Update and a Classroom Sneak Peek!

Hope everyone is having a good summer so far! Even though we only have a little over a month left, I have a ton that I am going to be doing before the start of school.

The month of June flew by for me. After the completion of Art Camp (look for the photo book in the office at the start of school to see what we did!), I went home to Kentucky for a week. It never seems like I am there long enough. There is never really enough time to catch up with everyone and go visit all the places that I miss while I am here in SC. But hey, I can't complain. At least I did get to go visit :)

Anyway, after returning from Kentucky I went in to full planning mode. As I said in the beginning of this post, I have a ton coming up. I will be working for a former professor on a really awesome project writing lesson plans (more details coming soon) and my husband and I will be going on a trip for our 5th wedding anniversary! Hooray! With all of that coming up in the next several weeks, I thought that it would probably be a wise idea to do some intense planning instead of waiting until August and feeling rushed to finish.

I do have to say that I am incredibly excited about the things I have planned for next year. I always get excited about the things that we do in the Art room, but I really think that students will love what I have in store for them this year...hey, I had a ton of fun making all of the examples up!

I am also excited to see the reaction when students come into the art room. I always enjoy having a theme for my room each year. It acts not only as a good platform for me to be able to discuss a lot of different topics with students, but its a fun space to be in. Students are excited to come back, want to discuss what you displayed in the room and it just creates an overall good atmosphere to be in.

So here's how this year's theme came to be. I believe that it was around Christmas break when the commercials for Valspar paint started coming on TV featuring the chameleon couple. I love that commercial...don't know why, just do. Anyway, it came on (and still does) often. Well, one afternoon I was in the art room thinking about all the different decorating possibilities. I will be focusing all of my units/lessons on art history this year and was trying to tie that in some how. The more I thought about it, the more frustrated I became. I thought, "Geez, there are so many different concepts to discuss with art history! How can I tie it with anything? If I tie my decorations with one particular period, it will become obsolete as soon as we change projects."

I started thinking about it. Yeah, art history has gone through a lot of changes in its time and still continues to do so. Depending on the situation or events taking place at that particular time in history, the attitudes of artist are subject to go in a multitude of directions. And that's when it hit me. CHAMELEONS! Some chameleon species can change the color of their skin in a reaction to their conditions. So....I know its kind of stretch, but chameleons are kinda like art history. Plus its art....chameleons, color, and art go hand in hand :)

Anyway, I was able to find/make some awesome things for my room. I still have a few things to do, but I thought I would give you a sneak peek of what things are lookin like :)

 

 

Summer is Here!

Well, all the students finally made it...summer break. There were so many conversations about ice cream and vacations to the beach, not to mention sleeping in until at least 10 :)

Although we had a lot going on this week, including 6th grade graduation, an awards ceremony, and many end of the year parties, one class worked on some art this week. The 4th grade has been working so hard on their gel glue batiks and I am so glad to say that they are finished just in time and they look fantastic! I was so proud of the how the 4th grade really focused that last day of art in order to finish their projects up. Good job everybody!!! Here are their finished artworks...

Just because the school year has ended does not mean that art will not be taking place. Starting June 17, I will be having an art camp at school. I am really excited about what we will be doing and I will definitely share those ideas and artworks with you.

As for me, I will be going home to visit my family, I will be making art examples for upcoming projects, and I am also going to working on a picture book. Not going to give away the details, but it does include one of my dogs, Cash.

I will be posting throughout the summer. Although I am not sure if I will post every week, like I have throughout the school year, I do plan on posting somewhat regularly to keep everyone up to date and to give you some sneak peeks about what students will be up to during the 2013-14 school year.

I hope that everyone has a fantastic and relaxing summer break and I will see everyone in the fall!!!