Summer musings

I have no idea if i use cookies or not. I just write a blog. However my business bank account was hacked and it is still such a mess. personal consumber accounts are protected but not business!!  My advice is Yall be careful now ya hear? If any cookies are in use here I sure dont know it! I am not that computer savvy.
 I have been busy making candles, bath bombs, soaps, and lotion bars for my business, but  I have made one nice batch of lessons for out door art. I hope you all will enjoy it. Here it is:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Art-Lessons-for-the-Outdoors-3849980

Valentine TPT Sale

That's right- You heard it here! Treachers pay TEachers is having a Valentines Day Sale! So when you are tired from those class parties and cant make to Ash Wednesday service, come go shopping with us! Everything in my store will be 20% off and Tpt takes an additional 5% off your entire purchase.
Click on this link to get to my store:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Gena-Mcwilliams

Holiday Ornaments

Holiday Ornaments for you and your little ones to make at home

I have walked around some art shops and galleries and noticed some artists are painting on clear glass ornament balls. I have heard that Macon Arts even had a glass blower making glass balls at the opening of their holiday show.  One of my first Christmas gifts I received when I first began teaching at a private school was a choo-choo train painted on a glass ball. I still cherish that ornament and put it on my tree every year.

Several years ago my school held an auction and one of the parents came in my room to have the children in a particular grade make a craft for the auction. This parent took glass ornament balls, filled each ball with a bit of craft paint and told the children to twirl the ball to twirl /marbleize the paint inside the ball.

 That art project could be a neat way to teach color mixing to little ones.  That project also inspired me one year to paint my own glass ornament balls. I used white puffy t-shirt paint to make a snowman face.

 As you can see in these photographs one side is painted but because the glass is clear, one can see through the clear side to the showman’s face! It doesn’t matter if the ball turns!

To paint a glass/plastic ornament  ball at home one need to buy clear plastic balls, white puffy t-shirt paint for the snowman, acrylic craft paint, and a small brush, preferably the short-handled kid’s brushes that come in a pack from a craft store like Michael’s or JoAnn’s.

Spread newspaper on the working surface. You will also need a container with water and some paper towels or a sponge for drying and cleaning the brush when changing colors. An egg carton works great to place the ornament in when painting and drying. A round plastic lid works for a palette and can easily be discarded when finished. Old plastic ice cube trays can work also and keep the paint colors separated.

Set your supplies up. Egg carton with ornament placed  in front of the child. Paint squeezed on the lid or in the ice cube tray. Now paint! Let dry overnight and hang when ready!

For more of Mizz Mac’s art lessons and art projects click on:

www/teacherspayteachers/com/store/Gena-Mcwilliams

Back to School with Harriet Tubman and the Shoo Fly Quilt

The Harriet Tubman Museum in Macon, Ga is absolutely gorgeous! It was finally finished this year and I finally went in to see it today. OMG is it GORGEOUS!!! I am so proud that my hometown has such a beautiful museum.  Be sure to go upstairs. There are rooms with inventions that blacks have made, a huge mural one of our prominent black artists made depicting black heritage in Macon ( I have personal story to tell about this artist too) and in the Harriet Tubman room there are not only documents about the life and times of Harriet Tubman but one can view actual real nationally known artists work. Some of the artists I remember and have taught my students are john Biggers, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, and William Johnson.

In another room downstairs for Georgia black artists I got to see art work by the Dot Man who was featured in an article published in an issue of School Arts magazine when I first started teaching art. I was so excited!! It’s quite exciting to me to see the actual real artwork!

Another artist I must mention is Wini McQueen. She is one of our local black artists who mainly works in fabric, dying and using photographs in her pieces. She was commissioned by the Tubman to create banners and quilts depicting the history of the black people in Georgia and they are hung in the rotunda.

As sad as the past is let us all remember so it won’t be repeated.

Check out my arts integration lesson on the Shoo Fly quilt. Legend says it helped the blacks in their flight on the Underground Railroad: 

www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Shoo-Fly-Art-music-math-shapes-review-for-back-to-school-972741

Back To School Sale

It will be here soon!! Back to School Sale at Teachers Pay Teachers!! www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/Gean-Mcwilliams

Fun Activities for Grandparents to do with their Grands

Summers are too short in my county. The children get out of public school at the end of May but they will be back in school the first week in August. A week in June is set for a vacation with one parent and the grandparents and another week in July is for vacation with the other parent and the other grandparents. Whew! With only3 weeks in June and July there isn’t much point in doing an enrichment camp, particularly since their school does an excellent job with providing plenty of enrichments during the school year.

My grands went to Camp GaGa (their name for me!) While at Camp GaGA, they have made a rocket ship, a pirate ship, a vending machine, a “ball” room, and now paper bag puppets. They have drawn landscapes and birds in their sketchbooks.  They studied science and wild life studies by catching fireflies at night, moths, and tiny baby tree frogs, put in jars with holes for air to breathe, and let go back into nature before going to bed.  They watched a pair of hawks soaring and hunting in the front yard and a fawn running all over the yard. The hummingbirds have been plenty!

While at two beaches there were sandcastles to learn how to build and tiny fish to hand catch in the tidal pools. Hermit crabs were found in seashells.  This grandmother had to hold a small jar of water with a conch shell and a hermit crab named Fred while the grands’ mother went in a store to learn how to take care of it. We did have to put Fred back onto the wild beach!

Camp GaGa  is coming to a fast end. Now is the time to review reading skills and number skills to get ready for back to school. Don’t forget those sight words, too!

Here is a  photo of the art we made at Camp GaGa!

How to Draw a Bird

Our elementary and preschools are teaching the recognition of geometric shapes. Art teachers also teach looking for shapes to draw and paint. Some art teachers have children put on their “shape” eyes when looking at an object to draw or paint.

Parents, grandparents, child keepers help reinforce children’s learning of shapes in school. The following is an example of one of my interactions with my grandson.

Yesterday Bishop sat in front of our picture window and said he wanted to draw a bird. He had gotten his sketchbook out and his crayons.

Bishop asked, “ GaGa, will you help me draw a bird?”

Me: “First draw an oval.”

 He did.

“Next draw a circle for the head.”

He did.

“Draw triangles for the wings.”

 He did.

“Draw another one for the tail.”

He did.  He added the legs, eyes, and beak without directions from me. He also added the limb and the tree on his own and colored it!

For another directed drawing lesson click here:

www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Drawing-with-Beginners-398360

Directing children to draw using lines and shapes not only reinforces math concepts of geometric shapes that are taught in school but also demystifies the act of drawing for some.

Mizz Mac has taught children's art for over 25 years and sells art projects and art lesson plans on her store:

www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/Gena-Mcwilliams

Preschool Children, Painting, and Watercolors

How many of you have bought those cool watercolors in the box for your young children? Who remembers painting watercolors with the metal Prang watercolors? We can still buy the Prang watercolors but they will stain clothes. Crayola has better watercolors for young children and Sargeants can be found also.

Did anyone have a classroom teacher say not to mix the colors? I know they do and I understand why they say it. If the children aren’t taught good brush handling skills, they will dip the bush into every single solitary color in the watercolor box. What happens? The colors are no longer clean but muddy or even black!  If the children are taught how to use the brush, eventually good brush painting skills will be a habit.

I found the best way for me to teach good brush painting skills was at the beginning of the school year. I would give the children a dry brush and a cup of water and a sponge. We would practice dipping the brush into the water and drying it on the sponge. Next we would pretend paint in the air, dip in the water, swish the brush to clean, dry it on the sponge, and pretend to dip the brush in the paint.

After practicing we would then paint with our watercolors. The following is a photograph of my granddaughter painting with her watercolors. She is mixing her colors on her watercolor paper.

This photo is her painting almost finished!

Another method for teaching children not to mix up the colors is by teaching them how to make colors through the color wheel. I will post more on this subject again. Mizz Mac

For more of Mizz Mac’s lessons or projects, check out her store on www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/Gena-Mcwilliams.

It's Cherry Blossom time!

It’s Cherry Blossom time in Macon, Georgia! The birds are chirping outside my window and the sun is trying to come out. Spring must be coming soon.

I haven’t seen any cherry blossom buds yet. Have you?

I do have an easy art project for drawing cherry blossom trees with the little ones.

All you will need is a small sheet of watercolor paper or construction paper, a brown and a pink crayon or oil pastel, and an 8-color watercolor box with a paintbrush.

First place a pad of paper on your workspace. Now lay the watercolor paper on top. Coloring with crayons or oil pastels is easier and smoother if done on top of a padded surface.

Directions:

Lay the free hand and wrist on the watercolor paper. Trace around the free hand and wrist with the brown crayon or oil pastel. Color the hand and wrist brown. This makes the tree trunk and limbs.

Draw crooked lines from the limbs (fingers) to make tree branches with the brown crayon or oil pastel.

Draw and color small pink circles with the pink crayon or oil pastel to make cherry blossoms.

Paint the sky with blue watercolor.

Let it dry and mount on construction paper or poster board.

This is an easy project for all ages. For another easy method try my Easy Smeasy Cherry Blossom Trees on https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Easy-Smeasy-Cherry-Blossom-Trees-1741136. It’s free!

Thank you, Mizz Mac

Easy Holiday Art and Crafts Projects

Are you ready yet for the holidays? Are the children excited? I just love the holiday crafts! I love creating new crafts and making them. I will be sharing some of my ideas that I have created here at my home with you and some that I created while teaching. If you miss any directions, most of these projects can be found in my store on www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/Gena-Mcwilliams.

Today’s craft is quite simple and requires very few supplies. I will call it Mosaic Paper Candle Holder.

Supplies needed:

Tissue paper squares (I ordered mine from Oriental Trading)

Clear gel Elmer’s washable glue (I bought mine at Walmart)

Clear glass flower pot just right for a votive candle (I bought mine at Michaels)

1 paint brush (I used a flat soft watercolor brush)

1 container for glue ( I used a small clean mason jar)

Directions:

1. Cover your work area. I used a paper towel.

2. Pour some glue into the container. Add a bit with some water. Stir the water into the glue to thin the glue so it won’t tear the tissue paper.

3. Paint the glue on side of the glass flower pot. Paint a little larger than the tissue paper square.

4. Place a tissue paper square on the glue. Paint over the square with more glue.

5. Repeat steps #3 and #4 until you have covered the pot. I left some glass showing on mine and overlapped some squares to make additional colors.

6. When finished with the tissue paper, allow to dry.

7. Optional step- if there is any craft paint available, decorative lines and patterned shapes can be painted on the tissue paper to embellish the candle holder.

Now you can add an electric votive candle to the candle holder.

Another idea- I found a glass Christmas tree candy dish that I may get my grandchildren to decorate with the tissue paper this holiday! Hmmm! Mizz Mac

Mizz Mac’s Easy Holiday Art Projects can be found in her store at www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/Gena-Mcwilliams.

Three-d shapes in art or How to draw a cube

3-d shapes in art are called form. There are two kinds of form like there are two kinds of shapes- geometric and natural or organic. The 3-d shapes in Math currently being used by teachers are called geometric constructed forms, using art terms. Young children, generally, do not visually perceive 3-d forms. They visually perceive flat shapes. As they grow older they become more visually attuned to forms. When they can see forms, that’s when art teachers begin teaching how to create the illusions of 3-d forms. So now how do we teach the 3-d shapes/forms that Math and geometry standards dictate?

Apparently we can teach how to create geometric forms, particularly the cube or rectangle. Here are two methods and illustrations.

1.       Draw a square or rectangle on your paper. Draw another square or rectangle the same size but overlap the first square or rectangle like a Venn diagram. Connect the corners with lines- upper right to upper right, upper left to upper left, lower right to lower right, and lower left to lower left. Erase inside lines.

2.       The second way is to draw a horizontal line somewhere on your paper. Draw a square or a rectangle under the horizontal line. Draw a point or a dot on the horizontal line. Draw 3 diagonal lines from the dot on the horizontal line to 3 corners of the square or rectangle. Draw a horizontal line above the top of the rectangle/square between the top two diagonal lines. Draw a vertical line from the end of the previously drawn horizontal line down to the bottom diagonal line. Erase the diagonals between the dot and the 3-d shape.

3.       Illustrations of both methods:

Young children love drawing the cubes but when they draw from their imagination, they will still draw houses etc. with flat shapes. In time they will want to draw the other side of a house or will want to know how to make something look 3-d.  Mizz Mac

More of Mizz Mac’s lessons can be found in her store at www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/Gena-Mcwilliams.

All About Shapes Art

Have your children talked about shapes this week? My grandchildren have. When I picked them up from school on Friday, my grandson (kindergarten age) started a game. He would give us checks if we could find geometric shapes.  Challenge on! His little sister and I found circle tires, square and rectangle signs and windows, and circle wreaths and signs on doors all the way home. The hardest shape to find was the triangle. I finally found some on top of the square tower at Vineville Baptist church. That was quite a fun way to reinforce his learning.

Another way to reinforce is through art. Art has two flat shapes-geometric and natural. 3-d shapes are called form. The sphere, cylinder, and cubes are drawn illusions of 3-d but that’s getting too technical. Try my shapes projects when using art to reinforce identifying shapes. Here is the link to my All about Shapes project: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mizz-Macs-All-About-Shapes-871403. 

  I like to use Edward Hopper’s paintings as examples of how artists use shapes in their artwork. Here’s a link to his “Seven A.M.” painting: http://www.edwardhopper.net/seven-am.jsp.

Creating art by first practicing line making and shape making takes away any drawing fears.  Mizz Mac

Mizz Mac’s art projects can be found in her store on www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Gena-Mcwilliams.

 

Sales over and I'm having fun!

Ok the TPT sale is over but I am still having fun. Do you like my new background for the blog? I drew the little girl myself and made her into a pattern. I didn't know I could customize the background with my own work!! That was fun! My classes have started back and my students are eager to be back creating wonderful works of art. I hope to get some photographs of their work for you to see soon. Mizz Mac
My Jungle Animal Coloring Book is still a freebie - you might want to grab it while it is!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mizz-Macs-Jungle-Animal-Coloring-Book-1355615

Back to School Sale!!

Back To School Sale!! My store is 20% off plus 10% from TPT!! Grab up art projects for the year!!
Here is the link to my store:
www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Gena-Mcwilliams

Another Back to School Freebie

I have been trying to think about what teachers my need from an art teacher. I was reminiscing about how I had my room organized with everything my students did in my classroom was about art or art appreciation or art history. One of the favorite activities my early finishers enjoyed were the word search puzzles ( they were all art terms or artists in history) and my coloring sheets. I was inspired to create a coloring book about jungle animals. The book contains 10 sheets of simple black and white line drawings of cartoon-like jungle animals- all my creations and hand- drawn by me! Here is the link:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mizz-Macs-Jungle-Animal-Coloring-Book-1355615

I hope you all enjoy them. Comments are appreciated. Mizz Mac

TPT and Back to School

TPT has taken down the freebie page I wrote about in the last posting. I have been working hard to rework some of my back to school ice breakers. I have added photographs of examples and have kept the prices at $1.50. Here are some of them with links:http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Drawing-with-Beginners-398360

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Line-Designs-for-Beginners-781986

Sunshine, Sunflowers, and Vincent van Gogh for back to school

When I was driving down the Golden Isle parkway this summer on my way to Saint Simons Island, I saw a field full of beautiful sunflowers. I also saw on Facebook a posting about a beautiful field of sunflowers in Bolingbroke. These two sightings inspired my compilation of four art lessons based on Vincent van When I was driving down the Golden Isle parkway this summer on my way to Saint Simons Island, I saw a field full of beautiful sunflowers. I also saw on Facebook a posting about a beautiful field of sunflowers in Bolingbroke. These two sightings inspired my compilation of four art lessons based on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflower painting. Here is a portion of one of the lessons:

•      Look at your sunflower. What would you draw first? A Circle for the center? What would you draw next? Ovals for petals?

•      Draw a minimum of 5 flowers on your paper with a pencil.

•      Color brightly with crayons or oil pastels. No white spots of paper can show on the flowers!

•      Outline the flowers with black oil pastel or crayon.

•      Paint the white background of your paper with light colors of watercolor.

You can find the whole package of lessons including an introduction to Vincent bio page, photographic examples, and a simple art assessment in my store at:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-with-Vincent-van-Gogh-Sunflowers-and-sunshine-1326800

Mizz Mac's tips for buying art easels for children's art

Mizz Mac is back with a few tips for parents or grandparents about buying art easels for children. The first easel we bought for our grandchildren was plastic with a white marker board on one wide and dry chalk board on the other. The drawing surfaces were quite small and tray underneath wasn't designed to hold much. There was only a plastic clip to hold one sheet of paper. This easel was fine when my granddaughter took up painting but when my grandson decided it was time for him to start drawing, they couldn't draw on one side and paint on the other without getting frustrated. We decided to buy another easel. We bought two instead. The easels are taller and have adjustable height. One side has a dry erase white board and the other side is dry chalk board. The surfaces are larger and the easels are angled a bit with a nice tray to hold art supplies. The dry erase surfaces are erasable with paper towels. Crayola has dry erase markers and dry erase crayons and large crayon shaped colored chalk on the market. I personally saw these products at Kmart.

By the way, having two easels for two artists is working out great! They are both drawing quite well and are not getting frustrated with each other. 

Here is a picture of my grandson’s drawing: 

(he is in a rocket ship blasting off to the moon!)

A Georgia Peachy Blog

The peaches are flowing in Middle Georgia! Our peach farms are packing their products to ship out! Did you know the Peach Festival cooked the world's largest peach cobbler this past weekend? Here is my grandmother's favorite recipe: 

Now all good Southern cooks are dump cooks which means we use approximately the right amount of ingredients and then change things as we see fit. My grandmother cooked with a gas stove that had no temperature control so check on the cobbler after 30 minutes cooking time! And don't forget to add a dollop of vanilla ice cream! 

Here's another Peachy tidbit- have you heard of the Eat A Peach album by the Allman Brothers? The Allman Brothers were brought to Macon, Georgia in the early 70's by their manager, Phil Walden of Capricorn Records. (Phil was my cousin's high school sweetheart and loved pulling my pigtails!) Before they got big and famous, the Allman Brothers would jam on Sunday afternoons in Central City Park. Wonderful Peachy Music!!

 Grab up your own basketful  of  Peachy free items from our blogs and enter our giveaway!

My Peachie freebie for you:http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mizz-Macs-Print-a-Peach-1279210

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