Beachy Flip-Flop Art

Almost summer... so many awesome sunny art projects on pinterest right now!



You could easily tie this in to a writing assignment also... ah... summer days soon....

Roll a Story

 

This would be a fun activity for a 'Writer's Workshop' session..... As a TTOC (teacher teacher on call)

 I always have dice in my Bag of Tricks. What a fun way to inclkude literacy in the classroom.

http://pinterest.com/pin/468374429966809414/

Pintrest in Action... Setting up the classroom

My good friend and colleague has been back at school all week setting up her Grade 4/5 classroom.

She is active on pintrest and used a lot of the pins she found over the summer to implement in her classroom.

Background:
Last year she changed the set-up of her class. She wanted to observe how students worked in different seating arrangements and how it changed when she set up sseating assignments vs. when students chose their own.

The Options:
She had tables lined up on each side of the classroom with bleachers at one end (and clipboards) as well as big comfy rugs in the middle. There is also a cloak room area to work in, the hallway and a table in a cubby area down the hall. Students often have the choice of where to work during work time.

This Year:
She has continued with the lay out of the classroom listed above and has implemented some awesome pintrest ideas. I wanted to share some of the photos...



On her desk to organize everything easily



Drop Zone - handing in work



Help Wanted and Job applications for class jobs



Clothespins with students names or numbers will be attached to this chart and be moved if needed throughout the day.



Each student has a number and they can move their magnet if they leave the room (Especially good in this class given the choices of where they may go work in and around the school)



No Name? No Problem! Clip up work here



Class volume

See similar: Voice O Meter



If they get too noisy she will add one of these letters up on the board. If they spell noise it becomes a 'no talking' time



Book Hospital, a tub to put damaged books into so they can be fixed



Clip boards (for workers on the bleachers) and school supplies



Dry Erase pens with "puff balls" attached to lids for easy erasing



Shelves she  bought to put tubs on, each student gets a tub to keep their supplies (since she doesn't have traditional desks with storage in them)



Shout Out Box, if you have something nice to say about someone, write it down and put it in the box



Her class library, full of all the books she has bought and some comfy chairs

She writes a blog here and recently did her masters exploring classroom design. I always love going to her class and have talked about her classroom design before.

I had to share these photos she posted of her class, because she is an amazing teacher and has some great ideas! Her students are very lucky to have such a caring teacher and a welcoming and innovative classroom!

For TTOCs:

Which of these could you implement as a TTOC? I like the "NOISE" letter idea for classroom management as well as the number magnets for leaving the room.

Check out this post with some more ideas: HERE

Art Project: Foreshortening

Another easy and fun art project from Mrs Brown Art Blog:

Students learn about the concept of foreshortening through this fun drawing activity. Foreshortening is the optical illusion that occurs when a part of something moves from one part of space to another. For example... and bridge travels from right in front of us, to far away from us on the other side of a river. The same thing can happen on a smaller level with human limbs. For this project students traced their feet and hands on a paper. They then drew their arms, legs, body and head to create the illusion that the body was further away then the feet and hands. The images all end up looking like the subject is falling toward the viewer.

She even has a Power Point you can download to accompany the lesson.

Matthew's Dream - Leo Lionni Activities

I love some of the cool art projects on the internet. As a TTOC it is important to find art projects that can be done in one day, require little supplies or use materials that are readily available and can be found in any school or classroom.

I also prefer if the art project has a literacy tie-in or lesson in addition to art exploration. Lastly, it doesn't hurt if the project isn't too messy... while it can be fun, as a TTOC, the clean-up process can be more challenging with students you do not know well.

I absolutely love Leo Lionni picture books, one of my favourites is Matthew's Dream:

Matthew dreams of becoming a painter. He lives in a dusty attic with his parents. Through his vivid dreams, he becomes more confident of his decision to create beautiful paintings.

 This art project, using Matthew's Dream caught my eye on Mrs Brown's Art page:

Students read the book Matthew's Dream by Leo Lionni. They then created abstract designs based on the story. This is a great opening project for early in the year as students are getting adjusted to their classmates, the artroom, and the art supplies.

So fun! I can't wait to give this a try. I really suggest checking out Mrs. Brown's Art page. She has several art activities from K-5. I plan to continue to feature a couple on my blog because I just love them so much!

Here are some more activities using Leo Lionni's books:

• http://www.castellaniartmuseum.org/assets/docs/LeoLionniTeacherpacket.pdf
• http://www.mermaidtheatre.ns.ca/repertory/swimmy/Leo%20Lionni%20-%20a%20resource%20guide%20for%20teachers.pdf
• http://www.first-school.ws/activities/books/animals/wild/frederick-leo-lionni.htm
• http://www.readwritethink.org/resources/resource-print.html?id=968