Blogs

Elementary

Davis Desk

Visibility

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

An article I recently read offered this advice, “publicly displaying students’ art engages parents, arts education advocates, and the community in conversations about the importance of art ...

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A Visual Autobiography

Monday, September 11, 2023 | Leigh Drake

We have all had to research and write biographies on different people throughout our educational journeys. For this project, I wanted students to research and reflect on the person they know best&mdas ...

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A Proven Winner

Thursday, August 3, 2023 | Linda Schober

My third-graders focus on the concept of organic and geometric shapes and the vocabulary associated with it throughout the year. Using a guessing game approach, we find the shapes in representational ...

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Hold On to Your Hats

Tuesday, May 9, 2023 | Leigh Drake

One of my goals is to educate students on the many art-related careers available today. I believe it’s important to start this conversation early to allow students to explore options that are th ...

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Thinking Like Contemporary Artists

Tuesday, April 11, 2023 | Megan Jell

At the start of the school year, after a year of hybrid, virtual, and dual modes of instruction, I noticed a strong resistance to risk-taking in the art room. I needed to retrain my students to take r ...

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Video Games as Interactive Art

Thursday, March 9, 2023 | Brian Imfeld and Stacy Darwin

When I was in elementary school, it wasn’t possible to play video games in the classroom. Today, students can design their own video games, full of unique characters and worlds using apps like B ...

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A Tactile Approach to Symmetry

Thursday, February 9, 2023 | Nica Operchuck Rumion

I was a multiple subject teacher for nearly twenty years before becoming an elementary art teacher. When I moved to the art room, I decided to do a full year of math and art connected concepts. I was ...

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Connecting with Chromesthesia

Thursday, November 10, 2022 | Janice Corsino and Nani Naish

Students in their music class tapped into their synesthetic minds by listening to two compositions containing very different musical elements such as dynamics, rhythm, form, and tonality. Students ske ...

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Storyteller Drawings

Wednesday, October 5, 2022 | Melanie Robinson

During midwinter, storyteller and retired art teacher Sue Hinkel visits our school and tells stories to the third-graders. She also shares her outstanding collection of Native American clay storytelle ...

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Raising a Hand for Human Rights

Monday, September 12, 2022 | Teresa Strohl

My fifth-grade team wanted to give their students an opportunity to form a deeper understanding of human rights, the theme they were covering in their EL unit, so we collaborated to have students crea ...

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Art from the Heart

Wednesday, August 3, 2022 | Jane B. Montero and Rob Garrett

On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. As art educators teaching elementary students, Jane Brumfield Montero (Michigan) and Robb Garrett (Poland) created an art exchange to spread cheer to stud ...

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Extraterrestrial Installations

Tuesday, May 10, 2022 | Leah Krueger

I’ve noticed the art lessons that really spark curiosity in students have two things in common: multiple tasks that build on each other and the opportunity for students to collaborate with their ...

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Special Places

Monday, April 11, 2022 | Kristina Thomas and Carrie Nordlund

“I want to become an emotion scientist,” says Marc Brackett, founder of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. How can we support our learners to become scientists of feelings, and ex ...

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The Things We Treasure

Monday, April 11, 2022 | Leah Krueger

When I think about all the art lessons I’ve taught, the ones that stand out have their basis in storytelling, memories, and the personal moments that students cherish. Whether life-changing, joy ...

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The Amazing World of Jen Stark

Tuesday, March 8, 2022 | Jane B. Montero

I have known about Jen Stark’s colorful paintings and sculptures for many years, but it wasn’t until last spring that I finally settled on a Stark-inspired digital drawing project for my f ...

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Illuminated Wonders

Wednesday, February 9, 2022 | Leigh Drake

I was inspired to venture into the use of circuits and lighting after a session I attended at a local conference. That school year, my students made steampunk-inspired bugs (see SchoolArts, March 2020 ...

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