Returning from Winter break

Two simple drawings from memory I consistently assign after break include student's favorite Christmas gift and favorite Winter break activity. These drawings give us an opportunity to practice grabbing art supplies using our Art Supply Inspectors, placing unfinished projects in our colored table drawers (Drawer Inspectors), putting supplies away at the end of class, quietly working without talking during "Quiet Working Time" and sharing our art during "Share Time" at the end of class. 

We also practice art room procedures like how to ask to use the bathroom, ask a question, inform the teacher when you are done (thumbs up), and how to earn rainbow club points by following the art room rules.

Another key word/concept that is emphasized during the drawing activity is "details". Students are encouraged to use details to help develop the visual story of their Winter break memory. Examples of details are discussed at the start of class and brainstormed together as a whole group on a sample drawing on the marker board.

This assignment is completed by all grades K-2.

This activity usually takes two 30 minute art periods and finished drawings will be placed in our "End of Year" Portfolio. Even though we are drawing from memory now, by the end of the year we may forget what this drawing was all about, so, I use Avery Address Labels to stick to one corner of the paper describing the front and back drawings. This makes it easy to remember the drawing assignment and easy for students to describe it to parents at the end of the year. If the child has forgotten the drawing assignment, they need to only read the label in the corner. I also use this same address sticker to label our baseline portfolio drawings completed at the start of the year (same label size, different description).

Avery Address Label 5260

Rainbow Club Today!

My students love Rainbow Club Day! It allows for each student to choose an activity they want to be involved in for the entire class period ranging from play-doh, Lego's and blocks, free draw, and coloring sheets to color science activities, oil pastels, drawing chalk, paint, origami, paper airplanes, and puzzles. Students have the entire month to earn points and reach the top of the rainbow chart with the ultimate goal of all choices available to the class. The great thing about each activity is that it allows practice for important art skills, so even though we are having fun, we are still learning and practicing.

How to Earn Rainbow Club Points 

Students start the day with 0 points and hope to spell the word ART and earn 5 points by the end of the 30 minute class. Classes can earn the letter “A” at the start (first 2-3 minutes of class) by walking down the hallway and entering the art room quietly. It also includes sitting down immediately and quietly in their assigned seats (1 point). 

Students earn “R” during the middle of class time for following all classroom rules; quietly working, raising hands and taking turns speaking (no blurting), and using art supplies responsibly (2 points).

Students earn “T” at the end of class for cleaning up immediately when asked, putting all supplies away properly, and lining up quietly when colored table is called (1 point). If class earns all 3 letters “ART”, the class then receives a bonus point for a total of 5 Rainbow Club points at the end of art class. The total number of points is recorded in my white binder on the counter at the front of the room, under the tab “Rainbow Club”. Once a class earns a letter, I move it from the bottom of the marker board to the top of the marker board to show that the letter has been earned. 

Each month will have two rainbow club “free” days in art (1 blue day and 1 white day) at the end of the month. Whatever level that class has reached will be the choices that class has for their “free” day in art. For example, if 1C only reaches green at the end of September on rainbow club “free” day, this class may only choose free projects from the green, yellow, orange and red strips of the rainbow. Because 1C only reached green, their class may NOT choose any items from the blue or purple areas of the rainbow. Although, if 1C reached purple on the rainbow chart with 30 points total, than 1C may choose any or all of the items from the rainbow club list. 

 

Rainbow Club Stations

Lincoln Logs

Magnet Shapes on Magnet Boards

Lego's

Free Drawing with Oil Pastels

Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head

Blokus: A Strategy Game

Mask Making

Origami

Team Building

Scrap Paper and Toilet Paper Tube creations

Color Science Station

Painting Station

Origami and Paper Airplanes

Big Roll of Paper with a Friend

Big Roll of Paper with a Friend

Baseline Portfolio Drawings

Goal: Baseline Portfolio drawing, rules and procedures

The first two to three weeks of  school for all grades allows for much practice of the art room rules and procedures. Each day students come to the art room, we quickly review the art room rules, procedures, and expectations, how to receive punches in individual Art "buck" punch cards and gain points for Rainbow Club as a class.

The first two weeks also allow me to gain valuable information about students' current skill levels in drawing and name writing.  I call these drawings baseline portfolio drawings. Each year kindergarten through second grade, students will draw a self portrait and "My House" drawing without guidance on 9”x12” drawing paper and with a #2 pencil. These drawings usually take 2-3 days and students will add color with crayons (kindergarten) or colored pencils (first and second grades). For those students who finish early, we talk about adding "details" to give the viewer more information. For example, within the background of their self portraits, I tell them to draw items that tell me more about their hobbies and interests.

Second grade students this week will also list items to add to this year's Rainbow Club Chart and as a group VOTE FOR the ACTIVITIES they like best TO ADD to the RAINBOW CLUB chart.

Anchor Standard 1 (K-2): Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
Anchor Standard 2 (K-2): Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.
Anchor Standard 10 (K-2): Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to create art.

Scavenger Hunt (Rainbow Club Day Reward)

My 2nd graders earned over 40 Rainbow Club points for the month of September and were rewarded with a "Design Elements" scavenger hunt activity.  I found this nifty "design elements" scavenger hunt at The Art of Education (AOE) and tweaked it to fit my classroom needs, including images next to some of the words for my lower level readers. Students used iPads and worked in groups of three to four students to find the items on the list, zoom in close, and photograph. We not only searched the art room, but traveled all the way down to the main office looking for items from our list.

Next class period, working in their same groups, students will create a word photo collage using the images from last class period's scavenger hunt. The app they will be using is called WordFoto. Students will find an image and use the bolded word from the scavenger hunt list to fill the image with words (see example below). I hope to use this app again for other projects in the art room. I have some great ideas for the future, the possibilities are endless.

This example below is one created by a 2nd grade student's photo. She selected this fire alarm because it was a rectangle and found it in a hallway on the way to art. In WordFoto, she selected the image from the photo library on the iPad, cropped it, and created a new word set with "rectangle".  The app does the rest!