This was one of those projects that had the chance of being great, but the final results were just okay. I have mentioned that when I moved to the middle school, I thought I would be leaving the tempera paint and crayons behind, trading up for acrylic and charcoal. I don't know why, but in my mind, those things were more sophisticated and suited to older students. This is the first and only acrylic painting project I have tackled so far. 

I set up a still life made of up of fake leaves, fake sunflowers, fake fruit, with real pumpkins and gourds on every table. Students practiced drawing them, and then tried to 'zoom' in and draw a close up of some element of their still life on bigger 12X12 brown craft paper. We painted them still life pictures with acrylic paint....and we did not outline anything in sharpie. For that I am proud. I am guilty of black outlining everything. (a few kids wanted to and I let them, but it wasn't required)

We really focused on overlapping and value. Students would have to draw the textures in their sketches so they could paint them later. 
​
This was also the year that a boy carved a pumkin and brought it to school for me! So thoughtful!!

Day 1
Look at a slide show about still life art. Focus on word: overlapping, hierarchy and  proportion. Practice drawing the still life on the table in your sketchbook with a pencil. DO NOT move the objects. You could move around the table, but don't move anything, they need to be basically the same for each class. Once you have selected a view (I think we did several warm up sketches). Begin drawing it on 12x12 brown craft paper. Try to 'zoom' in on the objects so you don't have as much background to fill in later. 
Day 2 
We talked about color mixing to get a variety of tints, shades and types of oranges and greens. Students need to mix enough of the color that they need for the object they are painting, paying attention to shadows and highlights. Also, this is just the first layer, we will go back and add visual texture on top, once this dries. 

Day 3-4
Adding shadows and visual texture. Also, finish painting the background. Watch this video on how to finish the still life. Early finishers can use 6X12 brown scraps to paint a fall painting, could be a sign or a free time just for fun since we have all this paint out. 

Supplies
pencils and erasers
still life objects
12X12 brown craft paper
palletes
brushes
acrylic paint
water cups and paper towels

Having three snow days in a row has really motivated my blogging. I'm digging all the way back to the 2014-2015 school year for lessons and photos on my external hard drive. After getting a new (much smaller hard drive) computer at school, backing up all of my old photos on an external drive, getting a new phone and finishing up my master's that year, I just did not do much blogging. At least I did take a lot of great photos of projects that I am excited to share now. 

​For this project, we did some observational drawing in our sketchbooks. We drew the manikins in action poses, and we drew random stuff around the art room. Then, students picked one of their sketches to draw big. I was obsessed with 18X24 that year.

We mostly drew with chalk on black paper and colored with chalk pastels AND oil pastels. I have found that I have more and more students that are sensitive to the texture of drawing with chalk or sharpies on paper.

The vibrations bother them and I either have to let them use a rubber glove, an alternative supply or find some other way for them to complete the project.

Do you have sensory issues with supplies like this? What do you do? 

  Day 1-2
Draw objects to practice in your sketchbooks. First, pose the manikin and draw the pose. Do 2-3 drawings of the manikin in different poses. Then, I will bring around a tub of tools, objects and basic still life materials. Set up a still life or draw one object at a time, practicing LOOKING at the contour lines of the object. No tracing! Select one of your sketches to blow up big. Sketch it on black paper with chalk. 

Day 2
​Finish coloring still life with chalk and oil pastels. Look at examples of Jim Dine's tool still life drawings. 

*I think I might've let a few classes work with a partner on this project. Also, I let them draw objects around the room, like my lava lamp. And I even let them draw a few made up objects like ice cream and sports balls and nail polish....

Supplies
still life objects
pencils and sketchbooks
chalk
black 18X24 paper
chalk pastels and oil pastels

 When the minion movie 3 came out in 2015, I was excited to see it. Partially because the trailer was so funny, and partially because I got to take my nieces to the movies for the first time. 

At school, we celebrated by watching the trailer and we spent a day making minions using one of those cute dice game templates. I love using the dice games as a template for an all-school installation or mural. 

I am linking the Roll a Minion by Night Owl on TPT, but I do not think this is the one that we used for this project.....I will look when I get back to school. 

Supplies
Dice (1 per table)
printed roll and draw game from tpt
pencils
sharpies
markers (lots of yellow and blue refills)

It is no surprise to my students that owls are my favorite animal. I have tons of owls all around my room, many of them gifts from former students. One of our very first projects when I transferred to the middle school was definitely going to be an owl project. This is an oldie but a goodie from 2014. I was really big into making my students use 18X24 paper that year.

​When I look back, almost every project we did was huge like that. In order to make room, students had to work at the counter, on the floor and spread out in every direction. You could tell I was used to having smaller classes at the elementary level....now my classes are quite a bit bigger and it is harder to spread out that much. 

When I first moved to the middle school, I really thought we would primarily be using fancy supplies like charcoal, paper mache and acrylic paint...forget crayons and tempera....but a lot of my students were still at the same level the 4th graders I was used to so it should not have been a surprise that charcoal was really messy and somewhat foreign to them.

In the photos below, you will see chalk and charcoal on the floor. Yes, we made a mess. And I felt bad as the new band room wasn't finished and each day during my prep, the percussion team would use my room to practice, getting dust and crumbs all over their brand new instrument cases....Oops. 

I am sure I got the idea from Art Dish with MJ. For references, I photocopied photos of owls and put packets on the tables. I also had one bulliten board with owl photos on display. The photocopies helped them recognize values and textures. We tried to stick to black and white for the bodies, yellow or orange for the eyes and one solid color for the background. 

Since I forgot to type this up in 2014, I am copying my lesson plans from that date here. 
Day 1

• Seat Work: Complete the value scale from dark to light. The bottom strip. For the top strip, draw different textures, dark and light together.
• Explain that today we will be using texture to create value.
• Have students make a mini owl on the back of their value scales. This is a THUMBNAIL sketch of their design. Next time, we will use CHARCOAL to make the owl on BIG paper.
• Some students MAY have time to finish landscapes, point out oil pastels and class boxes.

Objectives: Use value and texture to design an owl’s portrait. I will know I have learned this when I practice my value scale and complete my thumbnail sketch.
Supplies: Value scales, pencils, visuals of owls.
Day 2

• Before students enter, have paint shirts at the door and encourage them to wear today, it will be super messy!
• Use charcoal to draw an owl BIG on big paper. Try not to smear the black everywhere. Use black to make some dark areas, but also leave some areas lighter (value).  Students may want to stand today.
• Explain how to do clean up and drying wracks, and wiping down tables, and chairs.
• Select two (or 3) spots to use color on the paper: eyes, background and/or beak. Use CHALK PASTELS.
• Make sure names are on back.
• Put in drying wrack. CLEAN WELL!

Supplies: Big white paper, charcoal, colored chalk

Day 3
​Stress following procedures, remind them of some things they are doing well or could be improved. Give them a list of options for their ‘free day’. We are almost there!

• Students should use the time today to complete their landscapes and their owls.
• If both projects are completely finished, give them the option of adding an INK wash on the landscapes. Owls will go in the class box if they finish.
• Clean up really well!!

Since I am home on a snow day (yesterday AND today) I decided to update my blog. Wow. I have let a lot of great projects go undocumented. Part of the problem stems from the fact that I moved from K-4 in 2014 to a middle school. I now have 6 classes a day and WAY less time to blog. Another factor for some of the posts I am finally sharing never being shared is that we got new computers and I got a new iphone around the same time. That meant that a lot of stuff got backed up on an external hard drive never to be seen again. Until today. 

This is one of those stunning projects that was a huge 'WOW' in the cafeteria but I never shared it here. The portraits were 18X24, which meant they were a huge storage issue at the time, but since we did them at the end of the semester, it wasn't as huge of an issue. 

The lesson was almost completely taken from the blog Frecklephoto. She inspired almost every element, which is good, because there are many details I can't remember. More here. More here. And here. My students did this lesson in December 2014, and I haven't tackled it since. 

 From what I remember, I took photos of every student on an iPad and uploaded them on my computer. I converted each one to black and white, bumped up the contrast and printed them off so they were roughly 8X6 (I think). Since I took each student's photo, I encouraged them to look pleasant, not show their teeth and have their eyes open. We learned a lot about Chuck Close through videos and the images on my smore flyer. 

It was labor intensive before we actually started to get them all prepped. Meanwhile, students practiced grid drawing on a couple of worksheets. They also used the practice handout of the portrait to practice stamping different values with one finger. I made up my own based on the example on Frecklephoto, you will see it below. I will try to scan it and add to this post when I get back to school. 

Perhaps the hardest part of the project was drawing their portraits using the grid drawing method. No. I take that back. Using a ruler was the hardest part. We had to use yard sticks because the paper was so big and lots of kids needed help holding it down to measure their 18X24 paper and then LIGHTLY trace the pencil lines with a ruler. This took two art days. Students also had to draw a small grid with a regular ruler on their printed photo so that it would correspond with the big paper. We had a really hard time erasing the pencil lines, as you can see from some of the examples....but all well. 

The finger printing on the face didn't take too long.....and for the background, we made a 2nd 18X24 grid and painted it with tempera cakes. We were rushed to finish right before Christmas break, so the last step was cutting out the portrait and gluing it down to the dry painting, or as some classes had to do, onto the still-wet tempera-cake paint. 

Before Project: Photograph each student, convert and print
​
Day 1 
Learn about chuck close. Practice grid drawing. (elephant grid drawing)

Day 2
Draw grid on photo. Draw grid on 18X24 paper. I made a video to explain the grid drawing method. I could tell they were bored when it got to the big paper because it is hard to see my lines. 

Day 3
Finish drawing grids. Begin lightly sketching features on big grid using grid drawing method.

Day 4
Practice making values on handout with black paint. Make a value scale. 

Day 5
Catch up Day. Finish all grids, everyone finish practicing values. Finish sketching all faces on papers. Begin drawing grid on 2nd 18X24 paper. Name on it. 

Day 6
Fingerprint stamp 18X24 portrait. 

Day 7
Paint 18X24 background paper (some need to finish fingerprint stamping their portrait)

Day 8
Cut out portrait and glue it to the background. (Finish painting!!)

Supplies
18X24 paper (2 per student)
printed photos of each student
pencils and erasers
yard sticks
rulers
black paint
copies of practice portrait
tempera cake paint
scissors 
glue​

I have searched and search for more photos of the finished portraits or of the cafeteria display. Unfortunately, I cannot find any other photos of the student's work. I took 3 to an art show, but I think we had several snow days that year so I might not have photographed them in the school....bummer, there were some great ones. This project took up a ton of space but I LOVE having students work BIG. 

 Last year, I had two really big classes. The classes had so many students that I needed another table. So, I pushed my desk into an unused classroom and asked the custodian to find me a new table that I could use for the year. This year, I am still using that extra table and I got rid of some other furniture and brought back my teacher desk. Since I didn't realize how big the classes were in advance, I moved my desk and acquired the new table on the 1st day of school. I didn't have a lot of time to re-plan my space since I needed to spend every available second crafting seating charts for every class and going over my 1st day of school routine. 

Anyway, in April a boy complained that the extra table was facing a blank wall. He requested some artwork....He was quite specific when I asked him what he thought should go there, he said: "A Cat. Driving a Monster Truck." 

I don't think he expected me to paint one for him, but that is just what I did. It is Pete the Cat driving this monster truck. After I hung it up, we had a couple of days at the very end of the year that were weird---assemblies and stuff---so I found an Art For Kid's Hub video on how to draw a monster truck, and we made it one of our final projects of the year. I don't use art videos very often, but this was perfect and it went with my poster.

Also, kids could customize their monster truck and put whatever they wanted as the driver. They loved it! They could customize the paint job, the background, and it was a hit with boys and girls alike. 

Supplies
12X18 paper (we used brown craft paper)
pencils and erasers
circle tracers for wheels (we used a tape roll for tires)
sharpies
construction paper crayons and regular crayons (for black and red)

This is the first year I have experienced an eclipse as a teacher. It happened so early in the school year, it was hard because I hadn't even taught some of my usual clean up procedures since we had only been in school a couple of days. On August 21st, we had an eclipse party and it went so well, that I decided to let everyone make a 'corona' picture the next day too. 

Basically, we traced a circle on square paper with chalk and then added additional color. We watched the footage of the eclipse as it happened all over the united states and we looked at examples through photos of the corona taken throughout historical eclipses by artists. We also practiced color blending with chalk. 
​
(Idea stolen from here)
Resource for photos of historical corona's here. 

I demonstrated how to use the circle template as a mask and then pull the chalk away to create that glowing effect. I had lots of sizes of circles for students to choose from. 

Supplies
chalk pastels (organized in bowls as hot or cool colors)
12X12 or 9X9 black paper
variety of circle templates 

I scored a whole box of eclipse glasses after the eclipse was over. I let my early finishers transform them into masks and they loved it (even though they could not see out of them!) 

My school installed a kiln last summer. 

This is the FIRST time in 13 years that I have been a teacher, that I have had a kiln in my building. WOOP WOOP!!! It is so exciting!! 

Since I haven't taught a clay project in 3 years, I was worried my skills would be rusty, but we had a practice day with modeling clay and then we did the entire thing in one day. I demonstrated under the document camera and they hand built and it worked pretty well. I did clay with 6 classes back to back.

I did separate the clay by a week for RED day kids vs. WHITE day kids so that I would have plenty of room for drying. It took 3-4 copy paper lids for each class to fit all of the projects, with 5 for some of the biggest classes. Even still, I wish I would have given everyone a LITTLE more clay so that their creations would've been a bit bigger. 

For our practice with modeling clay, everyone made an owl. This way I could demo how to make a beak and add eyes. For the clay demo, I showed how to make a generic monster so I could show how to add spikes, texture and teeth. Also, the added step of score and slip. 

The idea is that we would make a head/creature/character that would have an open mouth or opening in it's back big enough to use it as a phone docking station or a speaker amplifier. That did not happen for most kids...they were just too small and their phones are just too big.

​But they were happy to have little sculptures all the same. We made two pinch pots, scored and slipped them together to make an egg, and then we cut it open and attached the parts....it was pretty basic. The hardest part was trying to do this in 47 minutes. 

I organize the clay in copy paper box lids. Kids set their sculpture on the colored paper that matches their table color in the box labeled with their teacher's name. This way, during drying, I can keep track of everything. I write the date on a sticky note in the bottom of the box, otherwise it is easy to lose track of what needs to be fired and when. 

Anticipating getting a kiln a few years down the road, I started buying clay accessories since I didn't actually need to purchase the clay yet. I bought stilts, glazes and 3 dozen of these masonite 8X8 paddle bats.

We used them for hand building and even for carrying around our clay from table to table during glazing. During clean up, students had to wipe them down and put them back in the middle of the table. We also use old pencils for scoring.....

These bats helped keep our clay from sticking to the table while we were working and it helped them carry their clay to the shelf when they were finished. Only one kid dropped his on the way over there. And we both laughed until we cried at the site of the splatted head. 

Before using the paddles, I EMPHATICALLY laid down the law that they would not be used for paddling, or pretend paddling of any bottoms!! Anyone caught pretending to whip anyone would get an automatic office referral and their clay would not be fired. If it was before clay, they would sit out at the office while the rest of us made our clay sculptures. #middleschool

Once the clay had been bisque fired, we were ready to glaze. I prepped some glaze cookies so the kids would have a realistic idea of what the colors looked like. I've ordered the Mayaco Stroke'n'coat class pack the past two years in anticipation of the kiln and I am glad I did.

Now I just need a couple of refills for next year and I am set on having a large variety of color choices. I set up the glazes in three pallets. 

Three tables had cool colors: blues, purples, greens. 
Three tables had hot colors: reds, oranges, yellows.
Three tables had neurtrals: whites, browns, black and an extra pink. 

Note to self: order gray and extra red Hot Tamale next year. I had plenty of options for pink so I encouraged kids to glaze pink inside their open mouths instead of red, as we needed to save red for the plethora of cardinals! 

I labeled the side of the condiment container and the lid with the name of the glaze. I told kids to check both before glazing as sometimes lids get put on the wrong color, and that only happened a couple of times. This method worked out perfectly. When I've used baby food jars in the past, it was hard to label and the rim always got gunked up. Now, they stay pretty clean and are easy to refill. Hopefully they don't dry out after a semester and I can reuse them over and over. I will let you know the verdict when I pull them out again in a couple of weeks. 

To advertise the colors, I posted a little poster with the name of the glaze and the glazed cookie for them to see. After going over a few basic rules, I let students move around the room to access the glazes of their choice. I love the realistic colors of the Stroke'n'coat glazes, but I do want to order some fun speckled glazes in the future. 

I am guilty of pinning a LOT of ideas on pinterest, but never actually making anything from my pinsperation boards. I have a HUGE roll of aluminum that I have been hoarding for a while. It was pretty expensive so I didn't want to waste it on any old thing. While I was pondering how it could be used in a project, I ran across an old pin and I knew it was perfect for my 5th and 6th graders. 

Nichole Haun's color scheme bugs were perfect for my students. We had already gone over color schemes pretty extensively so we didn't focus on that too hard for this project, I mentioned color schemes, but I didn't spend a ton of time on the instruction going over color schemes again. 

​ I did use part of her video for the metal tooling steps, which I will share below. 

My students really enjoyed this project and I did too because it wasn't crazy messy....and it involved a lot of different media we don't use very often....also, MANY students were highly successful. I was sick throughout the entire process so I didn't take any 'in progress' photos, I only have finished products to share, but I hope you find some inspiration here. 

Day 1
We started by practicing some bug sketches. I made up a packet of visuals for each student (4 packets per table, shared amongst all the classes). Students could pick a bug from the packet, but they needed to choose something a little harder than a lady bug, because some of the bugs are pretty simple. They needed to practice on a dry erase board and then they could start on the real paper which was 6X9. 

I had cut the aluminum metal roll into roughly 6X9 sheets. Some were a little bigger, some a little smaller. I encouraged students to draw the insect as big as possible on their paper so they would not waste too much of their aluminum. They did not need to draw thin little antennae or skinny little leg segments, as we would add those later with wire, but they did need to study the bug enough to remember those parts. 

Once they had a good sketch, they brought it to me so I could tape their sketch to a piece of metal. I tried to match up the sketch with the right size piece of metal. If they drew their bug too little, I made them try again. A few kids had the idea to draw the body and the wings separately, like with dragon flies and butterflies, and those turned out great. 

Some classes were not giving me much detail in their insects so I showed them Austin's butterfly and it helped inspire some kids to try again when I gave them a little more specific feedback. 

To transfer the bug to the metal, students followed the directions in Nichole's video. We only watched part of it, as they would not be cutting it out or coloring it today. 

​Supplies:
6x9 paper
dry erase boards and markers
pencils
colored pencils (to transfer to aluminum)
thick sheets of aluminum (I buy from school specialty)
felt
plastic metal tool (i tried to find a link to this but I can't figure out what to search for)

Day 2
I was absent for day 2 of this project. So I had to leave a sub plan. Here are the instructions that I left for the sub. 
Today’s lesson involves making a paper collage, which will be the frame for the insects we started last time. Students will need to use a color scheme for their frame. The possible color schemes are listed on the board on the west wall and we have been discussing color schemes for a while so they should be able to pick one quickly and easily.
Project Steps

1. Explain that students will be making a collage. A collage is a design made by cutting and gluing shapes to a paper.
2. Students will use scissors and glue sticks to complete their designs and if they need extra glue sticks, they can get more from the container at the front of the room. If they want to some of the papers, that is fine as I taught them some easy folds at the beginning of the year like the kite, hat and samurai fold.
3. As they cut out shapes, they need to put their scraps in the paper pal or in the paper store tub for others to use. The paper store tubs are labeled and the big background papers are spread out on the table at the front.
4. Don’t leave the scraps in the table top tubs as those are filled with small ‘good squares’ that we will be using all day. You will need to point out where the paper is for the paper store and send them up 1-2 tables at a time to go shopping for paper for their background. While some are shopping, the others can go through the tubs on their table to pick out colors for the collage. Some of the table top tubs may not have all the colors they need for their collage, it is up to you if you want to let them go to other tables, I would probably let them if they ask but not if they just want to wander around.
5. When students have finished their collages, they will put them in the drying wrack, but students need to make sure their NAMES ARE ON THE BACK. I put pencils on the tables for this purpose.
6. If their collage is really simple, encourage them to go back and add more small shapes and details so that it will look interesting with their insect on top. They can’t just glue 3 small squares and call it finished. Encourage them to use patterns and they can overlap various shapes if it looks interesting. If they want to cut out a leaf shape, they might want to fold the paper so that it is symmetrical and lightly draw it with a pencil before cutting it out.
7. If they finish early, they may get a coloring sheet or a free sheet or origami, but they must stay busy while others are finishing.
8. I left a sweet book on my desk if you find that the classes are finishing quickly and you want to read it either at the beginning or the end. Please try to maintain the schedule, there are only 2 minutes between classes so if you get off track it throws the whole day off.

Tips about the drying wrack for the sub:

• Try to only put one class on each side of the drying wracks.
• When the class leaves, put a note on top so that it is labeled with the teachers name or the class code so I will know which class it is when I take them out.
• You will have to turn the drying wrack around after each class leaves so the next class will have an easily accessible side to put their papers in.
• Always start filling the drying wrack from the bottom so that everyone’s paper will fit.
• After two classes, trade out an the full drying wrack by setting it on the floor and put an empty one on that table so it is easy to fill up again with the next two classes.
• All six sides will be completely full by the end of the day and with the biggest classes, you might have to double up some shelves so they will all fit.

​Supplies
2X2 squares of construction paper and other specialty paper like scrapbook paper
12X12 and 9X12 background paper
glue sticks
scissors
pencils

Day 3 
After being gone and very sick, I was finally back to finish up the project. Today, I demonstrated how to cut out the insects, how to add wire or pipe cleaners and how I would hot glue their bugs to their background. 

Students used skewers and chop sticks to wrap wire, like is shown in the video. They used permanent markers to color their bugs and scissors to cut them out. I had students save their metal scraps by wrapping them up in their old bug sketch, which still had a little tape on the edges, they made a little envelope so save it for later. Then they used glue dots to attach the wire. When they had everything ready, they brought the bugs up to the front where I was waiting with my glue gun to attach their insects. 

I was still not feeling great so I made a little video to help explain the process for getting wire and using glue dots. I think I had another video but I can't find it so I think I deleted it.....

Supplies
permanent markers
scissors
glue dots (I needed about 4X this many)
​wire (twisteeze, pipe cleaners, stovepipe wire)
hot glue gun and hot glue
​chopsticks for wrapping wire

We finally have a winner!!! 

I have finally found a highly successful method to the printmaking process. I have posted about my troubles with the printmaking process before: 

Winter Animals Reduction Printmaking
Tips for Middle School PrintMaking

But now I finally feel like I have learned how to make the process for run smoothly for my classroom, my students and my sanity. With fabulous results to boot. 

I have been gathering famous structure pictures for eons and I have been plotting the best way to do a 'famous places' project.
What materials? What is the theme? How to implement?
​
I decided to finally just go for it with printmaking and I am so glad that I did. 

Day 1
I introduced the printmaking unit with a story about how this was the absolute favorite thing we did all year to a 6th grade boy who had spent much of the year grumbling and complaining about every thing we had done so far. He was happy as a clam when I put that brayer in his hand, even though he did not pay attention at all to my instructions the first day and his design was pretty much terrible. All well!!

After explaining that printmaking is a process in which we will be making several copies of the same image, I explained that students needed to pick a famous structure that they were interested in researching so that they would be excited to work on it for several art sessions. The structure needed to be man-made and if it was a popular one like the Eiffel tower, they needed to think of a way to customize it that did not involve the everyday common place 'v' birds and sun in the corner because 100 kids had already done that. And not just a moon and stars, they had to really think of something creative, perhaps a plane or hot air balloon in the sky or themself in front of the structure taking a selfie. 

Students had access to TONS of books from the library. I ended up going back for more after my first 3 classes requested the Taj Mahal, the Burj Khalifa, and the Saint Basil's Cathedral in Russia. I have some very curious kids! Step one was to create a practice sketch in their sketchbook and start planning their stamp. 

Supplies
pencils
erasers
rulers
dry erase boards and markers (option for kids to warm up)
books and visuals about famous places
​
​

Day 2
Carving the stamp. 
Once students had their design planned, I gave them a piece of 6X9 paper so they could design their stamp. We used a pencil to draw the design and plan the background. When they had it all sketched out, they brought it to me for approval and I gave them a piece of 6X9 scratch foam and taped their sketch to the foam. They used a colored pencil to transfer the design to the foam. 

The colored pencil only lightly transfers the design. To really make it show up, students had to lift the drawing off the foam and trace over their lines with an ink pen. I had to borrow a bunch of ink pens, but this is a brilliant idea thank you Cassie Stephens!!! The ink pen forces them to make the lines deeper and they can tell what they have and have not retraced very easily. 

Supplies
6X9 paper
tape
colored pencils
ink pens
6X9 Scratch Foam 

Day 3
This was our catch up day for kids that needed to finish their drawing, finish carving the stamp and move on to something fun before the real action of printmaking with real printmaking ink. I decided to let them make a marker print with whatever colors they wanted, since we would be printing in solid colors for our finale. Not everyone had the opportunity to do the marker print, if they were absent or something but everyone who did was pretty happy with the results and so was I! 

After I watched Cassie Stephen's marker print video, I knew I could do a quick demo for my students. So I drew a little 3X4 mini example under my document camera for each class to demonstrate the transfer process. I set myself up at the front with white paper and squirt bottle and let kids come to me for the sponge/spray sesh. I will say that a couple of kids messed up their foam plates because they pressed WAY too hard with the markers and it carved a texture into the foam. Next time, I will stress that they do not need to press hard with the markers, just gently cover the surface. 

The other thing students needed to do on day 3, was to shop for paper for printing. I had each student select 4 papers to print on and write their name in pencil in the corner. This way, everyone would have their name on their papers for printing day. I had a big table set up with all types of paper, old maps, colored copy paper, patterned scrapbook paper, construction paper, sheet music, whatever I could find that was easy to chop into 9X12 pieces. 

Supplies
foam plates
washable markers
spray bottle
sponge
9X12 white paper

Day 4
​PRINTING

I showed my students Cassie Stephen's printmaking video in order to demonstrate how to actually print. It was SO helpful and perfect for this project. I set up the black ink on each table (I passed it out after we watched the video) and I set up colored ink at stations around the room. I wanted some students to be able to move around and some working at the table so there wouldn't be a huge line waiting to print at any given time. 

This year, I went to goodwill and found a set of plastic trays to use as ink stations and they worked perfectly. We used up so much of my ink, that I am almost completely out and I even ordered an emergency 7 bottles from blick to make it through the last day. So if you are printing with nearly 400 students make sure you have plenty of ink, especially black. I told my students that the first print would probably not turn out the best so they should use the paper they are least attached to for their first edition.

NOTE: I had several color options for students to choose from. I did not have them wash their foam plates between colors, I kind of like how it looks when the colors mix.  

Supplies
printing ink
brayers
paper
foam stamps