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How to Encourage a Maker Mindset in your Classroom | Teaching Strategies for Art, STEAM, & Design

How to Encourage a Maker Mindset in your Classroom | Teaching Strategies for Art, STEAM, & Design

A Makerspace is an opportunity to allow kids to be creative, experiment, and learn and apply Growth Mindset thinking when trying to solve real-world problems or STEAM design challenges. It is important to expose kids in Elementary and Middle School to design challenges or projects that require building to provide hands-on experiences to solving problems. Read about my ideas on how to encourage a Maker Mindset in your classroom, library, or home. #backtoschool #makerspace #steamchallenges

5 Ideas for Valentine’s Day Art Lessons, Ideas, & Activities for your Classroom
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5 Ideas for Valentine’s Day Art Lessons, Ideas, & Activities for your Classroom

Have fun creating one-of-a-kind Valentine’s Day Art Pieces with kids this February. These 5 art ideas will allow your kids to get their hands-on art mediums that are easy to use and quick to clean. This illustrations and how-to drawing tutorials are the perfect solution for your at home art night needs or for creating in your classroom with your students. Whatever you need, these tutorials and art ideas are bound to get you and your kids or students creating amazing Valentine’s Day Artworks that will capture an audience! #valentinesdayart #valentinesdayartprojects #valentinesdaydiy

10 Reasons Why Arts Integration in Schools is Important | Art Education Resources

10 Reasons Why Arts Integration in Schools is Important | Art Education Resources

Arts integration in schools are important as they provide students with a complete education. Visual Arts teach visual communication, fine motor skills, culture, how to persevere, how to problem solve, how to think critically, and how to face challenges. All these skills can be learned through the arts, then applied to other academics, and later, a child’s career. Here are my 10 Reasons on why arts integration in schools is important. #artseducation #artintegration #artteacher

Valentines Day Art Project Tutorial for Kids: Valentines Puppy
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Valentines Day Art Project Tutorial for Kids: Valentines Puppy

Teaching Art to Kids leading up to Valentine’s Day can be fun! Here is an art project tutorial that teaches elementary students how to create a Valentine’s puppy using oil pastels and paint. Teach how to use a variety of art mediums with this quick and easy art activity that will have kids making a fun illustration. Perfect teaching resource for grade 4 and grade 5 students.

5 New Years Art Lesson and Activity Ideas to Try in your Classroom
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5 New Years Art Lesson and Activity Ideas to Try in your Classroom

Start the New Year off in your classroom in an artastic way! Engage your students with art ideas that are perfect for goal setting, practicing drawing skills, and getting creative at the start of the New Year. Try these 5 New Years Art Ideas in your classroom or at home to get your creative juices flowing. Let’s get started!

Winter Art Project Activity for your Classroom | FREE Winter Evergreen Art Project
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Winter Art Project Activity for your Classroom | FREE Winter Evergreen Art Project

Learn how to create this Winter Art Project in your classroom for FREE with the FREE Downloadable PDF that includes all the tools and steps that you need to not only teach the lesson, but display it too. Students will use paint, paper, and pastel to create this FREE Winter Evergreen Art Project.

6 Christmas Art Lesson and Activity Ideas for Your Classroom
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6 Christmas Art Lesson and Activity Ideas for Your Classroom

Coming up with ideas for what to do with your students before Christmas break can often be difficult, especially when you’re burn’t out and tired from both teaching and getting-ready-for-Christmas-life outside of work. Here are 6 Art Activity Ideas that you can do in your classroom to be prepared and done planning before your vacation days start.

Thankful, a Thanksgiving Art Project for Kids to do in your Classroom

Thankful, a Thanksgiving Art Project for Kids to do in your Classroom

Thanksgiving is a great time to create some Autumn themed work that reflects our thankfulness for things that we appreciate in our lives and the harvest that has been collected from the summer. This Thanksgiving, get out a piece of paper or your sketchbook and get ready to create some Thanksgiving art either in your home or in the classroom.

Autumn Art Lesson for Kids, Leaves Line Art Tutorial & FREE DOWNLOAD
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Autumn Art Lesson for Kids, Leaves Line Art Tutorial & FREE DOWNLOAD

I love when the leaves change and they begin to change into those warm, beautiful colors. This is a great opportunity to teach your students about both Autumn and the Element of Art: Line using this FREE Art Tutorial. Click here or scroll to the bottom of the page to download the printable tutorial; great to use yourself or leave for a sub!

Element of Art: Line in 10 Famous Artworks in Art History to Reference in your Classroom
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Element of Art: Line in 10 Famous Artworks in Art History to Reference in your Classroom

The Element of Art: Line is a fun element to work with as an art teacher as most art begins with line and line can take on many shapes or forms or expressions. Line works with the other elements: shape, color, form, texture. Line can help create shape or texture. For this reason, it is is a lovely Element of Art to start with in teaching in your art classroom.

10 Art Teacher Tips & Teaching Strategies for Back to School Success
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10 Art Teacher Tips & Teaching Strategies for Back to School Success

When it comes to Back to School, a little panic sets in because of the unknown. We are unsure if any changes will happen in the school, unsure of our schedule, unsure if there will be supplies budget cuts (why do they do this!?), unsure if the staff has changed significantly, unsure who the kids are… These are all unknowns. These are, for the most part, out of your control. We cannot worry about things we can’t control. We are instead, going to place out focus on things we CAN control. If we focus our attention here and get things we can control organized and prepped, it will make our back to school, as well as the year, a lot more stress-free. Isn’t that the goal anyway?

How-to Guide for a First Year Art Teacher: 10 Steps for Success | Teaching Strategies & Resources
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How-to Guide for a First Year Art Teacher: 10 Steps for Success | Teaching Strategies & Resources

Welcome to the How-To Guide for First Year Art Teachers where I give you my 10 Steps for Success! Congratulations! You got your own classroom. OH MY GOSH, you have your own classroom. Your mind and stomach start racing, both with extreme excitement and panic because now, it all just got real. You will have a lot of students, a lot of planning, and a lot of classroom to keep organized. Figuring out where to even start is a huge stress and will require a tea (or a beer) and a nap (probably some Netflix too).

How to Teach Classroom Routines and Procedures in a Fun and Engaging Way in Your Art Classroom | Teaching Strategies
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How to Teach Classroom Routines and Procedures in a Fun and Engaging Way in Your Art Classroom | Teaching Strategies

Teaching students rules and procedures is a skill in itself. You have to learn to teach it and then reinforce them while doing it in an engaging way. In this article, I’ll give you some ideas of how to teach your students your classroom routines and expectations in a fun and engaging way.

Back to School Guide for Art Teachers | Teaching Strategies & Routines for Success
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Back to School Guide for Art Teachers | Teaching Strategies & Routines for Success

Getting ready for Back to School in your art classroom can sometimes be stressful. There is a lot to think about and remember since you’ve been away for 2 months. As well, the kids that left you knew your routines and now you have to re-teach them to the new set of kids. Or, you might be in your first years of teaching and are still learning how to effectively teach classroom routines in your art classroom. Or in later years and looking for some fresh ideas to allow your back to school run smoothly. I’m going to share with you how to efficiently set up your Back to School routines and systems to allow you to effectively teach rules and routines and create classroom community.

All About Ms Artastic

All About Ms Artastic

My name is Kathleen and I am Ms Artastic. I am a teacher in Canada and I strongly believe in allowing students the opportunity to be creative, explore and experiment, and make mistakes. I also have two cats who are named Russel and Audrey. As Ms Artastic, I design art resources, projects, and curriculum for teachers from kindergarten to grade twelve.

Ceramics! Zen Doodle Pinch Pot Art Project for your Classroom.
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Ceramics! Zen Doodle Pinch Pot Art Project for your Classroom.

Play with clay in your art classroom! This is the perfect, free ceramic art lesson that you need to kick start your curriculum. Students will explore the Element of Art: Line, subtractive sculpture technique, and texture through creating Zen Doodle Pinch Pots. Pinch pots are a traditional vessel in ceramic history and is a way to create a strong, durable drinking cup or bowl using your hands and a pinching method to form clay.