2nd graders discover Jasper Johns

My second graders are finishing up their tempera paintings that were inspired by Jasper Johns (and my good buddy Barb!). The lesson began with a short presentation and discussion of Johns paintings that used numbers and letters as symbols.

Our first step was to draw numbers or letters in pencil that had meaning for each student. Tempera was painted over each symbol - each 2nd grade class (I have 4 groups) painted this step with the same color so it would be easy for me to sort later if the work was not labeled correctly by the student.

Each painted symbol was outlined in another color - student's choice!

The background was done by painting a variety of tints...

We were inspired by the words of Johns to "do something, do something to that and then do something to that" so we continued to add details of shape and line to add interest.

I'm so proud of their efforts!

Art Teacher Benefits

One of the great benefits of our job is seeing the delightful work of our students on a daily basis. On Friday, I was grading some 1st grade collage work and just couldn't resist sharing the great expressions on their 'robots'.

There were a few angry faces...

along with some definitely female robots.

I've set aside some artworks for an upcoming bulletin board display so promise to share full-size robots soon...

Art Lessons for the ActivBoard/Smartboard

Last Wednesday, I had a retired Art teacher sub for me while I was attending Grade Level Leader training. He's quite a techie & I was lamenting that I didn't get all of his flipcharts before he retired. Greg reminded me that they are all uploaded on Promethean Planet for anyone who would like to use them! Just type his name (Greg Patrenos) in the search function and browse to your heart's content. His speciality is Egypt studies...

Joining the site is free and there are many free downloads. Enjoy!

Meet Our New Addition

We have a new addition to our household that's taking up a bit of our time these days.

He/she is the first hatchling EVER from one of the numerous egg caches that our pond turtles lay throughout our yard every year. There was a sibling that escaped our temporary holding area that we have not found - I'm hoping it's hiding out in the pond!

It has an official name now that it has started to eat & has the vet-approved indoor set-up. Meet 'Little One'

We hope to put him/her in the pond with the parents (who shall remain anonymous since there are 3 females & 2 males and we haven't a clue who is responsible!) next summer.

Since our turtles lay 50+ eggs every summer, I'm concerned over this new-found fertility...