Celebration honoured. This is the loveliest of reasons to share. Join Ruth Ayres who shares a Celebration Link up on her blog each week.
This week I had a visit from someone that spent a lot of time in my classroom last year. She walked into the class, paused and took in all of the wall space and displays. “I just love all of the art in this classroom. It is always so amazing.” she commented. Yes, I thought, I think so too!
The art all over our walls and on display in the hallways speaks to our spirit, our creativity and our community. Making art together every week is a happy time. Time to talk, to problem solve, and to share. We often have three to four projects on display at once. Often a picture book has been an inspiration for these projects. I also regularly read a variety of art blogs for great ideas.
This week, I am sharing some final projects as well as some in process photos of art projects created in my classroom over the last 12 months or so. I celebrate the art my students produce! It is always a source of joy.
I hope it brings as much happiness to you as it does to us to be surrounded by colour and creativity everyday!
We did gorgeous cityscape pieces last spring using black construction paper, glue lines and vibrant chalk pastel. Our inspiration for these pieces was the book by Robert Neubecker‘s Wow! City! More about this project here.
We were inspired by the “eyepatch” page in Calef Brown’s book Pirateria. Fabulous pirates guarded our hallway after everyone got to work on making some amazing pirate art. More about this project here.
Mini Grey‘s The Very Smart Pea and the Princess-to-Be was part of the inspiration for some princess and pea inspired art. More about this project here.
The book Ten Little Beasties by Ed Emberley was the inspiration for a project to make our own beasties. Lots of colour, lots of fun.
What is Halloween without amazing witches? More about this project here.
I have a thing for owls. Last year we did three projects about owls in art. This year, I just couldn’t resist sneaking one in. More about this project here.
We are VERY fortunate to have Arts Umbrella come in and do a project with us almost every year. This year we did huge insect art. Stunning!
We finished up some gorgeous winter castles in January and added some writing to go with the final pieces on display. I love working really large with projects!
For Valentines and Kindness week, my class made Love Robots. Programmed to love. What could be sweeter?
And sometimes art going on display is not a class project, but a body of work by one child. This is an in process photo for a project to be on display after our Spring Break. Thanks to the brilliant inspiration of Miriam, who shares these wonderful children with me, to bust out the gold spray paint!
May your week be filled with colour, creativity and joy!
There's a Book for That 
WOW! These are AMAZING! I love the cityscapes and the castles! I LOVE having Arts Umbrella come to our school. They are so inspiring and the artwork that the kids produce is gallery-worthy! As I always say when I read your blog – your kids sure are lucky to have you! Happy Spring break, my friend!
Thanks Adrienne. The art is something that makes us so happy. I love listening to all of the conversations as they work! Happy Spring Break to you too!
AMAZING ART INDEED! It’s all amazing – but your owls should be for sale!
They are pretty gorgeous aren’t they! We have them all up above our chalkboards and they stare down at us with their royal wisdom!
I remember some of these, Carrie-those witches, so great! And the buildings! All of it is wonderful & I know that it helps the kids feel very, very good about their abilities. I used to do lots of art too, miss it! Your ‘love’ robots are so cute, and I adore that princess/pea piece-wow! Glad you had a good week!
Thanks Linda. It is nice to honour things that we do all the time. Even though I often celebrate the art in my room, it was nice to gather a bunch of it together here. And to think about both the process and final projects. Love it all!
The projects are amazing!! I wish I could have been in your room. Certainly would improve my stick figures 🙂 And how wonderful for those students who thrive in that area! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Michele. Art was always scary for me when I was a child. I really wanted to overcome this and allow my students lots of opportunities to explore their creativity. So we try to complete a few projects each month.
What brilliant artwork and creativity! I love how the projects are inspired by books in a lot of cases. I love the love robot idea!
Yes, I love to do projects inspired by books! Such a great way to integrate our thinking and learning!
Yay, art! I’m always impressed by kids art whenever I visit the school I volunteer at- or see them displayed at a coffee shop. Amazing job your students did!
Thanks Earl. Kid art is pretty amazing!
Awesome. Your idea to collect the art in one celebration piece created a lovely gallery walk. Witches and owls were my favorites.
Thanks Terje. I have a soft spot for those witches as well. They had so much personality.
It is so sad that in many schools in the states, the fine arts programs are the thing to go. For many kids, this is the one area they excel. Your pictures of your students artwork is a huge reason why we should keep it in our schools. They have done an amazing job and obviously they enjoy it! Hopefully you don’t have this problem in Canada!
Thanks Leigh Anne. We have lost a lot in terms of music programs over the years. I teach my own art and it is a hugely important part of my program.
Carrie, I love coming into your classroom and seeing all the beautiful art. It always makes me very happy. I am always amazed at everything you do with the children in your class. It is such a wonderful place to learn!
Wow, Heather – what a lovely compliment. I think my goal is to start from a place of joy and community and everything kind of falls into place from there. Usually . . . 🙂
I want to come live in your classroom! And send all my students teachers to live in your classroom for awhile, even the ones who are going to teach high school. And also: a Mini Grey book I’ve never seen! Click, click, click, and it’s now on its way to me. Funny how often that sequence of clicks happens after I visit your blog. (Traction Man books are some of my very favorites. That green knitted jumpsuit kills me.) Thanks for sharing all this gorgeous art. And I love what you say about joy and community. My students grapple so much with what they believe learning should be about, and we’re often mired for a very long time in discussions about standards, tests, content, curriculum, etc. No. School should be about joy and community.
Oh yes Traction Man! LOVE Mini Grey! Thanks for such a truly wonderful comment. Art has really been a gift to my students and to me. It brings joy in the doing and the appreciating and in the being surrounded by it. One of my little girls once said, “Our room is like an Art Gallery!” This means a lot.