Seeing a variety of Fante Asafo Flags from Ghana will inspire your students with ideas for this project. Students in grades 5 and up will enjoy creating their own personal flag to illustrate a proverb or verse that's meaningful to them. Kids love the tactile experience of working with felt and embroidery floss as they use graphic symbols to tell a story, convey a concept or … [Read more...]
Grading Rubric for Middle School Art
I have a new teaching challenge this year... giving letter grades for middle school Art! My elementary school added a middle school this fall, so Art has become an elective for 6th & 7th grade, and letter grades go along with that! Fortunately, my very first teaching job was teaching Art to grades 7-12 at a college-prep Charter School, so I learned how to grade artwork and … [Read more...]
Portfolio Project for Middle School – Graffiti Names
I chose to make my sample using my own name, so no one could complain about their name being too long! This year, my previously K-6 elementary school has added a middle school. Now Art has become an elective class for 6th and 7th graders (an 8th grade will be added next year). This means lots of new lesson plans geared to older kids! I wanted to give my middle … [Read more...]
smarthistory.org – bookmark this site!
I recently came across a great resource for anyone interested in the history of art.... "smarthistory.org". This site describes itself as a "not for profit, multimedia art history textbook", but it's so much more than that! Rather than presenting names and dates in a dry, lecture format, the history of art is offered here in unscripted conversations between experts in the … [Read more...]