Past projects 3
Little Artists Love Big Messes (but caregivers don't!)!
Funded Dec 14, 2023I keep my new Smart Art red paint smocks in a milk crate, right under the board where the kids enter my art room. They are an important part of teaching young children to be self sufficient. I instruct them to each take one from the crate as they enter the room and make it clear they need to put it on by themselves. "Where do I put my head Ms. Schoepke?" "Where do the straps go?" are both common (adorable) questions. This time I had a confidant child demonstrate and model the smocks strutting past all the desks. Then I clarified I won't help them, but their classmates can and we need to learn to put them on ourselves if we're going to paint.
Now getting to wear the smocks is almost like a special treat because all the classes want to wear them. The only tough part is teaching them to fold them before putting them away!
I'm so grateful for this gift. It has taken the stress off myself worrying about them getting paint on their clothes and has helped to teach them that one of the steps of painting is being neat and tidy. Thanks so so much for your generosity!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Schoepke
Little Artists Paint Like Big Artists
Funded Sep 6, 2023You will never know the excitement of 'Paint Day' in the Art room! Your generous gift of brushes with cleaning soap will give that excitement to over a hundred Kindergarteners and almost 200 first graders! At this age it's so important to let children discover things on their own by experimenting and exploring and there are very few places in our school systems where that can happen nowadays.
First I used the brushes to teach color theory to 3rd graders by mixing yellow and blue to make green and then yellow and red to make orange. This was part of a bigger collage project to make nighttime pumpkin patches. Kindergarteners worked on painting in-between lines they had colored with oil pastels. On paint day they were so excited not one student asked to go to the bathroom! haha We used watercolor paints I had put in a Dollar Tree deviled egg tray. It was amazing to see how some 5 year olds were incredibly adapt at this art task.
Lastly we used the brushes with a special ed class to paint a cheerful Happy Holidays banner to perk up my end of the hallway. I usually write the words in pencil and have them practice painting on the pencil lines. Here's wishing you and yours a very Happy Holiday from the Bronx, NYC!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Schoepke
Little Artists Use Big Artist Supplies
Funded Sep 3, 2023With your generous donations of Sakura oil pastels and beautiful big white paper my artists were able to begin exploring how exciting it is to use real artists supplies immediately!
First we used the generous donation of paintbrushes along with your white paper to discover how to mix paints. First we mixed red and yellow to make orange, then we mixed blue and yellow and the excitement when the artists discovered 'Green! Ms. Schoepke, I made green!' was palatable! These painted papers were used to make pumpkins.
For the final touch, we used your Sakura oil pastels to create the spooky nighttime pumpkin patch details on black paper. They drew twisty green vines, bright white moons, and all types of sparkly stars. They were loving how bright and colorful the oil pastels were compared to traditional crayons. 'Look at my stars!'
We are looking forward to creating even more works of art with our oil pastels as the school year progressed but I was so happy have the materials to make our spooky pumpkin patch in time for display around the school!
Thanks so much for your thoughtfulness,”
With gratitude,
Ms. Schoepke