My Man, Magritte.

So, round 1 of the dress like a crazy commenced today...

Not quite doppelgangers, but I think we look pretty related, right?  Now, my outfit doesn't come close to my blog crush, but I do what I can sans sewing machine.  Hear that hubs?! My birfday will be here soooon.

Lemme tell you what, teaching with an apple in front of my face all day was tricky.  There were many a moment where I ended up rocking the backwards hat look, circa 1990.  Yeah, that's right Justin Bieber, you belong in the 90's.  

Or maybe just not in the United States circa any era, mmmkay?

We kicked off the lesson reading Dinner at Magritte's, which unfortunately is out of print, so track it down if you can!  The author/illustrator does a fabulous job taking inspiration from Magritte and Dali's work, both of whom are characters in the story.

Time Transfixed, 1938

We also looked at a LOT of Magritte's pieces.  My third graders couldn't get enough.  So many smarty arty students couldn't wait to contribute to our class discussion of his work.  When they found out that Time Transfixed was here in Chicago, you woulda thought I told them Bieber was visiting our Art Room.  I had FOUR different parents come up to me after school to tell me that their kiddos couldn't wait to check it out.  Yep, that's right kiddos, get off your sofas and put down your handheld electro boxes, and go look at some art!

Sixteenth of September, 1956

The Sixteenth of September was our piece de resistance and the whole inspiration behind our project.  

Check out the mini Magrittes in progress.  I will post the final products once they're finished...

The Magritte Goes On.

As Cher says, "the beat goes on," but in Art world that means la dee da dee da, the Magritte goes on.  Earlier (as in months ago), I shared the Surrealist projects my 3rd and 4th grades worked on here and here.

And now, due to a bazillion polar vortex days, slow and steady 5th graders, and a crazy art teacher who  has attention issues and skips around from one project to another without finishing the first project, we are FINALLY finished.  Phewwwwww.

This project seriously took us FOREVER.

I like to do a self portrait unit with every class every year, so that way they've got a permanent collection at home showing their growth as young artists.

My Fifth Graders created their portraits after a TON of planning and practice.  They started by completing the self portrait grid (after a teacher demo of course).

Exhibit A: proportional face grid that resembles a fencing mask...

Students also had to complete the Color Pencil Practice Worksheet and check both sheets with me before moving onto their final portrait paper.  I am embarrassed to admit that I have access to all these fancy schmancy tech tools, and then I still end up drawing the worksheet template with a sharpie.  LAME.

Self portraits were done with pencil, then sharpie, and then finally color pencils.

Students could select whatever fruit they wanted and then they attached them with string and a hole punch.  And what a variety of fruit faces we had!

My original plan was to glue down the fruit onto their little faces, but after all of that hard work, I felt awful covering up their fantastic faces.  I wonder how Magritte created his?  Do you think he painted his whole face and then added the apple on top or just partially painted his face?

I've got them hanging in one of our main hallways, so that whenever someone walks by, the breeze moves the fruit ever so slightly.

Now that's some interactive art!!!

Not gonna lie, after working on these, I have been majorly craving fruit and loaded my grocery cart up with all kinda varieties.  Fruit-tastic!

Magritte-a-licious Moon Trees.

Recently, I blogged about my Third Graders' WIPs (works in progress) here, which are inspired by Rene Magritte's 1956 painting Sixteenth of September.

Well, I know you've been waiting with bated breath, so here we go.  Our beautiful Moon Trees are below...

I have been on a major painted paper kick and we painted the heck out of our papers for these 3rd grade masterpieces.

We added a little salt to our backgrounds to experiment with a salty resist texture too.

Our moons were cut out from leftover papers from our Sochi and Suminagashi Lesson.  We have gotten a LOT of use out of these leftovers.  Not like my food leftovers that sit in my fridge foreverrrrr.

Speaking of leftovers, I have a big decision to make tonight: Thai or Pizza for dinner.  Decisions, decisions...

DIY Sped Adaptations in the Art Room.

After looking at the variety of backgrounds my students created during our recent Magritte Moon Trees, I was struck not only by the gorgeous colors, but by the following two paintings.  The first painting is a lovely example of a student who followed the directions to use cool colors to create their sky and landscape background to a "T".

Now, the second painting is an example from one of my students on the spectrum.  This young artist is absolutely amazing.  He'll appear like he's zoning out for my entire demonstration and/or discussion and then raise his hand and say the most beautiful and insightful thing.  The work that this child produces definitely has a unique style.  Though this is only the background for his project, this paper itself is frameworthy for sure!

After looking at these paintings, I started to think about some of the tools I use in my Art Room for my students with special needs.  I've blogged a little bit about the supports I use in my room here, and I thought I'd continue my previous train of thought just a lil' bit.  As a former Special Education teacher, I am always on the hunt for different ways to adapt everyday art tools, so below is a glimpse into these adaptations.

I like to use the chunky Ticonderoga pencils in my room.  They are super smooth for writing and drawing and the lead is very sturdy so they barely break.  For some of my kiddos with fine motor difficulties, a rubber band wrapped near the top encourages children to hold onto it with their thumb and index finger.  The rubber band leaves a nice little tail for children to grasp with their additional fingers.

I always have one of these fidget balls on hand for any students with sensory needs too.  Students with anxiety may use this to secretly hold and squish in their hands while I'm giving a demonstration or leading a discussion.  I have a few friends too who hold onto this with their non-dominant hand while painting, drawing, etc. because it keeps both hands occupied.

These google eye rings are the BEST.  I used these as a Kindergarten teacher, a Sped. teacher, and now in my Art Room.  These goofy rings actually help students self-check and self-assess their pencil/crayon/brush grip.  If the student is holding their tool accurately, then the art eyes are always watching.  If the grasp is incorrect, then that signals to the child to readjust his or her grip.

I've also got a few pads of felt scraps always on hand.  The felt is a nice sensory texture tool to use with students on the spectrum.  It gives their hands something safe and sensory to touch and is used similarly like the fidget ball above.  Depending on the child, the felt pad can be placed on the table or in the child's lap.

For some students with difficulties in writing, a slant board works well to encourage appropriate letter formation and posture, or in the case of art, appropriate artistic techniques.  Because I don't have slant boards available in my room, a 3"(or more) binder works really well too!

And finally, these last tools below work really well for students with difficulties in motor skills.  The bouncy self-opening scissors are a great tool for students with weak hands.

Annnnnd, the sponges below are also a great alternative to brushes if students have difficulty grasping a paintbrush.  The wood handle sponge and the clothespin sponge allow students to experience painting, paint in details,  and they are more conducive to certain students' grasps.

My fabulous art friend also suggested using these Aqua Flow Brushes for students who may have difficulty maneuvering a traditional brush for watercolors or tempera cakes.  To use them, you need to pre-fill them with a little water and students can gently squeeze in combination with paints for more control than a regular brush.

A few other tidbits I'd like to share:

- I always have a few extra gloves (non-latex) in the Art Room for students who may experience sensory anxiety when handling materials such as chalk pastels.

- Be wary of the voice volume in the classroom.  For students who are sensitive to loud noises, extreme volume is overwhelming.  I utilize my Yacker Tracker without the siren to keep noise at bay with certain classrooms.
- Come up with a signal for students to give you when they may need assistance or start to experience frustrations.  One of my students (who is a huge baseball fan) uses a signal like baseball players do to communicate and will tug at his imaginary cap to let me know when he needs a break.
- Use clay as a grip for drawing tools or paintbrushes by wrapping it around the tools.
- Keep clipboards handy.  Sometimes students work better with their pieces close to them in their laps.

- Ensure that your lessons are accessible, yet still challenging for all your artists.

Every child is an artist and it's our job to keep the art bug going.

I would LOVE to hear any tips/tricks you have, so please share!

Vote for Me Please!

Hey all!

The voting for "Best Dressed Art Teacher" is on.  Please go to Cassie Stephen's Blog (aka already the World's Best Dressed Art Teacher) to vote for me, Melinda Flinchum.  And if you don't vote for me, no hard feelings (I'll just sic Mugsy on you when you least expect it).  Enjoy the wonderful outfits of the crazies educating your young ones.

 Remember folks, in addition to the thrifted outfits above, I've donned some funky handmade costumes in the past (see below)...

 

 Remember these bad boys? My Specials teammates and I glue gunned the daylights out of a bunch of cardboard for our Pac Family costume.

 

You can never go wrong with a little Magritte.

 

 Thanks for voting and have a rockin' weekend!

Artfully yours,
Miss French Fry

Miss French Fry and Ketchup!

Yowza, it's been a bit since I last posted and we have been busy busy bees at school.  Now it's my turn to have a "ketchup" day.

Without further ado, here's what's happened in the eternity since I posted:


1) My garden club harvested and sold bouquets of beautiful tulips!

Last year, I wrote a grant and received the funding to install a raised bed and plant 500+ tulips at our school with the help of my 5th grade Garden Clubbers.  Our intention was to sell the tulip bouquets to raise money for our school.  Community service AND physical work: how do you like THAT Michelle Obama?! :)

Maintaining this garden is A LOT of work, but it's so amazing to see my students learning about the flowers, weeding, and generally sweating it out in the sunshine.

Plus, this garden and our butterfly garden has inspired many fun projects.  (See #2).

2)  My Fourth Graders are wrapping up with a printmaking project studying Illinois Wildflowers.  Printmaking is one of my favorite art areas and a project I always enjoy working on with my students.

Love how tidy this little guy is being.  An artist after my own obsessive-compulsive heart! 

Our prints are still in progress, so stay tuned for more pictures soon!

3)  I was invited to present at the Art Institute of Chicago's 2014 Curriculum Fair, which was such an honor and an amazing experience.

Presenters were invited to share examples of projects based on artworks or artists housed at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Check me out in action on the Art Institute's Facebook page here!

I decided to share my 4th grade's All That Jazz unit based on Romare Bearden's works, the 3rd grade's Magritte Moon Trees, and my Kindergarten's Pointillist Paintings based on the work of Georges Seurat.

I had so much fun exploring every presenter's projects and talking with very talented teachers.

The best part about this day was that it fell on the same day my husband proposed to me at the Art Institute five years ago (cue the awwwwwww's here).

Believe it or not, our school year is still not over.  We're going until June 13th (darn Midwest and crazy Chiberian polar vortex days).  But the plus side of that is I still have many more projects to share with you, so keep on keepin' on!