Spider Web Value Study

I wanted to work on pressure control with my students. They often work either extremely heavy handed or applying very little pressure. Value studies can be a bit tedious/boring, but they absolutely loved creating these value webs!  This a great lesson to do with online learners! 

COLORED PENCIL: CRAYOLA vs FABER CASTELL

I know elementary art teachers that are not fans of colored pencils in their classrooms.  I however...LOVE THEM!!!  This year I purchased some 12 Pack Faber-Castell & some 12 & 24 Pack Crayola.  Lets look at the two brands side by side.

We see some differences right away between Faber-Castell & Crayola.  Faber-Castell uses a triangular design for their pencil...which is nice for preventing pencils rolling off the table(common elementary issue).  The other difference you notice quickly is the colors in their 12 packs.  Faber-Castell does not include white(totally good with that!!).  It also includes peach & silver.  Crayola does have white, and includes a red orange.  Both companies(ARE YOU READING THIS???)....WHY DON'T YOU INCLUDE GRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I could do without silver & white...the need for them is not great.  Elementary kids want gray!!  THEY NEED GRAY!!!!  Lets count the ways we need gray...rocks, buildings, old people's hair, kitties named Smokey, gray houses, sidewalks...and on and on!  PLEASE HEAR MY PLEA FOR GRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is the Crayola 24 Pack....and it has GRAY!!!  I actually really like the color options in this pack of colored pencils, but my budget doesn't always allow for me to purchase the bigger pack.  I do wish it had a light version of gray...this one is on the dark side.  

This is the side by side for the 12 packs.  I found it interesting that the only major difference was between the violet in the two brands.  Faber-Castell is clearly a red violet & Crayola is clearly a blue violet.  I'll also say that Faber-Castell's red & Crayola's red orange are closely related.

SO THERE YA GO!!  I like both brands...I feel they hold up about the same  & the color is about the same richness.  You know how some of the cheaper brands have harder leads which equal a lighter color.  We all have our favorites...but with color pencils...I like both!!!

BEFORE/AFTER AFTER/BEFORE

BEFORE                AFTER

Some days you wonder...."ARE THEY EVEN PAYING ATTENTION?!?!?"  

Then  you have days where you know...."THEY WERE PAYING ATTENTION!!!!!!!"  

Love to see growth in my kiddos!!!

AFTER                 BEFORE

Hands Across Time & Place: 3rd Grade

My third graders have been looking at cultural connections world wide.  We've tried to find themes, similarities, and shared experiences.  We've really enjoyed looking at "HANDS" through out history...and through out the world! Here is a great website if you are interesting in doing a project such as this ....... CLICK!!! -WEBSITE ON HANDS-CLICK!!!

::QUESTIONS::

"WHY WOULD HANDS BE A COMMON/SHARED THEME AROUND THE WORLD & THROUGHOUT TIME?"

"WHY ARE HANDS STILL IMPORTANT TO US TODAY?"

"HOW CAN WE MAKE HANDS PERSONAL?"

Students started by tracing & cutting out their hand.  On their first day they selected their color palette & used color pencils to go around their hands. On the second day they used oil pastels, watercolor, construction paper, and construction paper crayons.  The oil pastels & watercolor had to be within the color palette the selected before...and the construction paper had to be a contrasting color.  I loved the results, but do think we could spend another class time adding a bit more to them.

THE TEST:

So you've been seeing the reviews on other blogs, I'm sure.  I must say...I appreciate a company that is willing to put themselves out there and be tested in a real word setting with some of the pickiest people out there when it comes to art supplies!!! ha ha  

I will be the first to admit...I am not a colored pencil snob.  I like getting a variety of brands...because I feel it gives the kids choices!!  If you stick with one brand..you have only their version of a color.  I like variety!!!  Cra-Z-Art are harder lead...and their colors are lighter.  That isn't a bad thing...if you have other colored pencils with softer lead(richer color).  The Prang colored pencils were GREAT!  I'm not sure about the price point, but the quality is there.  I liked the bigger size too.  I was worried it wouldn't fit in the bigger hole of my sharpeners(it did!).  The pencil felt good in the hand.  The color was wonderful.  

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I've always felt pencils were hit or miss.  You can tell when you first sharpen them if they are going to quality.   Ticonderoga are QUALITY!!  They sharpen well & have strong lead.  The Wal-Mart pencils were fine.  However, I prefer Ticonderoga!!!  

 I think you all know how I feel about watercolors!  I've made it pretty clear that PRANG is the only brand for me!!!  This test just confirmed that once again!  The colors are more true. The paints last longer.  They are just better...TRUST ME!!

 Like colored pencils...I'm not a big marker snob.  There are several brands that I like...mainly because they last a good while.  I decided to color a whole page with a color to see how it handled.  I was surprised to see Crayola being a bit "sketch"  Prang's color was solid & true throughout.  When I tested them in a smaller area...the Crayola worked just fine.  I actually do like the Crayola tip better.  I feel you can get smaller thin lines...and thicker thick lines.  I do like Prang's color/juiciness!!! 

Testing Up & Up (Target Brand)

I'm always up for trying new/different brands!  This is the first year I remember seeing the Up & Up school supplies at Target.  I may have missed it before though?!?  Back-to -School prices are not as good as they use to be...so if I can find quality products at a better price...YOU BETTER BELIEVE THAT'S WHAT I'LL BE GETTING!!!!!! ha ha  

So here is what I found from my very scientific tests!!!

CRAYONS

I don't know if anyone can top Crayola's crayons?  Up & Up is a little "waxier", but not as bad as some "other" major crayon brands.  They are worth a try, but I don't think they'll make you forget your Crayola's.  

COLORED PENCILS

 I really liked their colored pencils.  They are a little harder lead...so the color will be a bit lighter, 

but not by much.   

 MARKERS

The markers really worked well.  You may be able to see the colors differences, but you have that with all brands.  I'm not sure what they'll be like in the long run....that is the true test of markers!  I'll keep using them & get back to ya!!!!

Color Me Impressed!!!

You have those moments were you are just so impressed with a child's work...ya gotta tell some one!  Well, after e-mailing his mom...and stopping any teacher I saw in the hall....I decided I needed to share it with you as well.  I was introducing colored pencils for the first time with my Kindergarten students. I just don't even want to deal with it first semester.  The sharpening is really the issue with the K's.  By now though...I feel they have a handle on it...and are ready for colored pencils.  I showed them blending/mixing, and value before turning them loose!  This student filled up his page with this drawing better than most...but the color really took me by surprise.  He did such an amazing job with blending the red/pink in the center flower...and the yellow to red was looking so wonderful on the top right hand flower!!! 

 I can't wait for him to finish it up!!!!

What's On Your Plate?

This year for our all school art show we're using the theme of food!  I'm finishing up my other units, and just getting started with the food themed units.  I try to do several projects based on this theme so I have options to chose from for the art show.  Here is the first project for 2nd grade(which is also the basis for the print they'll be doing in a couple weeks). 

The Day _____ Came To Life : 4th Grade

I was in the midst of grading & forgot to take pictures of this project.  I only managed to snap these two.  It was a lot of fun..the students enjoyed creating narrative pictures using real/unreal objects & situations.  

Line Design Explained : Deluxe Edition

I was asked if I could go into a bit more detail concerning the Line Design "process".  I think the easiest way is with a few more pictures than my previous post on "how to".  I hope this helps...and as always...if you ever have questions about anything on my blog...e-mail me at artwithmre@yahoo.com 

The materials you need for this project are good drawing paper(9x12...but could be done any size), Sharpie Marker, and your choice of media(see the bottom of this post for some ideas).

Start with a gentle curve line across the paper.  Don't go too crazy hilly with the line...it will make it difficult in the steps that are to come!

Place eight dots on the line spaced at different distances.

Go dot - to - dot across the entire line. Do not continue to do this however...or it will create a kind of boring column like work(going straight up & down).  

As you are going dot -to- dot, you need to "camp out" on some of the segments.  This will help them to balloon out & look oh so cool!  This will also cause others to be "pinched off"...and that is fine.  The lines need to continue off of the paper...and should not just stop cause they are close to the edge. As it gets bigger and bigger, the lines will have to be shared going back to the dot...and yes..they should really go back to the dot.  Going back to the dot each time creates the darker shadow"ish" areas that help create depth.

The two pictures above are the WRONG way to do this.  The lines should NEVER criss-cross each other.  I tell my students that the lines can share a path...but never cross over another line.  The second picture is the "RAINBOW CONNECTION".  It is a lot easier to do it that way..but it is not correct.  

So here you see the results of the ballooning out, pinching off, and going off the edge of your paper.

I thought I'd show you how different media works in this project

1. Watercolor Pencil - A little labor intensive, after you color it..you have to go over with with a brush.

2.  Watercolor - I like this a lot, but you would need to make sure the students understood to not put color beside color because of bleeding.

3. Crayons - This works much like colored pencils, but they are a bit chunkier so it's hard to get into the small spaces.

4. Colored Pencil - This is how I usually do the project with my students...I love colored pencils! 

5. Marker- This kind of takes the shading element out of the project, but if you were going more for color families and such...could work!  

First Day of Two Day Inservice

Toilet Paper Roll Owls(inspired by a pinned Pinterest project!)

 Follow-Up Project- teachers had to draw their owl(larger than their hand) and create an interesting environment for him/her.  They also needed at least 5 patterns in the picture.

TEACHERS, IF YOU DO NOT SEE YOUR PROJECT...THE PICTURE DID NOT TURN OUT! SORRY!

Today was day one of our two day inservice/swap days.  Janet, Daryl, Tim, and I are leading the event that takes 50+ MNPS elementary art teachers(of our 90+) through the new TN State Standards for Visual Arts, as well as the new MNPS Visual Arts Curriculum for Elementary.  These topics can be "heavy" and not a whole lot of fun.  HOWEVER...WE BRING THE FUN!!! :) ha ha  We made sure to keep in interactive, studio experiences, application of information through group unit planning, and just a whole lot of art teacher talk(something that we just don't get enough of face to face!!).  The teachers(most of them) seem to enjoy themselves, and I'm totally looking forward to tomorrow!