Liebster Blog Award

Kathy Zwahl at a wonderful blog named B art Z Elementary Art was nice enough to bestow upon me the Liebster Blog Award. Thanks Kathy!

Leibster is German and means dearest, beloved, or favorite.  The premise of the Leibster Blog Award is to spotlight up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers. I especially love that in being honored you are also being acknowledged by your online peers. The origin of this award is quite a mystery. It seems to have taken on a life of its own.

So, here are the official rules for recipients of the Liebster Award:

1.  Copy and paste the award on your blog.

2.  Thank the giver and link back to them.

3.  Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

4.  Hope that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.

This honor can be given to a blog of any subject matter, but I decided to pass it on to other art educators. My five Liebster Awards go to:

Mrs. Crosbie

Maureen is a long-time educator and brand new blogger. Her images are beautiful, thoughtful and fun. Keep at it Maureen, I can't wait to see more.

The Lake Forest Louvre

Ms. Krass has a beautiful blog, well organized, and with lots of art history inspired projects. Lovely! Thanks for all of your online efforts.

Mrs. Knight's Smartest Artists

Hope's blog also serves as a virtual classroom with a word wall, sketchbook ideas and more. My favorite lessons as of late are the winter collagraphs and abstract trees.

Arteascuola

Miriam is  a brilliant teacher abroad who really brings out a painterly quality in her students' works. Her blog is in Italian, but take the time to run it through Google Translate. That's what this virtual world is for! Ciao Miriam! Piacere di conoscerti.

ARTASTIC! Miss Oetken's Artists

Kati shows a great relationship with her students, and makes her lessons fun. Look for the fashion design lesson, adding clothes to Michelangelo's David and Botticelli's Venus. Great job!

 

I hope you get a chance to look at some of these wonderful art teacher blogs. They are such an inspiration to me!

Raven Collages

During my full-time stint at elementary school, 4th grade students and I created collages based on the book Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest by Gerald McDermott. I read the story aloud to the class and we discussed the stylized designs and colors found in the illustrations.

All works started with a blue rectangle on a black border with four red squares in the corners to begin the border design. Students also had a template for the shape of the raven itself. I decided that since the design and space for it to fill was so specific, this would be the best way to go. Although by fourth grade I try not to use too many stencils.

After that all of the cut paper designs were left to their individual choice. Enjoy!