Google Virtual Classrooms and the Artist of the Month Museum - A year full of art lessons and resources for Art teachers

I was so excited to see that teachers have gotten really creative using Google Slides and started making awesome 'virtual classrooms' as a result of the Covid related school closings and the transition to online learning platforms.  I LOVED the google slides so much I knew I would have to make my own and start playing with them.  It instantly became a HUGE project in my mind as I thought about creating a 'classroom' for each grade level for art and have pages and links to ALL the art lessons for the year!  HAH H  I have tried creating a year at a glance plans using microsoft programs and while they were great- I found that by December - my plans tapered off or started to diverge from the original framework.  While I am sure these grade level 'virtual classes' that I have begun making will kind of be the same- I have had a blast compiling art resources and think that they will making teaching any elementary art class a breeze!  

Unfortunately, with my crazy right brained ADHD brain, I just started hopping around and noticed that a lot of my lessons for each grade level revolved around a theme or artist for the month.  So I started making an Artist of the Month virtual art museum that would contain all the lessons and links for the artist studies for the month.  AND here it is:

Artist Museum!

I shared it to Facebook and can not take credit for coming up with the templates or the all the content.  It is merely a compilation of lessons, videos and resources that I have picked up along the way while teaching elementary art for over ten years.  One person on Facebook mentioned that I should wait to share it until it is finished but honestly- I don't think I could ever finish such a resource.  It is meant to be an ever growing and improving year long library that will be altered, edited and added to.  

How to Write and Publish your own Children's Book!

Were you able to accomplish some awesome things during this quarantine? If anything good came from this lockdown pandemic it was that I was finally able to finish my third book, Robot Goes to China ! You can find the ebook and paperback here on Amazon!

I even made a youtube video to share the process I used to write, illustrate and SELF publish this book using Amazon Direct Publishing https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/.

The whole process took me two years to complete ( because I am a procrastinator and have had many life events conflict with my ability to devote the time it needed! ) but you could easily simplify the process and save time.

With that said - it is a BIG undertaking but if I can do it- I know you can too!

This book is actually the third book in my Artrageous Adventure series which involves a dog, Robot, who goes on art history adventures with his owner and friends. I wrote the books to help me teach art history lessons in the elementary art room so there is an easy to follow art lesson at the end of each book ( a cave painting, Egyptian portrait, and a chinese brush painting of a dragon)

Step 1: I start the process with brainstorming and thinking about my audience

Step 2- Then I either story board or just start typing the manuscript using a microsoft word book manuscript template.

Step 3- Draw the cover !

Step 4- Draw the illustrations

Step 5- Digitize your illustrations

Step 6- Convert text and pictures into a powerpoint file to format each page

Step 7- PUBLISH- Create your amazon account and fill out your information, book details, cost and upload your file- ( export/print the powerpoint into PDF file) You can even create your own About the Author page on Author central on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B088HFTFBV

MINECRAFT CHORE CHART

This is more of a stay at home mom post than an art teacher post but I guess we are kind of ALL stay at home parents now thanks to the COVID-19 quarantine and stay at home order.  It is May 6th, as I am writing this and it seems like the closures may be coming to an end soon as some things are reopening (at least it seems that way in Florida)

So this post is about a chore chart that I just made and plan on implementing with my 9 year old son.  It is Minecraft themed because as an art teacher- I just can't use some plain old chore chart!  LOL I started looking up some on google - which led me to pinterest which then led me to Microsoft word and then finally POWERPOINT ! Is it just me or evertime you find a FREE PRINTABLE chore chart- it just isnt cutomizebable!?  I know every kid and parent have specific chores/tasks that they ask expect so it is just too broad of a range to have a one size fits all chore chart.  There were some good ones on microsoft word but the formatting is SO specific and rigid that I just couldn't fit in the things I needed or wanted.

So finally after finding a picture of a minecraft one I really liked (on this site http://cassiescreativecrafts.blogspot.com/2014/09/free-minecraft-chore-chart-award-system.html )  I set out to re create it on Powerpoint so I could customize it.  AND here is the result!  I am going to try to laminate it - (to save on printer ink)  but it is good to keep track of progress .  My son had a weekly behavior check list when he was in ABA therapy and it was good to have all the data tracked and recorded.  That is why I added the behavior element - it really should be recorded by the day/ time but honestly- I need this to be easy or I know I won't keep up with it.  And that is the real test- if its not easy or manageable , then most people will not be able to maintain conistency with its use.  So I am going to try this and see if it helps!! WISH ME LUCK ! LOL  This is the jpeg but I will try to put the actual powerpoint file on my weebly so you can save it and customize it yourself! (apparently you can't add powerpoint files  in blogger?) lol
My weebly- Artrageous Art works