Presidents' Day and the Colonists Art projects for children

We are out for Winter Break this week. We should have been out last week since we had an ice storm and this week we are experiencing spring weather with temperatures in the 70's! It is a miracle we are not all sick- tree pollen is high. Can you believe it??
If you are still studying Colonial America, I have an art lesson posted on Teachers Pay Teachers based on the art of the early colonist artists. Some were house painters who made their living in the Winter months painting portraits. The Limners were some of the painters and they would paint various bodies in various rooms, all holding something.They would ask the customer to select the body of their liking and would paint the portrait on the chosen body. All of the portraits were painted with a three quarter view.
www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Ye-Olde-Colonial-Portraits-422600

Valentines, Children's Art while in the Dark projects

The weather here is definitely better- power is back on. The ice has melted but they are calling for black ice in the morning. I feel sorry for those further north. Pax is a terrible storm!
So what to do with children when the lights are out? Put headlights on them and let them go creative! there are books to be read, drawings to make in sketchbooks with pencils, crayons, and markers, and if you dare, get out the play dough and let them make snowmen or blue icemen!! They can always cut out snowflakes of various sizes from paper. String them up on a coat hangar to make a mobile. If you need to know how to cut the snowflakes, I have a lesson about Snowflakes! on my teachers pay teachers store. You can also combine the Snowflakes cut outs with the Valentines cut outs to make Valentines for tomorrow!

www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Snowflakes-Winter-Holidays-an-Easy-Artsy-Art-Project-1007433

www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mizz-Macs-Easy-Artsy-Bundle-of-Valentine-Art-Lessons-1090267

Ice and power out!

Mizz Mac is in Middle Georgia. The power went off hours ago and the grandchildren are getting bored! We have  a generator thank goodness! We have heat and can keep the computers charged up. Laptops with DVD players for movies for the grandchildren. More ice is forming on the pine trees yuk! 

Valentines, Children's Art Projects

This upcoming week is one of the most exciting weeks for children. We have made Valentine boxes and are ready to make our Valentines. There are all kinds of fun activities and crafty projects to do this week. Here are a couple of art projects I have posted on my store:
www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/A-Valentine-Paper-Collage-art-project-for-kids-534034

www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mizz-Macs-Easy-Artsy-Bundle-of-Valentine-Art-Lessons-1090267

Mizz Mac's Easy Artsy Bundle has Valentine templates for you to copy and illustrations to help you teach the cutting of Valentines. Have fun! Mizz Mac

Snow, Harriet Tubman, the Underground Railroad, and shoofly quilts

Hey! Mizz Mac has had a very busy month with 3 birthdays, the funeral of an old friend's father which resulted in an impromptu reunion with child hood friends, two out of town trips, one to the mountains of North Carolina and the other to the beach of Saint Simons Island, a cold weather blast of extremely cold temperatures and a snow storm! Whew!! It's been a busy month!
 I have posted this lesson several times because American History is interesting to me. We have some unique stories and one of those is the Underground Railroad. I have read stories about the Underground Railroad and the people involved with helping the runaway slaves to escape. There is a quilt square called the Shoofly quilt square that supposedly women who were supporters of the runaway slaves and the railroad made quilts using the shoofly pattern. The quilts were then thrown over the laundry line as a signal to the slaves to either show directions or the owners in the house were helpers.
www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Shoo-Fly-Quilt-Underground-Railroad-and-Flat-shapes-972741

Task Cards anyone??

I have posted a small set of art task cards on my store on teacherspayteachers. I hope someone will buy a set and try them out. My goal was to  make some cards with easy to read directions for self- starters or for those who like to work independently. Please let me know if I achieved my goal! Thank you, Mizz Mac
www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/Gena-Mcwilliams 

Brrrr- it's cold! Inside? Do ArT!

Are you cold??? My house has too many sliding glass doors for windows and sits on pilings so most of the floor underneath is exposed to the outside! So much for a modern house but I am still warmer in this one than the 100+ year old one we had restored a few years ago. The schools here are closed so now is a good time for y'all to be researching activities.
I had written earlier that I would be posting lesson and ideas related to the common core standards. I have read the standards and find them to be quite boring !! If we are finding them boring and tedious, what are our students thinking? Are they really increasing their learning? Not unless they are using their long term memory! I believe that true learning doesn't take place because the teachers are using standards. True learning happens when the student is able to stick the learning objective into his/her long term memory. For young children that happens with repetition.
 I teach the color wheel as a lesson about how to properly mix paint to make colors, not mud, to first through fifth grades. Some children love it! Still others are forced to make the colors and not make a mess and have to learn that art has structure and tools that need to be cared for.
So much for my rant- Many art lessons and projects can be used to illustrate or reinforce the standards and give those boring standards more interest. Try them as a review or reinforcement! Mizz Mac