The Bottom of the Big Blue Sea

Just finished a swimmingly, sweet project with my little 1st graders that was inspired by a song and the Blue-Green Chromis schooling fish in our aquarium

Day 1: Students started with a gradiated sea. I assigned each class a different color. We started with white paint and added a drop of our paint color, till we reached the true tone.

Day 2: We added fish, using different cool colors.  I wanted the students to practice perspective, changing the size of the fish as they got farther away. 

Day 3: We finished up with some overlapping silver fish and bubbles!

"I don't want to be alone, I want to be a stone

I wanna sink to the bottom of the ocean

And lie there with you til I'm gone

At the bottom of the big blue sea

Just you and me." -Bob Schneider

Happy Friday!

A Sky Full Of Stars

Vincent Van Gogh said "what is done in love is done well".

Well I love Van Gogh and on his birthday I decided to take a look at some of my favorite lessons inspried by that love, and that were done very well...

Every spring my 1st and 2nd graders take on Sunflowers.

In 1st they create a paper collage made out of different colors and shapes of paper.

Once in 2nd grade we revisit the Sunflowers, and create a painting more in the style of Van Gogh, I usually send these home for Mother's Day.

Starry Night, which is most dear to my heart, has become what I'm know for as a teacher because I doodle it everywhere.

I have taught it from Kindergartners in the art room,

 to adults at a ceramic studio...

Happy Birthday V.V.G! I love thee...

A Little Something Sweet

In honor of President's Day, I though I'd share a look at 1st Grades finished clay treats!

Every year right after winter break in preparation of Valentines Day my 1st graders make cupcakes. It's a great way to practice proper pinching, flattening and attaching skills. 

Plus they're adorable!

A Merry and Bright Year

This year has been such a whirl wind, kinda like looking up and spinning under the local tree...

One of favorite things to do as an art teacher is create personal lessons for my kiddos. 

Luckily we live in a city that's full of inspiration, like the Zilker Tree.

This is always a fun, pattern oriented project to conclude the first half of the school year. I love how each student interprets the same colors and lines, some appear to be swaying, dancing, it's really cute.

Well with 2015 at its end I bid you all farewell, and look forward to seeing what the new year inspires. From my family to yours...

Hugs and love, from The Robbins.

Southwestern Succulents

November was a crazy month, and the art room has been so jam packed with projects I haven't had much time for posting. But now that they are concluding and making their way up on the walls, here's what the little birds have been working on...

So this Fall / Winter I decided to go with a Southwestern theme.

A few years ago on our anniversary, the hubby and I took a trip to Terlingua, and every year around this time I am reminded of the beautiful colors of the desert, so inspired this unit.

1st grade worked on a Succulent Garden.

They started with a line drawing on black paper.

Covered their drawings in a glue resist.

Colored their pictures with a variety of chalk.

And got a huge kick out of seeing their final pics get sprayed fix.

The end results were so prickly pretty!

Batty about Art

Throw Back Thursday: A look at last year's bat oriented projects. 1st grade created symmetrical cut outs, while 2nd grade was inspired by our city's famous bat bridge.

Bats by themselves...

Bridges close up....

Bats All Folks...

The Rhythm of Our City

Every year my districts hosts a contest to design a shirt for YAM (Youth Art Month). This year our theme was "the Rhythm of our City". Here's some quick car pics of what my 1st graders came up with.

Happy Columbus Day!