Mrs. Miller's Makers!

Thursday, October 1, 2026

September Art Update!

Hello artists and families!

Thanks so much for stopping by the art blog "Mrs. Miller's Makers!" It has been wonderful getting to know each of the artists even more and I have already seen growth in each of them over the first month of school :) We have crammed a lot into the month of September! I'm a bit tired and they are probably too!😜

For a typical blog post I will include pictures of each grade level showing what they have been working on. I will also include some descriptions or captions to describe the art making processes. For this update, the students participated in many of the same activities as we started the year. We are now branching out into art lessons unique to each grade level.

In September the artists:

*Created Mystery Artist Sheets

*Matched a masterpiece to choose their seats

*Played a board game or spinner game to review art room expectations

*Created sketchbooks and some started designing the cover (kindergarten)

*Designed a one of a kind house (at Thorson) for a collaborative art display

*Created an imaginary animal in teams (Parkview 2nd grade)

Mystery Artist Sheets: This year I designed artist sheets on Canva to fit the detective theme. It was a fun way for the students to share their unique personality while getting to know other students AND staff! :) The kids LOVE looking at the information and then peeking under the slip of paper to see who the Mystery Artist is. My favorite feature was the likes and dislikes! Some were surprising and others made me laugh!

A few staff sheets...

Mrs. Millers :)

Mrs. Sheppard's (she has some serious artistic talents!)

Mrs. Fleischmann (our new 2nd grade teacher :)

Some student Mystery Artist Sheets...

Masterpiece Matching: This year we tried a NEW method of getting our seats! We borrowed a brilliant idea from Ms. O'Reilly (Parview art teacher) and used a game of matching the masterpiece! For the older students (grades 2-5) I took artworks (some famous and some lesser known) and made a copy that looked like it was magnifying a small part of the artwork. The students picked a magnifying glass when they came in the art room and then needed to find the match like a detective. Not only did they like the challenge of it but it also taught them about various artworks!

The littles (kinder and 1st) enjoyed a simpler version of the game by finding the match to their smaller artwork. All of the students did a great job with this and it made the seating chart process much faster! :)

Art Room Review Games: ALL students also had fun playing another game to review art room expectations. The older kids (grades 2-5) played a board game with three different types of cards: "draw it," "question," and "task." The younger students played a spinner game that included drawing something (pictionary) and finding something (scavenger hunt).

5th Grade (Westlawn)

5th Grade (Thorson)

4th Grade (Westlawn)

4th Grade (Thorson)

4th Grade (Parkview)

3rd Grade (Westlawn)

3rd Grade (Thorson)

2nd Grade (Westlawn)

2nd Grade (Parkview)

1st Grade

So sorry... no Kindergarten pictures of playing the game, because well... they need all the hands on help they can get the first week! 😂 Our kindergarten teachers are amazing to do it all day!

Sketchbooks: Every one of my art students continues the tradition of making a sketchbook from a paper grocery bag! A HUGE thanks to Piggly Wiggly for generously donating bags! Another HUGE thank you to the Manning family from Westlawn for cutting the bags to prep the sketchbooks! The students created the outer body of the sketchbooks (minus the cover design which will come later), and then added the inside features.

Each sketchbook includes an individualized list of drawing prompts and a handmade pocket made from the paper bag scrap. Students also get to choose three specialty papers to add along with their white papers and look at how artists can make toned or color ground drawings with a colored base. We spend some time discussing why a sketchbook is a valuable tool and look at many example sketches from famous artists, architects, designers & decorators, and more. After all the time making the sketchbooks it is important the students feel inspired, motivated, and free to explore a variety of art making processes in their sketchbooks, not just drawing.

Kindergarten Sketchbook Cover Designs: Since the kindergarten students study Prehistoric Art they decorate their sketchbooks before assembling! We looked a examples of Prehistoric Art and watched short videos that taught us the WHERE, HOW, and WHY artwork was made in caves. Our young artists were so thoughtful with their reflections and made connections to why we decorate our own environment at home. The students then enjoyed designing their own cave wall, with chalk hand tracings, animals, symbols, and the most important people and things in their life.

We painted pod podge over our designs to protect our cave walls from smearing. Okay, that part is not historically accurate, but that's okay!

Thorson Houses Project: Ms. Penkwitz created a super fun collaborative artwork for the start of the year... "A Beautiful Day in the Thorson Neighborhood! Students were able to design their own house with all sorts of unique features and thoughtful details. We also cut open their front door and added a miniature self portrait inside! The students did a fabulous job with their houses and the whole Thorson neighborhood is on display in the AMP hallway :)

4th Grade (Hoerchner)

5th Grade (Retzlaff)

3rd Grade (Ziestma)

Parkview 2nd grade Imaginary Animal Project: The Parkview 2nd grade students have an AWESOME opportunity this year to collaborate with the CHS Photography Class! We had the students work in teams to design an imaginary animal! We started the project by having the students write down their favorite animal with them unaware that we would be drawing names and putting them in teams. The students then needed to work together to create a drawing of their animal which included parts of each of their animals, as well as color and texture. The teams then completed a description of their imaginary animal on the back of their drawing. This proved to be a challenge for many, but was a great learning experience and lots of fun! We cannot wait to send our animals to the high school and receive back a realistic version that the high schoolers create using Photoshop! :)

See you for the next blog after October!

Thursday, June 12, 2025

April - June Art Update!

Hello all!

Thanks so much for stopping by "Mrs. Miller's Makers" one last time for the school year!

Hopefully the kids are enjoying the first couple of days of summer and haven't driven you too nuts... yet ;) I feel so privileged to be their art teacher and hope that every single one of them had at least one highlight in art class this year. I hope also, that families enjoyed looking at all of their art creations that came home. Each one was made with a great deal of thought, creativity, artistic skill, and heart. Please cherish it and let me know if you need any recommendations on framing or displaying. Hobby Lobby is my go to and has great sales on frames!

A highlight from May...

5th Grade Fine Arts Nights!

A highly anticipated event at the end of the school year is our 5th grade Fine Arts Night! I had the honor (and challenge) of being at all three school so my Fine Arts Nights were tripled! Triple the talent and triple the fun :) Each of the 5th grade students rocked it. It was so awesome to celebrate all of their years growing as young artists and musicians. We were so proud of them and hope everyone enjoyed the memorable event!

Please check out the photo albums below...

Westlawn's 5th Grade Fine Arts Night 2025

Thorson's 5th Grade Fine Art Night 2025

Parkview's 5th Grade Fine Arts Night 2025

Enjoy looking at what each grade level was up to during the last weeks of the school year!

Kindergarten artists enjoyed making:

*Robots (Low relief sculpture and rubbings)

*Kandinsky Circles (mixed media artwork inspired by Wassily Kandinsky)

Robot rubbings! The robots got a twin :) The students' eyes LIT UP when the image appeared (like an x-ray). Texture rubbings never get old! :)

For the start of our Kandinsky Inspired Circles project, the students took a ride around the art room on the "color train." There stops were each of the 12 colors on the color wheel - one color for each box in their grid. Some of the colors (like the tertiary colors) were unmixed so the kids could see in person how they mix to make a certain color. They LOVED that! We stamped each color using foam building blocks.

Later lessons included painting and drawing circles, and gluing objects down to make circles (involving some cutting), and also glitter! They students glued circles and selected which colors of glitter they wanted to stick to the glue :)

Finished Robots on display from all of the kinders!

To complete our Kandinsky Inspired Circles students sewed a frame! They learned two types of sewing... a whip (or edge) stitch and a running stitch. The also got to choose two complementary (opposite) colors on the color wheel for their yarn :)

Mrs. Fry's class!

Mrs. Sheppard's class :)

First grade artists enjoyed making:

*Asian Inspired Self Portraits (wearing Kimonos)

We made our Kimonos with coffee filters, markers, and spray bottles of water!

Student learned to draw some Japanese symbols! They chose two or three they had a personal connection two or represented their personality.

The students learned a how to make fake wood with crayon, colored pencil, and paint which acted like real stain! This portion of their project is the boardwalk for their person to stand on.

A favorite feature of their artwork... the fan! So fun to make a adorable to hold :)

Wow! This project is a challenging one with the MANY different pieces, but it really comes together in a beautiful way and is so special since it represents each student's unique personality.

We made "ornate" Asian inspired frame for our fancy artwork :) The raised glue lines mimics a relief of a carved frame.

We then painted a layer of black paint and a layer of metallic paint (student's choice of color) over the top, in order to create an expensive yet antique look.

Artists in Mrs. Staffaroni's class

Artists in Mrs. Carpenter's class

Artists in Mrs. Spaeth's class

Second grade artists enjoyed creating:

*Clay Coil Picture Frames

*Kente Cloth Inspired Paper Weavings

Students practiced with playdough before creating their final frame. We talked about any line that can be drawn can be made into a coil!

The tricky and essential last step before firing, was blending the back so the clay could be held together.

The students were SO excited to paint their frames and loved the assortment of metallic Acrylic paints (so did I :)

The added pictures completed the precious works of art that will hopefully be treasured for years to come. My Mom still has mine from elementary school! I showed the kids ;)

Paper Weaving! So fun and a great way to introduce kids to basic weaving.
The students selected their own color combination.

We used a really fun way to learn how to make designs inspired by real Kente Cloth... a roll a dice game! The students picked their favorite practice designs, circled them with the same colors to create a key, and then drew that design every time they were on that color paper to make patterns.

The students showed lots of dedication and perseverance while adding designs!

Mrs. Abrahamson's class

Mrs. Huber's class

Ms. Miller's class

Third grade artists enjoyed creating:

*Clay Canopic Jars

*Nature Inspired Wet & Dry Feltings (with added drawing)

Canopic Jars after they had been bisque fired.

The 3rd grade students enjoyed mixing colors to create the likeness of their chosen creature. They did an excellent job and did lots of growing and problem solving during the painting process.

Proud artists!

The students enjoyed doing a brief art critique in which they gave one classmate a compliment and then gave a different classmate a suggestion for improvement.

Canopic Jars on display!

The students added a title and their artist signature. Some of the titles were really creative!

Our last project introduced the process of wet felting to the kids! Their theme needed to be nature inspired.

Following the wet felting, the students learned how to dry felt by adding on details using yarn, scrap felt, and more wool roving. When the felting was finished we glued down our pieces to a white paper so the students could get creative with added drawing to expand their creation. Many of them loved this last step!

Ms. Ingham's class

Mrs. Tutas's class artwork

Fourth grade artists enjoyed creating:

*Clay Coil Bowls

*Chalk Pastel Self Portraits

*(Mrs. DeGarmo's Class): Paper Mache Pun & Idiom Sculptures

Clay Coil Bowls! The glazes are food safe, however should be hand washed.

Self Portraits! After finishing our rough drafts, the students were able to trace them using light tracing boards or windows as light boxes :) The students were given several resources to help them succeed in their self portrait unit such as: facial feature reference sheets, proportion guidelines, mirrors, printed school pictures, and corrections/suggestions from myself.

After tracing the rough draft to create a fresh and clean final draft, the students learned how to add chalk pastels and colored pencil to make their portraits come to life. They quickly learned that the chalk pastels have advantages but can be very messy! That and color matching were the greatest two challenges.

Mrs. Burke's class

Some proud Westlawn 4th grade artists.

The students enjoyed showing their very first attempt at a self portrait in their sketchbook compared to their final artwork. Fabulous!

Mrs. Ned's class

Mrs. Butzler's class

Mrs. Burke's class had enough time for a quick bonus project... Paper Mache Puns and Idioms. They did a tremendous job and had so much fun in a short amount of time!

Can you guess what some of them might be??

So much creativity and so much fun! Bravo!

Fifth grade artists enjoyed creating:

*Clay Cakes :)

*Linoleum Printed Frames (for Acrylic Paint Pour)

Aren't these beautiful even before being fired and painted? They seem to get better every year!

Students had multiple choices on which type of cake they wanted to make and used paper templates to cut out clay slab pieces (like a puzzle). I believe I am up to 7 different styles of cakes. After rolling, cutting, and adding designs and textures to the pieces, they assembled them together with the "4 S's." The topper was required to be the show stopper with a 3D element.

Clay fired = check. Painting in progress...

What's pretty cool is there was no painting demonstrating needed. The students use all of their prior knowledge and instincts. Not one student seemed lost or unmotivated when it came to the painting and embellishing. It really was like the cherry on top of the cake.