Going Down to the Art Room

I am excited to be teaching Kindergarten through Fifth grade art this year.  It is going to be an exciting year, for me and the kids! I thoroughly enjoy watching the students grow as artists from year to year.  This school year, when students drew their self portraits in their artist notebooks on the first art class, many of them flipped back to last year's self-portrait and commented on how much better it looks this year.  I still love to see those first kindergarten, age appropriate, self-portraits with a circle head, two dots for eyes and a straight line mouth.  It's even better if they stick their arms right out of their heads.  That's how they are supposed to be doing it at age 5 anyhow.  When they get to about third grade, they start to look in the mirror and notice things more closely.  Until then, I don't spoil it for them by teaching them now adults see the world. 

Why is art called a connect class at CSD?  Everything that I am teaching them in art, directly "connects" to what is going on in their classroom.  When second graders are doing their author in me unit, we are learning how to depict the who, what and where from writing into our art.  When first grade is doing fairy tales in their classrooms, we are word detectives to find the words in a sentence of a fairy tale that tell us what the picture is going to look like.  Then we make that picture.  When third grade studies the photographer Ansel Adams, we build pin-hole cameras and learn to take and develop our own photographs.  When 4th grade works with rocks and minerals, we will make jewelry with native rocks and gems.  It all connects and the students are better students because they have so much prior knowledge on the subject even before I see them in art. Their learning is enriched because they are getting the same unit from all different perspectives. I am just happy to be on the art end of their learning!!!

My family at Kiawah Island, SC this August 2009