I can do anything...

So, while I watched the Grey Cup Halftime show I was thinking about how the arts are integrated into sports.  Hedley had the CFL cheerleaders as their back up dancers (and front up dancers on the field) and I was impressed with the musical performance and the dancing.  I was also impressed with the costumes for the dancers.  They were wearing parkas and toques and looked warm, which is not how I typically think of cheerleaders.

I think it's important to integrate art into everything we do and to point out the fine art connections to things that don't always seem to have fine arts connections.  

Even the way the fans dress show creativity and dramatic elements.  

Letting kids experiment with art

One of the most important things I learned about art during my practicum was to let kids experiment with art (and really with everything).  Because I was in Grade One, we had quite a bit of centre time every week and while some students went to the lego every time, lots went to the art centre and made things with paper and markers, tape, glue, yarn, pipe cleaners and anything else they could find. When we used paper plates with our counters in math (during a carpet math lesson) the first thing they wanted to do after the lesson was make something out if their paper plates.  And when the kleenex box was empty a few wanted to make something out of that and they worked together to turn it into a dog (with popsicle stick legs).  I think learning through play is important and experimentation should augment formal art lessons so that kids do not lose the imaginative creativity they are born with.

Patchwork Pattern Maker

I found this great site (through pinterest) that turns any picture into a pattern for a quilt, but I think it would also be a great place to make patterns for anything from a large scale mural project - where the mural is broken down into manageable chunks for everyone to work on, to mosaicking a drawing or showing how a real picture can become more impressionist.  I really think this has uses for every level of art education.

A really interesting project for Christmas

I really like this Reindeer project because it gives kids practice with different mediums and strategies for creating different shapes using their own hands.

A lot of times kids know what a shape is (like an oval or a square) but they don't know how to draw that shape or where to start with it, but this project gives them strategies to make those shapes, and it ends with a cute reindeer portrait, which is a great bonus.

Art Show - Debrief

I really enjoyed the art show and the community we created by putting on the art show.  I found that working together with my fellow education students was a valuable experience and I really liked how excited my grade one students were about coming to the art show and how many family members came with my students.

I also thought the different art styles and forms were fascinating.  The abilities of our students were really showcased and I was really impressed with everyone's  projects.

I think it's valuable to put on something like this, although I wish the planning had happened in a different way with more thought about different areas and a more careful timeline of preparation. I'm sure that these types of events are frequently planned in this way, especially for first time events,  but as the years progress different jobs become the purview of specific people, or classes at schools, and things run more smoothly.

Knowing the steps for planning an art show is valuable and I think an art show would be a nice addition to a regular open house or could be put on either in conjunction with or instead of typical winter holiday plays or pageants.

That Artist Woman...

The best art blog for teachers is one that my CT told me about and That Artist Woman is amazing.  Her posts are great step by step projects and you can easily adapt them to fit the different PLOs.

http://www.thatartistwoman.org/

The different projects are grouped by season or theme and easy to search.

This is going to be my go to for art projects in the future.

My students did a project based on this one and I'm bringing a selection to the art show. 

Lip Sync Off!

I was watching Jimmy Fallon because a) I am up to late and b) it's awesome and he had a lip sync off with Joseph Gordon Levitt and Stephen Merchant (who is a giant).

It was hilarious.

And it got me thinking about kids (and adults) who are afraid to sing.  The lip sync off (much like a good old fashioned Air Band contest, Brandon knows what I'm talking about) is a great place for the dramatic kids who may be tentative about their singing talent.  It would take some confident kids, but it looks like so much fun and it could meet dance, drama and music PLOs.  I also feel that it should be included in our Christmas play.  I'm just saying.