Art Advocacy & Art Portfolios

I have been meaning to write this post for a VERY long time! In fact, I was going to post this in the autumn, but things got really busy between work and home and well, you get the picture! This year, it has been my personal goal to attach a statement onto EVERY SINGLE piece of artwork for students in Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade. I would like to add to this process  next year by including the upper grades. The trade-off (in my opinion) for the upper grades this year, is that they are keeping their work stored in portfolios. But let me talk about one thing at a time....let's start with the art statements. They are really serving a huge purpose: art advocacy. I believe it is very important for parents to know what we are learning about and studying in the art room. That through the art learning process, the students have connected their minds and hands to produce a very special and important piece of art! I can keep parents involved and informed through a few simple sentences attached to each work. I am happy to say I have received positive feedback from this routine and I intend to continue doing it!

The 1st grade Abstractions statement read:
My warm & cool color abstraction incorporates cut paper and paint. During the first day, I spent time drawing the lines and shapes from art onto my paper. Then I added white oil pastel and painted the cool colors. The last step was adding warm colored shapes to turn the composition into a collage.

The Kindergarten Mouse Paint statment read:

We read two books in art class: Mouse Shapes and Mouse Paint. I learned how to put shapes together to create a mouse and then added details. The following week, I learned how to mix colors and painted the colorful border.

The art portfolios (seen below) are for grades 3-5. A fantastic art teacher commrade of mine, Hope Knight, was wonderful to share her template with me. I made copies and had the students glue each piece to the front and backside of a piece of 12x18 construction paper. There are lots of spaces for them to write pertinent information as well as write about their art learning and personal art interests! I'm excited for parents to see these at the end of the school year!