Unexpected Parent Meetings
Last week I had an unexpected parent meeting. Normally I am forewarned when a parent wants to meet with me. This time around, an aide from another classroom came to […]
Category Archives: 1st Grade
Using the “F” Word in Art Class
I teach K-3 and getting students to think through their artistic choices can be challenging. We will talk often throughout the school year about giving and receiving criticism. That’s the […]
Stop Whining About Assessments
I understand everyone’s hesitancy about assessment, but the reality is you are going to be given performance reviews in your career. That’s on-the-job assessment, folks! I call it feedback. Giving […]
Healthy Cleaning Supplies for the Art Room
The new school year is well under way, and I have already started gathering some supplies I know I will need for my classroom. In addition to some non-traditional ‘art’ […]
The “P” Word in Art Instruction
During church a few weeks back, we observed Communion. During the brief message that accompanies our monthly observance of the Lord’s Supper, the pastor referred to the term “again.” It […]
Hey, Not so Rough! (AKA, Teaching Kids to Draw Lightly)
Teaching kids to be gentle with their pencils when drawing is a tall order! There are two root problems here, and they’re related: how to hold the pencil and how […]
Avoiding Illness in the Art Room
Last week, I came down with a painful stomach virus (aka, viral gastroenteritis). How painful was it, you ask? To start, my fever waffled between 102.8-103.1. In addition to my fever keeping […]
2015 Art Showcase: Lessons Learned
Sorry for this after-the-school-year-is-over posting of my 2015 Art Showcase. Events at the end of the year and the near-instant beginning of my Summer Art Camp exhausted me and I […]
Charlie, Charlie, Are You Here (In Art Class)?
I will write about many things. Sometimes, it will be about the warm and fuzzy things. At other times, it will be about mundane things. Occasionally, though, I will comment […]
Bookmarks for Literacy
Jennifer Carlisle over at The Art of Education turned me on to Students Rebuild, an organization she learned about at the 2015 National Art Education Association (NAEA) annual conference. The Bezos […]
Crazy Color Fauvist Landscapes
My First Graders are studying Fauvism. To explore this super fun art movement, I taught my students about the landscape. Anatomy of a Landscape I teach my kids that a […]
Avoiding Illness in the Art Room
A couple of weeks ago, I contracted a nasty case of pink eye (conjunctivitis). How nasty was it, you ask? It was so nasty it caused my eye to swell […]
The Poetry of Seeing 