Hey, y'all! The cicadas are coming! Or...in the case of here in Nashville, Tennessee, they are already here. It's been many years since our last cicada summer and while at first I was totally grossed out by these big carcass-leavin' bad boys (and girls), I know rather ... well, I was gonna say "like" but that's a stretch ... appreciate is probably a better word. I appreciate their...gee, what do I appreciate? Their cool look. It's like seeing a bug under a microscope, they are so stinkin' big!
I've shared several symmetrical printing lessons in the past and they are always a huge hit with all of my students. We've done butterflies (you can find the lesson video in the link)...
If you've been hangin' around this blog for a while (I thank you!) then you might know that I love to make my own clothing. It started with a desire to craft clothing to teach a lesson in (a la Miss Frizzle) and then morphed into wanting to make everything in my wardrobe. One thing I never seemed to be able to accomplish: Designing my own fabric.
Well...when my book Larry the Line came out, I was able to do just that! But it was easy as the pattern from the book was a stripe pattern. So it naturally repeated making for the perfect pattern.
However, there were no stripes in my new book Alfred the Ape Knows his Shapes. So I thought it would be a good time to learn how to design my own fabric. I was so excited with how it turned out! When I shared it on my Instagram, I promised I'd give a tutorial...and, so, here we are!
I hope this helps!
Now I always get dress-making questions too...which I share a little about in the video. However, I'm no dress-making expert. I just know what I like and what works for me.
For the bodice of my dress, I use a vintage Simplicity pattern #4343. If you search around on eBay or Etsy, you may find it. For the bottom, I use a circle skirt pattern and always add pockets.
Creating a pattern was very hard for me to comprehend initially. So I thought I'd kick the video off with a little Post-It tutorial. I hope that helps!
And, of course, if you'd like a copy of my book, Alfred the Ape Knows his Shapes, I'd love to sign one and send it your way! You can find my books here. And THANK YOU for supporting my small business! I'm an independent seller so...I'm the author, illustrator, social media person, shipper, handler, you name it!
When I was in art teacherin' school, I could have really benefited from a class about how to read books to kids. I thought that if the story was good, the kids would just listen and enjoy. Oh no...there's so much more to reading a book to children and keeping them engaged! So that I would never forget, I created an acronym: SIMPLE. And in this video, I walk you through it!
Reading and engaging students with books is a fine art but...I've cracked the code! If you follow these easy steps, you'll have em hooked and saying what every teacher wants to hear: READ IT AGAIN!
I know many of you are coming off of Spring Break which means you are officially in the home stretch. That is...unless you teach until the end of June. Then, well, all I can say is...I'm sorry.
BUT I do have some fun Earth Day lessons for you! Nearly all of them are video format which means you can just hit play. I created them during 2020 so most are just simple supplies. I hope you enjoy and find something here that will help you and your students celebrate Earthy Day which is on April 22nd.
Have you ever made Salt Dough Clay? This would be so fun to do with a small group of students. Perfect for an after school activity, homeschool, scouts, you name it. Using cardboard means you can recycle which is always great for Earth Day. Here's the lesson and video!
So you want to paint with kids buty ou don't wanna get out the paint? I hear ya! My students always love the marker-meets-water trick! Try it out with this lesson!
Of course, not every Earth Day lesson has to be Earth-art focused. You could simply use it as a jumping point for landscape projects! Here's a fast one that helps students understand the difference between foreground, middle and background.
If you'd like a project that includes the whole school, you may want to try making a map of the Earth with self-portraits! You can find details on this lesson here.
If you are looking for a fun and happy kindergarten Earth Day (or any day!) lesson, look no further than here!
And what better way to celebrate Earth Day than a mural dedicated to it? We made this huge mural based on the song What a Wonderful World and it stayed up all year.
That's right! I just launched my new book Alfred the Ape Knows His Shapes last week and I'm so excited! I'm working on a series of Elements of Art books as I always wished there was something like that. I did a limited print run and I'm currently...signing all books as they head out the door. So! If you'd like a copy, you can check it out here!
Yes, seriously, I wrote a children's book and yes, seriously...I forgot to mention it here.
It's official: I'm the worst blogger.
I think I was just so excited that I posted to my other social media accounts right away...and then I was so excited to pack up and send Larry the Line out that I just, well, forgot. But, better late than never, as they say and so...here we are.
I wrote a children's book called Larry the Line!
Now for those of you who are the OG's of this here blog, you may already know all about Larry the Line. He's a friend of mine. He can make three straight lines for me!
I came up with the poem during my first year teaching when I was trying to think of a fun and engaging way to teach students about line. It's a short poem and it's aways been a wild hit with my students. I've chatted about it here and here. And made plenty of videos about it too.
After writing and self-publishing Larry the Line, which you can find here, I decided to also create digital downloads to go with it. I had so many requests for them, especially that clay sheet (see below) I thought I'd make it happen. You can pick the downloads up here.
So...sorry I was keepin' secrets from you but now you know!
