Art Appreciation for Kids - Featuring Jeff Linenkugel - Wood Sculptures

Art is beautiful, fun, exciting, calming, and inspiring!  

How can we help kids to appreciate art--and express it?

• Take a brain break.  Search the internet for an art image--it can be a specific work of art or a type of art, such as "wood sculpture."  Have kids brainstorm everything they notice about the image.  Each kid who responds can call on the next child to speak.  

• Teach kids to observe closely: color, shape, size, line, tone (light and dark), texture, and pattern.  You'll find their vocabulary flourish--they'll describe things that are teal instead of green, and humongous instead of big.
• Respect each unique viewpoint.  Kids will surprise you with their observations, if you accept all responses--from serious to humorous.

• Ask kids what they wonder about the art work.  "I wonder..."

• How long it took to make this?
• What materials are there?
• How this would look if it were made with different materials?

• Help kids to use accountable talk to evaluate their experience.  They can use phrases like:

• I think...because...
• I like/dislike this because...
• I agree/disagree with you because...
• I want to add to what s/he said.
• That reminds me of...

• Let kids free-associate, to think like a poet.  Ask them what else is the same color, shape, size, motion, or mood as the art?  Their answer will be a poetic simile: "This is like a..."

• Roller coaster
• Bird's nest
• Skate boarder
• Atom
• Bowl of spaghetti
• Jazz dancer
• Seed pod opening
• Stormy sky

• Kids can learn to think like an artist, drawing pictures of their favorite images--either exact copies, or with new colors, shapes, sizes, textures, or moods.  Display these side-by-side with the originals for a fascinating art gallery.

Want to stretch kids' experience?  Why not take a class trip to visit a local artist in their studio or gallery?  

• Meet a real live artist!  It puts a human face on art.  Kids can ask questions, like:

• When did you start creating art?
• How do you get ideas for your art?
• What's your favorite piece?
• What kind of art do you want to create next?

• Kids can take photos of art works from different angles using tablets, phones, or cameras; and use these for discussions or displays in the classroom.

• For super-engagement, why not find a favorite piece--a sort of class mascot.  You might even have a fund-raiser to buy the piece.  Imagine that--real, live art in your classroom.  How inspiring is that?!  

Art is not stuffy.  It's not supposed to be walled up in a museum.  It's alive in each of us.  When we help kids appreciate art, we're helping them to appreciate every small moment in life.

Let's face it: Earth without art is just eh!  

All artwork by Jeff Linenkugel

Photo Credits: Jeff Linenkugel, used with permission

Teacher Resources Sale!

It's a TeachersPayTeachers sale! December 2nd and 3rd, with Promo Code: Cyber19.

If you've been on the fence, please consider these teacher resources at steep Cyber Monday discounts:

Yes, you can make your lessons perfect, and your observation lessons sooooooo much easier with this Teacher Evaluation Guide.   

It includes checklists, charts, cheat-sheets, tips, scripts, class posters, lesson plans and lesson plan templates for your expert Danielson-style teacher evaluation.

I use it all the time for my lesson templates and reminders of best practices.  And I admit, I carry the one-page mini-lesson cheat-sheet in my pocket, in the weeks before every unannounced observation (really!).

If you're a substitute teacher, you'll find that The Substitute Teacher Guide  is much more than a run-of-the-mill kit.

You see, after over 20 years teaching, I've observed hundreds of subs and teachers in action.  I've seen it all--the good, the bad, and the Kindergarten Cop Chaos.  This resource is a detailed and comprehensive account of what to bring, do, and say when you sub.

And it includes dozens of printables a sub can use all year.

NOT JUST FOR SUBS!  If you're a regular teacher, it makes a handy Substitute Binder--for the days you're absent--with explicit directions so you'll return to a semi-normal room.

It also serves as a refresher course for regular teachers, with guides for lessons, behavior management, managing trips, parties, outdoor recess, assemblies, and more. 

My current favorite is Behavior Management with Humor--a creative approach to discipline in the classroom.  You’ll find lots of tools and strategies for behavior management with laughter.

At every step, we start with the essential skills for no-stress behavior management. Then I'll show you how to infuse these with respectful fun, so they come alive in your classroom. 

 If you'd rather go for the whole kit 'n kaboodle — or is that the kitten kaboodle?  —  Here's a soup to nuts Behavior Management Ultimate Guide, with the heart of a tiger in a comfy kitten's fur.  

You'll be CALM and CONFIDENT at school—with step-by-step instructions for teaching school rules—starting from the moment you walk through the door of your classroom. 

This mega-bundle includes Behavior Management with Humor, with all the bells 'n whistles.  You'll enjoy teacher scripts, behavior mod charts that really work, ultra-cool Reward Tags, callbacks galore...and my favorite new-agey counting song to calm kids instantly—all with instructions included.

Cyber Monday wouldn't be complete without a little holiday fun, now, would it? 

Have a very happy cyber Monday--AND TUESDAY--and I'll see you there!