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Art

Are You Avoiding Teaching Art? How to Fix That

by BrainNinjasWP

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

Filed Under: Classroom Tips, Engaging Lessons Tagged With: Art, Art Class, Art Lessons, artists of canada, Classroom Organization, Classroom Set Up, Earth Day, fingerprint art, halloween art, halloween art lessons, Indigenous Artists, Lesson Plans, Winter

Simple and Stunning Remembrance Day Art Projects

by BrainNinjasWP

Check out these Remembrance Day art projects that feature poppies. Best of all, we've included all the instructions for these free art projects. Come take a look.

Special occasions are a great time to bring out your favourite art projects, and Remembrance Day is no exception. We teach in a general classroom which means we’re responsible for art lessons all year long. While we like to teach specific skills with different projects, sometimes you have to have art projects around a specific theme for hallway decorating or assemblies.

Remembrance Day is one of those occasions when you don’t have a lot of time for art because you’re just starting to get deep into your lessons, and report cards are just around the corner. That’s why we’ve come up with some simple but stunning projects you can do with your students.

[Read more…] about Simple and Stunning Remembrance Day Art Projects

Filed Under: Engaging Lessons Tagged With: Art, Art Lessons, Canadian History, Flowers, Plants, Remembrance Day, Remembrance Day Art Lessons

How to Create Wooden Ornaments for Christmas

by BrainNinjasWP

Create these adorable wooden Christmas ornaments using recycled game pieces and a little paint. Step by step instructions and design ideas are included

Have you ever seen something in a store and thought, “I can make that for way less money?” Maybe. Or, have you ever thought, “Wouldn’t it just be easier for me to buy it instead of making it?” That’s how we’ve usually felt looking for wooden ornaments for Christmas.

We accidentally made these little Christmas ornaments and they turned out so cute that we knew we had to write about them so others could make their own. This project started completely by accident, but sometimes, the happiest of accidents turn out to be blessings in disguise. So, this is our path to making some wooden ornaments from recycled game pieces, but you can take a few shortcuts with our lesson below.

[Read more…] about How to Create Wooden Ornaments for Christmas

Filed Under: Engaging Lessons Tagged With: Art, Christmas, Christmas activities, Christmas Crafts, Holidays, Holidays and Seasonal, Makerspace, ornaments, recycled materials, Recycling, Seasonal

How to Make Christmas Wreaths With Recycled Materials

by BrainNinjasWP

This simple lesson can be done by anyone using recycled fabric. It makes a great Christmas gift from your students to their parents. Come read through all the instructions and make one for yourself and check out some of our other Christmas crafts.

Here is a great activity your students can do that is both environmentally friendly and makes a wonderful Christmas gift. If you plan on using this as a Christmas gift from your students to their families, you’re going to want to start collecting the materials a few months in advance so that you have enough pieces.

[Read more…] about How to Make Christmas Wreaths With Recycled Materials

Filed Under: Engaging Lessons Tagged With: Art, Christmas, Holidays, Holidays and Seasonal, Makerspace, recycled materials, Recycling, Seasonal, wreaths

How to Create Recycled Paper Ornaments

by BrainNinjasWP

Use up all that paper laying around your classroom and make some great ornaments that make great gifts! These make great Christmas or Earth Day crafts.

Here’s a little task you can give to your students to make an environmentally friendly Christmas tree ornament. Using recycled paper products is good for the environment, especially if parents keep the ornaments that are created for generations. It’s especially great if you have lots of extra paper lying around. Rescue it from the recycling bin and use it to make the holidays a little brighter.

This is a great task to put into your makerspace for the month of December, but you can make these any time of year if your paper isn’t seasonal.

[Read more…] about How to Create Recycled Paper Ornaments

Filed Under: Engaging Lessons Tagged With: Art, Art Lessons, Christmas, Holidays, Holidays and Seasonal, Makerspace, Recycling, Seasonal

How to Acknowledge Ramadan and Eid With Your Students

by BrainNinjasWP

If you are looking to acknowledge Ramadan and Eid with your students, come check out these activities you can use in your upper elementary classroom.

In our classroom, we celebrate everything. This year we learned about Ramadan with some of our Muslim students and celebrated Eid with a few different activities.

We think it’s important for all of our students to feel included. It doesn’t matter which different celebrations, observances or holidays they observe. Students share their customs and traditions with us. We celebrated Lunar New Year, Ukrainian Christmas, World Hijab Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and now we’re getting ready for Ramadan and Eid.

[Read more…] about How to Acknowledge Ramadan and Eid With Your Students

Filed Under: Classroom Tips Tagged With: Art, cultures, Eid, Holidays, Holidays and Seasonal, Muslim, Ramadan, Seasonal

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