In school, the author sat next to Sandor the sculptor--when he was still undiscovered. He could take a pencil and, while seemingly listening in class, completely reshape the pencil by biting it. To detail his best pieces, Sandor would highlight the dents and gnashes with colored pens. Little did Sandor realize that his early efforts would be an…

This photo essay includes children's reflections on the opportunities offered by Artists/Writers Workshop for meaning-making in two languages--the language of pictures and the language of words. As students move back and forth between pictures and words, they experience transmediation. They create new meanings, find new and stronger voices, and…

Presents three drawing/writing activities for primary grades: telling picture stories, attaching words to picture stories, and (for older primary students), interpreting writing through art. (SM)

Children are motivated to write when they produce their own rubber stamps to use in their stories. Suggestions for making rubber stamps in the classroom are given. (DF)

An activity book presents arts and crafts projects for the special events and holidays occurring during November and December. The section includes class activities, student activity pages, and directions for making several kinds of bird feeders. (SM)

Presents art projects to help elementary educators teach their students about seascapes, providing students with basic techniques for portraying texture and mood in art. After discussing seascapes and lines and showing some examples, teachers can help students create seascapes from construction paper alone or with construction paper and…

Presents three art projects that can bring to life the study of ancient Egypt for elementary students. After researching Egypt's history and culture, students can create King Tut masks, make Cleopatra headdresses, and craft cartouche pendants. The article describes the materials needed and steps required to complete each project. (SM)

Offers examples of good Soviet art teachers and their ideas. Describes an art teacher who allows children to draw in any position so as to free natural creativity. Tells of programs to develop children's interest and ability in folk art, architecture, and life. Stresses the importance of sincerity of interaction and innovation. (DK)

Designed to expand children's artistic and reading/writing abilities while developing their ability to draw, tell, and write stories, this paper describes a "story-picture" program for first grade Blackfoot Indian children. General cognitive, perceptual and psychomotor, and affective skills are listed as the course's intended learning…

Recommends using learner-controlled instruction and student sketchbooks in the primary grades as a means of countering institutionalized and standardized expectations of young students' artwork. Maintains that, left to their own devices and gently encouraged, children will produce original, creative, and personal art. Describes examples from a…

This book describes the special way one teacher, Jeanette Amidon, approaches children's thinking, with a particular focus on reading and writing instruction. The root value of her first-grade classroom in Massachusetts is respect for children's ideas, with the children's art and writing as visible signs of the teacher's respect for their thinking.…