Cordless Glue Gun

 WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE!

I am slow to the cordless hot glue gun game.  I've seen them in passing, but felt like it was a luxury I didn't really need.  I WAS WRONG!!!!  They are total game changer.  The one I got also uses low or high temp sticks...so I did not have to go out and buy special ones.  I purchased mine from School Specialty, but I'm sure you can get them anywhere. 

This is what I purchased!

 LOVE IT!!!

Eye See!

This is a great one day project.  We always start each year with portraits (well...after the collaborative project)....so this is a great next project.  It is a one day"er" too!! I start by giving each student a quarter sheet of paper to build upon.  We talk about covering the paper, having a different color for the eyelid, making sure to grab white & black, and then three other colors that will make up the iris.  We had discussed drawing an eye when doing our portraits, and I showed them how to transfer that eyedea (see what I did there ha ha  corny dad jokes for days people!!) over to collage.  Some struggled, but over all I thought these turned out pretty successful/fun!  

 

More Kindergarten Snow People

I just can't get enough of the kindergarten snow people! I hope you are enjoying them too! 

Collage Bodies & Construction Paper Details

Kindergarten Snow People

 I love my kindergarteners! They have grown so much already this year. We've been working on cutting & gluing skills a good bit.  I think their snow people turned out absolutely adorable!

Winged Creature Collages

 The prompt I gave my students was to create a wing creature in flight.  We discussed what could be a "creature".  They decided it could be an animal, imaginary creature, food monsters, robot, or a person.  Here are some of the amazing pictures they created. I think they are incredibly fun!! 

Testing Out Crayola Washable Color Glue

Check out this product & project!

Turtle Collage: Kindergarten

There was a time...long long ago...that kindergarten students had a good working knowledge of using scissors & liquid glue.  Those days are no more, and it is up to us as SUPER ART EDUCATORS to teach our youngest artists how to use these tools of the trade.  As a way of introducing new media & tools, I keep the kinder-artists' projects very simple.  Sticking with simple shapes, and not giving them unlimited choices of paper will allow for you keep the main thing the main thing!! 

For scissors I teach my kids to play follow the leader.  The scissors are the leader....and their other hand follows behind hold thing paper as they cut.  The leader is always in front & the other hand never gets in the leader's way.  For glue I do the ever popular....DOT DOT NOT A LOT!  I also teach my students that the orange part of the bottle ALWAYS touches the paper when they apply glue.  I also teach them to scribble scrabble the glue out once they've done the dots so it is a thin & spread out layer of glue.  YOU WILL ALWAYS....ALWAYS....have those students that you need to reposition their hands holding their scissors.  YOU WILL ALWAYS.....ALWAYS.....have students that use too much glue.  That is life as an elementary SUPER ART EDUCATOR!!!  They will get it...eventually.  

HOPE YOU LIKE THEIR TURTLES!!  

Black Glue Debacle

I haven't done black glue line projects in forever! I love the look, but always struggled with the glue bottles I used clogging up(I used regular glue bottles and just mixed up the paint and glue and poured it in!).  I found some bakery bottles at Dollar General the other day, and thought they might work really well for this project. They were $1.50 for two 4oz bottles.

So this morning I was excited to mix up a batch and give it a try.  I decided to use donated glue(Washable) & donated black tempera paint(Washable).  I really need to learn to do a test/sample first?!?!  I mixed up a huge cup of the mixture and poured it into the bottles I purchased.

I'm a hot mess when it comes to pouring stuff?!?!??! 

 I drew out a turtle, and traced him out.  Now I will say the glue does squeeze out generously from these bottles, but that was not the real issue.  The glue mixture seemed extremely "wet".  It started blobbing out from the initial line I drew.

When I picked it up( TRYING to keep it flat)...the black glue mixture ran.

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!  I JUST MADE 8 BOTTLES OF THIS STUFF!?!?!

So I mixed up enough for one bottle using REAL Elmer's glue(except no substitutes) & a good brand of black tempera paint(not washable!!!).  You can see the difference!!!  I picked up the one on the left and moved it...and it did not run at all.  So...LESSON LEARNED!!!! Use the good stuff...because you almost always will get what you paid for!! 

(Now I have to go empty the other 7 bottles and make a new batch!!!) 

Kindergarten Snowmen Make Me Smile

 

For several years now I've seen my Kindergarten students cutting & gluing skills go down.

To many hours on devices....not enough time for such activities in the classroom...there are several reasons for this happening.  I needed to change my expectations & my projects a bit.  By this time, I use to have my kindergarten students creating snowmen with hats scarves..etc.  They were able to give them a bit more "personality". (They do have a little personality in how they cut & placed the pieces.)  Now, I just want to give them opportunity to develop the necessary skills/abilities to create!  There is a ton of time spent on how to hold scissors and cut properly that they use to come to me already able to do.

  That being said...I LOVE KINDERGARTEN!  

I LOVE KINDERGARTEN ART!!

How can you not smile when these young artists create!! 

They bring such joy to everything they do.

REVIEW: Elmer's Purple Liquid Glue

Have you seen this?

I purchased a small bottle for 99 cents so I could try it out.

YEP! IT'S PURPLE!  ha ha  So it delivered on that front.  It was very "wet".  I noticed after the fact that it is "Washable". I'm almost never a fan of "Washable" products.  This seems more watery than regular washable glue.  I'm not sure if how they make it purple causes that or not.  I also noticed that the "feel" of it is different as well. It isn't "tacky" feeling?!?!?! I got some on my figures when I connected the paper together...can't really describe it how it feels other than different.  

It delivered on drying clear as well!  I do feel it warps the paper a little more than regular ELMER'S GLUE ALL.  I don't use Elmer's Washable on a regular basis(because of it warping paper & not being a strong as Glue All)...so I can't compare.  I do think it might be a good investment for Kindergarten so they can learn better glue control....though I'll probably stick with good ol' regular Elmer's Glue All.  

What Would Jesus Glue?

You know those things that just make ya laugh....and you can't stop....and you want to share it with EVERYONE!!!  Well....this is one of those things for me.

I captured this picture from an Art Teacher Facebook page.  It is a real thing!!!! 

 I looked it up...here is the AMAZON link

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=bl_sr_office-products?ie=UTF8&field-brandtextbin=Walk+With+Jesus+Collection&node=1064954 

The comments under this picture had me in tears!!!!

"be forewarned, it might leave the paper HOLY"

"It's heavenly!"

"Wait until you try the Walk on Watercolors!"

"..when you think their isn't enough, it miraculously refills."

"Does this mean we need to establish separatioin of church and....art supplies?"

"Comes in a 12 pack...one will go bad & one will deny he ever glued you!"

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SIDE NOTE:

 I'm a Christian, and not ashamed to admit it.  I also am not ashamed to crack a joke or two at churchie Christian "sub" cultures!  I really don't understand the need for "Jesus" glue.  If you want to be a Christian company...then make the BEST GLUE EVER...

and treat your employees & customers like GOLD!!!! 

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Ya Think You're Funny..

I think I'm funny.  I've been told I'm funny.  My students laugh a lot!  However...today  something happened when I was trying to be funny, but I wasn't!!!
It got REAL up in here!!! 

So my 4th graders were doing an amazing job working on their narrative drawings!  I decided since they were doing so well...and were being so good...I'd set at the front of the room and refill my glue bottles(in horrible need of refilling & de-boogered).  Some of the kids were fixating on me pouring glue from the gallon bottle to the small bottles....which...I must say is an interesting process.  Well, the gallon bottle was empty and I decided I'd mess with the kids who were watching me instead of working.  So I hold the gallon bottle above my mouth acting like I was going to drink it.  However...there was one last blob of glue that decided to release as it was perfectly positioned over my mouth.  YEP...a big blob of glue fell to the back of my tongue with nothing to do but swallow it.  THE KIDS WENT CRAZY!!!!  "OH NO..MR. E IS GOING TO DIE...HE ATE GLUE!!!"  "WHAT DOES IT TASTE LIKE?"  "WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO YOU?"  " DO WE NEED TO CALL A DOCTOR?"  

More art...less comedy!! :) hee hee

Kindergarten Fall Collages

Our kindergarten students this year are AMAZING!!!!!!!  I'm seeing some amazing stuff, and really am excited to work with them over the next 5 yrs!  I love their fearless attempts at creating leaves!!!  I showed them a number of ways to draw leaves before we got started, and asked them to at least try a few of them.  Not only did they attempt a number of different types of leaves...they successfully cut them out!  That is not an easy skill for the 5 yr old hands!!!  I loved how a few of their shapes & color choices reminded me of IKEA fabric! ha ha  

Rizzi City Building Collages: 1st Grade

My student teacher was with me a couple years ago during her practicum class field experience.  I was working on a James Rizzi unit at the time, and she remembered the student really enjoying it.  So she decided that she'd do a Rizzi lesson with the first graders for their cityscapes.  They've been turning out very fun & colorful!  I think Mr. Rizzi would be very proud to know his work is inspiring so many!!!