Valentines Day is coming!

I have Valentines Coloring Sheets, Valentine Collages, Valentines connected to Symmetry and Valentines and the art of Jim Dine. Here are the links:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Valentine-Coloring-Sheets-2979429

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Valentines-and-Symmetry-534034

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Easy-Valentine-Art-Projects-1090267

Snow and Valentines

Well last week we got snow! It was only for one day and it wasnt much but enough for schools to be cancelled. The next day some schools were still out because the snow melted and then the roads had ice. It was my birthday too. At least the weekend before I went to Saint Simons Island- my birthday gift to myself.
So now it's time to start preparing for Valentines Day and Black History month and Presidents Day. That's a lot for one month. My store has lessons for all three. One of my favorite lessons is the one about colonial art and the Limners who were really house painters. They also would paint portraits. They would take boards and paint bodies of people and children in various poses, all holding something. They would let the customer choose which pose he liked and paint the customers portrait on the body and also whatever personal object the customer would be holding.
Here's the link to the lesson:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Ye-Olde-Colonial-Portraits-a-cross-curricula-drawinghistory-lesson-422600

Snowflakes

Ok I 'm here in the South. Last week or so ago the snow missed us and went to Atlanta. This week the snow went to South Georgia and turned to ice on the beach of Saint Simons Island. Again we were missed here in Middle Georgia.
 Monday is the big Georgia/Alabama game and they are calling for rain but a low of 33. I wonder if we will get any ice or snow? It usually happens when its not predicted.
I still have a cool product for cutting snowflakes, linking it to symmetry(both math and an element of art design) and some cool ideas about creating art with those snowflakes. Here is the link:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Snowflakes-and-Symmetry-1007433

I also have Winter coloring sheets. Here's the link:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Winter-Coloring-Sheets-2197096

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everybody! Ready to go back to school? Snow Wonderful snow? I wouldn't know. Here in the South we rarely get any. We usually get the dreaded ice. However it's a good time to teach cutting out snowflakes. My art lesson on Snowflakes and symmetry not only teaches how to cut out snowflakes but also gives suggestions what to do with those snowflakes.
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Snowflakes-and-Symmetry-1007433

thanksgiving

Wow! I haven't blogged in awhile! So what's been going on with me? My grand children started a new school. We were hit by Hurricane Irma on September 11. My husband had back surgery already scheduled for the end of October so I had to help him clean up on the weekends and get the yard and any of his projects completed. Now we are in the recovery stage. I still have to help him because he cant bend. lift. or twist or drive a car or even ride in a car until December.
Our candle business has had some huge orders come in lately so that has also kept me away from blogging.
Thanksgiving and Fall art is one of my favorite times of the year. I like to introduce and study Native American art. The National Ocmulgee Indian Mounds is in my town. There is a lot of history here and over the years children have found scads of arrowheads.
A favorite lesson is my Easy Native American art lesson. It tells a bit about early Native American art  and can be taught as a review of geometric shapes.
Click on the following link to find the lesson:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Easy-Native-American-Art-Project-1545675

Back to School Sale

My store is having a sale- Tpt is having a sitewide sale! Save upto 25% off ! Please remember those needed art projects! Click on my link to get to my store! www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/Gena-Mcwilliams

Happy Fourth of July

I am usually on Saint Simons Island for the fourth of July. Saint Simons has fireworks going off from several spots on the beach and from the pier. It is a fantastic display if you can position your self to see most of the fireworks and Jekyll Island's display and there is another one off in the distance.
I am working on creating art projects organized by grades. My first one is posted on TPT. Here's the link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Art-Projects-for-First-Grade-Bundle-3227204

Summer Art

It's  summer time and the living is easy! I wish... There have been two too many deaths so far- Gregg Allman was the first. He was buried here in Macon and the fans all partied. Unfortunately one of my former art students (now a grown young man) ingested something that took his life while asleep. A lot of folks had drug overdoses and a few have died from fake opioids. The young man's family is suspicious that he may have taken one.
 On a happier note my grand children have gone one week to a Roman Catholic School's summer camp and have absolutely loved it! The camp is 6 weeks long and is themed based. The theme this year are Luaus and Hawaii. They have studied volcanoes and will create them this week. Last week they learned how to hula and made leis. They also go on field trips and visit a water park each week.
Learning can be fun!
I have created some new products:
One is a coloring workbook based on the color wheel which I use to teach children how to make colors not mud!
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/How-to-make-colors-workbook-3186978

Another product is making a color wheel triangle for preschoolers through first grade.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/A-Triangle-Color-Wheel-3187038
Both of these will be 50% off starting on Monday and ending Tuesday night.

Earth Day Art Projects

Hey there! Earth Day 2017 will arrive on Sunday April 22. I do believe that is the week after Easter. If you are looking for some cool Earth Day Art projects to create with your children/students, I have a couple in my TPT store. Just click on the link:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Easy-Artsy-Landscapes-Galore-1212604

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Amazing-Landscapes-a-drawing-and-painting-project-for-beginners-615788

And Shhhh- I'm having a sale RIGHT NOW- 20% off my entire store thru tomorrow- April 3.

www.teacherspaylteachers.com/Store/Gena-Mcwilliams

Saint Patricks Day

If you are here in the South, particularly Middle Georgia, you are already experiencing Spring. The azaleas are blooming. Our cars are covered with yellow pollen. Tuesday is Shrove Tuesday already. That means Saint Patricks Day is not far away. Wear your green or you will be pinched! Children love it!
 There is an easy drawing lesson for Saint Patricks Day with a little interesting history about leprechauns, pots of gold, and rainbows in my store. click on the link:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Leprechauns-Rainbows-and-Pots-of-Gold-1739580

Valentines and TPT Sale

SHHH! Guess What is about to happen!! A TPT sale! YAY! This is one of those great sales that I cant figure the math but EVERYTHING in my store is on sale at 20% off and TPT takes off another 10% off your total purchase. Somehow that equates to 28%. The sale is February 7 and 8 and the code is LOVETpT

Here's the link to my store:

www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Gena-Mcwilliams just click on this link to view my whole store.

Or if you are looking for Valentines projects, I have a few in my store. This one is a good one:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Valentines-and-Symmetry-534034

And there is this one that is just valentine coloring sheets:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Valentine-Coloring-Sheets-2979429

Happy Bargain Shopping !!! Mizz Mac

Have you heard the news?? It's Time for Teachers Pay Teachers Back to School Sale!!!

My store is 20% off and Tpt kicks in another 8%! 

www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Gena-Mcwilliams

Summer Art Lessons

Once again it's Camp GaGa for me with my grand kids. Last year my grandson was the creative one. We spent a good week making and painting a rocketship from a large cardboard box. This year he needs to catch up on his reading so I have begun reading Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass to him and his sister. We watched Tim Burton'sAlice in Wonderland  a few weeks ago and he just loved it! Our plan is to read a chapter a day but he is also to work on his sight words and read a book out loud to me.
 My grand daughter is the creative one this year. All I had to do to day was cover the kitchen table with newpaper and set out glitter glue pens, metallic markers, paint brush markers, coffee filters, and chenille stems. She wanted to make her Mama a bouquet of flowers. She went into my pantry and found an old glass canister to use for the vase ( She had previously used all of my mason jars to make water candles- her own invention). She remembered my directions from a year ago and proceeded without my help.
For easy directions to make paper flowers click on this link:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/All-Occasion-Paper-Coffee-Filter-Flowers-1868162

Rain Rain Go Away!

It has been raining so long here. Our river crested the other day the third highest crest in history! There were so many people out taking pictures of it on the main bridge the police had to shoo everyone away. The cemetary got more visitors because it borders the river and some lots overlook the river so they got alot of visitors taking pictures. Someone even went up in a helicopter and took a video of the flood waters and posted it on facebook!
My grand children are ready to go back to school where they can at least get somewhere to run and play! My yard is filled with mud and goo so they can 't even get to their swing set!
Are you getting ready for school? I'm having a sale on 12 of my back to school products- 20% off- beginning January 3-6th.
Click here:
www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/Gena-Mcwilliams

Thank you! Mizz Mac

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

Holiday Art

Only two more weeks left before the Holiday Break is here! Now that last week of school can be a bit hectic. How much learning actually takes place?? I would have so many breaks in my schedule that very little could be taught that week. Being an art teacher why not take time away from the art classes? Oh well--- I do have some very easy art craftivities that allow for reviewing patternmaking.One is a freebie for making candy canes with pony beads and chenille stems:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Easy-Christmas-Holiday-Candy-Canes-1007350

Time for Apples!

It’s time for Apples!

Apples are in season and they are great for beginning school activities, particularly kindergarten and preschool classes.  For art teachers the apple  is a great beginning observational subject to use.  This art teacher would begin the class reviewing the five kinds of lines- horizontal, vertical, diagonal, curvy, and zigzag. I would explain how artists take the lines and combine them to make drawings and shapes. I would then show them an apple and ask which line I would use to draw the apple. What am I going to look at when I draw the apple? I will be drawing the contour shape or the outside edge of the apple.

While holding the apple with my freehand I draw the apple slowly on the white board or with my tablet and project for all to see.

Students should already have paper and pencils and apples are then passed out. A 9x12 drawing paper could be folded two times, unfolded, and students told to draw their apple with four different views (side 1, side 2, top, and bottom) in each rectangle. Try to fill up each rectangle with an apple.  Each apple is then colored. The apples can be colored with crayons or oil pastels and the background painted with a thin watercolor or tempera wash.

Older children can do a progressive drawing with the apple. First drawing would be a whole apple, second an apple with one bite on one side, third an apple with two bites on each side, and the fourth with only the apple core. Students who don’t like apples are allowed to spit the apple bites out in a cup.

Check out my freebie apple print lesson for an easier lesson:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mizz-Macs-Print-An-Apple-for-Johnny-Appleseed-1428061

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

Christmas in July Sale for back to school

Hey Y'all! I'm having a Christmas in July Sale 10% off my back to school and beginning art projects!
WHEN? July 26-28. WHERE? www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/Gena-Mcwilliams
Here are a couple examples: