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Giveaway from Spears Art Studio: A Full High School Art Curriculum! (and Free Lessons for All!)

Spears Art Studio, Inc. offers "fine art and private & homeschool K-12th grades Christian art curriculum supporting the grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric stages of Classical education."

This art curriculum is Christian based, with many projects working with Biblical themes.  Each lesson  is accompanied by a suggested set of Bible verses to read.  

One of you will win a CD-rom of the 

Spears Art Studio High School Art Curriculum

value $34.90, international shipping included

Here is a description of the curriculum from the publishers:

Spears Art Studio High School Art Curriculum, A Study from a Christian Worldview© is a student manual written for HOMESCHOOL FAMILIES AND CO-OPS, PRIVATE CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS, and INDEPENDENT STUDY.

• 
Seven Major Themes, 36 Lessons, 75 Art Activities, 36 Sketchbook Assignments
• Supports the Rhetoric Stage of Classical Education

• Addresses:
• • art elements - line, shape, space, color, texture, form
 
  • principles of design - repetition/pattern, proportion, contrast/value, emphasis/ focal point, balance/symmetry/asymmetry, unity, variety, harmony, movement/force/rhythm

  • perception skills - edges, spaces, relationships, light/shadow, gestalt 
  • 
processes - drawing, painting, sculpture, fiber, printmaking, graphic design

• Contains:
• • connections in each lesson - Scripture, art history, contemporary art connections

  • 144 visual memory exercises

  • unit tests and answer keys

  • helps: tips and subs; how to evaluate artwork, etc.

  • analyzed for National Visual Art Standards

  • 162 pages total, 177 black and white illustrations, 52 color illustrations

• Accreditation option

There are many free lessons at the Spears Art Studio website.  These are full lesson plans, ready to download and save or print:

Free sample art lessons for K-8th

Free sample art lessons for high schoolers

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You may enter more than once!  Here's how:

1. Leaving a comment, saying you want one. That's easy!

2. Tweeting this giveaway, then let us know you did.

3. Facebooking about this giveaway, then let us know you did that.

4. Blogging this giveaway, then come back and give us the link so we can visit your blog, too.

Only one entry per method, okay? Entries are open to all countries!  Random.org will select the winner.  The winning entry will be verified.  Entry deadline: Friday, August 6th, at noon CST.

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Free Art Lessons from a Children's Author & Illustrator

This free find is a favorite at our house during the hot, hot Summer days:

Our children adore children author and illustrator Jan Brett's how-to-draw videos.  We have spent many indoor days following her pencil as she teaches us how to draw animals. 

  

Included in the video series are:

How to Draw a...

• dolphin
• rhinocerous
• creature of the deep
• lion
• baby polar bear
• hedgehog
• chick
• rare African Okapi
• bunny
• elephant
• horse
• Siberian Husky dog

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Subscribe to FreelyEducate here 

Tweet FreelyEducate here

Have a resource or giveaway to share?  Email me at freelyeducate@gmail.com

  

Included in the video series are:

How to Draw a...

• dolphin
• rhinocerous
• creature of the deep
• lion
• baby polar bear
• hedgehog
• chick
• rare African Okapi
• bunny
• elephant
• horse
• Siberian Husky dog

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subscribe to FreelyEducate here 

Tweet FreelyEducate here

Have a resource or giveaway to share?  Email me at freelyeducate@gmail.com

  

Included in the video series are:

How to Draw a...

• dolphin
• rhinocerous
• creature of the deep
• lion
• baby polar bear
• hedgehog
• chick
• rare African Okapi
• bunny
• elephant
• horse
• Siberian Husky dog

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subscribe to FreelyEducate here 

Tweet FreelyEducate here

Have a resource or giveaway to share?  Email me at freelyeducate@gmail.com

Free Historical Paper Structures to Cut Out and Assemble

 

PaperToys.com offers paper structures (to cut out and assemble) of several world landmarks.   These structures may be used alongside your history program.  

For example, below is a screenshot of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (clicking on the photo takes you directly to that drawing):

Or how about the Taj Mahal? (clicking on the photo below takes you directly to that drawing)

To view the full list of structures, which includes The White House, Neuschwanstein Castle, Sydney Opera House, Wrigley Field, Big Ben, and the Statue of Liberty among many others, go to PaperToys.com.  There are structures simple enough for Kindergartners and structures that will even challenge high schoolers (or you!).

~~~~

Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Keep up with FreelyEducate tweets (Twitter) here: @freelyeducate

PaperToys.com offers paper structures (to cut out and assemble) of several world landmarks.   These structures may be used alongside your history program.  

For example, below is a screenshot of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (clicking on the photo takes you directly to that drawing):

Or how about the Taj Mahal? (clicking on the photo below takes you directly to that drawing)

To view the full list of structures, which includes The White House, Neuschwanstein Castle, Sydney Opera House, Wrigley Field, Big Ben, and the Statue of Liberty among many others, go to PaperToys.com.  There are structures simple enough for Kindergartners and structures that will even challenge high schoolers (or you!).

~~~~

Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Keep up with FreelyEducate tweets (Twitter) here: @freelyeducate

PaperToys.com offers paper structures (to cut out and assemble) of several world landmarks.   These structures may be used alongside your history program.  

For example, below is a screenshot of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (clicking on the photo takes you directly to that drawing):

Or how about the Taj Mahal? (clicking on the photo below takes you directly to that drawing)

To view the full list of structures, which includes The White House, Neuschwanstein Castle, Sydney Opera House, Wrigley Field, Big Ben, and the Statue of Liberty among many others, go to PaperToys.com.  There are structures simple enough for Kindergartners and structures that will even challenge high schoolers (or you!).

~~~~

Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Keep up with FreelyEducate tweets (Twitter) here: @freelyeducate

Free Pro Version of Google SketchUp for Educators

SketchUp is a free software program from Google.   With it, you can "create, modify and share 3D models."  You don't have to know a lot about computers or software programs to teach SketchUp to students.  Just set them loose on it; they'll figure it out.

 

Here is a gallery of what K-12 students have created with SketchUp.

Here is a gallery of what higher education students have created with SketchUp.

For a great geography lesson and for fun, visit the Google Model Your Town Competition.  You and your students may vote on your favorite SketchUp from the five finalists: Peru, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.  Voting ends May 1, 2010.

Everyone can receive the basic version of Google SketchUp for free.

Educators from accredited educational institutions may receive the SketchUp Pro Educators License version for free.

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Thematic Units and Lesson Plans for Free

Innovative Classroom offers Thematic Units, Lesson Plans and teaching tips for elementary grades. 

 
The Thematic Units are on the following subjects:

• Borneo
• Flight
• Peanuts

The Lesson Plans cover the following subjects:

• Social Studies
• History
• Physical Education
• Arts
• Language Arts
• Math
• Science

Interested in this free educational find?  Visit the Innovative Classroom.

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Thank you, Katherine, for sharing this high quality, 100% free, educational find with us!  Want to share something, too?  Email me at freelyeducate@gmail.com

Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Keep up with FreelyEducate tweets (Twitter) here: @freelyeducate

Order Free Loan Materials from the National Gallery of Art (plus a lot more!)

 
The National Gallery of Art has art to view.  Duh, you guessed that, right?  But they offer much, more more than just a gallery of art to view.  The NGA online site also offers:

A Lending Library.  You choose the items (DVDs, slides, teacher packets) and the National Gallery of Art will loan them out to you, free, for a certain length of time, like a library would.  They'll ship the items right to your door!  Your only cost is the return postage (this is open to all teachers, including homeschooling teachers).

Interactive lessons which include lesson plans and printables for several subjects  (you will find these lessons listed at the top of the home page, and more if you scroll down to "super-learner interactives")

My favorite section of the site for teaching is the search feature, which allows the educator to search through the National Gallery of Art's vast collection by curriculum, topic, or artist. This is also accessed on the home page. 

And, finally, set the kids loose at NGA for Kids, a kid-friendly site with more art-related features, games and interactive fun than I could tell you about in this little paragraph.  It's so big that I should highlight the NGA for Kids site on its own someday. 

Free Projects for Elementary and Preschool Students

There are many, many project sites for kids. Even so, Things to Make is worth highlighting because their projects include much-appreciated animated graphics showing us teachers just how to do the project so that we can look like we know what we are doing while in front of our students! 

 

Click on the Alphabetical Listing for projects categorized by "Over 6 years old" and "Under 6 years old."

Or, look at the list of projects by Category:

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Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Thank you, Katherine, for sharing this high quality, 100% free educational find with us! Want to share one, too?  Just email me at freelyeducate@gmail.com. ~ Lori

Free Resources for Teachers, Including Standards-Correlated Lessons for K-12

The quality of free educational finds seems to be improving each year.  Today's freebie is definitely one of those high quality resources. 

SMART Exchange offers free downloadable lessons* and lesson plans for teachers (including homeschoolers).  There is a teacher forum on the site, where you can bounce ideas off other teachers.  You may upload content you'd like to share. And, best of all, there is a search feature built into the site where you can find lessons specific to your state's standards and specific to the grade(s) you are teaching.

The free resources are available in a dozen or so subjects, ranging from Citizenship to Math, and from English as a Second Language to Special Education.  Here is a screenshot of the most downloaded subjects (as of March 18, 2010):

03/20/10 Update:  A FreelyEducate.com reader asked how to view the files.  Mark @ SmartTech replied, "If you don't have Notebook software installed, you can use a free web-based viewer at http://express.smarttech.com to open and edit them."~ Thanks, Mark!

Are you from a non-US country?  If so, click on the small flag in the top right corner of the SMART Exchange site to view the site in another language.

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Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Thank you, Katherine, for sharing this high quality, 100% free educational find with us! Want to share one, too?  Just email me at freelyeducate@gmail.com. ~ Lori

For Preschool through 6th Grade: Free Curriculum in All Subjects

Today we have another one of those vast sites that offer something in many subject areas.  The Learning Site is primarily for preschool through about 6th grade.  You're going to have to visit it yourself to see all there is to offer you!

Here are a few screenshots of random pages within The Learning Site:

At least one area of the site (math) requires registration, including adding the author's name of a Harcourt textbook as a password.  Other than that area, and perhaps another that I haven't yet noticed, the site can be freely used, even without registration.

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Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Keep up with FreelyEducate tweets (Twitter) here: @freelyeducate

Thank you, Kathleen, for sharing this high quality, 100% free educational find with us! Do you have a resource to share, too?  Email me at freelyeducate@gmail.com

Here are a few screenshots of random pages within The Learning Site:

At least one area of the site (math) requires registration, including adding the author's name of a Harcourt textbook as a password.  Other than that area, and perhaps another that I haven't yet noticed, the site can be freely used, even without registration.

~~~~

Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Keep up with FreelyEducate tweets (Twitter) here: @freelyeducate

Thank you, Kathleen, for sharing this high quality, 100% free educational find with us! Do you have a resource to share, too?  Email me at freelyeducate@gmail.com

Free Art Projects, Science Experiments and Worksheets for K-5th

Education.com has two section of its site that appeal to freebie-seeking educators:

Art Projects & Science Experiments:

Education.com has a popular new activities section full of fun ways to learn: You can choose activities by grade level (K to 5th grade) or subject area, like making clean water using a solar still  for your older kids and creating kid-friendly Batik  for your youngest students.

Worksheets for K-5th:

The worksheets cover many areas of education, including punctuation, mathematics, geography, coloring.  With over 160 pages of worksheets, it would be impossible for me to list them all.  You'll have to check it out for yourself. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Keep up with FreelyEducate tweets (Twitter) here: @freelyeducate

Education.com has two section of its site that appeal to freebie-seeking educators:

Art Projects & Science Experiments:

Education.com has a popular new activities section full of fun ways to learn: You can choose activities by grade level (K to 5th grade) or subject area, like making clean water using a solar still  for your older kids and creating kid-friendly Batik  for your youngest students.

Worksheets for K-5th:

The worksheets cover many areas of education, including punctuation, mathematics, geography, coloring.  With over 160 pages of worksheets, it would be impossible for me to list them all.  You'll have to check it out for yourself. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Keep up with FreelyEducate tweets (Twitter) here: @freelyeducate

Free Paper Models on Historical Architecture

It's gloomy out.  Let's cut paper today, shall we?

PaperToys.com offers paper structures (to cut out and assemble) of several world landmarks.   These structures may be used alongside your history program.  

For example, below is a screenshot of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (clicking on the photo takes you directly to that drawing):

Or how about the Taj Mahal? (clicking on the photo below takes you directly to that drawing)

To view the full list of structures, which includes The White House, Neuschwanstein Castle, Sydney Opera House, Wrigley Field, Big Ben, and the Statue of Liberty among many others, go to PaperToys.com.  There are structures simple enough for Kindergartners and structures that will even challenge high schoolers (or you!).

~~~~

Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Keep up with FreelyEducate tweets (Twitter) here: @freelyeducate

It's gloomy out.  Let's cut paper today, shall we?

PaperToys.com offers paper structures (to cut out and assemble) of several world landmarks.   These structures may be used alongside your history program.  

For example, below is a screenshot of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (clicking on the photo takes you directly to that drawing):

Or how about the Taj Mahal? (clicking on the photo below takes you directly to that drawing)

To view the full list of structures, which includes The White House, Neuschwanstein Castle, Sydney Opera House, Wrigley Field, Big Ben, and the Statue of Liberty among many others, go to PaperToys.com.  There are structures simple enough for Kindergartners and structures that will even challenge high schoolers (or you!).

~~~~

Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Keep up with FreelyEducate tweets (Twitter) here: @freelyeducate

PaperToys.com offers paper structures (to cut out and assemble) of several world landmarks.   These structures may be used alongside your history program.  

For example, below is a screenshot of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (clicking on the photo takes you directly to that drawing):

Or how about the Taj Mahal? (clicking on the photo below takes you directly to that drawing)

To view the full list of structures, which includes The White House, Neuschwanstein Castle, Sydney Opera House, Wrigley Field, Big Ben, and the Statue of Liberty among many others, go to PaperToys.com.  There are structures simple enough for Kindergartners and structures that will even challenge high schoolers (or you!).

~~~~

Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Keep up with FreelyEducate tweets (Twitter) here: @freelyeducate

Free Art Lessons from a Children's Author & Illustrator

It may snow today even here, on the FloraBama Gulf Coast.  We haven't seen snow in over 5 years!  It's a good day for an indoor project:

Our children adore children author and illustrator Jan Brett's how-to-draw videos.  We have spent many indoor days following her pencil as she teaches us how to draw animals. 

  

Included in the video series are:

How to Draw a...

• dolphin
• rhinocerous
• creature of the deep
• lion
• baby polar bear
• hedgehog
• chick
• rare African Okapi
• bunny
• elephant
• horse
• Siberian Husky dog

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subscribe to FreelyEducate here 

Tweet FreelyEducate here

Have a resource or giveaway to share?  Email me at freelyeducate@gmail.com

Our children adore children author and illustrator Jan Brett's how-to-draw videos.  We have spent many indoor days following her pencil as she teaches us how to draw animals. 

  

Included in the video series are:

How to Draw a...

• dolphin
• rhinocerous
• creature of the deep
• lion
• baby polar bear
• hedgehog
• chick
• rare African Okapi
• bunny
• elephant
• horse
• Siberian Husky dog

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subscribe to FreelyEducate here 

Tweet FreelyEducate here

Have a resource or giveaway to share?  Email me at freelyeducate@gmail.com

A Free Computer Art Program for K-6th

TuxPaint looks like fun! It's a computer art program ("open source drawing software," to be exact) for children.  You'll probably find yourself having as much fun as your students with this one.

The program developers describe the program like this: 

Tux Paint is a free, award-winning drawing program for children ages 3 to 12 (for example, preschool and K-6). It combines an easy-to-use interface, fun sound effects, and an encouraging cartoon mascot who guides children as they use the program.

Kids are presented with a blank canvas and a variety of drawing tools to help them be creative. (See the full list of features.)

Want to know more about it before you download the free program? 

• Schools Using the Program
• User Comments
• Magazine and Online Reviews

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Subscribe to FreelyEducate here 

Read FreelyEducate tweets here.

Have a resource or giveaway to share?  Email me at freelyeducate@gmail.com

For Teaching Art: Free Lesson Plans and Free Video Workshops

Dick Blick, a huge art supply company, offers free lesson plans and now video workshops of their most popular lesson plans on their website.  The lessons are clearly marked by grade level, and there are art projects for all skill levels and projects that require many or few materials.

Even if you think you cannot teach art (oh, yes you can! simply tell them to draw or create what they see - it cannot be wrong)...anyway, even if you think you can't, you'll enjoy these Dick Blick lesson plans as each one is clearly written with photos and a complete material list. 

While you're there, don't forget to check out the Mulitcultural Art Lessons, featuring items such as Aboriginal hand prints, Chinese ink painting and Huichol yarn painting. 

  

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Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Keep up with FreelyEducate tweets (Twitter) here: @freelyeducate

Even if you think you cannot teach art (oh, yes you can! simply tell them to draw or create what they see - it cannot be wrong)...anyway, even if you think you can't, you'll enjoy these Dick Blick lesson plans as each one is clearly written with photos and a complete material list. 

While you're there, don't forget to check out the Mulitcultural Art Lessons, featuring items such as Aboriginal hand prints, Chinese ink painting and Huichol yarn painting. 

  

~~~~~~~~~~

Subscribe to FreelyEducate here

Keep up with FreelyEducate tweets (Twitter) here: @freelyeducate