Teaching Tips and Ideas

This is by Mailbox: Thought is was a great tip to share

And my favorite from this week:

Colorful Craft: name posters

Student individuality will shine with this colorful poster project. Give each student a sheet of art paper. Instruct her to wet the paper using a sponge. While the paper is still wet, have her paint designs on the paper with watercolors, allowing the colors to bleed and run. After the paper is dry, have each child trace the letters of her name with stencils. Then have her cut out the letters and glue them to a sheet of colored construction paper. Have students cut additional shapes from any leftover painted paper and add them to the poster. Hang the posters in your room for a colorful display.

 

Colorful Craft: prints

Spark imaginations and creativity with disposable cups! In advance, pour a different color of tempera paint in each of several shallow containers. Gather several disposable cups in one or more sizes. To make a painting, dip either the top or the bottom of a cup in a chosen color of paint. Press it on a sheet of paper to make a print. Repeat the dipping and printing process to create a geometric design or a desired illustration. After the paint dries, embellish the artwork with crayon details. How clever!

                    

Fun Craft: mobile

The result of this gluing project is a colorful design that is just perfect for hanging!

Materials for one:

• 8" square of waxed paper
• food coloring
• 6" length of thread or fishing line
• bottles of white glue
• craft sticks

Setup:

Add a few drops of food coloring to each bottle of glue to tint it a different color. Stir the glue in each bottle with a craft stick until the color is blended.

Steps:

1. Use different colors of glue to squeeze a design on waxed paper, making sure that all the glue lines are connected. Let the glue dry for two to three days.
2. Carefully peel the design away from the waxed paper. (Tie a loop of thread or fishing line through the project for hanging.)

Organization Tip: student work groups

Looking for a way to keep track of different groups of student work? This color-coding system does the trick. Designate a different-colored nametag for each student group and tape the nametags to students' desks. Give each child reproducibles that match his nametag color or have him highlight his name on his work with the matching color. At the end of the day, simply sort papers by their colors! Substitutes also benefit from this system when you leave lesson plans on corresponding colored paper.