Jacqueline Cassidy & The Primary Kids Art Blog

May Flowers, Bright Sunshine and Summertime...well, almost

2012-05-01T21:57:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it's May 1! Does anyone else feel as though the school year goes by faster and faster each year? While we still have a few very busy weeks of school left, today's date, the sunny weather and this article by Theresa McGee in School Arts online made me think ahead to my goals for the summer. Each summer, I think of all these things I want to accomplish and each year August comes before you know it.

While I don't yet know what all my summer goals are, Theresa's article reminded me of one of my goals...video lessons! This summer I plan on making some video lessons to share with you, my blog readers, and also my students. As the article states, I think it would be a fun way for a substitute to teach one of your lessons with the students.

I have also been wanting to create a video to show my students the rules, procedures, and locations of important items in the art room. Problem is, the beginning of the year is such a whirlwind that there is never enough time to set up my classroom, record and edit all these videos before the first student walks into my classroom. Then it hit me...do it NOW, before I have to box it up in June for summer cleaning.

Some things may change a little, but the basic locations of major items in my classroom stay the same. How nice would it be to show a "Welcome to Art Class" video on the first day of each class, versus repeating myself 5 days in a row for every class that walks in?

Now, onto making the rest of my summer list...

What are your summer goals?

Melting Crayons = Art + Science

2012-04-29T15:00:00.000-04:00

How many thousands of broken, half used crayons do you have in your supplies? If you are like me, probably a lot. I have a hard time getting rid of them because they are still useful, they just are not as appealing as brand new ones.

One of my favorite things to do with these broken crayons is to make multi-colored crayon chunks. You can do this at home with your kids or you can also do this at school with your students. Either way, the young people in your life will become fascinated with the way the crrayons melt and will make great connections to other waxy products in their life.

First, have the kids take all the paper wrappings off the crayons. It's a good thing to have some kids who are finished early become crayon "helpers" by pealing off the paper. Kids love having a "special job" in the classroom. As the kids peel, have them sort the crayons into color groupings. You could always have other students have the job of crayon sorting. Turn peeling into a "race" and have tables of kids challenge each other to see which table can peel the most crayons in 5 minutes. If you want to speed up the process of the paper peeling off, let the crayons soak in water to soften the paper.

After the crayons are pealed, put an assortment of crayons in a plastic sandwich bags to keep them sorted. The students then pull colors out of the bags, break them into small pieces and place them into a greased muffin tin. You can also use the paper liners instead of spray cooking oil, and the paper will peel off after it cools. Place the muffin tin in a 200 degree oven for about 10 mintues, or until all the wax melts.

It is facinating to see how the crayons melt and mix together. Have a discussion about the melting process. Do some colors seem to melt faster than others? Why? Do smaller pieces melt faster than larger ones? Why? The kids are wonderful observers and can make interesting connections when watching the crayons melt.

If you want to do this type of project in your classroom you can use a electric skillet. Line the skillet with alumnimum foil, to pertect the surface, and place the muffin tins on top. Place the crayons in the muffin tins and put the skillet on a low temperature. If you have a document camera, place it above the melting tin and project the crayons onto your whiteboard so the kids can observe, as a group, how the crayons are melting. Ask them questions, such as, why are the crayons that are touching the metal melting faster than the crayons in the middle of the tin? What if we covered the muffin tin with aluminum foil, what will happen with the melting? Talk about the crayons in a solid state versus a liquid state. Many students will watch this and make the connection to candle wax melting too.

Use the finished crayons to make texture rubbings of leaves, bricks, rubbing plates, and then use the rubbings to make a collage.

What other ideas do you have for repurposing crayons?

Introducing the new "Lessons and Visuals" page

2012-04-26T17:00:00.000-04:00

Check out the new Lessons and Visuals page on the site. This page will include downloadable lessons and visuals for you to use in your classroom. I love making fun and creative posters for my classroom and want to share them with you!

Click on the Lessons and Visuals tab on the top of the website. To download a lesson or visual in .pdf format, click in the name of the image and it will take you to the file to download. Enjoy!

What kinds of lessons and visuals do you want to see more of for your classroom?

Spring Butterfly Lesson: Clay and Symmetry

2012-04-25T21:51:00.001-04:00

Butterfly

This is a great simple lesson that allows younger kiddo's the chance to practice rolling a coil of clay and also practicing the concept of symmetry.

Directions:

1. First make the clay body. You can use kiln fire clay or air dry clay. Teach the students how to roll a coil and add texture to the body with a paper clip or other clay tool.

2. Poke in eyes with a pointy clay tool.

3. Let dry.

4. To make the wings, have students fold a piece of aper in half and draw the wings on the fold.

5. Cut out the wings and unfold paper.

6. Paint paper with watercolors.

7. Paint dried clay with tempera paint.

8. Glue body to wings and add wire for antennae.

There are many ways to add color to the clay body and wings. If you don't have watercolors, then use tempera paint for both. Have kiddo's use markers to make patterns on the wings of the butterfly rather than painting.

How do you stay creative?

2012-04-25T18:04:00.000-04:00

A little while back, I was asked by another blog, the Art of Education, to guest post. I wanted to share my guest post on how to stay personally creative when so much of your creative energy is geared towards your students.

We all became Art educators because of our love of creativity. Creativity is in our blood, and we see the world through a set of different lenses than many of our colleagues. Have you ever heard your students say, “Wow, you could be a real artist” or a colleague say “You painted that?”

When you leave at the end of a busy day, do you leave your “artist” at the door and just revisit it the next day when your first class walks in? I highly doubt it because being a creative artist is a part of us. How do you fuel your own personal artist?

Here are a few things that I do

Take a class or two or three or…

About two years into my teaching career, when I was looking for art books for children, I found that there weren’t any with the same main characters throughout the series. I created a set of multi-cultural main characters who transport themselves into an artwork and meet the artist. The Primary Kids would lead the reader through the adventure of learning about art and meeting and artist.

When I decided that I wanted to pursue starting the company, I realized I knew nothing about how to start a business, or what a trademark is, or how to publish a book or anything about this process. I just knew that I had an idea and a desire to make it happen.

I enrolled at a local college and immersed myself in classes to learn about the process of starting a business. I received my graduate certificate in entrepreneurial studies. Now I knew enough to start the business but I didn’t know about how to layout the book.

So, I took more classes on Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign and Dreamweaver. Some were weeklong intensives in the summer or over the weekends. I love these type of classes because it allows you to become immersed in the learning.

Paint, draw, sculpt…make your own art!

Writing and illustrating my own book gave me a great reason to make my own art. Each page is it’s own little painting. Instead of writing the entire manuscript out first, I created some of the illustrations first because it helped inspire me to keep going. Creating the illustrations for me was what came naturally, writing was harder. The story and illustrations had many, many revisions but that was okay. The process was long, and I pushed through many stumbling blocks along the way. During this process, I saw the movie “Julie and Julia” and thought if “Julia Child could work for 10 years on her first book, then I can push through as well.” During the process, I would allow myself “free art,” time for me to make anything I wanted so that I could recharge my energy to return to the book.

Socialize in the Arts

A few years ago, I became a member of the Young Friends of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Most museums have a group that focuses on philanthropy for the museum and learning about art. This group is fantastic! Each month, there is an arts related activity at the museum. I’ve learned so much art history from these lectures and tours. Since I want my stories to have a focus on art history, this is a perfect fit. The group consists of artists, accountants, art therapists, doctors, lawyers…all people who believe that art is important! Much of the information I learn, goes right back into my lessons and books. It’s a fun and relaxing way to learn and talk about art.

By fueling my creativity and love of learning, I wrote and illustrated my first children’s book. I learned so much from this process about my creativity and myself. You may make jewelry, paint murals, create boards on Pinterest, write a blog…whatever you do, make sure it’s something that fuels you because that is what makes you a better teacher, but more important, a better YOU.

How do you fuel your own creativity?

Paintbrush poster for your classroom - FREE!

2012-04-22T15:26:00.000-04:00

Here is a poster I created to help my students remember what to do after cleaning their paintbrush.

Feel free to print and share in your classroom.

Clay Penguins for Winter

2012-02-12T14:27:00.000-05:00

I love Penguins! What's better than a penguin in winter? Here is a penguin created out of clay. You can use air dry clay or kiln fired white clay. Each penguin starts out as a rolled "log" of clay. One end of the clay is tapped onto the table top to form the base. The other side is round with your fingers to create the head. The wings are cut into the sides of the clay, and are then pulled out and shaped. The beak is pinched out from the head and the feet are pinched as well. Use a pointy tool, or pencil, to create the eyes. After the penguin is dried or fired, use acrylic paint and a small brush to paint the penguin. You can spray a clear acrylic sealer or leave as is.

This is a great project for young students especially first graders. It takes under an hour to create the penguin and then part of another class to paint the penguin. It's the perfect project to introduce your kiddo's to clay.

What are your favorite winter clay projects to create with your kiddo's?

Jewelry, PMC, and getting my hands dirty

2012-02-09T18:41:00.000-05:00

Last month, I started taking a jewelry and metals class at a local art center. It's so much fun! I've worked in metals before and wanted to get back into it. I decided to take a class to explore my own creativity and "get my hands dirty." My teacher has been creating jewelry and small metal sculptures for over 30 years. The class is an open studio where we work on our own ideas and, with our teachers assistance, make our creations come to life.

The leaf above, was make with a product called PMC, or precious metal clay. It looks like a little blob of sily putty, but once it is fired in a jewerly kiln, it is 99.9% pure silver. The clay comes in various forms; clay, slip, and paper. The slip is used like ceramic clay slip and the "paper" is a very thin sheet of the PMC. Used by themselves or together, you can create a vast array of works.

When I made the leaf, I used a PMC slip (which is similar in consistency to regular ceramic slip) and painted about 10 layers of it onto a real leaf. Just like in ceramics, when the leaf is fired in the kiln, the real leaf burns away and you are left with just the silver. After the first firing, I added a bail to the back and re-fired it all again to connect the 2 pieces. Once it was cleaned and polished, I decided that I wanted to darken the veins a bit to add some depth.

Watch for postings on more metal creations...coming soon!

What are you doing to stay creative and "get your hands dirty?"

Wayne Thiebaud..."Is that Tim Tebow's dad?"

2012-02-02T21:41:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite projects to do with my students is about artist, Wayne Thiebaud. Wayne Thiebaud (tee-bow) is well known for his "dessert" paintings. Slices of cake, pieces of pie, wedding cakes and gum ball machines...if it contained sugar, then you might just find it as the subject of a Wayne Thiebaud painting. I always connect Wayne's art to Presidents Day as we are "celebrating" the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln with a cupcake.

Here is a great clip from CBS Sunday Morning that contains an interview with Thiebaud that you could use as an introduction.

I love this interview with him because it shows just how humble he is. He is an immense talent and sounds like his biggest critic, but what artist isn't their own biggest critic? Currently, there is an article that is in Smithsonian Magazine discussing Wayne Thiebaud's artwork too.

Here is an example of a cupcake painting that I created for this lesson. After creating the basic shapes together, the students can add a simple design for the table and wall. We used tempera cakes for the table and wall, and pearlescent paints (mentioned in a previous blog post) for the cupcake.

His work just makes me smile!

What is your favorite project to do to teach about Wayne Thiebaud?

(btw: Wayne Thiebaud is not related to the football quarterback...

and yes, I had to look that answer up)

How do you temper the Tempera?

2012-01-23T22:12:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite things to do is organize. Yes, I said it! I get excited at the thought of a neatly organized space and my classroom is no different. I know how hard it is for me to be creative in a disorganized space which is why I try to keep a very organized classroom. I've read many blog posts about organizing an art room and thought I'd share a few things I do when it comes to paint...tempera paint.

Through the years I have found a system and products that work for me in my classroom. I have tried various brands and types of paints, various means of distributing the paints and many ways of cleaning up after. This is what works for me.

My favorite brand of tempera paints is Crayola Premier Tempera in 32 oz containers. The paint is thick and smooth! I like the 32oz size as they fit perfectly inside my cabinets and are easy to squeeze. My room has limited storage and counter space so this size works best.

I’ve never liked squeezing paint onto a "palette" (paper plate, plastic food top, mixing tray, etc) for dispensing the kiddos every time we paint because it seems as though a lot of paint is wasted that way.

My second year teaching I found these great 6 set containers from Nasco that I dispense with what I call my “rainbow colors” (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.) I fill them half way up and when they get low, I fill them again. It’s great because some colors get used more frequently and then I can fill them as needed. I’ve trained the kids to be extra careful about forgetting to clean their brush and dipping into a different color. If one color does get contaminated, and it’s usually yellow, you can cap all the other colors and rinse out just the yellow to clean and refill. It’s awesome!!! I have had the same set of these plastic containers for 8 years now! About once per year (usually at the end of the year) I take the containers home and soak them in hot, water with a little bleach. I've even put them face down in the dishwasher, place the caps in the utensil basket, and give them a whirl. They come out fantastic AND they don’t melt or loose their shape.

When we need black, white, or brown I use Sax art cups with tops. They work great and keep the paint moist. I also like these because when the white gets too contaminated, I can just do a quick rinse and add more. I only add a small squeeze of paint into these containers and refill when needed. These are also great for premixed colors that you may use with some of your younger students. I know many people have used empty yogurt cups or food cups; but these are small and all the same size. As someone who doesn’t have much storage space in my classroom, having the uniformity of size helps keep it organized. When we hand out these cups, I use a disposable Solo plastic plate as the tray. They are cheap and reusable an easy for small hands to hold.

Another paint that I discovered at the NAEA conference last year was Chromatemp Pearlescent Tempera paints. The kids LOVE anything with shimmer! Certain projects look fantastic with a little shine! This set has 15 different colors to use from the “rainbow” colors to metallics to neutrals. I put this paint into the cups with the tops as needed. Since there are so many choices in this set, I can give different classes working on the same project a couple different color palettes. So “Classroom A” will have these 6 to use while “Classroom B” may have these other 6 to use. It allows each class to have a little different looking project without giving each table 15 colors to use.

We use these small 6-cup trays for mixing paint. The room had a large set of them when I first started and they are great. When it’s time to clean up, I have the kids place the mixing trays in a bucket of hot, soapy water to soak and the paint just slides off. I can let them soak until I can get to clean them. Actually the longer they soak; the easier they are to clean.

That's how I organize painting with tempera in my classroom. It’s simple, efficient and works for my space.

How do you organize your Tempera paints in your classroom?

What is your favorite brand of paint to use?

8 Fun Things to do with Toilet Paper Rolls

2011-12-19T16:00:00.000-05:00

The other day, I started to notice a few ideas on Pinterest about things to do with toilet paper rolls. I did a search on Pinterest for "toilet paper rolls" and here are a few of my favorite projects. Some are more crafty and some are more artsy, either way, it gives new life to all those cardboard rolls.

Snowmen

Plant starters

Flowers and butterflies

Ornaments

Gift Packaging

Artist creates faces!

Create art!

Housing for mini sculptures

Visit my Pinterest board about toilet paper roll crafts to see even more and link to the original websites for these images.

What art ideas do you have for these cardboard rolls?

Guest Post on The Art of Education and Giveaway @Artofed

2011-12-08T16:00:00.000-05:00

This week, I have a guest post on The Art of Education website. Jessica Balsley, the founder of the site, asked if I would like to guest post and include a book giveaway to a lucky reader. To which I quickly said, "Of course!"

Visit my guest post on creativity, How do you Fuel your Own Creativity, and leave a comment in order to be part of the giveaway.

Jessica has a wealth of information about art education that she shares with her readers. A BIG thank you to Jessica for allowing me to guest post!

Quilling + Martha Stewart Glitter = Beautiful

2011-12-04T21:16:00.001-05:00

Simple paper quilling on circle base

Here are some options for an easy ornament featuring the art of paper quilling.

My students have been working on a paper quilling unit and many kids are now finishing up. I was playing around this weekend to think of something the students who are finished earlier than the others can do. Here is my example of a paper quilled ornament. I think it looks quiet pretty in simple white paper.

I traced a circle on white card-stock and cut out. Then I began twirling various sizes of white paper strips. The strips are 1/2" wide by 4" long. Some are a tighter spiral than others.

I made 2 different examples and decided to try to glitter one of them. I first used my inexpensive student type glitter and it was horrible! The glitter was way to big for such a delicate item. I was about to give up on the glitter until I saw my Martha Stewart Essential Colors Glitter 24 Piece Set. Okay, so I can't say for sure that I will let my students use my Martha glitter but I did want to see how it turned out, so I tried it.

Quilling with Martha Stewart Glitter

Here is the same quilled ornament with a dusting of Martha glitter in a light blue. I used a brush with a thinned amount of white glue, and brushed it onto the edges of the quilled paper. I tapped a small amount of glitter on. I love it!!! I want to make more of these for my own tree!

This picture doesn't do it justice. I've done quilled ornaments for myself before but never added the glitter. Below are more images of quilled ornaments I have made for my own tree using quilling paper and no paper background. While I love these too, I really dig the glitter.

I know Martha glitter is expensive but it goes a long way! I usually cut out the 50% coupon for Michael's or A.C. Moore that is in the Sunday paper and use that towards my glitter.

There is a teacher blog called, "Art Teachers Hate Glitter" but I have to say, when it's Martha glitter, I love it!

More quilling

Another fun quilling design

What do you think of paper quilling? Have you tried it with your students or children?

Happy Birthday Georges Seurat!

2011-12-02T08:00:00.000-05:00

Today is painter Georges Seurat's birthday! Georges was born on December 2, 1859 in Paris, France. He was best known for a painting technique called "pointillism." Georges painted with small dabs and dots of paint on his canvas instead of broad brushstrokes.

Learn more about Georges Seurat by reading The Primary Kids Meet Georges Seurat with your kids and come visit me this Sunday at 12:30pm at the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia for a book reading and book signing. Happy Birthday Georges and thank you for starring with The Primary Kids in their first book!

Art Biography Videos in the Art Room

2011-11-27T17:31:00.001-05:00

One of the things I enjoy doing to introduce my students to artists is to make an iMovie. About 2 summers ago, I took an iMovie class at the local Apple store and loved it! It's a great way to excite the kids about a new lesson and teach art history in a fun way. None of the iMovies are ever very long, usually under 5 minutes. I like to include biographical information about the artist, images of the artist, images of the artists work, and I try to relate the artist to something my students already know. If I can find live footage of the artist working or speaking, I put that in the video as well.
Once I gather some of this basic information, then the fun part begins! Background music, cool transitions, fancy fonts, and even my own voice doing the narration, gets added. All the things that can turn it into an exciting video. I can spend hours on some of these videos because I find the process pretty cool myself, but most are complete in under an hour. It's decent amount of time to spend in the outset, but it ensures that each class receives the same information at the start and I have them saved to use them again the next year.

After we watch the videos, we go back and discuss many of the artworks in depth. I think the videos make the discussions much more interesting because all the kids are hooked in from the start.

Here is a video I made about artist Robert Indiana. The music for the background is Faith Hill singing, "Love is a Sweet Thing" which seemed like a great fit for Indiana's LOVE sculptures that we were learning about. The song was spliced together for the background music, so as to focus on the word love most often.

BTW: I do not own copyright for any of the images or music in the video. It was all made and used for educational purposes.

How do you "hook" your students in when introducing a new lesson?

Small Business Saturday & The Primary Kids

2011-11-26T11:32:00.001-05:00

Don't forget to support Small Business Saturday today. While we all have our favorite "big" businesses, small businesses are the heart of our country. Many artists and crafts people are small business owners, selling their handcrafted wares to people everywhere. Popular websites like Etsy have created a platform for many small business owners to take the leap into entrepreneurship. Support your favorite small businesses today!

You can purchase The Primary Kids Meet Georges Seurat on Amazon or thru Paypal.

And don't forget to "like" The Primary Kids on Facebook.

Hand Turkeys anyone?

2011-11-22T22:28:00.000-05:00

Only 2 more days until Thanksgiving! I had to laugh this morning when I went on Google and found this:

Why did I laugh you ask...because this turkey looks an aweful lot like a "hand turkey." I have read a few blog posts this month about the dreaded hand turkey. I've also heard stories of classroom teachers asking the art teacher to help them create a hand turkey with their students. The thing about the hand turkey, whether you like it or not, is that after all these years it still seems to be the primary art experience kids have when learning about Thanksgiving.

The first Thanksgiving was held in 1621 with the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians. The Pilgrims wanted to celebrate their first successful harvest. From what I can find out, the Pilgrims most likely didn't eat turkey during the feast at all, but duck and venison...but how would kids make a "hand deer"?

Here are two easy and fun crafts for your child to do Thanksgiving morning while you are preparing that big 'ole turkey.

Pilgrims and Native Americans

I found this craft on Disney's Family Fun website to make Pilgrims and Native Americans using good 'ole toilet paper rolls and construction paper. How cute!

Thank You Turkeys

This is a great craft, from Kaboose, to have your children make to show how thankful they are this year. In fact, you could have a pre-cut feather at every table setting and have your guests write down what they are thankful for at the table dinner. Read them aloud before dinner and then have the kiddo's assemble them onto the paper turkey before dessert.

What kind of art projects do you do with your child to celebrate Thanksgiving?

Quote of the Week Wednesday

2011-11-16T16:00:00.000-05:00

"Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen." - Leonardo da Vinci

Thank you to our Veterans!

2011-11-11T22:06:00.001-05:00

Quote of the Week Wednesday

2011-11-09T16:00:00.000-05:00

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures." - Henry Ward Beecher

"Work of Art" is back!

2011-11-05T12:32:00.001-04:00

Have you been watching Season 2 of "Work of Art - The Next Great Artist" on Bravo? It was one of my favorite new shows last year and I was excited to hear that is was coming back for another season. Every artist and non artist should be watching this show! It's great to see the creative process in action and to see each artists try to create a true work of art.

Who is your favorite artist? Who do you think will be in the finals?

Quote of the Week Wednesdays

2011-10-26T16:00:00.000-04:00

"There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality." - Pablo Picasso

Quote of the Week Wednesdays

2011-10-19T16:00:00.001-04:00

"Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing." - Camille Pissarro

Quote of the Week Wednesdays

2011-10-12T16:00:00.000-04:00

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." - Scott Adams, American cartoonist

Quote of the Week Wednesdays

2011-10-05T16:00:00.000-04:00

"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it." - Pablo Picasso