Printmaking Info...

This post isn't' so much about what my kiddos are making as much about how to survive printmaking with 300+ 6th graders.

photo credit

I love to introduce my 6th graders to printmaking and I have found Nasco's Safety Kut is the best stuff.  I can cut 31 4x6 pieces from each of these "Monster" sheets with one 2x6 piece left over.  At $36.78 a sheet it comes out to about $1.00 a student BUT you can use both sides so my students get a block printing lesson and a mono print lesson from one block (or I could reduce the project to .50 if they shared).

After cutting all the blocks (easy but a little tedious if you do all 300 at the same time).  I organize them on the back counter by class.  I have 4 days worth of students with 3 classes a day.  I create these manila papers to keep all the blocks organized.

I also use this awesome marker box from my crayola order to keep my carving tools organized.

On the lid I have a reminder of what 4 tips should be in each handle.  Students are responsible for checking their carving tool at the start and end of each class period.  The cubbyholes make easy work of check to see if all the tools are turned in.  

I cut 4x6 scraps of white paper for the students planning.  When they draw their images using a "real" pencil they can then lay them onto the Saftey-Kut, rub it with a ruler and it will transfer.  

When they are carving I always tell them:

but 

We use the safety cutters and they only have one sharp side.  If the students are using the unsharpened side they will "tear" the Safety-Kut and create cottage cheese.  If they use the blade, they will get string cheese.  We love string cheese. 

(one classes's string cheese)

Before the students head back to print, they have to check their images with a graphite stick.  Laying it on it's side and rubbing with show any areas that still need carved.

ready to print?                            Nope.  Fix it first!

The last part of printmaking is one of my favorites.

Peer teaching!

I demo how to print at the end of our first day of carving.  When we come back to class there are always a few students ready to print.  I work one on one with them at the 3 printing stations.  They then become my "master printer" and it is their job to teach the person after them.  This continues throughout class.  Every student becomes the teacher to another student.  It is awesome to listen to them.

Each student must create an edition of 3 with a limit of 4 prints.  They print two 4x6 prints on a 8.5x11 piece of computer paper.  We then trim and number them the following week.  You can check out some of our other printmaking projects here and here, here, here and here.  

Live Binder

Our schools technology guru has been sending out emails about using LiveBinders for about a year.  From what I understand it is like a regular binder, but you store everything online.  Today I was looking for some art games for my students to play and found this awesome live binder all about art games. 

Check it out

Thank you to Theresa McGee (from The Teaching Palette) for sharing!

Here are some more of her binders to check out.

Needless to say, I will be checking out and exploring LiveBinder a little more.

Official Welcome Back!

sign that I painted at the end of last school year to use up the last little bit of paint in all the gallon containers.

We are up and running for the year.  Tomorrow is a full week of school under out belts so it is probably time for me to share a few of the "new" things I did in my class room this year!

a mirror outside of my classroom... this is where I put the spotlight artist information but for now it is a mirror, because every student who enters my room should see that they are an artist!

our old paper recycling chart redesigned into a blue tree outside of my room... who doesn't love a blue tree!

I added foot prints around the sink to avoid the "rush" of bodies that sometimes crowd the sink.  However, I am even more excited about the fact that they fixed my sink.  Last year the water would get REALLY hot.  Come to find out someone had turned the cold water off.  

Sugar Cookies?

Nope.  

SNOWFLAKES!

Before Mr. Koehn  left to graduate he started the 6th graders on a clay project (he had a passion for sculpture) that had them creating clay snowflakes.  I have never tackled a project like this and wasn't sure if we could make them more than a "cute seasonal project."  But I think we have that covered. 

On a side note, we did a few things during this lesson that helped make it all run a little smoother...

#1 We all have those students who finish early and have "nothing" to do (even though you have a file of projects they could work on).  This project had a lot of "left overs" that they were happy to wedge for me.

#2 Clean up can be a bit tedious.  I made the requirement that they give me a "ticket" on the way out the door.  Some classes were required to bring a piece of clay from the floor.  Some classes were required to bring me a specific number of papers.

Organization

Seeing almost 600 kids a week takes some organization... here is what is working for me. 

Each student has a Manila folder in which they store their notes, sketches and small class projects.  They are stored in these plastic milk crates by class code (ex M1 = is Monday, 1st period).  My "handout" table knows to come into the room and hand out their classes folders.

The front of one milk crate also has Free Time Artstuff.  This is where I keep word finds, grid pictures, design coloring worksheets and free draw paper.  When students finish a project early they know they can head here for something extra to do. 

The students large artworks are stored in these flat racks in the back of the room.  They are also sorted by class code.  Students are not allowed to hand in work unless it has their first name, last name and class code on it.  This makes it much easier to hand back art show work ... just divide it up by class code.