Art Thursdays

One thing I really regret about blogging this school year is that I never really got to blogging about all the wonderful art projects we do. I have been so fortunate during my two years of teaching to get volunteers to come on a consistent basis and teach art to my class. Last year, one of my student's grandmother (a retired middle school art teacher) was our Art docent. This year, one of my student's parent, who has a degree in art of some sort, is my Art docent. I bet she had no idea what she had gotten herself into when she signed up to be the art docent!

I really want to appreciate her because she has come up with some pretty awesome art lessons for the kids! All I did was give her a list of the dates we were going to have Art (every other Thursdays) and the topic I wanted the lesson to focus on (lines, texture, shapes, perspective). She did everything else including create the lesson and prepare the materials. I'm pretty positive the students would not have such the authentic art experience they are having right now if I was teaching them Art instead. There's just something about having the time to really focus on one particular lesson every two weeks. Due to her own knowledge of Art, she has also introduced all the kids to so many different artists that I have never heard of. They really absorb it too! Today, during our Art lesson (which will be explained in a bit), one of the students asked her if the art they are doing was created by a specific artist. Evidence that they are learning! :)

Anyways, now that I'm FINALLY getting myself organized enough to blog about Art, I wanted to share today's Art lesson! Our focus has been on shapes for the last two lessons. The kids were introduced to the idea that shapes are building blocks and used different shapes to create different images. This lesson on shapes focused on using shapes to build patterns. Of course, that isn't interesting enough so my lovely Art Docent created potato stamps for the kids to make their patterns with!

Different kinds of patterns the kids could create. 

Isn't she just awesome??? We only have four more art lessons left (Is this school year really ending soon??). Hopefully, I will remember and keep myself organized enough to blog about them! :)