EEE! It's a One Eyed, Blue Hair Felt Monster!

The felt monster project allows students to learn how to sew and stitch with yarn and embroidery thread while constructing their own unique stuffed creatures.  The project is time consuming and can be frustrating; the students have to anticipate how their pieces of felt can be stitched together best.  I suggested to many of my students that they take the time to really work out on paper how they want to create their monster form before they begin to cut and sew.  Once the students began working on their monsters many of them found they loved to add beads while they were stitching their separate pieces of felt together.  Personally, I love how the colored yarn and embroidery thread emphasis the hand sewn stitching.  One student commented that seeing the stitching made him more proud of his work because he knew just how much time it took to sew each piece of felt on his monster; another student commented that the stitching was like a textured pencil line.  (Hearing these comments made me smile ♥)  All my students did an amazing job!!  And this One Eyed, Blue Hair creature was given to me as a gift.  How could I say no?


-GRich 

Cray♥la

Finding these made me smile ♥

Celebrating Summertime!

A second year is done.

My second year teaching art is officially finished.  In reflection, I can say through the highs and lows I LOVE TEACHING ART and I've been truly blessed and privileged to get the opportunity to work with the students, staff, and community I have.  I can take pride in knowing I renewed many views on how important visual art is in each child's overall education, and knowing the impact its had on the lives of my students is priceless.


-GRich

Elementary Art Exhibit

Limited resources and limited space are no excuse.  Each student in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade had one piece of their artwork proudly on display for the last weeks of the school year in the elementary library.  The evening reception led hundreds of visitors to the art exhibit and gave my students the chance to share their hard work with their loved ones.

The images do not begin to express the energy that existed during the evening celebration but they are great reminder ♥

 

The smiles on both these young boy's faces, along with hundreds more I see each day in school are the reason I love teaching art and helping children realize just how creative and unique they are ♥

-GRich

The Elephant Festival; Jaipur City, India

The Festival of the Elephants


Recently, my 1st graders created elephants paintings influenced by the Elephant Festival celebrated in Jaipur City in Rajasthan, India. It is held on the day of the Holi festival, usually in the month of March. The festival features games such as elephant polo and traditionally has an elephant dance.
  
The Elephant Festival in Jaipur City, begins with a beautiful procession of bedecked elephants, camels, horses and folk dancers. The owners proudly embellish their elephants with vibrant colors, jhools (saddle cloth) and heavy jewellery. It is quite a treat to see the female elephants wearing anklets, which tinkle and jingle as they walk. One can see people sprinkling 'gulaal' (colored powder) perched on top of the elephant onto watchers as the procession proceeds. Afterwards, the most beautifully decorated elephant is honored with an award.


My 1st graders loved learning about the Elephant Festival and were inspired by photos and video clips of the decorated elephants during
the celebration.  They loved drawing their own ornate designs onto their elephants after taking time as a class to sketch the outline.  The main materials used for the project were crayons and black India ink (Mixture: India ink, water, soap).  With students finishing at different rates, the students who finished earlier then others were given the opportunity to add glitter and make ornate decorated boarder to frame their elephant painting.

-GRich

MAEA 2012 State Elementary Exhibition




Michigan Art Education Association
State Elementary Exhibition 2011
-2011 Top 15-

One year ago at this time, during my 1st year of teaching art, I was given notice that three of five pieces of artwork that I submitted to the Michigan Art Education Association State Elementary Exhibition were selected to be displayed at the state's capital, Lansing, Michigan.  Of the three pieces of artwork selected, two were recognized and given higher honors. 

The first was selected as 2011 Top 15 from the 100 elementary pieces of artwork selected state-wide to be exhibited at the show in Lansing, MI. (An image of this artwork can be seen to the left). The second, was chosen for the Michigan State Superintendent Exhibition which was displayed throughout the 2011-2012 year at the Michigan Department of Education central office. (An image of this artwork can be seen below).
 

Michigan State Superintendent Exhibition 2011-2012

This was outstanding news to hear before the end of my first school year as a teacher. I was incredibly proud of the three student's who had their artwork selected.  I was very happy their hard work had been received and recognized for the high level of creativity and skill.

Fast forward to the present.  My 2nd year of teaching art is nearing the finish and I have once again been given notice that two more of my student's works of art have been selected for the Michigan Art Education Association State Elementary Exhibition.  This year both of the students were selected as 2012 Top 15 from the 100 elementary pieces of artwork selected state-wide. I am extremely proud and happy their artwork has been honored and two more of my students can be added to the three from last year in understanding their talent is real and noticeable. What also thrills me is both student's who had their work selected are 1st graders. I will hopefully have 4+ more years with each of these students, and I'm eager to see how far they can reach their talents and expand their skills.

So much about the future is unpredictable, so I am simply living each day feeling very fortunate that I am able to work with great kids who have completely stolen my heart; I'm blessed to be able to share a role in their growth as individuals and to have the privilege of congratulating them on each of their achievements along the way.

-GRich



Children's books illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Children's books illustrated by Floyd Cooper: