Go to Sub Activity for 3rd through 6th Grade: "Do You Doodle?"

I lied, one more thing to share from last year before the year begins!

I get really nervous about substitutes, like I am sure most of you do, so I like to have something simple, yet really fun for the kids to do when I'm gone. I was at a huge book store looking through clearance when I found this guy --> Do You Doodle? by Nikalas Catlow. At the time, what I am using it for now wasn't my intention, but man I am glad I figured this one out!

There is a lot of complete the doodle books out there but this one is great because it is all black and white and easy to photocopy. There is a small start of a drawing and a written prompt for each. I did have to shrink the pages down in the copy machine but once I did it one time I filed them away so I don't have to deal with doing that again.

The first time they have a sub I have the sub give them a folder to keep these in throughout the year to work on when I am gone....building sort of a mini-portfolio. Then I have the sub show them my examples and put emphasis on using multiple materials and a large amount of detail. They should only complete 2 or 3 TOPS per class. I have about 20-30 different ones photocopied so they have a lot of choice and can't say "I don't like any of those". This year I will put out new ones to the old collection. They got to take the mini-portfolio home with them at the end of the year, but not before I looked through almost 500+ of them to find my favorites to photograph. It was a great surprise for me because I wasn't there when they did these and didn't look at them at all during the year!

I only do this with 3rd-6th and come up with something else for K-2 when there is a sub but I might try these with 2nd this year too...

Just look how seriously awesome some of these are!

Morbid but awesome.

End of the Year Collaboration with Kindergarten through 2nd Grade

With school starting Tuesday it is only fitting that I finally caught up on blogging!

I found this pin on pinterest from Drip, Drip, Splatter Splash and basically did it the same way. I used it as a fun last day of art project for my Kindergarteners and 1st graders. The 2nd graders finished them up after our games. A few days ahead of time I laid out the sheets of tag board across all of my tables and used good acrylic paint and a big brush to create the lines. My twist for this project, different from the original, was that I made all the lines connect. It is really important to label the backs if you do this!

Before they got to work we talked about how the pages connected and how these weren't going to belong to any individual but the school. Some were not pleased with that idea but eventually when they saw the finished piece they were happy! My only rules were no scribbling and they needed to be colored and painted.

They were totally engaged and loved the freedom. It was so fun for me to sit back and relax and watch them create art so joyously and care-free!

In process pictures....

Finished sections close up..

TADA!

(They stayed up all summer!)

I love collaborative art!!!

"Typography" with 5th and 6th

When I first got my long term sub job I went NUTS on Pinterest pinning anything that had to do with art education. One of my favorites was this pin. You will have to translate it, it's in dutch ;)

I loved the way they turned out the first time I taught the lesson so I used it for an end of the year project with my 5th and 6th graders last year.

It worked great for end of the year because there was different ways they approached it based on time so they really went in whatever direction they wanted with it. I also let them take them as soon as they were finished as long as I snapped a picture first. 

I CAN statement: I CAN create a 3D or 2D work of art using text.

Day 1: Intro! 5th and 6th graders are REALLY into YouTube so without me saying anything I played this YouTube video when they came in...

I was very impressed by the kiddos that knew the song, way to go parents! Then I asked them what they thought typography was based on the video and we brainstormed to get to the answer!

My biggie when it comes to projects, is connecting them to something in real life they can relate to. SO, I introduced typography and talking about graphic design. While I myself am not a talented graphic designer, I love the endless possibilities of it and type is just one very small piece. It also gets some light bulbs going for kids that think the only art careers are being an artist or art teacher. One of my other favorite things to do is talk about the billion different fonts in the world. I go to a font website and show them different categories and talk about the fox sentence that contains every letter so they can see the entire font. They usually don't believe me and we go through the sentence to find all the letters. Don't they know i'm always right!?!

I show them examples of the project from my long term sub students and show them mine and we talk about requirements like both sides being colored if 3D and 2D requirements like space and size. They quickly convinced me they shouldn't have to do their names. Thus proving, I'm not always right. Most start working penciling things out on the white tag board.

Day 2, 3, & 4: Work time! Drawing and coloring take place for two solid classes and finishing touches and assembling during the last. We use sharpie and marks-a-lot permanent markers to do the coloring and designs. They get really into this project. Choice baby, choice! Some classes had more time than others so the wide range of assembling happened. I let them hot glue independently after I review with them quickly how to use it. I warn them about the strings and usually the ones with zero help from me or another student end up with the most strings. I hate those things!

Many had the intention of 3-D but ran out of time so they improvised...

3D

That E is seriously awesome.

2D