The issue is that there are kids that work veeerrry slowly and can easily take two art periods to finish a simple project, while there are other kids who work so fast - and so sloppily - that they finish before class time is over and ask to eat a snack. I feel l like I might take a page out of an English teacher's lesson plan book and start having them journal when they are done early - maybe with a prompt on the board.
But then I have to think of a prompt. Uch. I have to keep thinking.
***
Here are the projects we made for Rosh Hashana. Some were made too quickly, some were made painstakingly slowly and some were done at a regular pace. And I like I tell the kids each and every time they come to my class, your art is yours and it's perfect for you.
The apples on the top of the photo are made by using apple colored markers to color a coffee filter. Then we folded the coffee filters in half and took turns using a spray bottle filled with water to make our colors travel around the filter and dance with each other. While the coffee filters were drying, we traced and cut out our apples and stems.
We learned how to fold our apple in half and draw a dented half circle shape so that we were able to cut out the centers of our apples. The kids were amazed when it worked. It's the little things...
We used our cut out apple shapes to frame our coffee filters and then we lined up, because the class teacher was already there. I made these apples with four different classes and it happened each and every time.
The apples on the bottom of that same picture were made by the nursery class. They colored white apples using their favorite apple colors and they then practiced their gluing skills by using just one dot of glue to paste each small piece of paper to the apple. They kind of look like modern art apples.
Each student was given five friends to cut out and decorate. I debated for a long time before finally deciding to do this project with the kids because I didn't want them picking out their own five friends from class and then having some kids get left out if, for whatever reason, they were not picked. Finally, I decided that each kid would decorate a little person as themselves and use the four blank people as the four people who sit near them in art.
And no one complained. Phew.
Once our people were decorated and we made sure to write a name on each little person, the kids colored their hearts that make up the center of the Friendship Circle while I frantically went around the tables stapling the little people to the cardstock circles I had already cut out for them. And frantically? Cause, again, the teachers were waiting!
I believe the time have come to work on my time-management skills.
I laugh every time one of them says that to me because, sheesh, don't they know me by now? There's no such thing as can't in art. There's only try. And then try again. Whatever. At some point they'll get it. Or they won't. I can't even begin to count how many kids asked for a new watercolor paper when we were working on these paintings, but no one got one and each kid did eventually figure out how to fix it or make it work and they were all impressed with themselves at the end of the period.
We started by doing a follow-me-and-draw on the board. I drew each line on the whiteboard and they followed by drawing it on their paper. Afterwards, we used sharpies to outline our drawings and sign our pictures and label it Rosh Hashana 5775. It is going to 5775, right? I'm so bad at that.
Then we used oil pastels to fill in our apples and watercolors and large brushes to swirl color around the rest of the page.
In case I don't get back here before Rosh Hashana, I want to wish you a year filled with health and happiness and lots of laughter - and all things good and crumb-filled.
:)
Jen