended to get a little on the overly silly/crazy side. This year I asked each student to draw their favorite memory from summer. The project allowed the kids to get back into the swing of things and for me to find out all of the cool things they did over break.

To make it a little extra exciting, I decided that we would make the summer paintings into "TV shows" by sliding them into these envelopes that were donated a few years back. Each envelope has a large clear window that works perfectly for the screen. After the kids finished their watercolor painting, they went over their lines in sharpie, then turned their envelope into a television by adding buttons, etc. One example above is even complete with a cable box below! Overall, this was a pretty fun project to get the year started. 

1st Grade Texture Caterpillars

Caterpillars have again invaded Thomas Elementary as the first finished art project of the year. We've been in school for about three rotations now and I'm just posting. Sorry for the lull. (What an odd word lull is. As Mitch Hedberg would say, "It's almost all L's.") Bonus cool points if you know who Mitch Hedberg is. 

I feel like teaching first graders at the beginning of the year is somewhat akin to a lion tamer doing his job. I don't see kindergarden students here, so first grade is the first time these kids have ever been in the art room. The beginning of the year is all about establishing routines and expectations for behavior. Also, for the 17th time, we won't be painting on the first day of art in first grade. Thanks for asking.


I've used this as my first project of first grade for several years now. It's a nice way to show the kids were a few supplies are located in the room and have them follow some simple steps. The kids all really enjoy working with the texture rubbing plates and the results are nearly 100% successful. 

That New School Year Smell...

Put away the travel guides, finish those grad classes, turn on the alarm clock, and take a deep breath. You know what time it is. Back to school. (That song from 'Billy Madison' is constantly in my head right now.) If I'm back, I know that most of you are already in the classroom as well. 

Who else can't wait to pre-assess? I'll be doing a whole lot of additional assessment this year with some new changes to how teachers are evaluated in Ohio. Luckily, my elementary art colleagues are super fantastic and we have worked to come up with some simple assessments that will be easy to use, but still show student growth. 

I've got my room set up and ready to go for all 575(holy cow) of my students. I love how shiny the floor is at the beginning of the year. That certainly doesn't last. I really didn't change a whole lot this year other than organizing my drawing books a little better and put up some new Pinterest-inspired signs. I'm looking forward to trying out some new lessons this year and sharing all of the fantastic Thomas Elementary artwork with all of you!

How is my desk already a mess?

My grade level bulletin boards are even ready!

My favorite new sign. I hung three!

Three new Pinterest-inspired signs. Thanks, internets!

The Summer Life

I now have two and a half weeks of summer left. I can't believe it. I have a relaxing lake vacation with my family planned for next week, then it will almost be time to head back to work. 

Where has summer gone? 

1-Gardening
I'm constantly adding to my flower beds in my yard. This year I added a bunch of perennials that will hopefully look great for years to come. Of course I'm also working on my vegetable garden. I'm growing tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini, green beans, beets, rhubarb, and sweet corn. I've been harvesting for a few weeks now and my family has been loving it.

2-Yardwork
Mow, mow, mow. We've had lots of rain in Columbus this summer, so mowing is a constant in my life. Keeping up with the lawn is always fun, right?

3-Outdoor Construction
It seems like every summer, I come up with several outdoor projects. This year I had three major projects planned. I put in stone edging around all of my flower beds, built and poured concrete stairs, and put a cool facing on the deck I built a couple years ago.

4-Grad Courses
10 semester hours of grad courses this summer. Need I say more?

5-Insanity 
My wife did this workout program and kept dropping hints that I should try it, too. I decided to give it a shot and I'm nearly at the end of the 9 week program. I've been getting up at 5:45 six days a week to work out. The name of the workout is absolutely apropos. I've never worked out so hard in my entire life.

6-Dad Work. This last one has been the big one. I get to spend my summer with my new baby girl. It's been pretty fantastic. It has also been a big change from what I've been used to in previous summers. Seeing her grow and change has been the highlight of my time off. 

A typical morning with my girl.

Now I've actually started thinking about getting back to school. I know I'm not entirely ready to give up my summer life quite yet, but all good things must come to an end. I've got some good ideas for the coming school year and I'm excited to try out some new projects. Until then, enjoy the rest of your summer!

4th Grade Flip Animation

I have once again ended 4th grade with the flip book project. It's a nice project to end with because more details can always be added to make the animation more interesting. It is also a great intro into animation in order to get my students ready for stop motion in 5th grade. Enjoy the video with some of the best from this year!

5th Grade Art Career Choice Project

When I was in elementary school, I wanted to be a paleontologist. I liked art, but my elementary art "program" was hit or miss. I think a parent even volunteered to teach art for a year or two when our art teacher was out due to budget cuts. I had a basic idea of what art was about, but I had no idea that it could actually turn into a job someday. Even throughout high school, I really didn't have a good understanding of how many careers are associated with art. Then I went to Columbus College of Art & Design.

I want my students to know that there are all kinds of art careers that are out there. I designed this project as a way for students to familiarize themselves with art careers and also a culmination of skills from elementary school. 

After learning about various art careers, each student had to fill out a fill out a project proposal sheet. They designed their own project around a specific art career. I wanted my students to have as much input as possible for this project. At the same time, I wanted to make sure each student planned a complex enough project for it to take 5-6 art classes. I reviewed each proposal, made notes for the students, then let them get to work the next class. 

Even with almost every single student doing something entirely different, I was impressed by how smoothly the project ran. The first week was a bit of a struggle helping each student get started with different materials, but the following classes were incredibly smooth. I only wish I had started the project a week or two earlier. We wound up running out of school year before some kids were able to finish. 

A purse made for a little sister.

Painting of birch trees using watercolor and colored pencil.

House model using various papers. Check out the amazing level of detail on the inside!

Baseball team logo redesign.

A fashion line by a very talented girl.

Fashion design - small model.

Personal art museum using miniatures of art he did this year.

Horse sculpture made from sticks. Wow.

Video game cover design.

Watercolor and tempera painting.

Students creating clothing samples.

Writing a game program using characters he developed!

Everyone was super busy with their projects.

I didn't write a true lesson plan for this project due to the fact that it was different for every student. If you want to give this project a try, using the project proposal form with your students would be helpful.