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.

5th Grade Plush Monsters

Break out the needles and thread. It's time for plush monsters! This project has quickly become a favorite at Thomas. It's fun to see my students try their hand at what is an entirely new medium for most of them. I'm happy to fall back on my 8th grade home economics skills to teach this one.

This is only the second time I've done this project, but the results have been pretty stunning each time. My students absolutely love coming up with their own monster and actually being able to create a tangible product they can take home. They sew the main body using felt, needle, and thread. The details are glued on using Aleene's tacky glue. It really has a good hold with the felt. 

3rd Grade Artist Inspired Guitars

Inspired by Roy Lichtenstein.

Inspired by Victor Vasarely.

Inspired by Keith Haring.

Inspired by Vincent VanGogh.

Inspired by Salvador Dali.

Inspired by Vincent VanGogh.

It was a month before the art show and I realized I needed another good third grade project. I came across a few ideas on Pinterest that inspired this project. My students really enjoyed it, so I'll probably use the lesson again next year.

What I really liked about this lesson was that it was almost completely open. I hung a ton of different prints that represented a pretty wide range of artwork, then had each student choose one piece to be inspired by. Each student drew a guitar, then designed it to reflect the famous artwork he or she chose. Students had a completely open choice of what art media they wanted to use. Most ended up choosing more than one. I think they turned out pretty sweet!

Check out the full lesson plan here!

Clay Castles with Coat of Arms by 4th Grade

Every art teacher has projects that are yearly favorites. Students would go absolutely nuts if they didn't get to do "that project." This is one of those projects for me; kids start talking about wanting to make castles in 1st grade. I actually wrote this lesson way back when I was student teaching and have continued using it for 4th grade every year since. 

Castles are a topic that kids always seem to be interested in. I show my students examples from all over the world as inspiration, then let them loose with sketch paper. I have them each draw at least a front and top view of their castle. I found that the top view really helps them understand how they will actually make it out of clay. 

After that, it's just basic slab building. This project takes about 4 days of working with wet clay. I know some people have problems with projects drying out, so I'll share my method of keeping ceramic work wet. 

Mr. Stoller's Tried and True Method for Keeping Clay Moist

• I use old cafeteria trays for storage. Most classes use 3-4 trays.
• Place the work on the trays at the end of class. I do this because I was good at Tetris and can fit more castles per tray than my kids can.
• Cover the entire tray with damp paper towels. I assign this job to a couple of responsible students per class.
• Place the entire tray into a large trash bag. Push out as much air as possible and fold the open end under the tray.
• I write the teacher's name on a piece of masking tape and put the tape on the bag so I don't mix up the work.
• I just open up the bags the next time that group has art, and the clay is still perfectly moist. Use new paper towels when putting the clay away at the end of class.
• If a class misses or there is an extended break, I will open up the bags and squirt a little water into them.

Hopefully those tips are helpful. I have my students create a coat of arms in between when they finish their castle and when they glaze it. I always give clay projects a couple of weeks to dry out before the bisque fire. It is longer than they really need, but I've never had a clay project explode!

Here is the lesson plan!

2nd Grade Eric Carle Butterflies

Getting caught up on blogging requires a lot of posts sometimes. Today may be a three post day! 

This is a project that was hung in the art show a couple of weeks ago. It wound up being a crowd favorite. The project was based on the artistic style of Eric Carle. My 2nd grade students copied Carle's style by making textured/patterned papers. Each student created two textured pieces using tempera paint and a wide variety of non-traditional painting tools. 

After the papers were created, one was folded and a basic butterfly shape cut out of it. Students used their other textured page along with construction paper scraps to make symmetrical designs on their butterfly wings. The final product was mounted on black or white construction paper and cut out a final time to give the butterfly a nice border. 

Pinch Pot Bugs by 1st Grade

For many years, my first grade clay project has been the pinch pot turtle. It was simple, fun, and turned out pretty well every year. It just had one problem. Those turtle legs/heads/tails broke off so easily that I felt like I was running a turtle vet clinic toward the end of the project. 

This year, I was contemplating doing something a little different and found this little project on Pinterest. The concept is the same as with the turtles. Kids start with a pinch pot, invert it, then add details on the pot to turn it into a ladybug. I had each student poke six holes into the clay on the bottom to later use for the legs. After the work has been bisque fired, I hot glue little bits of wire into the holes to make the legs. Finally, the bugs are painted with watercolor paints. This is a pretty successful and simple two day project for 1st grade.