Getting to know you

Whenever a new term starts and new students enter your room, it will be essential to get to know them. For my Saturday Art School class I have been working with elementary students. My team wrote a letter to the students and parents to let them know a little more about us. Mine said:

Hello Student Artists!

My name is Miss Amber. When I was really little, I made a huge mess with all of my toys and my mother grounded me. She took away all of my toys and gave me paper and a pencil to play with. I drew all sorts of things and have loved art ever since. I'm excited to meet and get to know all of you. I want to learn why you love art too.

After we met all of our new students we used some ice breaker activities so that they would open up to us. They had a lot of fun and got to each other as well. Here is a list of the activities we did that day:

Ice Breakers for Elementary

Name Tags: Fold paper in half. Write your name in one side. Decorate the name tag with things that let us know more about you. -What is your favorite sport? -Use your favorite colors. -Do you like music? Etc.

Dance Off: What’s your name? Tell us about the favorite thing you did this summer. Show us your favorite dance move! (Play music)

Guess what?: Draw an image onto a card. The cards will be scrambled. Each student will get a card taped to his or her back. Other students have to describe the image on your back, without using its actual name until you figure out that it is.

Have Your Ever?: Describe something that you have done. If other kids have done it, they will join you at one side of the room and the others go to the other side.

When I start to work with older students, I think I will introduce caricatures. Every student will have to create a caricature of themselves and incorporate things that describe who they are and what they like. They will then have to give a brief introduction of their self to the class. Here is my example:

This is my caricature: I am riding a bike, which I've been doing more of lately. The world underneath me shows the continents that I have visited. My goal is to visit each continent before I die. So far I've made it to four of them! I love to travel and see new things. To the left is the skyline of Detroit. I currently live downtown and love it! Also I am a "big city girl," and this represents that. Underneath the world is a swimmer. I was a swimmer from 3rd grade till the end of High School. Received my letter jacket as a Freshman, and was Most Valuable Swimmer my Senior year. And, for the last two years I was the assistant coach of the Girls Royal Oak Ravens Swim Team. They were awesome and won Leagues those two years in a row! To the right is an oil painting brush and palette because I am an artist and my medium of choice is oil painting.