As an art teacher I strive to encourage students to "engage and persist" one of the Eight Habits of Mind. So, when I see students work on one project over many weeks, I'm thrilled!

 

3-d sculpture made by a third grader.

"It's a tower and a building, for animals. I needed for the popsicle sticks to be smaller, so I broke them."

This photo is not enough to capture the coolness of this origami sculpture! Constructed over six or seven art classes, it's made up of dozens of cootie catchers.

The fourth grader who sewed this creature didn't have too much to say about it, but I can tell you that he worked on it for several weeks, and was diligent about making small, even stitches, so that the stuffing wouldn't fall out.

"It's not very good," the second grade artist told me. So I told her, "Hey. I'm pretty sure it's better than the horses you drew in kindergarten. It's even better than the one you drew last week." She tilted her head to one side thoughtfully, "Hmm," she said, "you're right. I am getting better."

"It's a bag like Indian Jones has. You know on the movie? Yeah, well, he was a pouch like this to put his stuff in. I sewed it. By myself."

The fifth grader who painted this asked me, "Do you have any other green watercolors? [besides the one in the set]" I told him he could mix up his own shade of green. And he did. I think he did a great job, don't you?

Shark created by a fourth grader.

"He's a prince, I made him from clay. But part of him broke in the kiln. So, we're gluing him together, this is his bed 'til he gets dry."

"It's Mrs. Picklehead. She's a teacher."

This softie was created over four art classes by a second grader. "It's for my new baby cousin. She's a girl."

"I made him from cardboard and colored him with pastels. It's my brother, 'cause he likes to play baseball."

Watercolor created by a kindergartner. I love the dabs of color.

"So, it's a pirate ship, and then I put this guy on it. It's me and my friend."

"I used the shapes in this tracer to make a tiger!"

"Well, first I made it with glue and cardboard at the 'struction center. Then I painted it with the white stuff [gesso], then I had to wait. I didn't want to wait; I wanted to take it home, but I waited. And this week I painted it, and glued the puffy eyeballs on. I'm glad I waited 'cause now it's all colorful and stuff."

"It's a bedroom, here's the bed and pillow, with blankets. The bottle is her garbage can, see? I put little scraps of paper in it for it could be the garbage. And here's a lamp, then a decoration."

"It's for my baby sister. It took me a lot of art days to make it, but she's really going to love it."

This third grade student likes drawing stylized faces, with all sorts of emotions. I suggested he might want to translate one into a stuffy, and this is the result. It took him several weeks and a couple of extra recesses, but he did it.

A stuffy created by a second grader.

"He's cyclops, that's why he only has one eye. I think the hardest part was probably sewing the ears on, because they're so small."

"It's an alien, Mrs. Dyer. But he's friendly."

This is a hippo created by a second grader, "I used two different colors of watercolor to make it the right color."

"He's a super hero, 'cept he's not a real super hero, just a made up one. I made him up. He's ironsuperman."



You can't see from the photo, but this is a tiny teddy bear, about the size of my palm. A fourth grader worked on it for weeks, stitching and stuffing it for his little sister.

"I saw these mittens in the collage box, so I made a girl to go with them. She's going to play in the snow."

The second in a series of robots made by a second grader.

"It's 'posed to be a girl, can you see her hair? She has pigtails and purple bows."

This ceramic cat was created by a second grader. She made a pinch pot for the head and added the limbs.

The work of a kindergartner, this art was created by drawing with marker on watercolor paper, then going over the marker with a wet brush.

This work was done on a coffee filter. I love how this kindergartner used different shades of blues and greens.

This second grader opted to color his creature in with pastels, rather than painting it. Many students want to take their work home TODAY (!) and don't want to wait for paint to dry.

 This first grade artist brought his book to class as a reference. He worked hard to draw an airplane like he saw in the photo. I especially like the close up he did of the cockpit.





"There's on for everyone in my family. Me, my brother, my mom, and my dad. My mom's the one with orange hair, 'cept in real life her hair's not orange, it's blonde, but yellow didn't show up, so I did orange instead."

"Look at this, teacher, I drew a spider with lots of legs, then I cutted it with the fancy scissors. You can see it in the mirror too."



"This is Chewbacca! I made him from some of those mail things [envelopes]."

-first grader

More Star Wars characters, created by the same first grader.

This drawing has a super long, complex story behind it, and was created by two sixth graders.

"This is a sign that I will put on my bedroom door."

-first grader

Watercolor created by a kindergartner. I love the slashes of color that cover the whole page.

A New School Year!

It's the first week of art classes. All classes begin with the drawing center.

"I just cut out the wings and glued it, it doesn't have a body. It has a squiggly mouth."

-second grader

"I just drew it by a mirror, I didn't know I was going to draw it really good."

second grader

"It's a silly face, isn't it funny?"

-second grader

"Do you know what these are? They're two dinosaurs. It was hard to cut out the teeth."

-first grader

"You are going to be so surprised by this picture. It's me, at Halloween. I'm a cheerleader or a princess or something. And that's my little sister in the pink dress. (She loves pink). And those are other people in their costumes."

-first grader

I have a love/hate relationship with blocks. I LOVE the collaboration they inspire. I LOVE the problem solving and critical thinking skills they encourage. I LOVE the rich imaginative dialogue that accompanies their use. I LOVE the way blocks are "age appropriate" for any person.

I HATE that we don't have enough class time to truly develop the stories/themes/structures that the students need to create. I HATE the way the blocks spread all over the room, causing clumsy people (ME) to stumble and trip. I HATE the way the blocks invite the students to throw them."But I'm cleaning them up, Mrs. Dyer! I'm just trying to make it into the box." I had to come up with an uber specific rule about blocks and throwing. Simply saying, "Don't throw blocks" isn't enough. No, I have to say, "You may not throw the blocks. You may not throw them even if you're cleaning up. The block can never be airborne. The block must be touch either your hand, another block, or the floor AT ALL TIMES." 

But honestly, blocks are wonderful. Their benefits far outweigh the few headaches. 

A flower ribbon bouquet, "My mom showed me how to make these, and I taught my friends."

This a stuffy created by a first grader. He worked diligently to sew it together, it took several art classes to finish. 

Another stuffy, sewn by a second grader, "I don't need it to be a pillow, I just want it flat"

"Mine's flat, too!"

A quiver sewn and modeled by a fifth grader, "Can I make a thing to hold arrows, Mrs. Dyer? 'Cause I know we can't make weapons in art class." We decided that he could sew a messenger bag . . .