Amana Elementary is an Amazing School!

I know that the title of this blog is North Bend Art, but I want to talk about another part of my job that is very important to me...  I am blessed to be working in two schools.  I teach at North Bend 4 days a weeks and I have been there for four years. On Fridays, I teach in Amana and I have been there for 15 (!) years.   I say that I am blessed because both schools are very important to me.

18 years ago, when I graduated from college, I dreamed of teaching in a school like North Bend.  I have a beautiful art room and great kids.  North Bend is my dream job.

In Amana, my room is not as nice (I was moved out of my amazing room when we moved the Middle School to a different building, that is a whole different story...).  I am only there once a week, so it feels like I am always trying to  catch up.  I don't get to see the kids as often, so I feel like I am missing out on really getting to know them.  With all that being said, Amana is like coming home. I can't imagine not being a part of that school.

A few weeks ago Mrs. Fox, our librarian in Amana, approached me about International Dot Day and explained some of the activities she was doing with the kids.  She asked if I would be able to squeeze in a dot painting for all of the kids to do.  I had all of the students, kindergarten to 5th grade, create a small dot painting.  They could choose the subject (something they are used to doing in my art classes).  At the end of the day I turned all of the paintings over to Mrs. Fox.

When I arrived at school the following Friday, Mrs. Fox had done something I didn't expect to see.  She had coordinated with all of the classroom teachers on the dot project.  Every single dot painting was mounted on colorful paper and hanging up with a written explanation of what the picture was about and what the student wanted people to know.

It was an amazing feeling to see the whole school community come together creatively.  It is wonderful to feel understood as an artist and see the classroom teachers take time out of their schedules to allow the students to explain about their art and display every student's work!

Look out teachers at North Bend and Amana! I never thought to ask for help having students write about their art work....  This could become a regular thing!

Getting Through the Scribble Stage in Paint

I love paint.  Paint is my all time favorite art material to introduce kids to.  I love how quickly it changes a paper to a new color.  I love the feeling of pushing a loaded brush across paper. I love hearing someone shout, "I made PURPLE!!!!!" At the same time I cringe when I think about taking kids through the "scribble stage" of paint.  That stage where everything turns brown from over mixing and the paint tray is left an unusable mess.  Kids almost have to destroy a few paint boxes before they even see the need to wash out their paint brush.  All kids go through this stage, learning to care for the materials is a basic art skill and with paint it is tricky (and even expensive if you aren't watching what the kids are doing...) 

I had an AHA moment a few weeks ago when I noticed some 4th grade girls "playing" with paint and their water bucket as they were working.  They had great pictures, but were more engaged in changing the color of their brush cleaning water.  I decided right then to have the kindergarteners use water and the primary colors to explore.

I gave each pair of students a tray (my favorite donation this year) filled with water and the primary colors.  Each tray had 25  spots for mixing so everyone had plenty of room to mix and mix and mix colors.

It was crazy to see everyone so excited about color (and working through that scribble stage). Everyone was fully engaged and learning about how color changes when you add (clean or dirty) water, use a (clean or dirty) brush, or mix it with other colors.   It was so successful that I decided to try it as a center for my 1st graders.   I remember about 10 kindergarten kids last year, who spent their entire art time mixing colors only to find that their time was up and they didn't have time to "make something"  and document their learning. 

There was a lot of ...   "Cool!"  "...Look what I did!"  and even a few, "I made PURPLE!"

But also some... 
"When you mix orange and green you get brown!"
"You have to protect your yellow, it is is easy to destroy yellow!"

As artists, sometimes we need to take away the pressure of making "something" and just enjoy the magic of the basic elements of art.

What can I say... I love these kids, and I love seeing them explore and create!