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I'm brave, I tried a new lesson again.... I can say as we are completing these clay frames that you have to follow some basic rules or you will have broken frames. We have had only 3, but I did make extras.  My 4th graders tackled this lesson with stoneware clay, and finished them with oil pastels, one color of watercolor paint and I painted modge podge on them when dry.   The texture is the key part of the coloring process! I have rollers and rubber texture mats.  At least pencil think and more than 2 fingers in width.  You need some lid tracers and a pin tool. Don't try to cookie cutter it.  I strongly recommend 15 or 19 holes punched with a straw. You must have an odd number!! If they go hole craze, pop out the clay from the straw and plug the holes.  I found the directions for weaving the warp threads here on Cassie Stephen's blog.   I am also doing her plate weaving at the same time with 2nd grade.  This is ho

I was so excited to post pictures of our woven Burlap art. Not only is this my favorite group of kids, but a lesson that I have done for years. Doesn't every kid loves yarn and beads? This year we finished the lesson differently. After weaving patterns into the weft we removed, we added a stick. I found this idea while surfing on Pinterest I noticed a neat post from  Panther Palette . She had her students add a stick at the top. I suggested  this idea to my students, but we added a chop stick to the top edge of the burlap with hot glue. The kids loved it and came up with unique ways to hang their work!

This year I really put some thought into my Texas Art Association  entries. My goal was to enter student work that reflected lesson's I wrote, and were tied to Texas curriculum standards. I entered one of our Longhorn still life and weaving lesson, as well as a Day of the Dead project. Wish us luck!

One of my favorite new lessons this past school year was inspired by a longhorn skull we purchased at Trading Days in McKinney Texas. I used a print by Georgia O'Keeffe and my favorite book about her, My Name is Georgia . The students did a direct drawing of the longhorn skull using contour lines and value. The second part of the lesson involved weaving painted papers together for a rug effect. I loved the final lesson as did the 4th grade students!