Ice-cream, you scream!

Sunny days and ice-cream go hand in hand, don't they?  These two art ideas will brighten up your classroom even if the weather isn't cooperating. 

Ice-cream paintings

Inspired by the poem 'Eighteen Flavours' by Shel Silverstien the class used paints and glue glitter to paint ice creams of all shapes and sizes. The kids enjoyed getting creative with colours (flavours) and toppings. 

A haon, a dó, a trí,

Aon, dó, trí, ceathair, cúig, sé,
Císte deas i gcomhair an tae,
Uachtar reoite, banana buí,
Lollipop is oráistí.

Cáca milis, fí, fá, fum,
Uachtar reoite yum, yum, yum,
Úlla deasa, hip, hip, hop,
Ach b`fhearr liom féin mo lollipop.

Relief print bunting

This bunting looks great hanging around the class. It can be completed for any theme and is lovely for the start of the year to display the kids initials, or alphabet in younger classes. 

The bunting can be cut from an A4/A3 page, then using another piece of paper the desired shape is cut out, this is stuck on the bunting temporarily using blue tac. Children then print over the shape and cover the bunting completely in paint. In the picture above a sponge was used but bubble wrap or textured printing blocks could be used. Once the paint has dried the shape can be removed and the negative space can be decorated using marks, crayons, or colouring pencils. 

Summer Art Courses for Primary Teachers - Part 1

Summer Art Courses for Primary Teachers 

This post is a work in progress at the moment and I will continue to update it over the next few weeks with art courses on offer around the country.

I have only completed one art summer course and it was a face to face course in my local teachers centre. I came away with lots of ideas and the week flew by! 

The first course to grab my attention is being run by The Lewis Glucksman Gallery. 

Summer Course for Primary Teachers

1. This August The Lewis Glucksman Gallery, UCC is offering a Summer Course for Primary Teachers called Learning through Creativity. The five-day

course will examine how art can be used to increase student participation

and understanding of subjects when looking at other strands of the

curriculum such as Math, Language, Science, History and SPHE. Led by the

Glucksman curatorial team, this course will encourage participants to engage in class discussions, exercises in narrative and storytelling as well as practical art making sessions. Each day participants will work with a different professional artist in a different  medium to learn new

art making techniques suitable for the classroom. Set in the beautiful gallery settings, surrounded by contemporary art this is a unique opportunity not to be missed!

I teach infants is the course suitable for me? 

Last year we had teachers from every age group, from senior infants to a

secondary school art teacher. Although the projects relate directly to 5th/6th class curriculum, the techniques and skills taught are transferrable across all age groups. Also we keep the group small so teachers can get sufficient time to work through their own ideas and build

skills for their own practice. 

How is the course structured? 

The morning sessions are spent with the Glucksman curatorial team and we look at artists, art movements, projects and ideas that combine art with other strands of the curriculum. The afternoon sessions are practical art making workshops with the professional artists.

Monday - Art and Language - Collage with Cassandra Eustace -

http://backwaterartists.ie/artists/cassandra-eustace

Tuesday - Art and Math - Printmaking with Dominic Fee -

http://www.dominicfee.com/

Wednesday - Art and History - Painting with Paul McKenna -

http://paulmckennaart.blogspot.ie/

Thursday - Art and Science - Drawing with Angela Gilmour -

http://www.angelagilmour.com/

Friday - Art and SPHE - Sculpture with Fiona Kelly - http://fionakelly.co/

How much is the course and how do I book a place? 

Learning through Creativity

Monday 22nd August to Friday 26th August 2016

10am – 2:30pm

Cost: €75

Target class groups – 5th/6th class

Booking is essential and can be made through info@glucksman.org or

021-4901844 

The course has been approved by Drumcondra

Education Centre on behalf of the Department of Education, participants of the course will be eligible for EPV days as outlined in Primary Circular 37/97. 

Summer Holidays!!

July is here at last and so are the summer holidays. I hope everyone has a lovely break and gets a well deserved rest. 

The lovely people from Prim-Ed have set me a box of resources to review. So I'm looking forward to getting stuck into those over the next few weeks.

I'm moving house this weekend so I have some packing and unpacking ahead of me first. I really hate moving but a trip to ikea is on the cards once we've moved and that would cheer anyone up!!

Here are a few pictures of the resource books I'll be reviewing for you soon!