Pancake Tuesday

It's a busy week celebration wise. Monday February 8th is the start of the Chinese New Year, Tuesday February 9th is Shrove Tuesday and the Sunday 14th is Valentine's Day. 

Phew! How to fit it all in?!?! 

This is my second post today focusing on Pancake Tuesday. 

Pancake Tuesday (Shrove Tuesday) precedes Ash Wednesday, which marks the start of Lent. It is celebrated by eating pancakes before the period of fasting begins. I have great fun bringing pancakes into my class. I usually do an art related lesson too for Pancake Tuesday but I keep it simple. The kids draw their favourite pancake toppings or disgusting pancake toppings. I like to link this to literacy by doing some procedural writing or creative writing. 

I love to read 'Mr Wolf's Pancakes' on Pancake Tuesday. The ending is unexpected to say the least ;) After reading the story sometimes we design aprons for Mr Wolf or print pancake toppings using fruit and vegetables. 

Below is a link to an apron template but I just draw a very basic outline in black marker for the younger classes. 

http://patternuniverse.com/download/apron-pattern/

Experiment printing with lots of different fruit and vegetables. Some of my favourite are lemons, celery, peppers, lettuce and mushrooms. 

Enjoy your pancakes! I'm looking forward to slathering mine in chocolate and bananas! Yum! 

Spring Flowers

There's a grand stretch in the evenings this week and we are starting to see the signs of Spring. We looked at pictures of spring flowers and I brought in some real flowers for the class to examine. 

Then using oil pastels the children drew daffodils, tulip and snowdrops. We then used a green wash to finish our pictures.

This lesson was lovely and relaxing. The girls really enjoyed looking at the flowers. This lesson focuses on the process rather than product and allows the children to be creative. 

Spring Art - Senior Classes

Spring art ideas for senior classes

Strands : Drawing, Paint & Colour, Fabric & Fibre 

Still life - Vincent Van Gogh 'Irises' or a painting of your choice. Look at and discuss the painting. Bring in a a bunch of spring flowers and arrange in a vase (on folds of a table cloth to add interest)

Look at how the light and shadows fall etc.

Allow children to choose drawing materials and to experiment. 

Collaborative Drawing (4/5 per group)

Use old wall paper, gift wrap, roll of paper, or stick sheets of paper together. Give each group a topic ( first signs of spring, spring animals, spring flowers, spring weather, birds/trees during spring, etc) and allow them draw based on their topic (oil pastels, makers, pencils, chalk) 

Grid Painting 

Choose a famous spring themed painting. Divide it into sections, give each child a section (grid reference and mark top & bottom of the page on which they will draw) to create their own version in their own style using paints, oil pastels, chalk etc. Once completed put the sections together to form the image. 

Click on the link for instructions on grid painting.

http://teachkidsart.blogspot.ie/2010_02_01_archive.html?m=1

Painting 

Look at the work of Canadian artist Maud Lewis (Folk Art).

Create painting of a spring scene in a similar style to Maud. 

Paper Collage

Matisse paper cutting, look at  'Snowflower' for inspiration. Brain storm things to do with spring. Cut paper shapes and glue on card to create spring inspired image. 

Art ideas for substitute teachers

Are you subbing? Sometimes a teacher will ask you to do some art with the class or they may suggest you do a lesson of your choice. So it is handy to have a few go to art lessons that can be completed in an hour.

Of the six strands I think "Looking and Responding" or "Drawing" are the easiest to approach when subbing. Trying to find paints and organise supplies in a room you don't know isn't ideal! 

1. Save a few images of famous paintings by an artist or of a similar theme to a usb and you have an art lesson ready to go. Have the children draw their own version of the painting and if you want to tie in literacy have them write a poem or story in response to the painting. 

2. For older classes one point perspective is very effective. 

http://elementaryartfun.blogspot.ie/search/label/One%20Point%20Perspective?m=1

Or foreshortening

http://jrbriggsart.blogspot.se/2011_09_01_archive.html?m=1

3. I love a lesson that can be used with any class and the next is one of those. Where would you take Mona Lisa to make her smile? Print out a a few sheets of the famous Mona Lisa. Kids stick the image wherever they want and draw the place they would bring her. I've used this with senior infants and it was great fun. 

Don't forget to give Da Vinci a mention! 

There are lots of videos on YouTube https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ-oArWrYgs

Link to download is below to print face and hands on bloglovin.

http://www.bloglovin.com/frame?post=1363932913&group=0&frame_type=a&blog=768177&link=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5hcnRwcm9qZWN0c2ZvcmtpZHMub3JnLzIwMTMvMDcvbWFrZS1vd24tbW9uYS1saXNhLWZyZWUtZG93bmxvYWQuaHRtbA&frame=1&click=0&user=0

4. Continuous line drawings

There are lots of continuous line drawings. The owl or fish is one I'd try with older classes and I think the loopy fish would be more appropriate for younger classes.

5. Or these coloured circles. Circles are decorated, then cut into quarters and glued to a white square in any direction. They look lovely displayed together. 

http://www.shinebritezamorano.com/2014/09/off-and-running-and-cutting.html?m=1

6. Draw a Story

 

A very quick lesson!

http://www.drjean.org/html/monthly_act/act_2009/02_Feb/pg18.html

Best of luck subbing and don't forget to share your art with us on Facebook (PrimaryArt) :)

Primary Bloggers Workshop

Hi everyone,

Myself, Infant Teaching Ideas (Lorraine) and Irish Primary Teacher (Niamh) have decided to team up and will be presenting a workshop together on 19th March.

This workshop will cover many areas of teaching including planning and preparation, classroom management, organisation, station teaching, Aistear and Visual Art.

Each person will present on their topics and there will be plenty of time for any questions/answers afterwards. Many educational suppliers have agreed to sponsor ‘spot prizes’ and ‘goodie bags’ for the day.

There are two different sessions available – one in the morning (10-1pm) and the seond in the afternoon (2 – 5pm). Each will last 3 hours and you will leave with lots of practical ideas, tips and advice.

The workshop will be held in Blackrock Education Centre on Saturday 19th March.

Tickets are available now for 15 euro per person and available from www.irishprimaryteacher.ie 

First Confession

I was asked for some art ideas for First Confession. I had a search through my own photos but unfortunately my photo taking can be haphazard and I couldn't find any! 

I have created a Pinterest board 'First Confession' with lots or ideas, colouring pages and templates. 

Here are some of my favourite ideas.

One of the stories that best illustrates God’s love for each one of us is The Lost Sheep. The images of the sheep and shepherds are often used in the Bible. Sheep need to be cared for, protected and looked after by the shepherd. The Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Good Shepherd inspires many displays for First Confession.

Top Left - Sheep Rocks to place on the altar.

Top Right - Paper Quill Sheep

Bottom Left - Wolly Sheep 

Bottom Right - Crayon Resist Art

Top - Paper Doilly Sheep

Bottom Left - Paper Plate Sheep Scene

Bottom Middle - Doilly Sheep

Bottom Right- Wool Wrapped Sheep

Negative Printing

This is an easy printing lesson. Sheep shapes are cut from paper. Wet the paper and place on the sheet. A box wrapped in elastic bands is dipped in green paint and printed on the page. Once dry the shapes are removed and the details are added in crayon. 

Crosses can be decorated with the words 'sorry' and coloured in brightly. 

I thought you'd like this board on Pinterest... http://pin.it/DhefFIB

Check out the Pinterest board to see displays from other schools. 

If you would like to share your ideas with others, please email me or contact me on Facebook. 

Email: irishprimaryart@gmail.com

Whatever the Weather - 5th & 6th

I was asked for ideas for 5th & 6th on the theme of weather. Some of the weather ideas I posted last week could be used with more senior classes but here are a few more suitable for 5th & 6th.

1. Looking & Responding 

Don't forget that you can include this in a lesson or have a stand alone lesson on it. A search in Google images will bring up a plethora of famous artworks on your topic. 

The topic here is weather and here are the paintings I found. 

The Liffey Swim by Jack B. Yeats. (Top)

Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son, by Claude Monet. (Bottom Left)

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat. (Bottom, Middle)

The Umbrellas (French: Les Parapluies) by Pierre- Auguste Renoir. (Bottom Right)

Responding can simply be a discussion about the painting, it can be a written piece such as a poem, or it can be creating a piece inspired by the artwork. 

This is a wax resist that appears to be inspired by ' The Umbrellas' by Renoir. 

2. Diorama 

I love dioramas! I used make these as a child with my Aunt. I used to make a hole in each side of the box and put a straw through. Then cut out people or animals and stick them to the straw to create a miniature theatre. Dioramas work for nearly any topic and allow for lots of creativity.  

They are a nice project to work on over a number of weeks and can be linked with other subject areas. 

How about creating a diorama to show the water cycle? 

3. Mixed media

A mixed media city scape in greys and blacks with some coloured rain. Newspaper, painted paper, magazines, coloured paper and card is used to create the buildings in shades of grey. 

The cloud is made by painting card with a thick layer of grey paint. A fork was used to make wavy lines to create texture. A sheet of white paper was laid on top to create a print. Once dry a cloud shape was cut out.  

4. One Point Perspective 

Deep Space Sparkle has a great lesson on one point perspective. This is suited to 5th or 6th class. Children can be given a selection of weather situations to be depicted in their picture. 

www.deepspacesparkle.com

5. Expand an image

Print out images from the web, use photographs or cut images from magazines which show a variety of weather types. Each child chooses one image and glues it to a white page. They then expand the images using paint, oil pastels, colouring pencils, etc. 

www.artprojectsforkids.org

6. Illustrate a poem

Illustrate a poem or a passage based on your chosen theme. I think this magazine collage on a cereal box perfectly represents a sunny day. 

7. Turkish Sun Catcher

From Prim Ed's Awesome Art & Craft (Book 3). This resource book has lots of nice ideas suitable for older classes. 

These sun catchers are made from plastic bottles. Coloured tissue is glued inside and designs are drawn on the outside in black permanent marker. 

A few more ideas that could work with your topic of weather are,

- Lighthouse Construction (make circuit for science integration)

- Brid house /feeder ( science/ geography)

- weather vane (science/geography)

I hope I have given you some inspiration😊