Here's a first grader's drawing. She worked on it for almost forty minutes.

I made it have a big head on purpose. It looks cuter like that."

This third grader has spent almost every class period drawing bugs and dinosaurs. For some reason, a couple weeks ago, he decided to move into the third dimension.

It's a praying mantis and it's going to eat that bug. They eat bad bugs."

This budding assemblage artist constantly looks for new items to incorporate into her pieces.

When I introduced clay to the students, I didn't tell them what to make, just encouraged them to explore it. The kindergarteners didn't even realize that the clay could be fired. After a couple weeks of general exploration, one student didn't want to put his creation back in to the tub, "Can I keep it? Please!" That's when I told him and the other students that this type of clay could be fired. You should have heard the excited shouts of glee! I'm serious.

I explained to them that I could fire their creations, with some limitations. Man that was hard trying to to explain to those five and six year-olds.

I discussed a few basic principles, and let them go.

It was funny because one little boy worked for a while on this "snow monster" and earnestly said, "I'm done. Now, will you go burn this?" So I told him that it had to dry out before I fired it in the kiln . . .

This creation was made with florist wire, a recycled lunch tray, and some donated styrofoam.

"It's kind of like Lagoon [a local amusement park], 'cause they have a sky ride. It's like a roller coaster."

wow! Christmas is over. Usually I feel sad and let down this time of year, but this year, I've managed to procure the keys to my school, and can spend some hours in my classroom! I was there yesterday, and will go again this morning. Mostly, I'm changing out the kids' art displays, getting rid of orphaned art, and sorting through my collage goodies.

We'll all be back to school on January 2, and I want the kids to come back to a freshly organized art room.

I'm hoping to work up some more menus (these are the signs that go in each center), especially for clay. The kids LOVE clay. I hate to see their sad faces, though, when a sculpture or other precious creations loses some of its body parts. The younger kids create animals and people with the teeniest skinniest limbs. I often tell them that they are sturdy enough, or well attached enough, but usually they shake their heads, "No, these are great, see I put a lot of water with it." My response is always something along the lines of, "Well, if they can stay on until the piece is dry enough to fire, then I'll fire it." Most of the time their little creatures don't even make it from the clay table to my drying area.

It's good for the kids to see this. It makes it so that I'm not dictating arbitrary objectives, but letting them learn from real life.

Their second and third clay pieces are sturdier.

The kids create sculptures with marshmallows and toothpicks--I tell them that if they want to eat these creations, they'll need to sketch them for me!

Here's a christmas tree sculpture from a second grader:

These clay sculptures are ready for the students to wrap up to give as gifts

It's really important for students to explore. When students get their first chance to paint, many spend the whole class period painting sheet after sheet. Usually after one or two classes of this (and the knowledge that they can use more than one sheet of paper!) they stop before the mud stage. This kindergartner found a good stopping point:

The kids were excited that I added some new treasures to the collage center:

"I just made this! It might be to give to my mom, but I might have to keep it. Can you see where I wrote on it?"

One of the first graders created a gingerbread house, complete with figure.

"It's a girl, and here's where she lives. The name of it is just House"

During the same class period, another student created Santa from a tube.

"This fabric is perfect for Santa!"

At least half of my students are putting the finishing touches on their clay masterpieces. They'll be giving them as holiday gifts.

But not everyone is making pots. Some students are creating elaborate "Snake Mouths", complete with teeth.

I guess we're still in the Halloween spirit, as evidenced by this ghost, created by a kindergartner at the collage station:

"It's just a ghost. Not really scary, just a regular ghost."

No photos today, sorry. Just a quick update! Things are progressing quite well. I'm excited because a sort of unofficial art group has started in my classroom. Some kids are dropped off at school very early, and if I see them lingering outside when I get there (around 7:30 or so), I invite them in with me. I've written up a list of studio chores (sharpen pencils, wash whiteboards, clean tables, stuff like that). If they do a couple chores they are invited to create some art.

This group is different than my class groups because it is small (8-10 kids, counting my own two daughters) and because there is an age range from first grade to sixth grade. I love seeing how they interact and advise each other.

Because I only teach art to the K-3 kids, the younger ones show the older ones how the room works. It's fun for them to be able to teach their "elders".

I'm stumped by this kindergartner's statement regarding his sculpture:

"It's called a balloon travel. When you go to the zoo, you can get some."

The third graders are working together on a village--a big village! They've decided to each work on different components, and then they'll put it all together when they've finished. Here's the garden:

"These snowflakes are the bricks. Those [rice] are the corn. These [buttons] are fruit. This is grass. Those [macaroni] are like the bananas. And over here [beans] is the bread. It's a pretty weird garden because it grows bananas and bread."

Here is what will be the center of the village:

I replenished our supply of pipe cleaners yesterday . . .

"The Rainbow Boa Constrictor is a snake. It's supposed to be standing on a wood. It's looking for something to eat. And that's the end of the story already."

"It's a band-aid for my finger. I have a pretend owie."

White boards are still popular:

"We're both drawing make-believe things. I did a unicorn, and look, she did a puppy. I know a puppy isn't make-believe, but it's RED! I've never seen a RED puppy, have you? Nope! That's what makes it make-believe; it isn't real."

The kindergartners enjoy the Big Papers. This girl created four self portraits during one 30 minute class.

"I did different pictures of me. They're all me, just different colors."

"It's just a guy. Not me, someone else."

When I brought out paper bags, kids rushed to them. Most colored faces on, a few glued some things on.

"All our puppets are friends. They're all girls, too!"

KIDS' ART is GOOD ART!

More beautiful pieces:

"This is an ice skater!"

Painting is in full swing. I'm thrilled that the kids are able to set up and clean up by themselves.

"Day and night. This side is daytime, the other side is nighttime."

Now, I don't have favorites, BUT if I did this piece would be in my top ten!

"This is a turntable thing, the people sit on these chairs, and it turns around. The pipe cleaners are the people."

CLAY!

I've finally conquered my kiln anxiety! Woo-hoo! I've been firing it up at least once a week, sometimes more. (Which is quite a bit, considering that I'm only working at the school two days a week, of course I'm there almost every weekday . . . ). I'm witnessing exciting things. Most of these students have never worked with clay before.

They like to paint them rather than glaze them, which is fine with me. It's much cheaper and much more immediate.

The second grader who created this sculpture chatted excitedly to her friends, "See! It's a dog! With spots. I'm going to give it to my mom or maybe my dad for Christmas."

The second grader who created this figure told me, "I don't even know why I made it. It's a person, a clay person. I think it's cool."

Here's a work in progress

"It's a lagoon, and it has a little car thing and a waterslide."

This kindergartener enjoyed exploring.

Last week, the kindergartners experimented with 3-d sculptures.

"This is a house, see? Here's the roof. It's very pretty. Can I eat my marshmallows, now?"

Another pocket has emerged at the fiber center. Kids are asked to create a pocket before they move onto the more challenging sewing projects. That way, they can learn the basics.

"I drew a design on my pocket with markers. Permanent markers."

The collage center is still popular. I do spend time hunting down new items to add to the center.

There are about five or six kindergartners that are completely ENTHRALLED with the collage center. They don't even sit down, just stand, searching through the materials, and creating art. Some just grab and glue, but several of them are more intentional. The girl that created this piece spent some time arranging and rearranging the papers several times. She cut some of them, and came up with this:

"I'm making it for my grandma. I put green on it cause she likes green. And I used this piece [black and white toile] 'cause she likes old-fashioned times. These are clouds."

The BEST thing about my job is seeing students transform mundane items into art. Often, when I look at a piece, I think, "Um . . . hmm, okay. Interesting." Here's one case. "J" was working intensely on this piece. He was thoroughly absorbed. Here's what he had to say: "It's a skateboard ramp! It's white, like the sidewalk. And, I cute this paper for the ramp part, and this paper for the holding up part. Then I'm going to make a skateboard too!"

Three students are comparing the differences in their spiderwebs.

"See? We all have lots of colors in our webs. But mine has more of these black lines."

I only teach the K-3 kids at our school, but some of the kids have gotten into the habit of coming into my classroom during lunch or recess. They help me sharpen pencils, clean tables, rinse water jars, and stuff like that. Then they are allowed to create some art. One fifth grader worked on this box for three or four lunch periods.

I don't know why, but I just love cows. They're cool. That's why I painted this like a cow. I don't know what I'll use it for, just look at it I guess."

Whiteboards are magic. Two first graders talk about patterns.

"It's a pattern, see. Line, dots, line, dots."

Drawing inspired this student to work in collage, too.

"I drew the picture, then I looked at it to make the guy. It's me, but I gave him a different name."

The students have been working on titling their favorite pieces. Often I have a hard time getting the kids to name their pieces, but this first grader was very definite about the title for this drawing:

"I made it with shapes, and colors too. Because I wanted to make something wonderful."

Two boys in my third grade class have been working on this structure for the last four classes! This is a picture of the yard, the black pom pom is the "bean bag playing place for the dog."

They've also made a house for the dog. They have come in during lunches and recesses to work on it. I like to eavesdrop on their planning sessions, "Hey, do you think he should have a food bowl outside, or in his house?"

Using burlap, yarn, and plastic needles, I introduced sewing to a second grader

"It's a pocket! I made it. I sewed in and out, in and out." Showing it to his friends, he adds, "Hey guys! Look! Look! I made it! I made this pocket! Then I colored on it with a marker. A PERMANENT marker!"

Halloween was definitely on her mind when this second grader was painting.

It's for my teacher. It's a pretty witch."

A kindergarten student had definite ideas about his creation. "I need a lot of these [craft sticks]. I'm making a bridge, then I'm making a boat. You need to use a lot of glue to make them stick. I like to smooth it out with my fingers.He proceeded to punch holes in the paper with the hole punch,"I'm punching holes. Because I want to."