Art Sub Plan - A Tree House for Me

A Treehouse for Me

As I am entering the later part of my art teaching career, I am trying to figure out how I can both continue in art education and fund my retirement.  Plus, in a year or two I will probably start subbing in art classrooms and will need an arsenal of good lessons to teach.  I've started putting together art sub lessons in PowerPoint as if I were going to substitute teach from them.  They've taken hours of work to put together and most of them have been tested in the classroom.

I am going to be selling them cheaply so that when you need an emergency lesson plan you can buy one from here:  Jan's Shop at TeachersPayTeachers  A lesson that has taken me hours and hours to work on, you can download in a minute.  You don't have to spend all those agonizing hours writing your own art sub lesson plans.

The lessons all use the most simple supplies:  crayon or marker, pencil or pen, and paper.  All your sub has to do is to read each slide.

Since my subs most likely don't feel comfortable using my technology, I have created the slides so that you can print out each slide.  The sub will just bring the class close as if they were reading a book to the class, and they will show each slide that has been printed.

This particular lesson was written with third, fourth, and fifth grade students in mind.

Ugly Bug Ball - Elementary Art Sub Plan

 Ugly Bug Ball - Art Sub Plan 

I created this lesson for its ease of use.  It is complete with visuals and simple directions.  The materials needed are very simple.  It is for sale at TeachersPayTeachers.

This lesson was created with an art sub in mind. All of the directions have been included for their ease of use. You may print this out so that the sub may present it up close on paper or show it as PowerPoint presentation.

The materials needed for this lesson are the most simple: paper, pencils, and crayons or markers.

The lesson begins with discussion questions regarding a masterpiece by the artist, Balthasar van der Ast. This painting includes many interesting insects crawling around a beautiful still life. The lesson then leads the students to create an imaginary scene of insects at a party. Each slide includes questions and statements for the students to think about including in their drawing.

I have taught this lesson to all levels, K through Fifth. My subs who have used this lesson have left feedback that they and the students thoroughly enjoyed the lesson.

I hope that this will be a well-loved lesson for you and your students and that it helps you when you are in need of a sub lesson.

Elementary Art Sub Lesson - Ugly Bug Ball

 I created this lesson for its ease of use.  It is complete with visuals and simple directions.  The materials needed are very simple.  It is for sale at TeachersPayTeachers.

This lesson was created with an art sub in mind. All of the directions have been included for their ease of use. You may print this out so that the sub may present it up close on paper or show it as PowerPoint presentation.

The materials needed for this lesson are the most simple: paper, pencils and crayons or markers.

The lesson begins with discussion questions regarding a masterpiece by the artist, Balthasar van der Ast. This painting includes many interesting insects crawling around a beautiful still life. The lesson then leads the students to creating an imaginary scene of insects at a party. Each slide includes questions and statements for the students to think about including in their drawing.

I have taught this lesson to all levels, K through Fifth. My subs who have used this lesson have left feedback that they and the students thoroughly enjoyed the lesson.

I hope that this will be a well loved lesson for you and your students and that it helps you when you are in need of a sub lesson.

How to Draw and Paint a Pattern Beetle

Video Art Sub Plan

This cute insect and pattern lesson can be found on YouTube here:  How to Draw and Paint a Pattern Beetle. It is on the channel "Artventure."

I think I may try a version of this for my next sub's lesson.  I would burn the video to DVD so it can be played on the DVD player.  (I'll write a post this weekend on how to do this.)  The sub would play the video the whole way through. Then, for the drawing part, the students would work along as the sub played the video bit by bit.

I would make it a crayon or marker lesson unless I knew the sub could deal with block tempera for the resist.

Loopy Line Fish

Loopy Line Fish as an Art Sub Plan

This is a find from Art Project Girl.  She says it should take a half-hour or so.  Coupled with a book or video about fish, you could add on the needed time.  Or you could give this to your sub in case they need something to fill in the time.

Another easy way to prepare for an art sub is to go to my shop, Art Sub Plans. I have created complete lessons in which all your sub has to do is read the slides and follow the directions.  They are full of visuals and are created to be used with the most simple supplies.  Pencils, paper, and crayons are all your students will need to create imaginative works of art.

These are perfect for those emergency absences when you do not have the time to write detailed plans but want to leave quality plans for your subs.

Art Sub Plans - Purple People Eater

Elementary Art Sub Plan for Purple People Eater

You would think that since I gather sub plans for this blog, preparing for a sub would be a breeze for me.  Not so.  Though I have so many ideas right at my fingertips, I still spend unspoken numbers of hours writing the plans and making the visuals.  So I will post the written plans I made this week and maybe it will save you a little time.

I originally posted a link to the blog, Clown and Poodle, but I am having trouble linking to that site now. So, I got my original idea from them, and this the lesson I chose to leave for my sub yesterday.

Here is how I prepped.  Since all my classes were going to do the same lesson, I taped the visuals in the front of the room.  Some of these are ideas I copied directly from her original post.

In this lesson, the students glue a googly eye on the paper.  I did this the day before my sub came as to save her the hassle of dealing with the thick craft glue.  When the students received their work paper, it had a googly eye glued on it already.


Here are a couple of the finished pieces done by second graders:

Here are the lesson plans as written for my sub:

Tell the students that today they will be inventing a new silly monster all on their own.  It will look like no one else’s!  

Read these lyrics with a lot of fun in your voice:

This is called the One Eyed, One Horned, Flying Purple People Eater.

Well, I saw the thing
A comin' out of the sky
It had a one long horn
And a one big eye
I commenced to shakin'
And I said "oohwee
It looks like a Purple
People Eater to me"

It was a one-eyed, one-horned
Flyin' Purple People Eater
One-eyed, one-horned
Flyin' Purple People Eater
Sure looked strange to me


Well, he came down to earth
And he lit in a tree
I said, "Mister Purple People Eater,
Don't eat me"
I heard him say
In a voice so gruff,
I wouldn't eat you
Cause you're so tough

It was a one-eyed, one-horned
Flyin' Purple People Eater
One-eyed, one-horned
Flyin' Purple People Eater
One-eyed, one-horned
Flyin' purple people Eater
Sure looked strange to me
One horn

I said, "Mister Purple People Eater,
What's your line?"
He said,
Eatin' purple people,
And it sure is fine.
What is the reason
That you came to land
I wanna get a job
In a rock 'n roll band



Well, he went on his way
And then what-a you know
I saw him last night
On a TV show
He was blowin' it out,
Really knockin' 'em dead
Playin' rock 'n roll music
Through the horn on his head

Show the students a paper that has one eye glued to it.  Tell them that they will invent their own one-eyed monster using this paper.

Show them the sample monsters that I have drawn.

Ask them how many eyes their monster should have. <There is one eye glued on the paper, but they can draw more if they want.>

Ask them what else their silly monster should have.  (Wings?  Legs?  Toes?  Teeth?  What else?)

Show them the charts on the SmartBoard and tell them that they may use some of the ideas there, but they don’t have to.  They can invent whatever they want.

Show them the paper that has one eye glued on it.  (They’re in the cardboard box under the SmartBoard.) Tell them that they will use that as their monster’s eye.  They use the Sharpie to draw around it.  They add the rest of the head, the body and what ever else they want.

Show the drawings of the two monsters.  Point out that they have things in their hands.  What will they put in their monster’s hands?

Will their monster be scaly?  Will it be hairy?  Bumpy?  Rough? 

Have the students go to the tables you assign them.  (Send four to red…four to yellow…four to blue….four to green…..etc.)

                                                  

After they are seated, tell them to look at their seat number.  Tell them that person #1 should stand up.  If there is no #1, choose #2 for that team…or #3 of need be.  That person will be the team helper.

Hold all the papers.  Have the helpers line up in front of you and tell you how many sheets they need for their team.

The helper should come back and get Sharpies for their team.

The helper should come get a box of crayons for their team.

Everyone should draw their monsters.  Remind them that they can draw them however they like, however if they need help, they can get ideas from the charts on the SmartBoard.

If lots of children finish before the end of class time, call them all up front with their drawings.  You can collect the drawings and show each one.  The children can clap for each other.  Remind them that it should be clapping only and that we clap for every child.

If there is still time at the end of class you can read the book “Glad Monster Sad Monster.”  I will put that up front with the other supplies.

Helpers should return Sharpies and crayons to the front of the room.

The children should take their art work with them.

Please give me feedback about how the lesson went.  

*********

If you like that lesson, you might also like this one from my shop on TeachersPayTeachers.

Name Parade - Elementary Art Sub Plan

I found this at Artsonia at this link: Name Parade

It was posted by Old Post Road Elementary School
E. Walpole, Massachusetts

  There is a description of the lesson on the Artsonia page.

The one below is one I made as a sample.

If you would like this idea written out as a fully formed art sub plan, you can visit my TPT Shop here:  Name People

Ugly Bug Ball - Art Sub Lesson

Ugly Bug Ball Elementary Art Lesson for Subs

I came up with this elementary art sub lesson during my sick leave after knee surgery.  Unfortunately, my first few days at work were too taxing to teach my regular curriculum, and I had to teach this sub lesson to a few classes.  All levels seemed happy to do it though.

Many grades in the spring are studying insects, so this is a natural tie-in to their curriculum.

If you go to my blog for art room videos, and search for "ant" or "insect" you will find lots of videos that you can tie into this lesson.

The main idea for the lesson is from this video, "Ugly Bug Ball."  Since it is a Disney video, I suppose they could take it down at any time.  You can do a web search for it if it isn't on YouTube anymore.  The video has Burl Ives singing this sweet song about the ugly bug ball and then ends up showing animation of said ball.  The kids loved it!

After watching the video, we talked about the things that you might find at an ugly bug party.  What kinds of bugs?  What would they be doing?  How would they be dressed for the party?

Materials:
black pens
markers or crayons
12 x 18 white paper

The kids drew the bugs, trying to include the body parts they had learned about.  They dressed them all in party attire and with the proper surroundings.

When they were done, I collected the papers and showed them to the class.  (We always clap after each work is shown.)

If there is time left at the end of that, the sub may show the other videos on insects.

If you would like a fully written version of this lesson, ready for a sub to pick up and teach, you may purchase my plan at this link:  TeachersPayTeachers.    The materials are the simplest:  pen or pencil, marker or crayon, paper.  It would be perfect for an emergency art lesson or just a regular art lesson.

One-Day Art Lesson -

One Day Art Sub Lesson

Jessica Young used this plan initially as an art sub lesson for fourth grade. When she needed a quick art lesson for herself, she pulled this one out and used it for other grades as well.
You can check out Jessica's blog here: Miss Young's Art Room.


She says that her students stayed engaged for the whole class time with this. She also gave ideas for those few early finishers and those who took it a little too slow to finish in art.




The materials she used were markers and paper. With subs, I am careful about leaving markers. If I know the sub and trust them to emphasize using the markers with care, I would leave markers. Otherwise, crayons would work just fine.


Miss Young demonstrated how to draw a "criss cross" star with her kids and then showed them how to repeat the lines in and around that star. I think you could also provide students with templates of other shapes for this. Basic shapes? Animal shapes?


If you would like to use masterpieces from art history to introduce the lesson, here are is an idea that might work well.




in public domain
This is Kandinsky's Color Study, Squares with Concentric Circles from 1913.


Here's another lesson plan that you could use to create a lead in for this lesson: "Kandinsky Squares with Concentric Circles,"at the blog, Art Prep has a good, meaty description of Kandinsky and his work.


They talk about Kandinsky choosing to switch to from using subjects in his paintings to focusing on line and color. This is great information for your lesson.




If you would like to use an art sub plan that is fully formed and ready to hand to a sub, check out this one in my TPT shop: Art Sub Lessons. It is no prep and fully scripted. It can be taught by anyone.

This elementary and middle school art sub lesson includes slides about the artist and two projects for the students to draw. It is great for teaching elementary students about abstract art and the artist, Bruce Gray.

Written for a sub, it may also be taught by classroom teachers, art teachers, and homeschool teachers.

Supplies needed for the art lesson are pencils, paper, markers or crayons, rulers and circles of various sizes.

Art Lesson Based on “The Dot”

“Art Project Girl" did this lesson with her students but suggests that it coud be used by a sub.  It is based on the book, The Dot.

If you are interested in other blog posts about The Dot, check these out:

Back to School Dot Day Ideas

and 

Circle Art Lessons

Mazes - Art Sub Plan

Mazes is a lovely sub lesson from Art is Basic. It would be excellent for middle school and upper elementary.  I think with some tweaking, it would be fun for younger ones too.

School of Fish

School of Fish - Art Sub Plan

This is one from an old coworker of mine.

Sub Lesson Video - Tar Beach

Tar Beach Art Lesson for Subs

Here's a post that  Splish, Splash, Splatter did from my video on YouTube, Tar Beach.  This made me so happy. 

I made that video before I ever thought about making a blog for art sub lessons. My goal was to provide a good lesson for my students while they had a sub in the room. I created the video so that all a sub had to do was to press “Play" and the kids would follow along.  I think her kids did a great job.

Hands on Art

Hands on Art - Art Sub Plan

I discovered this on Pinterest, where it was suggested that this might be a good sub lesson. It originally came from "An Artful Nest."

 

Easy and Free Art Sub Plans for Kindergarten

Here is a free art sub PowerPoint lesson for you at my  Teachers Pay Teachers shop: Art Sub Lessons.  This lesson is one I use with kindergarten.  We do lots of moving around making the shapes of lines as we look at the slides. TeachersPayTeachers requests that you make your free PowerPoints smaller than your "for pay" ones, but this is still full of good images and information for your students and subs.

Here are a couple of "easy sub lessons" from Dali's Moustache.  One is a third grade lesson about Jackson Pollack's action paintings.  The other is a fourth-grade lesson called "crayon fireworks."

Another source for some free resources is here: Circle Art Lessons | Art Sub Plans Worksheets

This page in my blog links to free art worksheet printables, videos, and lessons that can be completed in one class.

Another easy way to prepare for an art sub is to go to my shop, Art Sub Plans. I have created complete lessons in which all your sub has to do is read the slides and follow the directions.  They are full of visuals and are created to be used with the most simple supplies.  Pencils, paper and crayons are all your students will need to create imaginative works of art.

These are perfect for those emergency absences when you do not have the time to write detailed plans but want to leave quality plans for your subs.

Elementary Art Lesson "Scribble Monster"

Looking for easy art lessons with the theme, “Scribble Monsters,” I found many versions on YouTubeKids.

This was one of my favorites. It is by Emily Brosius.  You can find it here:  Scribble Monster Drawings

Middle School Art Sub Plan - Alphabeasties

Elementary and Middle School Art Sub Lesson with Typography 

"Ms. Art Teacher" did this lesson with students and then also left it as a sub lesson. It is based on the book Alphabeasties and Other Amazing Types,  by Werner and Forss. 

The illustrator has filled in the shape of the animal with the name of the animal. I can imagine where this same idea can be applied to other images of things and using a variety of words to describe the image.

This is an alphabet book to help little ones to read, so your older kids won’t be so interested in that part. The illustrations are really interesting though. “Ms. Art Teacher” did the lesson with 2nd through 7th graders. She also left the lesson with a sub and found that was successful.

There are multiple read-aloud of the book on YouTube, so you can always fall back on that if you can’t find the book itself.

Playful Playgrounds as a Sub Lesson

Kindergarten Art Lesson, “Playful Playgrounds”

Here's a Mondrian related sub lesson that Katie Weymouth came up with.  Here's the blog entry:  Briargrove Elementary Art Page

If you like lessons in which students use their imaginations to create wondrous and mysterious places, you might like this one of mine. Created as a sub lesson, it can be taught by teachers and parents too.  It is no prep and completely ready to teach.

Check it out here:  Art Sub Lesson: Secret Rooms and Hidden Passageways

Abstract Art from Map - Art Sub Plan Idea

Substitute Art Teacher Lesson Plan 

This art lesson combines Mondrian with maps.  It is from The Incredible Art Department

The students learn about Piet Mondrian and his use of line and color.  Then, they apply that to a map drawing activity.  They could use a variety of materials to draw and color in the map.

Sometimes you just don’t have time to write up art sub plans.  If you want something easier, visit my TPT shop that I created just for that purpose: TPT Shop: Art Sub Lessons.  I’ve got fully formed, no prep, scripted lessons that are ready to go.

If you’d like to start with some free art sub plans, you can find those too.

Cows on Parade - Art Sub Plan

Middle School Art Sub Plans - Cows on Parade

"Her Dabbles" did a blog post last fall with a sub plan for "Cows on Parade."  There are lots of ways to take this lesson, so check it out on her blog.

If you are interested in seeing another lessons about Cows on Parade, check out this post:  Cows on Parade