Blogging has been hard this year.  My time has really been limited with planning and prepping, it seems.  I am very proud that I was able to plan and execute an amazing author visit.  Barney Saltzberg was a guest speaker on March 1st.  It was a great way to celebrate Read Across America Week.  

I have been a fan of Barney's books for a very long time, and I use Beautiful Oops as a staple in the art room.  We celebrate mistakes instead of getting upset.  I have been working on getting Barney to come to our school since I started here in 2015. 

He was an amazing and inspiring speaker.  He showed the students how he uses technology to make art, and talked about how he became interested in writing children's books.  We loved having him visit our school.  I think the students will remember it for the rest of their lives.

We are well into the first quarter now, and Fall Break is on the horizon. 

All students started the year in art drawing a self portrait for a pre-assessment. I use this as a guide to know where they are at the beginning of the year, and what skills I need to work on with them as the year progresses.  Their pre-assessment self portrait will be in their data notebooks, so be sure to check them out during ILPs.

This quarter we have been focusing on drawing in all classes and will transition into paint second quarter. Big kids have been using their drawing skills to create their art portfolios.  Kindergarten is still learning art room procedures, and how to use the art tools properly.  First and second grade are well on their way making their art books.

​It's been a great start, and I am looking forward to the rest of the year with these awesome artists!

Just before spring break, we had the pleasure of having a guest artist come and speak to some of our students during art class.  His name is Dale Sorenson, a cartoonist, who came to share his work, talk about how he became interested in cartooning, and give our students a lesson in creating cartoons.  He showed how to change a character's expression with just a simple line.  The students really enjoyed his visit.

Third quarter art club has decided to continue into fourth quarter. 

Big thanks to my Art Club for decorating my door for Read Across America Week.  We did the book Red:  A Crayon's Story.

Art Club starts up again on January 23rd.  This time I am running an open studio for 5th through 8th grades.  You may bring in artwork that you have been working on at home, your personal sketchbook, or any type of project to work on during art club.  I will be ordering some special supplies for you to try as well. 

Know that this is a time for creating, and getting feedback from your peers and art teacher,  If there is something you have always wanted to learn how to do, I might be able to teach you how.

Art club will be from 3:15 to 4:15.  Please be picked up promptly at 4:15.


If you have questions, contact Mrs. Olsen at [email protected]
Applications are in the 5/6 gallery, the 7/8 gallery and by the art room door. 

We are nearing the end of the first ever ASU Prep Fiber Art Club.  The club consisted of students in grades 5-8.  We learned how to make two different friendship bradelets.  We also learned how to circle weave on a CD.  Students learned how to finger knit, and how to sew an ugly doll, although none of them were ugly, but really cute.  Many students chose to make cute little stuffed animal and characters.  Our grand finale is coming up.  We will learn different ways to tie t-shirts to get different effects while tie dying.  Our big tie dye party will be December 12.  It would be a good idea if students brought a change of clothes in case there are any tie dye mishaps.  Even taking precautions, there still might be an accident, and I would hate for a uniform to get ruined.  

Over the summer, Mrs. Houseman and I made a plan to collaborate Art and STEM into our Rubik's Cube Mosaics.  The third and fourth grade classes designed their mosaic in art class as pixel art on large graph paper.

After creating their amazing pixel art, it was turned over to Mrs. Houseman and the STEM classes chose the ones they wanted to make as a Rubik's Cube Mosaic.  The results were amazing!

It took a lot of planning and learning how to manipulate the Rubik's cubes to get the colors in the places they needed to be to complete the picture.  I'm so thrilled with the way they turned out.  Way to go Sun Devils!!

Fiber arts are a passion of mine.  I would love to be able to do more of it in the classroom, but supplies can be pricey, and it requires a lot of one on one help sometimes, that makes it more difficult to do in 45 minutes with a class of 30.  Third and fourth graders loved the weaving unit we did last year, and I enjoy my weaving units so much, that I reserve them for fourth quarter.

Starting an art program from scratch last year was a huge undertaking, so I was not prepared to start an art club until now.  The response has been amazing.  This time we will focus on fiber arts.

Your tax credit donations make art club possible.  If you would like to designate your tax credit donation specifically to help with art club costs, you can email me so that I can let the network know to reserve it for art club.

Thank you to those who have already given a tax credit donation.  You make our extra curricular activities possible.  You can access the donation page here:

asuprep.asu.edu/donate

There is something about starting a new year that is so exciting.  Students are in new classes with new friends, and a whole group of new students have started at ASU Prep, not to mention a whole new crop of Kinders! 

Kindergarten has already completed their first two artworks.  A self portrait and a scribble art.  They will do another self portrait at the end of the year, and it is amazing to compare the two.

Fifth through eighth graders have all received sketchbooks.  They will be using mixed media to decorate the cover and will use them to respond to journal prompts, do practice sketches, and drawing exercises.  I can't wait to see how their covers look when they finish.

I am hoping to collect enough plastic bottle caps to create a mosaic as an all school collaborative project.   We need all sizes and colors!  Thank you in advance for your help.

I would also like to express my gratitude for the donations of supplies for the Specials Team and for the art room.  Your generosity is so appreciated.  We couldn't do what we do without the kindness of our families.  Thank you so much!