Blog
Drawing Challenge: 20 Minutes of Gratitude
Join me in the "20 Minutes of Gratitude" drawing challenge this month. November is the perfect month to reflect on all the things we are thankful for and what better way to insert some mindfulness by capturing these mini moments of gratitude in our sketchbook! To learn more about this challenge head to my blog post!
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There's a Monster In My Closet Lesson!
This Monster in My Closet art lesson has been one of my students' absolute favorites over the years! A perfect lesson for drawing creativity out of even the most hesitant young artists. With a focus on line, shape, and texture your students will be engaged the entire time they are creating!
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Art with Mrs. E Workshops!
Join me for my first art workshop with a project titled "Growth Mindset". An exploration of gouache paint and botanicals to make a silhouette painting of a loved one.
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Watercolor Cityscape Art Lesson
If you're looking for a great lesson to start the year off with your elementary school students, I've got the perfect art project for you! WIth a focus on line, shape, unity, and repetition this watercolor cityscape lesson is great for all ages.
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My Favorite Supplies as an Artist
Here are my absolutely favorite art supplies that I use and swear by as an art teacher and artist! Everything from my favorite watercolors, to sketchbooks, pens, colored pencils and more! This blog will take the guess work out of "what supplies should I get? I don't know where to start" and help you start your journey!
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How to Make Sensory Bottles for Adapted Art
Creating sensory bottles is one of the best projects to do at the start of the year in adapted art class. Here are the easy steps you can follow to create sensory bottles with your students.
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10 Picture Books to Pair with Your Next Self Portrait Lesson
If you're anything like me, you enjoy a good hook at the start of a lesson. Something that will lure the kiddos in, grab their interest and keep them engaged throughout the upcoming project. For me, 9/10 that hook involves a picture book. I teach self portraits with almost every grade, sometimes multiple times a year (I just LOVE to see their growth and how they represent themselves) so it's important to me to have a variety of great picture books up my sleeve to read not only at the start of a lesson, but throughout the project. Below you will find a list of just SOME of my favorite picture books that I like to read throughout a self portrait lesson. Here are my top 10 Favorite Picture Books to Pair with Self Portrait Lessons 1. What I Like About Me by Allia Nolan. 2. You are Enough by Margaret O’Hair, 3. I Like Myself by Karen Beaumont 4. The Color of Us by Karen Katz 5. The Skin You Live In by Michael Tyler 6. It’s Ok to Be Different by Todd Parr 7. Just Like Me by Vanessa Brantley-Newton 8. Eyes That Kiss in the Corners by Joanna Ho 9. Becoming Vanessa by Vanessa Brantley-Newton 10. That's Not My Name by Anoosha Syed I hope you find this list of books celebrating our identity to be helpful the next time you teach a self portrait lesson! If you are looking for some tips on best practices when teaching self portraits, be sure to check out my blog "8 Tips For Teaching Self Portraits" here . You can also grab my Advanced Self Portrait Guide or Simple Self Portrait Guide here! Happy Teaching (and Reading!)
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8 Tips For Teaching Self Portrait Lessons To Elementary Students
If you're looking for a few tips and tricks when teaching self portraits, look no further! In this blog you will find 8 of my top tips to help you implement best practices into your next self portrait art lesson.
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Life Update 🖤
Hey friends. As many of you have been getting your classrooms together and planning your first few lessons for the start of the year, I have been a bit more quiet during this “back to school season”. While this has felt a bit nerve wracking, I wanted to take a moment to share with you all that I have decided to step into a new chapter of my life, by stepping out of the classroom. What do you do when you have your dream job that has a gorgeous classroom, the best coworkers, and incredible students & families… but your heart is still heavy? When the stresses of being a full-time working mom have only been intensified by teaching through a pandemic? When your work/ life balance has simply become a total imbalance? I’ve made a lot of big and bold decisions in my life, but the decision to step away from the only career I have ever known, has been the hardest by far. The only thing I’ve ever wanted to be my entire life was an art teacher. And for the last 15 years, it’s become the majority of my identity. At times it felt like my entire identity. But I am slowly realizing that I’m more than an art teacher in a public school. I’m a mother, a wife, a daughter & sister, a friend, an artist, a muralist, a volunteer, a dreamer, a presenter, an observer, an advocate, and an educator in more ways than one. In this next chapter of my life, I may be stepping away from the traditional classroom, but my love and passion for teaching kids (and adults) how they can enrich their lives by adding art to it is something that will never go away. I am the person I am today because of the impact that art has had on me since childhood. And that passion to share my love of art will now have the opportunity to be shared in so many NEW ways! As I move forward, I hope to create a work/ life balance that allows me to keep my family first, while still providing me the opportunity to fill my creative cup in ways that, until now, I had only dreamed were a possibility. So instead of spending the tiny bit of free time I have had thinking “maybe someday, when I find the time, I’ll create that” I can now start saying “Yes! I can’t wait to start working on that!” And actually do it. Though the pandemic has been difficult for so many of us, it has also given me clarity about what is truly important in my life and the (sometimes scary) changes I need to make in order to create the life I want. Thank you for being here and for supporting me in this space. Whether it’s been through leaving me an encouraging comment, buying my artwork and/or teaching resources, sharing my account with a friend, sending me something thoughtful in the mail (too many of you to thank for this one! I will never stop being humbled by your thoughtfulness) or just sending me a direct message of encouragement or thanks. Whether you’ve been following me from the earlier days in my career or are new here, you all have allowed me to feel a part of such a beautiful and supportive teaching community and I truly hope that you will still stick around as I share more about my next chapter. You know as teachers, we are always sharing our objectives at the start of a lesson so here are my objectives for this next chapter: To continue to help and support teachers, children and artists of all ages find and gain confidence in their creative voice while allowing myself the time and pace to refocus on myself, my family, and my artwork. I can’t wait to continue to serve educators & students in many new and exciting ways through my love of art education. Stick around because there is so much more to come : ) Thanks y'all❤️ Love, Kaitlyn
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The Ultimate Adapted Art Supply List
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Y'aLL ReAdY fOr ThiS?? *cue up the 90's Jock Jams * No seriously, are you ready for the *Ultimate Supply List * for your adapted art class? After 15 years of teaching self contained adapted art, I have compiled a list of my go to supplies that can be used in many different ways. Oh and there's more good news: most of these supplies can actually be found at your local dollar store! Quick sidebar: If you are teaching a self contained adapted art class this year and are looking for help with HOW to go about navigating this class, I encourage you to head to my previous blog here, and you can also check out this blog post with some of my all time favorite art lessons to do in adapted class. Ok, let's do this!! The Ultimate Adapted Art Supply List * The first three sections of this list are made up mostly of items that can be found at your local dollar store. However, to make things easy, I went ahead and linked what I could to Amazon for convenience. I have also linked my favorite brands for the more traditional art supplies. Containers for Holding Supplies or Used for Printing * Muffin tins Sheet pans Salad Spinner Aluminum Casserole Pans Foil Plastic cups w/ lids Ice cube trays with lids Plastic Spray bottles Materials Great for Sensory Play * Cornstarch (for Oobleck) Food coloring (safer alternative to liquid watercolor) Shaving cream (or whipped cream for sensory play) Flour Dish soap ( Salt (salf resist for watercolor) Baking Soda (for fun experiments with vinegar) Colored Rice (sensory bin filler) Mini plastic animals or cars (perfect for sensory bins!) Kitchen storage rack (for Oobleck play) Chips & dip dishes (for sorting paper, materials or sensory supplies) Recycled Supplies* Bubble wrap (all sizes- for all the printing!) Cardboard (all the cardboard!) Cardboard egg cartons Styrofoam egg cartons Plastic containers (for sensory bottles) Cardboard tubes Materials to Add Texture * Dish brush with handle Loofahs Rolling pins Tooth brushes (use to splatter paint) Cotton Swabs Clothes pins (to hold small pieces of sponge) Plastic silverware Plastic combs Marbles Potato masher Kitchen utensils Garlic press Eye droppers Plastic Wrap Craft Sponges Squeegee Supplies From Art Distributors Kinetic Sand or Play Foam Sand Fun Foam Cloud Clay Model Magic Clay palm printers Texture Rollers Easy grip texture rollers Texture Scrapers Fluorescent Tempera Cakes Fluorescent Tempera Paint (tip: add white to each color to make them more opaque on black paper!) Squeezable paint brushes Kwik Stix Bingo Daubers Chalk Markers (great for drawing on transparencies or windows ) Contact paper Transparency Film Plexiglass sheets (for printmaking & painting) Standing Plexiglass (reuse those old sneeze guards from covid times) Adapted Scissors Large Pencils Clear Glue Empty Daubers (to add glue to) Pom Poms Craft Foam Googely Eyes Adapted Paint Brushes Textured Art Tools Whew! I know that seems like a HUGE list but honestly, I bet you already have many of these materials in your storage room. Stay tuned to learn more about how I use many of these materials for specific activities and lessons in my adapted art class. Embrace the mess and have fun! Cheers!
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How to Feel More Confident Teaching Adapted Art
Are you looking to gain more confidence in teaching adapted art? I'm here to help! Check out this blog to learn how to create a valuable, enriching and powerful adapted art program!
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How to Create a "Grab and Go" Adapted Art Bin
Learn how to create a "Grab and Go" bin full of Adapted art supplies you can grab in a pinch during class!
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