Scholastic Art Magazine and Giveaway!

Edit: The Winner has been selected! Congratulations to Kim Colasante!

Scholastic Art magazine sent me samples of last year's issues to review. I was somewhat familiar with the magazine as it seems every year I get a sample issue in the mail and I have a file cabinet drawer of back issues from the previous teacher, but I'd honestly never taken the time to actually read the magazine and see what it was all about.

I was a pleasantly surprised at everything included in the issues. I had assumed that it was basically a couple about on whatever was on the cover and now I feel silly for not having checked it out before!

The issues are organized by artist or theme- How to Read Art, The Art of the Campaign, Edward Hopper, Objects from World Cultures, Ansel Adams, and Painting Right Now were last year's topics.

I really appreciate that they have a good balance between art history and contemporary artists and have articles about high school students' work. It's good for students to see others their own age who've worked hard and found success in art. In addition to the articles, each teacher edition has lesson plans, worksheets, a high quality poster (printed on magazine paper but you can laminate if you want it to be sturdier), and you can access more materials with your login for the website. The digital resources include videos, slideshows, and more. I could see the videos being really intriguing for students. I saw videos with featured artists talking about their works as well as "how to" videos demonstrating techniques or presenting students with challenges.

I really wish I'd had the Art of the Campaign issue last year! It would have been a perfect supplement to the lesson I presented on campaign posters and honestly would have saved me a lot of work since I spent time collecting some of the very same images that they included.

Ways to use Scholastic Art magazine...

• Read the magazine on a regularly scheduled day worked into your month's lesson plans
• Save the issues until it correlates with a theme
• Use it for a substitute plan
• Read one article or the whole magazine!
• Take advantage of the art prompts for students
• With middle-high school students and even upper elementary

I know that cost is always a concern when teachers with limited budgets consider a purchase like a magazine subscription. According to the Scholastic magazine website, the subscription is $8.99 per student. If I ordered 20 issues that would be enough for my classes, which rarely have more than 20 students, the price including shipping would be around $200. If that were to come out of my supply budget, I'm not sure I could handle it. However, the educational foundation for my district allows teachers to write grants for supplies or professional development. I think next year I will write one for a magazine subscription. Your district may agree to purchase a subscription in place of textbooks. That's how an art teacher friend of mine has managed her subscriptions and she talks about how much the students love it and beg to do the studio assignments included. Scholastic also has some suggestions for getting funding, including Donors Choose and others.

Give Away

But what's even better than convincing someone to fund your subscription? Getting a year for FREE! I am partnering with Scholastic to bring you this giveaway. To enter, share this post on social media and leave a comment on this blog post including your email address. I will randomly select a winner on August 1st and send your info to Scholastic Art to set up your subscription. Good luck!

Kwik Stix Deal and Giveaway!

UPDATE: Congratulations to Nic, the winner of the Giveaway! You have been emailed.

The Pencil Grip company, makers of Kwik Stix, contacted me and offered to do a giveaway on my blog. Sure! I don't know an art teacher who doesn't like freebies. :)

I've been sent Kwik Stix to review before including the classic style (about the size of a glue stick), thin stix (skinnier and great for posters), neon, and metallic. My sons are always itching to get their hands on them as soon as I'm done experimenting!

My favorite age to use Kwik Stix with is early childhood- PreK-1st grade, but older students also enjoy them. Even my high schoolers are intrigued when they catch a glimpse and want to try them out. Kwik Stix are solid tempera stix that dry in about a minute and a half, or even faster in my experience. Students produce bold colorful works of art with them and there is hardly any clean up. Kwik Stix would be a great addition to a painting center, and you can also use them on styrofoam to do relief prints/mono prints.

Poster made with Kwik Stix

I was just checking out Amazon Prime Day deals and saw there is a lightning deal on the original 12 pack of Kwik Stix. So, if you read this in the next 5 hours or so you can get the set for $7.84 instead of the original $9.80. If you read this too late to get the extra good deal, maybe you'll be the lucky winner of the Kwik Stix give away! You can see the other Kwik Stix options on Amazon by clicking this link.

My 6 year old could entertain himself for hours with a set of Kwik Stix! The drawing above is of the Revolutionary War, I thought the composition was really interesting.

 To enter the give away, comment below with your email address. I will randomly select a winner July 18th and pass the information on to the company. Good luck!

Thin Stix Review

 Kwik Stix sent me a set of their new "Thin Stix" to review, a product they suggested would be perfect to keep on hand for last minute poster projects. I'd have to say that I agree! This product makes poster-making a breeze. 

I've never really enjoyed using markers to make posters. I much prefer the look of a painted poster but sometimes that can be time-consuming when you have to wait on a section to dry so you don't smudge it when moving on to the next area. Kwik Stix are tempera sticks so you get the look of paint with the ease of markers, and they dry in about a minute and a half. The Thin Stix are probably a little more than half the diameter of the regular Kwik Stix so it's easier to get smaller details.

The first poster I made to test the product was for a supply drive that our Student Council hosted to benefit our local Humane Society. I would suggest that you get the feel of the stix before you start on your poster. There are a couple parts where I got in too much of a hurry without practicing first. What can I say, I was excited.

Next, I made a poster that will be used to welcome art teachers to KAEA Summer Camp which I'm really excited to be hosting in my hometown this summer. It's nice and bright and bold and will work great!

 The next time I tested the Thin Stix was to make some posters for my school's Aggie Olympics. What are the Aggie Olympics? I'm glad you asked. We have a very active FFA chapter and during National FFA week, there is a different activity every day. Friday afternoon concludes with the Aggie Olympics where the staff and each high school class competes in different events. This year some of the events included a slingshot contest, milk bottle bowling, horse "apple" toss, and more. The students make posters applauding their class and dogging their competitors and it is SUPER fun. 

I used my Thin Stix to make a couple new posters- Teachers Rule Students Drool (with a Snapchat filter) and Winning the Aggie Olympics Since Before You Were Born! Each poster took no more than 5 minutes to make.

I had students coming in asking for markers at the last minute and I let my TA use the Thin Stix. I didn't get a picture of the posters she made but she liked using the Thin Stix as well and after I let my 6 year old use the rest of the sample for his artwork, she asked if we were going to get some more. It would be too pricey to totally replace all the markers with Kwik Stix but I hope to buy a couple packs to keep on hand for special poster projects.

I will also buy another set for my oldest son who LOVES this product. I kind of love that they clean up so easily. Bottom line: if you can try this product, I have a hunch you'll like it.

You can buy Thin Stix on their website, on Amazon, and from Sax. I haven't looked other places but I'm sure they're around!

Portfolio Day

In previous years I spent a ton of plan time hanging artwork in the hall. I'd wait until an entire grade was finished with a project, photograph the work for Artsonia, load up my cart, staple all the work (between 450-500 pieces at my primary school), and then in about a month I'd take it all down and repeat. This year I've changed my method and thinking about hallway displays. The response has been positive, the students are involved, and I'm saving lots of time, too! 

This year we've been trying out choice-based art education. Since students are working on their own projects there's no waiting until one assignment is finished and hanging a whole grade's worth of art. Here's what I've been doing instead:

1. When students finish a project (including artist statements for 2nd and 3rd grade) they turn it in to me.
2. I photograph finished projects once a week (usually) for Artsonia.
3. I put the finished projects inside a file folder for each class, organized in a box for each grade.
4. On a "Portfolio Day", usually every 6 weeks or so, all the finished projects are passed back.
5. Students choose their best piece for the hallway and attach their artist statement.
6. We clean up a little bit earlier than usual and each student lines up with their best piece.
7. Students follow me into the hallway and hand me their artwork one at a time. I staple the artwork and stick out my hand for the next piece like a runner in a relay receiving the baton.
8. We go back to the classroom and students collect any other finished pieces to go home with them that day.

Choice-based art allows students to work at their own pace (within reason) so some students will have several pieces to choose from and some may only have one piece finished. If there's only one finished piece, it is the best and therefore the "hallway piece". When there are several pieces, the students have to think, compare, judge, and finally make the decision of which piece is their strongest. Most of the time, they really do pick the best piece. In December, I let the students take their best piece home if they really really really wanted to give it to someone for a gift. On portfolio days students often talk to each other about their work and offer advice and opinions on what should go in the hallway.

Two students working on an artist statement.

One thing that makes Portfolio Days go more smoothly is that no new projects are started. If students have something in progress, they continue working on that. If they have finished pieces that slipped under the radar and didn't get an artist statement, artist statements are written. If students are finished with everything, they can choose from one of the centers that are not open regularly- blocks, modeling clay, etc.- until it's time to hang artwork.

The most unexpected benefit of this display method, is that students are noticing, really noticing, the artwork in the hallway. I always assumed they looked at it before, but I was wrong.

*At my intermediate school I still hang all the work myself. I see the students every other week as opposed to every week, and since they are older they tend to work on pieces longer. I don't feel I can take even 5 extra minutes away from their work time to hang hallway pieces. I just hang pieces as they are finished because it would take too long to get more than one piece finished at a time.