Art Archives - Page 4 of 6 - Whimsy Workshop Teaching

Poetry: Interactive Activities

December 24, 2015 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching 1 Comment

We LOVE poetry in our class – reading it, writing it, rearranging it, and reciting it!
Below are some of the many ways we use poetry for literacy in my classroom.

Why Is Poetry So Useful For Literacy?

1.Poetry can be thematic, informational, and funny. The funnier it is, the more my students like to stand up and recite it to the class for a good laugh!

2.Passages can be short so as to not overwhelm early readers.

3.Poetry encourages repeated reading; the rhythm makes [Read More…]

Polar Bear Art Tutorial

November 23, 2015 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching 16 Comments

Do you study polar bears or arctic animals with your class?
We love doing this fun art project!

Each year while studying the Arctic, we make these cute polar bears with chalk pastel and construction paper. When I have younger students, we work step by step as a directed drawing. If you’d like to try it, follow the pictures below! You can also download your own copy of the step by step photos for your files (below).

Download your own copy by clicking [Read More…]

Phonics Videos and Activities for Bossy E

July 22, 2015 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching 1 Comment

Do you ever show your kiddos the phonics videos on youtube?
My kids just love them. We have collected lots of really good ones, especially for phonics rules like Bossy E.

Harry Kindergarten is their all time favorite – they know every word and sing it LOUDLY!

Harry Kindergarten – One of my favorites!
Just a warning – this one might stick in your head all day!

Magic E Kids

Silent E Song

Silent E Electric Company – An old favorite!

Another Magic E Song

Nessy Reading Strategies [Read More…]

Fairy Tales – Masks, Scripts, Writing and Phonics

July 1, 2015 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching Leave a Comment

Fairy Tales are well proven vehicle for Readers’ Theater, but the engagement and learning increases significantly when you also incorporate masks and interactive play.
Here’s how we explore fairy tales in my class.

Character Masks

Creating masks is a fun way to incorporate art into your literacy activities. They are so fun, and sometimes I almost can’t recognise the students underneath!

I love that there’s lots of laughing when the kids walk around with these on!

Letter Writing

Letter writing to the fairy tale characters is also [Read More…]

Ted Harrison Art and More!

June 19, 2015 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching 10 Comments

If you’ve read many of my posts, you’ll know by now that we integrate almost all of our content area in class. Rarely do we let an opportunity go by for writing, and using out own art is so motivating!

But, we do keep it simple.

For example, we studied the art of Ted Harrison, who painted in the north of Canada. His colorful but simple images are perfect for elementary students.

We googled his artwork and simply talked about what we [Read More…]

Paper Flowers Tutorial

May 21, 2015 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching Leave a Comment

I’ve been wanting to try these paper hyacinth flowers for a few years now, but to be honest, I was afraid!
I was worried that I’d end up with a classroom full of frustrated students who were unable to curl the petals and wanted me to do it for them! So, I decided to try it in small groups, just to be safe, and we talked a lot about our growth mindset before we started. As it turns out, my fears [Read More…]

Art Tutorial – Little Gecko

April 28, 2015 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching Leave a Comment

We made these cute little geckos in our classroom during art time, and they turned out so well that I’ve made another simple tutorial to show how easy it is!
You will need green and black paper, glue, scissors, and chalk pastels (similar to soft chalk). You could change the colors to suit what you have available.

If you’d like to see more step-by-step photo tutorials, you can choose from these huge collections of art lessons for elementary classrooms. Each has lots of [Read More…]

STEM Exploration Outside the Classroom

April 13, 2015 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching 5 Comments

We’ve decided to embrace the idea of STEM in our classroom.
We’ve also explored STEM outside of the classroom! This is where creativity flourishes and students feel the freedom to be themselves and let their natural curiosity lead them.

Since almost everything we’ve done this year has fallen under the category of “integrated learning”, I’m not surprised that my students have completely embraced STEM projects.
Projects that integrate science, math, engineering, art and more? Sounds fantastic, especially when we bring it outside where [Read More…]

Snowy Day Art Tutorial

January 9, 2015 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching 1 Comment

Here’s another fun and easy art project for those long winter days!
It’s all done with ripped paper, which gives the finished piece a unique look.

You will need:
1 sheet per student of colored blue and white paper (of the same size)
assorted colors of scrap paper
white hole punched paper
glue
cotton balls

First make the snow bank. Rip the white paper sheets roughly in half slowly, making a wavy line. Both sides of the white paper can then be used to create a snowbank. Just [Read More…]

Integrated Learning In Primary

January 5, 2015 by Whimsy Workshop Teaching Leave a Comment

There’s a lot of attention on integrated learning. Many schools are moving away from the traditional “single subject blocks” model to a multi-subject, project-based model.

Here’s a quick video from Edutopia to explain the benefits of this approach.

Click for Introduction Video

Project-based learning is perfect for this kind of approach. Why? Within each project there are multiple problems to solve. Each problem is drawing from knowledge in various subject areas.

Our school adopted Genius Hour as another way to facilitate project-based integrated learning. [Read More…]