Art Treasures

Art Treasures just make my day. If you were to walk into my class room you would find these treasures all over: covering my desk, my door, cabinets... and the kids love it!

One of the many joys working in an elementary school are treasures you get from the kids! If students are going to take the time to make me wonderful artworks why not show them off! 

I just got this treasure Friday. This student wanted to paint me something special so his grandma got him a canvas to paint on. Lets just say it really made my day... maybe even my week.

Say Yum to Kendra's Delicious Banana Nut Bread

I am so excited!

I absolutely love making banana bread and trying different banana bread recipes. Today I made the best banana bread I have ever made! I seriously can't believe it because I love any kind of banana bread. This is a recipe I created with ingredients around the house, and its one to celebrate! 


Here have a piece!

Kendra's Delicious Banana Nut Bread

• 1/2 c. coconut oil
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 c. ground almonds
• 1/4 c. ground flax seed
• 1/2 c. flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 c. chopping walnuts
• slivered almonds
• pecans
• chocolate chips

1. Cream coconut oil and sugar
2. Add eggs and mix well
3. Grind almonds and flax seed into a floury substance
4. Sift nut mixture, flour, soda, and salt and mix well
5. Add bananas, sour cream, and vanilla- mix well
6. Add walnuts and your preference of chocolate chips- I used 1/2 c. 
7. Pour into your preference of pan- I used a large
8. Top with pecans and slivered almonds
9. Bake at 350 for 1 hour- if a large pan OR for 20ish minutes if small pans or muffins
10. ENJOY :) 

Second Grade Color Wheels!

So I have that problem where I have WAY to many lessons I want to teach during the school year, and it is not possible to get it all of them in. This year I decided to have second grade make and take a color wheel home to complete. It was a simple scavenger hunt where students had to find at least 5 objects of each color. Then they had to glue those objects onto their color wheel and bring it back into school. I had a great turn out, but maybe 2-4 kids from each class forgot or didn't have the materials at home to complete the project. In that case they had time in class to finish. 

Paper Mache Pigs

Yep! We made paper mache pigs in 3D art class at the Y! Simple and messy!

Steps:

1. Blow up a balloon
2. Mix flour and water to the consistency of a thick paste
3. Rip up strips of newspaper.... LOTS
4. Taking one strip at a time- dip it in your paste and put it on the balloon
5. Create a thick layer around your balloon
6. Let dry 
7. Add another layer of paper mache (optional- it will make your form stronger)
8. Let dry
9. Add on features like Styrofoam cups for the nose and legs- using masking tape
10. Paint form
11. Let dry
12. Add eyes, ears, and a tail (we used paper and a pipe cleaner)

Glass Fusion Plates

Kyle and I finally picked up our glass plates! 

We took a glass fusion class at the Goddess of Glass in Minneapolis! If you enjoy being creative, new experiences, and bringing YOB you have to try out this class. This definitely made my list of "Great Adventures of the Twin Cities".

At first we didn't know what we were getting into. Google maps starting to take us right into the part of Minneapolis you don't quite want to be. However, Kyle is experienced living in the "hood" so I knew we could handle finding this Goddess of Glass place aka The Funky Bungalow. A few bumpy roads later we were in front of the most colorful, and most decorated house in the neighborhood.  Sounds about right for the Bungalow! Anyways, Connie Beckers is a MN glass artist who creates glass art and runs these fantastic glass classes. She is a kind heart with a passion for creativity and making her community a more colorful place. Her inspiring story of how she became a glass artist is enough to make anyone take a risk to achieve their dream. The night was full of laughs, stories, creativity, and fun. Kyle even enjoyed himself... even though he was the only guy there. 

Check out the link below for more Goddess of Glass! 

 

Here are the plates I made! 

Snow Day Minnesota

Today almost all of MN had no school today due to a blizzard that roared through our state yesterday afternoon throughout today. 1 ft of snow later the thought of spring is non-existent and more cold weather is on our way. As much as I love winter and the extra snow we got I still felt like painting something fun and bright to make it seem like spring could come some day.

Not my usual taste in color, but I love the bright and fun it is!

COLOR!

Painting number 2 and it's a 2-for-1

Now this feels like spring and summer!

Shall we eat out side tonight?

Mosaic Picture Frames

As much as I love my job... I don't mind a day off from work! On these days it's always my goal to make some of my own art. Today's artwork included glass and picture frames! 

I got into glass art and mosaics when I lived in Duluth, MN. Duluth has a big glass warehouse and many glass artists. I even had the opportunity to teach stain glass while student teaching!

Making mosaic glass picture frames: 

Materials:

Cheep frames

Adhesive glue for glass

Glass chipper 

Glass or mirror

Grout 

Ruler

Newspaper

Old brush that can get full of glue

Old rags

Here is a photo of all my materials and what you'll need! 

1. Trace the photo size in the middle of the photo paper in the frame like I did above with blue. You will not put any glass in this area.

2. Find the glass you like and clip it with the glass clippers to the size you prefer.

3.Using the brush, paint some glue onto the glass cover or onto the piece of glass you are adding.

4. Keep adding glass until all the area outside the traced area is full.

5. Let the mosaic dry for at least one day.

Part 2: Grout

6. Mix a cup of grout, and rub over the glass trying not to get grout in the traced area.

7. Let the grout dry for a few minutes and wipe it off using old rags.

8. Wipe glass pieces with a clean rag.

9. Let grout dry completely an add your photo in the frame!

Finished!! Check back in to see my finished mosaic frames from today. I'm guessing it will be a while since I have no grout at the moment.

Olympic Gold Medals

Its clay time in the art room!

I look forward to using clay every year! It's a bummer we can't use clay more than once a year, but it is too expensive for my budget. I can only hope we get to use it next year. Our district is in a process of cutting 1 million dollars and 4 teachers at the elementary level. However, I'm staying positive! 

Our physical education teacher had the COOLEST program I've ever seen to get the kiddos pumped up for the Winter Olympic Games. Each class was given a country participating in the Olympics. Each student decorated a little flag for their country and the United States. We even had our own opening ceremony! Classes entered the gym with their flags while 1 student from each class carried in a large flag for their country. There was music, a podium demonstration, student readers, singing, and some students even modeled Olympic speed skating uniforms (one of our teachers use to be in the Olympics)! While the Olympics are on each classes receive gold, silver, and bronze medals for whatever event their country medals in! For example the art room (France) only has 1 gold medal and 2 bronze medals. Talk about an outstanding learning experience for the students. I think the best part is how the students are cheering on other countries rather than just the USA.

I figured, with all this energy about the Olympics from the kids, what would be more fun than making our own personalized GOLD MEDALS! All this week K-4 got their hands messy and created medals with clay.  All they had to include was the Olympic rings and 2014- the rest was up to them. I had a great smart-notebook presentation with examples of gold medals, and we talked about how artists play an important roll in the Olympics! This is by far one of my favorite lessons for the year! I also showed this video to the kids, which was the perfect lead in for talking about gold medals.

Next week we will paint our medals, let them dry, and add ribbon so student can wear their medals and feel like an Olympic champion! Check back in for pictures! 

Crazy Hair Day

Hastings Reads

Wednesday was crazy hair day in our district to help promote a great event in our community called Hastings Reads. Its a week long event with happenings all over the town! This year the theme is resilience, and one of the focus books is Crazy Hair Day, thus the crazy hair day at school. The kids absolutely loved it, and of course I did too! I figured whats more crazy for an art teacher then using art materials to help out with the crazy hair style? So here you go... my crazy hair!

Color + Wine

Monday was a snowday... aka a cold-day! Most of MN was experiencing -40 to -60 wind chills. I took it upon myself to try and stay inside... and that was a challenge! I started with a big pot of coffee and some painting. 2 hours later I created another painting! A few weeks ago I created a painting for my friend Kristen, to give to her friend as a gift, she wanted a wine themed painting. I started playing around with vibrant colors and movement, the style I love to paint in, and came up with this (above). I loved the look so much I wish I could have kept it for my own kitchen. My goal for this cold-day was to create another variation of this theme. Here is what I created, and I absolutely love it!