Elementary Art Integrations
33 Followers
Lecompton, Kansas, United States
About the store
I have 33 years of teaching experience in Elementary Art Education. My lessons are written for kindergarten through fifth grade students. Each product is labeled by grade level and detailed preview slides are provided that you can see what each lesson includes before making your purchase.
My elementary teaching career began when I was hired to teach "Art on a Cart" in the Wichita Public Elementary schools, which consisted of Kindergarten through Fifth grade. I travelled between three different schools, teaching over 900 students each week. Students received one forty-minute Art class every week. Art was included on the grade card and every child was graded. This was a very time-consuming task, which usually filled the bulk of most of my evenings at home.
The school district didn't provide a teaching curriculum to the Elementary Art teachers. I created and authored all of my own lesson plans and was monitored by the school district to ensure that the lesson plans met the district Visual Arts standards.
In the beginning the Art teachers were allowed to assess student work based on lesson goals. The last few years the district switched to standards-based grading. The grade card was accessed through the district portal and there was very little deviation from the district grading set-up.
A few years after working for Wichita Public Schools, I obtained my Master of Fine Arts from Wichita State University. After having taught around 10 years, the district adopted a teaching curriculum for the Elementary Art teachers. I received three teacher's manuals, a few art prints, and a couple of "Big Books." I still leaned heavily on my own self-created curriculum.
I went on to participate in the ESOL endorsement program and obtained my endorsement from Newman University in Wichita, Kansas.
I finally worked my way up to securing a position in a larger school, by the end of my teaching career. That made it possible for me to stay in the same building all week, without having to travel between schools. There were times when I had to go back to teaching room-to-room on the pushcart, or share my classroom with other educators, due to building maintenance projects, and such. However, I usually got to teach from an art room those last few years.
My last year of teaching in the public schools was 2020 - 2021, so I have also experienced teaching Remote from home, and Remote from school. The Elementary Art Teachers also had to teach both Remote and Face-to-Face in the classroom from the pushcart during 20-21. I have had a lot of variety in my teaching experience.
Along with teaching in the public schools, I have also taught an evening undergraduate level Elementary Art for Classroom Teachers class at Wichita State University.
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Basic Shapes Animals: Drawing Reference | 1st & 2nd grade Art | PPT slide & PDF
There is something empowering about being able to draw animals that look realistic. Understanding the basic shapes that can be seen and how they differ in size, direction and placement gives students a starting point for drawing from which they can practice, obtain confidence and move on to develop their own styles. Materials: printed drawing reference handout (included,) drawing paper (any size,) pencils, erasers, crayons and/or markers are optional. The product includes a printable Basic
1st - 3rd
Other (Math), Other (Science), Visual Arts
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About the store
Experience
I have 33 years of teaching experience in Elementary Art Education. My lessons are written for kindergarten through fifth grade students. Each product is labeled by grade level and detailed preview slides are provided that you can see what each lesson includes before making your purchase.
My elementary teaching career began when I was hired to teach "Art on a Cart" in the Wichita Public Elementary schools, which consisted of Kindergarten through Fifth grade. I travelled between three different schools, teaching over 900 students each week. Students received one forty-minute Art class every week. Art was included on the grade card and every child was graded. This was a very time-consuming task, which usually filled the bulk of most of my evenings at home.
The school district didn't provide a teaching curriculum to the Elementary Art teachers. I created and authored all of my own lesson plans and was monitored by the school district to ensure that the lesson plans met the district Visual Arts standards.
In the beginning the Art teachers were allowed to assess student work based on lesson goals. The last few years the district switched to standards-based grading. The grade card was accessed through the district portal and there was very little deviation from the district grading set-up.
A few years after working for Wichita Public Schools, I obtained my Master of Fine Arts from Wichita State University. After having taught around 10 years, the district adopted a teaching curriculum for the Elementary Art teachers. I received three teacher's manuals, a few art prints, and a couple of "Big Books." I still leaned heavily on my own self-created curriculum.
I went on to participate in the ESOL endorsement program and obtained my endorsement from Newman University in Wichita, Kansas.
I finally worked my way up to securing a position in a larger school, by the end of my teaching career. That made it possible for me to stay in the same building all week, without having to travel between schools. There were times when I had to go back to teaching room-to-room on the pushcart, or share my classroom with other educators, due to building maintenance projects, and such. However, I usually got to teach from an art room those last few years.
My last year of teaching in the public schools was 2020 - 2021, so I have also experienced teaching Remote from home, and Remote from school. The Elementary Art Teachers also had to teach both Remote and Face-to-Face in the classroom from the pushcart during 20-21. I have had a lot of variety in my teaching experience.
Along with teaching in the public schools, I have also taught an evening undergraduate level Elementary Art for Classroom Teachers class at Wichita State University.
Teaching style
I became an art teacher because of the impact that art classes had on my learning experience. When I participated in an art project my brain was able to make connections between critical concepts that were introduced in other subject areas such as math, science and history. I became aware of how art class and art projects sparked my thinking skills!
I have always strived to integrate various content area concepts to facilitate every child's learning. I believe that lessons need to have structure and build upon each other at the elementary level. I have observed, firsthand, that young children are more successful when they are taught the basic foundational concepts and skills. Then, as the child moves on to the intermediate grades, they have the basic skills to work with, in order to express themselves.
I strive to teach my students about all the age-appropriate art media, elements and principles over the course of the school year. I also double-check that my art lessons address grade-level art standards.
It is very important to me to make the best use of time, since they get so little art time at school. We begin each class with a whole group learning activity, which includes looking, thinking, and sharing our thoughts. Then students are dismissed for "Studio Time" to work on their art projects. I hold the students accountable for cleaning up after themselves and keeping things organized. I try to give the students a sense of ownership in their classroom and their art materials. I make arrangements that allow every child in every class to feel a sense of leadership in some area.
My own education history
Bachelor of Science, Art Education, K - 12, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS. 1983
Master of Fine Art, Art Education, K - 12, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS. 2000
English for Speakers of Other Languages, PreK - 12, Newman University, Wichita, KS. 2012
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