An Ode to the Art Show

It's been all cricket sound effects around the blog lately. Why? Let's think. What event that typically happens in the spring is an all-consuming vortex of time? Oh, yeah. The art show. 

Pre-staging the show in the AM…on the stage.

The art teacher prior to me didn't do an art show. I'm not really sure why. She was an outstanding and well-loved teacher, but the show just never happened. I'm of the opinion that parents as well as teachers and administrators need to know what is going on in the art room. I feel compelled to show off the work that my students have done all year. I'm driven to display two pieces of artwork for every single student even though my numbers have gone up by 100 students in the time I've been at Thomas. I'd display more...if I could just get more to fit. This year, we had nearly 1,000 individual pieces of artwork in addition to the group stop motion animation film that the entire 5th grade created.

The 7th Annual Thomas Elementary Art Show was a big hit. Several hundred students, parents, and families attended to check out the amazing students work and eat some delicious cookies. The show is just up for one evening. While its time is fleeting, the art show is hugely important to my students. For the rest of the week following the show, students were telling me how fun it was and how they enjoyed showing their work to their families. 

Yes the art show is a LOT of work. Things of great importance typically are.

8-Bit Self Portraits by 4th Grade

 

 

 

 

 

If you don't like this project, there may be something wrong with you. (Go get it checked out!) This is just pure fun for me. I originally designed the project to be a throw-back to the 8-bit video games I played while I was growing up. I've noticed quite a bit of 8-bit retro style popping up all over the place lately. Many game apps are created to have an older look to hook all of the nostalgic 30 and 40 somethings out there. 

Of course half of my students are completely obsessed with Minecraft lately. The cubic style of that game plays right into the style of this lesson as well. A lot of my younger students even think that this is a Minecraft project.

I love the results of this lesson, but it does get a little tedious for some my students. There is a lot of very precise coloring. Ideally, I would love to do this project on the computer. Does anyone know of a program that would work for this type of a project? 

Download my lesson plan here!