Ninja Notes

Let us help you teach like a ninja!

Art Lessons

Art Projects That Will Last All Year

by

If you are an elementary teacher who has to teach their own art lessons, this is the post for you. It comes with a big list of things you need in your elementary classroom along with several free art lessons that don't require special materials. Come take a read to get your art lessons organized for the whole year. Best of all, these are art lessons designed for Canadian students.

Most Canadian elementary teachers teach their own art lessons and most do not have any formal training outside of what they learned while earning their Bachelor of Education. That training can vary from a semester of learning to techniques to an afternoon painting one watercolour painting. Don’t worry, ninjas, we got a collection of art projects that will last all year. No planning needed!

[Read more…] about Art Projects That Will Last All Year

How to Create Memorable Remembrance Day Art Projects

by

This whole post is full of some our favourite and most beuatiful art projects to use for your Remembrance Day bulletin boards. These go way beyond poppies, so come take a look to see which of these creations your students can use to honour the soliders who have given us Canadians our freedoms.

Each year, we spend a good chunk of time creating Remembrance Day art projects to decorate the halls of our school. Our Remembrance Day assembly often invites community members, so we like to have beautiful art to enjoy. There are always a lot of poppies, but we wanted to create some pieces for upper elementary students that took a little more time and care to create and weren’t just poppies.

[Read more…] about How to Create Memorable Remembrance Day Art Projects

Simple Art Projects for Back to School

by

Are you looking for some amazing back to school art projects? You can grab the instructions for this one on our site or get the free lesson plan in our Resource Library. Come check out these great art projects perfect for the first day of school.

One of our favourite things to do on the first day of school is a simple art project. We’ve collected some art projects for back to school that we’ve used over the years to help us get to know our new students. Self-portraits and names are great ways to get to know the personalities of your new students. Even more, having conversations while students are working is a fantastic way to get kids talking without realizing they are sharing.

Come check out these art projects for back to school (that can work any time of year)

[Read more…] about Simple Art Projects for Back to School

How to Weave Kindness into the Classroom Every Day

by

Are you looking for a collaborative art project you can use around the theme of kindness? These are some of the examples our students made from our kindness collaboration art project. You can find out how we made them. It's so easy!

Kindness is one of our core values in our school, classroom and lives. We try to find ways to encourage kindness every chance we get.

How do we encourage kindness all year? We weave it through our lessons and we build connections with our students. These connections build between students and we become a community. Through community, kindness becomes natural.

[Read more…] about How to Weave Kindness into the Classroom Every Day

How to Make Christmas Art Projects to Give

by

Get the instructions to make this sweet Chrismtas ornament. It gives students a chance to try some sewing and put all your craft supplies to good use. Come check out this Christmas craft that makes a great Christmas gift.

Whether you hate to teach art, love to teach art, or you’re somewhere in between, you’ve probably been in a position where you are obligated to provide artwork for a Christmas concert, winter concert or another winter event.

While December can be a very busy time, we do love the holidays. Our students are a mix of backgrounds, but the majority celebrate Christmas. In our classroom and school, we celebrate every holiday. We’re so inclusive that we literally celebrate every holiday. All students are welcome to participate as much as they like (or not at all). And while we call it a Christmas concert, it’s not always Christmas-themed.

[Read more…] about How to Make Christmas Art Projects to Give

Are You Avoiding Teaching Art? How to Fix That

by

Do you avoid teaching art because you can't handle the mess? Check out this list of ways to manage the mess and get some art lessons for your upper elementary students in the process.

If you are an elementary generalist in Canada, chances are, you are teaching art. That can be challenging if you don’t consider yourself an artist. Here are some tried and true routines we’ve put in place with our classes over the years that have saved our sanity.

Maybe you’ll start enjoying teaching art again!

[Read more…] about Are You Avoiding Teaching Art? How to Fix That