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Archive for the ‘Elementary School’ Category
Monday, May 20th, 2013
This month I’ve been saying a lot of ‘goodbyes’ to student staff members as they leave for summer break. It makes me realize how fortunate we’ve been to work with such a stellar group of student employees over the years and see them move on to careers in art, museums and education. We invited our very talented former Studio intern, Anna McNeary, to share this marbling paper activity she taught recently to children at ArtSpace Charter School in Swannanoa, NC.
 Anna McNeary working on her final Studio project, fall 2010 I spent a very fruitful semester interning in the Art Studio during autumn of 2010, while I was attending Smith College. Since moving on from both the Carle and Smith, I’ve continued to pursue opportunities in art education. After I graduated last May, I moved to Asheville, NC and began working in the after-school program at ArtSpace Charter School. ArtSpace is an arts-integrated K-8 public charter school in Swannanoa, NC.
ArtSpace is a great learning and teaching environment for any person who accepts art as a universal teaching tool, since the philosophy of the school is based on a belief in creative learning across academic disciplines. The projects that I tried with ArtSpace students were directly informed by my experiences at the Carle. Visual Thinking Strategies and the Reggio Emilia approach to teaching were often on my mind, and I gravitated toward open-ended, process-oriented projects intended to let the kids explore materials and experiment with technique. This approach to making art with children is, not surprisingly, very compatible with ArtSpace’s culture of learning.
I’m a printmaker, so some of my favorite projects drew on printmaking concepts. The transfer of images is perhaps the most central concept in printmaking, and it’s really what made our paper marbling activity so surprising and exciting. For those unfamiliar with the medium, marbling is the process of creating designs by floating pigment on the surface of a liquid substance, like water or oil. When you gently press a substrate like paper or cloth to your colored surface, you’ll get a swirly, psychedelic transferred design. Here’s an accessible and kid-friendly interpretation of marbling that I found and adapted for AfterCare.
Materials:
containers with seal-able lids
shallow pans
vegetable oil
food coloring
forks, spoons, skewers
sturdy paper, such as card stock
In a few containers with tightly seal-able lids (mason jars work well), I combined about 1/4 cup vegetable oil with a generous amount of food coloring. I shook up my “dye” vigorously enough to get it looking pretty homogenous. When I arranged our workspace, I put down plenty of newspaper over two long tables, and then put our supplies in the center. I set out two rectangular cake pans filled about halfway with water, our jars of colored oil, spoons, forks, wooden skewers, and a stack of light-colored card stock. I knew this activity had the potential to be messy, so I put the marbling station in the center of the workspace so that kids could surround the materials from all sides, and then quickly transfer drippy paper to the newspaper at either side.
I had a few eager marblers right off the bat, and once we got going, more inquisitive kids joined us. I had them start by spooning drops of oil onto the water. For the sake of keeping our designs from getting too muddy, we had a pan for warm colors (orange and red) and cool colors (blue and green). After they had added enough for the surface to be fairly crowded with colorful blobs, we used the forks and skewers to stir the oil into swirly patterns. Then, one by one we each touched the card stock to the liquid for about three seconds. It was such fun to see the kids’ thrilled reactions to their beautiful marbled prints–their enthusiasm was palpable, and soon we had a quick-paced marbling factory running at the back of the classroom!
The kids were responding to one of the most captivating things about printmaking, which may be my favorite part of the process: the small moment of suspense before you see the print you just pulled. Will it be beautiful, weird, unexpected, perfect, or all of those things? It’s a joy to watch kids have that experience, and it’s a great reminder of why art education is so important.
For more information about The Art Studio Internship Program, CLICK HERE.
There’s still time to submit your caterpillars to our CALL FOR CATERPILLARS contest! CLICK HERE for more information and how you and your child can enter.
Tags: Anna McNeary, marbled paper, studio internship
Posted in Activities, Elementary School, Painting | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 15th, 2013
I’m just back from a trip to Syracuse, New York area, where I worked with the students at Manlius Pebble Hill School. I taught 2 bookmaking sessions with 3rd graders in the morning and 2 printmaking sessions with 4th and 5th graders in the afternoon. Fortunately, I remembered to pull out my phone and snag a few shots at the end of the last session of the day! Here are some of the beautiful and diverse monotype prints by the 4th and 5th graders.
We used Crayola brand Artista II washable tempera in magenta, turquoise and yellow. Any additional colors on the paper students created by overlapping different colored plates. The students worked in reductive monotype, inking the whole plate and using tools to remove select areas of the paint.
To make the colors more transparent I mixed the paints with a good amount of Speedball brand Screen Printing Transparent Base. This is the best brand I’ve found to make tempera paints more transparent for printing or painting.
Thank you to the art teacher, Linda McGinley for all her help, and to the students at Manlius Pebble Hill School!
Tags: 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, Manlius Pebble Hill School, Monotype Printmaking with Kids, Possibilities in Print, student outreach
Posted in Elementary School, On the Road, Painting, Printmaking | No Comments »
Monday, April 22nd, 2013
Last weekend, I ventured with fellow art educator, Sarah to sunny Louisiana, where spring is in full bloom! The 47th Annual Tom Peyton Memorial Arts Festival at The First United Methodist Church in Alexandria, invited The Carle to lead a series of art workshops as part of their Children’s Day celebration. It was our first trip to the central part of the state, and our hosts showed us what true southern hospitality is all about!
The weekend of art events kicked off on Friday night with the opening receptions for the adult and student juried art exhibitions at the church. The event was very well attended and the show exhibited an array of 2D and 3D art pieces, all created by local artists and students. Each year, with money from the Tom Peyton Memorial Fund, the church purchases one piece from the adult juried exhibition to display as part of the church’s permanent collection, and they’ve collected quite a beautiful gallery of work over the years.
The following day, Saturday, was Children’s Day and Sarah and I taught 6 workshops for children ages 4-13 in side-by-side rooms at the church’s school. Thanks to the Tom Peyton Memorial Arts Fund, the art programs were free to the public and open to any children in the Alexandria community.
Throughout the day, Eric Carle’s newest DVD, Eric Carle, Picture Writer: The Art of the Picture Book played in the church’s auditorium, a great resource about Eric’s artistic process and his deep connection to art making throughout his life. You can purchase the DVD from The Carle’s Bookshop.
 
Here are some fun shots from Sarah’s busy morning “I Am an Artist” sessions, for ages 4-7.
Talking about Eric Carle’s artistic process of painting tissue papers and cutting them into collages.
Stamping some colorful art papers of their own.
Cutting the papers into beautiful collages.
Below are some photos from the “Bookmaking Basics” workshops for children ages 6-8 later in the day.
Cutting unique shapes for their rainbow books.
Adding details to the popup accordion books.
Sarah and I ate lunch with our new friends by the church’s beautiful courtyard and fountain. I could not stop gushing over the perfect weather we had during our quick weekend trip south. It’s hard to believe, but it snowed in Amherst on the same day we were basking in the Louisiana sunshine!
After lunch, I taught two “Possibilities in Print” workshops for children ages 9-13. There were a couple extra spots in the last workshop of the day so some of the festival organizers joined in on the fun too.
Two participants showing off their finished monotype prints.
Making marks in the paint creates interesting details.
The table of beautiful finished prints.
This creative mom’s message “Laugh, Live, Love” is apropos for this fabulous day of art making with the community.
Thank you especially to Aubrey Flynn who took such good care of us! Here I am with Aubrey and Sarah, celebrating the success of Children’s Day.
Also, a big thank you to everyone involved in organizing the Tom Peyton Memorial Arts Festival at The First United Methodist Church in Alexandria, and all of the children, parents and grandparents who participated in Children’s Day. Sarah and I feel so fortunate to be a part of your celebration this year!
To find out more about the annual Tom Peyton Memorial Arts Festival click here.
For more information about bringing The Carle to your next event email us at artstudio@carlemuseum.org
Tags: 47th Annual Tom Peyton Memorial Arts Festival, Alexandria, art activities, art event, art show, Eric Carle, Eric Carle Picture Writer DVD, family activities, Louisiana, outreach, The First United Methodist Church
Posted in Bookmaking, Collage, Elementary School, Middle School, On the Road, Printmaking | No Comments »
Monday, April 8th, 2013
In my last post, I shared that The Carle is celebrating The Week of the Young Child™ and Brain Building in Progress Week with a series of posts on this blog and hosting a special Brain Building in Progress Storytime in our Reading Library on Friday, April 19, at 10:30 am.
The Brain Building in Progress (BBIP) website clearly spells out how everyone has a stake and plays a role in building a “foundation for a lifetime of learning” in our young citizens. Its list of the Five Ways You Can Be a Brain Builder has inspired me to share few ways you might nurture brain building in the children in your life:
BBIP suggests: “Make Any Moment a Brain Building Moment… through back-and-forth interactions and meaningful conversations with caring adults.” So what could those interactions and conversations look like?
- Share a book with your young child. Picture books open up a space in which you can explore emotions, ideas and theories. Don’t be afraid linger on particular pages and talk about the pictures. Let the questions flow! Need some book suggestions? Our shop has talked about some great selections for 0-3 years and 3-6 years.
- Explore the textures, shapes and colors of materials and objects you encounter together. To open a conversation, you might ask your child: “What do you notice about this paper/rock/flower/fabric/marker?” Even if they don’t yet speak back to you, they are wondering and thinking with their senses.
- While young children are working with materials, you can invite conversation by saying: “Tell me about your idea.” Need some suggestions for materials or activities to try with your child? Check out our Infants & Toddlers, Nurturing Creativity at Home and Preschool posts, to start.
Talk about the art you encounter together, whether in a museum or on the street. Art is everywhere and offers great opportunity for meaning-making. When you see a painting, collage, mural or sculpture in your community, you might ask: “What’s happening in this picture?” Learn more about open-ended conversations about art at vtshome.org
*The Week of the Young Child™ is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The purpose of the Week of the Young Child™ is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs.
The 2013 Week of the Young Child™ is April 14–20, and the theme across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is “Brain Building in Progress.”
Tags: Brain Building in Progress, conversation, VTS, Week of The Young Child
Posted in Elementary School, Infants & Toddlers, Nurturing Creativity at Home, Our Approach, Preschool, Professional Development, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, April 5th, 2013
The Carle, committed to inspiring a love of art and reading through picture books, hopes you will celebrate The Week of the Young Child™ and Brain Building in Progress Week with us!
The Week of the Young Child™ is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The purpose of the Week of the Young Child™ is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs.
The 2013 Week of the Young Child™ is April 14–20, and the theme across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is “Brain Building in Progress.”
The Brain Building in Progress (BBIP) campaign is a public/private partnership of the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley and a growing community of early education and child care providers, academic researchers, business leaders and individuals.
Brain Building in Progress wants to make it known that “early experiences build the foundation for a lifetime of learning, achievement and productive, responsible citizenship. Quality environments, enriching learning opportunities, a connected, supportive community, and positive interactions with knowledgeable adults actually help form the architecture of the developing brain.”
Here are a few ways you can celebrate with us:
- Visit The Carle next Friday April 19th with your young children for a celebratory Brain Building Storytime in the Reading Library at 10:30 am. Before or after storytime, come to the Studio to explore our materials and then have a conversation about the art in the Galleries or try our Gallery Search.
- If you’re an educator or grandparent, visit The Carle by yourself to discover new ways to foster brain building skills in the young children in your life, or register for one of our upcoming Professional Development Programs.
- Whether you can or can’t visit The Carle in next week, check back here in the coming week as we celebrate WOYC and BBIP! I’ll be sharing ideas for nurturing brain building in your home or classroom and some of the resources we use to inspire our work in the Studio.
Tags: Brain Building in Progress, Early Childhood, initiatives, NAEYC, partnerships, play, Resources, STEM, storytime, Week of The Young Child
Posted in At The Carle, Elementary School, Infants & Toddlers, Nurturing Creativity at Home, Our Approach, Preschool, Professional Development, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, March 29th, 2013
Here’s a sample of all the fun things guests are making in The Studio lately. The current Public Art Project is Animals in Motion, making moveable animal mobiles or puppets with chopsticks, coffee stirrers, paper card stock, wire and lots of fun furry and feathery materials. Above, Maiya and her mom made a few birds, and a rabbit that really hops! Below is a beautiful pair of galloping (Blue?) horses by two sisters.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?
A pair of friendly giraffes marching side by side…
One slithery, bejeweled snake…
And a few more feathery friends!
Animals in Motion runs now through April 9th, 2013, so stop by and make your favorite animal move.
**Don’t forget to enter The Carle’s Call for Caterpillars Contest for the chance to win an original doodle by Eric Carle! Visit www.carlemusuem.org/call_for_caterpillars for contest details. Submissions must be postmarked by May 31, 2013.**
Tags: Animal mobiles, Animal puppets, Animals in Motion
Posted in Activities, At The Carle, Elementary School, Mixed Media, Public Art Program | No Comments »
Thursday, March 7th, 2013
Diana, Meghan and I all had the privilege of teaching a series of art classes through our contract with Amherst Public Elementary schools. I spent four weeks going to Fort River to teach some of the museum’s curriculum to a group of very creative students. This type of teaching is a great way to introduce our programs to students who have not been to The Museum, but I also loved meeting students who could share their memories of going to The Carle. I had several children that could tell me about seeing artworks in the galleries and visiting The Studio to make their own piece of art to take home. The projects were different each week, from using stamps to make textured paper, to making a collage house with found objects and experimenting with bookmaking techniques. You can see Diana’s earlier post about her bookmaking lesson here. For the last session we got to explore how to make monotype prints. Printmaking is one of my personal favorite art forms and it is always a pleasure to see a child pull their first print off the press.
The students were quick learners to figure out the many the steps to making a print and they were eager to get started after I demonstrated the process. Each student began by using a brayer to apply a thin film of ink to a plastic printing plate.
Then came the fun of drawing a design onto the plate with a Q-tip. Some of the students planned out very careful designs while others had fun drawing in a more free-form way with many curvy lines and dots. The wonderful thing about doing monotype prints is that each print is different and unique.
For the last step the students got to turn the handle on the press to roll their plate and paper together. After the plate went though our portable printing press the image was revealed! We were lucky to have our Spring Studio intern, Luna, to show the students how to do this last exciting step. As soon as a one print was finished the children were eager to start the process over again so each student was able to make many prints over our one hour class.
When students first learn about printing it is always fascinating to see their surprise when they notice that the image or words they drew are suddenly reversed. After making this discovery the students had fun figuring out how to write messages backwards on the plate so that the finished print would be the proper direction. The translucent ink we used allowed us to explore color by layering one print on top of another to see how the colors would blend.
All three of us have had a great time going to the local schools to share art-making with students outside of the museum. These programs have given us a way to get students engaged in new ways of making art and exploring their creativity. We hope to see some of the friends we made come to visit the museum in the future! A special thanks goes to my friend and fellow teacher, Mr. Lott, for letting me use his beautiful classroom space for my lessons.
Did you know we categorize all of our posts by type of media? You can search for printmaking or lots of other key words by clicking on “Categories” list on the left side bar of our blog. For more posts about printmaking in The Studio click here.
Don’t forget to enter The Carle’s Call for Caterpillars Contest for the chance to win an original doodle by Eric Carle! Visit www.carlemusuem.org/call_for_caterpillars for contest details.
Tags: Fort River Elementary, Luna Goldberg, printmaking, printmaking with children, studio internship
Posted in Elementary School, On the Road, Printmaking | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 13th, 2013
Hi! I’m Sarah Johnston and I work part-time in the Studio and conduct Student Outreach Programs for The Carle. Diana and Meghan invited me to contribute to the Studio’s blog about once a month, so I’m excited to start sharing some of my ideas with you. I have a background in art education and taught elementary art for five years in Chicago before relocating to Western Massachusetts with my husband in 2011. I hope you enjoy my first post!
There is something very magical about making the first footprints, snow angels or other marks in a fresh blanket of snow. It often makes me think of a blank canvas just waiting for an artwork to emerge. This project captures that magic in a slightly different and more colorful way. The materials you need to snow paint are ones that you most likely have in your home already, even if you are snowbound. So if your family is looking for something different to do in the snow, give snow painting a try.
The Materials:
- Condiment style bottles (we purchased ours from Target)
- Food coloring and/or old and dried out markers
- Snow!
Part of the fun is mixing up different colors of “paint” into your bottles. I found that about 4-5 drops of food coloring in around 6 oz. of water will give you bright enough colors. The process of making the paint could even be used as a quick lesson in color mixing and discovery. As a former art teacher I often looked for ways in which children could discover on their own how colors mixed to form new colors. The food coloring box may only give you some of the colors in the rainbow so you might have to mix the other colors. What happens when you add a drop or two of red into yellow? What colors do you think you need to mix to make purple?
If you don’t have food coloring in your kitchen I found another way to make quick and easy “paint” when we were purging the Studio’s marker collection. Older and dried out markers may not have enough color to draw with anymore, but if you drop one or two markers into your bottles with water then you will have some other vibrant colors to paint with. Once your colors are mixed up it’s time to go outside and try painting on the snow. The bottles should give enough control to write, draw or just spatter like Jackson Pollock.
Have you used old markers successfully in art projects? I’m always looking for ways to reuse regularly discarded materials, so I’m going to continue exploring the possibilities of reusing old markers. Hopefully I’ll share with you my findings!
For another outdoor painting activity, check out our link to How to Make Watercolor Wash Collage Papers.
Don’t forget to enter The Carle’s Call for Caterpillars Contest for the chance to win an original doodle by Eric Carle! Visit www.carlemusuem.org/call_for_caterpillars for contest details.
Tags: family activities, markers, materials, outdoor activities, painting, reuse, snow, Winter
Posted in Activities, Elementary School, High School, Infants & Toddlers, Painting, Preschool | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, February 5th, 2013
Reid, our January-Term intern, designed and hosted a really fun special Studio activity last week for Museum guests. Here is her report on the planning process of the project and her reflection on the day.
When brainstorming for my Special Sunday activity, I knew right off that I wanted to experiment with the way we use light to make images. In the studio, our large windows provide so much beautiful natural light, and I wanted to utilize this feature in the activity. Meghan and I were bouncing activity ideas off each other when we came up with the idea of tracing shadows. Upon further elaboration we came up with the idea of using found objects to make shadow collages, tracing the lines, and finally painting over the drawn images. Initially I was having trouble deciding between collaging and painting, and this project combined the two!
Once I knew what I wanted to do, I began to plan out what materials we would use. I played with different kinds of drawing tools, paints, and paper to find the perfect combination of supplies. In the end, I decided to use Staonal crayons with tempera cake paints on large pieces of watercolor paper. I found the paint appeared bold and bright on the paper and didn’t smudge the Staonal, so the tracings remained intact.
We put out baskets of found and natural objects that would cast interesting shadows. Each visitor could choose up to 4 objects at a time, and when they were done with those they could trade them back in for different pieces to trace. We had natural objects like stones, pinecones, and seashells, along with found objects like ribbon, bottle caps, and mesh. It was important to have a variety of different shapes and sizes available.
On the day of the project we were lucky enough to have gorgeous sunny weather. Of course, because of New England’s unpredictable weather, we were prepared to use an overhead projector as a back-up plan in case the sun wasn’t out. We arranged the back of the art studio so that the tables were pushed to the right side; this area was set up as the painting area, complete with paintbrushes, water, sponges, and of course paint!
The left side of the studio was the tracing area. This is where visitors would put down their paper on the floor or sit on a chair and trace on a stool to arrange their objects and trace the shadows. We had cool shades that had previously been crafted by staff members on the windows already, and we moved these so there could be some interesting shadow patterns on the floors for the visitors.
The cool thing about this project was it could be as complicated or as simple as you want it to be, depending on age level, ability, and interest. I didn’t want something where the guidelines were super stringent. If a child didn’t want to draw on the floor, they could just paint at the table. I made sure to emphasize that when talking to the visitors. There were no rules to this project; the point of it was to allow the materials and the environment to inspire and to create.
I would say this project was definitely a success. It was exciting to see the families collaborating with each other and having fun with each other’s work. This activity was able to engage visitors of all ages. I was delighted to see how creative the children (and adults!) were with this project. Some visitors were very abstract with the images they made, while others used the shadows to create scenes out of their objects. All in all, it was a very fun afternoon in the art studio!
Tags: Alexandra Reid, light, shadow play, studio internship
Posted in Activities, At The Carle, Drawing, Elementary School, Found Materials, In the Studio, Middle School, Mixed Media, Nature, Painting, Public Art Program | 2 Comments »
Thursday, January 31st, 2013
Making pop-up books is always one of my favorite projects to teach. I had the chance to make some books with a group of students at Wildwood Elementary here in Amherst a few weeks ago. I showed them how to make accordion books with pop-up tabs and trap doors. It was quite a creative group, so no two books were alike!
We did all of the folding and cutting steps together on the floor before moving to the tables to work with collage and drawing tools. It can be tricky for children to follow along with bookmaking steps and it makes such a difference having the group close together on the floor, versus sitting at their own desks. Students can help each other and work together and it makes it easier for me to scan the group for a student who is behind or confused with folding, cutting or gluing. At the tables, they worked independently for the last half-hour adding details to their books with colorful collage papers, sticker shapes and metallic colored pencils I brought along.
Some students where more interested in the collaging aspect of the project, while others were more interested in adding a story or text.
They were all very eager to share with me their finished books. Check out these trap doors and pop-ups by six-year-olds!
The Carle has a contract with Amherst Public Schools this winter to visit each of their three elementary schools in the city, Wildwood, Fort River and Crocker Farm. At each school one of our team of art educators will teach four one-hour art workshops for up to twelve students in each session as part of the after-school program. We love being able to visit local schools and libraries to meet children and families who may not know about The Carle and our programs.
I wasn’t able to document my other three sessions at Wildwood as extensively as the bookmaking session, but above and below are photos from the monotype printmaking lesson I did at Wildwood the week following the bookmaking class. Below is a photo of Reid, our January Term Intern helping a student run their plate through our portable printing press.
To learn more about The Carle’s Outreach Programs click here.
Thanks for having me Wildwood Elementary!
Tags: Alexandra Reid, Amherst, studio internship, Wildwood Elementary
Posted in Bookmaking, Elementary School, On the Road, Printmaking | 1 Comment »
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