They've Got the Whole World in Their Hands!

I am disappointed in myself! This is the only Earth Day project I had my students do this semester...I had such high hopes for projects for this holiday but things seem to move quickly this time of year. Just getting through each week will have to be achievement enough! The kindergarten class had a lot of fun doing this project. It turned out great...it was an easy project and the results are bright and fabulous!

Totem Poles

My many months of collecting paper towel tubes finally paid off!! I found these cute templates online, which were colored by the students and then wrapped around the tubes. Of course, feathers give a nice finishing touch to any art project!

Pattern Self-Portraits

I found this idea on Artsonia and just had to try it out! Students first learned facial proportions, next drew their self-portraits, and then added lots of fun and interesting patterns!

Ancient Chinese Scrolls

I found this idea on the fabulous blog Oodles of Art...and just as mentioned on that blog, this project took forever...but the results are worth it :)

Core Knowledge Culminating Event

Here are the pictures about the school-wide event we had last week. As I was posting these, I realized that I didn't get pictures of everything, so I will have to post more later.

Families came to our school to see all the wonderful things that our students have been learning about. My part was to make sure there was a piece of artwork on display for each student. We don't have a lot of bulletin boards available for displaying artwork...so I worked hard to make a display area of artwork next to each classroom.

Whew!

All the hard work paid off though, the students were proud of their work, and the families commented on how wonderful the students did. I saw many parents taking pictures of their students next to their art work....

definitely worth it!

Kindergarten Grape Vines

My little kindergarteners were learning about fruits that grow on a vine and I needed an art project to teach them about different lines...luckily I found this perfect idea on ARTolazzi!

Another fantastic blogger, Mini Matisse, also tried this idea and made a wonderful worksheet to go along with it...which I also borrowed :)

Thanks to both sites, our grape vines were a success! We drew our lines with crayon first and then used one finger to paint green/yellow vines and the thumb for the grapes. The kids absolutely loved getting to fingerpaint!

Laurel Burch Cats

The colorful hallway display!

...some of the cats before the finishing touches...but still great :)

She Smells Like the Art Room!

We had an exciting school-wide event last night where the students families came and were able to see what the students have been learning through classroom displays, presentations, performances, and of course, most importantly...art galleries! Pictures to come...but my favorite part of the evening that I just had to share was when one of my 2nd graders introduced me to her family...

Eva said," This is Miss Packham! She is the art teacher. She smells like the art room...and that room smells like paint!"

I guess there are worse things that could be said about the art teacher! So I'm wondering...do any of you other art teachers smell like your room...if so, what smell would that be?!