This blog will include some of my favorite art lessons, some that were okay but could become favorites, and some that I might simply look at and reflect on how to use useful ideas in a different lesson structure. Most of the lessons are ones that I have created in the past 5 years. This venue is meant to be a perpetual work in progress. The first stage is to upload work that has been saved in many different files. I'm not yet sure how I will try to organize these listings. Many of the art lessons can actually be adapted to a variety of ages and grade levels. One of my goals is to relate technique, artists, and art history with learning in the other areas of children's lives. Children observe so much and its truly exciting as an art educator to encourage them to value and communicate their own experiences as they grow and develop.

Saturday, April 10, 2010


This study of Van Gogh's sunflower paintings was done in conjunction with a school-wide interdisciplinary unit on sunflowers. Among some of the activities the children were involved in were planting sunflowers in the school courtyard, observing and tracking growth, and estimating the number of seeds per flower. In making these still life paintings, 4th grade artists were challenged to think about how light and shadow affected the flowers. These paintings also reflect the bright and impressionistic use of color and space. This lesson was modified to use with 1st grade artists and helped to introduce the concepts of background and foreground and mixing secondary colors. The success of this Van Gogh study was due to the effort of all the teachers to make the sunflower a part of learning in every subject area.
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