Elementary &
Middle School
Art Teacher
Welcome!
My name is Tanja Schubert. I have been working with young children for over 13 years. I am passionate about my work and an outside-the-box thinker who finds innovative ways to develop young learners.
Click the link: Professional Visual Art Certification K-12
Since 2018, I have been working as a Public School Teacher, K-8th grade, which has been challenging but rewarding.
I specialize in drawing, painting, collage making, clay sculpting, and technology. Students explore various materials and learn different skills and techniques. I foster social-emotional learning, integrate core subjects into the curriculum, and promote group work to foster a growth mindset.
Because of the lack of materials accommodations during the pandemic in 2020-2021, I used sketch.io with my students. I developed fun projects using free online programs such as sketch.io and hellokids.com.
I believe in ongoing professional development to keep up with the latest educational trends.
In my free time, I am an artist, sports enthusiast, and nature lover.
Please explore and enjoy some of my K-8th grade art projects.
Link to my Mission Statement
Kindergartners created gigantic spider webs and learned how to tie and make knots. Yarn is such an excellent material for young children. I was introducing the element of art, line.
Working with yarn enhances their fine motor skills, builds relationships holistically, and opens up their imagination in playful ways.
Yarn material for Elementary students.
The spider web is a great way to introduce 6 feet apart social distancing in schools. You will have to adjust the number of students playing. Create individual groups instead. Students learn patience, collaboration, and have fun.
Cardboard is one of my favorite materials for young children. Students went SHOPPING for shapes. Kindergarteners were relaxed and content.
Great for social-emotional support. Students were super excited, humming, singing, and talking about their work.
Check out the video of the engaged student. Video
Going shopping for shapes. 1-2 students at a time.
Exploring materials
Students working out ideas and composition.
Humming, playing and singing while working.
First and second-graders worked on a self-portrait by looking in the mirror. I based the portraits on the artist Paul Klee because he uses shapes and loves colors. Students decorated their backgrounds with shapes.
Students in first grade collaboratively worked on a project-based superhero neighborhood UNIT involving research and teamwork. Students remembered walking in their Brooklyn neighborhood and wrote down everything they remembered—the different stores, places, buildings, objects, animals, and trees. Once we had assembled the cardboard city, we created a superhero self-portrait flying through it. A student noticed the town was missing superheroes. I enjoy it when students participate with such enthusiasm.
You will need a unique cardboard tool to cut up the different shapes. I use recyclables whenever I can in the artroom.
Students started with a drawing of the community and wrote down things they had passed.
Learning about shapes
Space
Contrast
In the weaving project, students in first grade collaboratively worked in groups. Students were focused and whispering during this session. I used the time to expose the kids to classical or jazz music, helping students relax and focus.
Second grade projects , collages and paintings.
My Neighborhood
My Favorite Animal
Students enjoyed learning about foreground and background.
The Third-grade animal UNIT was so much fun. I had to organize each step carefully because of the large class sizes. (3x30 + students per class). Students created animal collages, drawings, and paintings based on endangered species. Students learned about endangered species in 3rd grade Social Studies. In art class, we further investigated our knowledge about endangered species using an iPad and scholastic (notes made into a sketchbook). Students also learned about the elements and principles of art: Shape, texture, color, space, and patterns. We studied collages based on Eric Carle and learned about his painting techniques. Students also had to write a paragraph about their chosen endangered species. I made a book from the collages, including the students' quotes.
Students were very engaged in the whole process. Creating the textures was my favorite part. I put up different stations for students, using other texture-making objects. Experimenting with paper, color, linework, and printing techniques, students liked the strong contrast between the colors and the texture. Once dry, students cut out geometric and organic shapes and put them in assorted boxes.
As a firm believer in arts integration, I welcome opportunities to collaborate with my colleagues in ELA or Social Studies and Math so that the learning experience for students has depth and is multifaceted. I can't wait to do this again!
When I use clay or model magic, I usually have students draw their ideas before turning them into form. (Design Thinking)
I love using sketchbooks for prep work. Thanks to Material for the Arts, I always have enough paper to make sketchbooks for all my students.
Monster Symmetry
Design Thinking Process. Work out color, shape, and form before using model magic.
Design a creature made up of two different animals.
North Pole Aniamls and Habitat.
I constructed the interactive TAR BEACH workbook for the Aim Higher Mentoring Program 2021.
Dogs and Cats, 3-5th grade. I like to introduce this lesson at the beginning of the year as an intro to patterns, color, composition, and material exploration. They always come out happy. I can't wait to try this project with different materials and methods. An art bulletin board inspired this lesson I saw as a Sub-teacher during my first year in the DOE. I had to try it out myself. I created a lesson plan, and here are some examples of the outcome.
4th and 5th-grade Still-life drawings.
During remote teaching, the 6th grade created fun silhouettes and radial symmetry in sketch.io and weavesilk.
Students at home often did not have any coloring materials; instead, I taught my students how to use sketch.io, a free digital paint program.
7th and 8th grade explored one/two-point perspective drawings. They had to use a ruler and explore value and color. I differentiated in this project. Students can pick tutorials and methods from my Google slide library. They have to use a rubric to critique artwork and grade themselves.
7th grade Op-Art
Here are some examples of Op art and Still-life drawings. Observational drawings are one of my favorite genres to teach K-8th grade.
8th grade Still-life drawings and paintings.
Students explored texture, color, material.
Mini-lessons
Tints and Shades , color mixing. Students complete color studies before painting a still-life.
Tints and shades, hands-on color exploration.
8th-grade Self-Portrait. The first two self-portraits were selected for the PS art festival 2022.
During remote learning, students studied Edvard Munch's artwork, THE SCREAM. They learned about the elements of art but also the emotional aspect of the painting. I developed a lesson plan that demonstrated how to play with ideas such as emotions, composition, and the elements of art and design.
Students created their version of THE SCREAM. The outcome was vast since I allowed students to use any material to express emotions and feelings.
I made videos that demonstrated how to play with composition and express emotions.
Contrast
Technique
The student is dealing with current events through collage making and integrating text.
Leaving a message
During the summer program, Horizons National students created an agamograph. A two-sided picture that involves math/measurement. The pictures show two images transforming from one picture into the other when walking from left to right.
Students also created fun paintings of animals, and they added a 1-inch border using a ruler.
The student was slightly autistic. He was super focused and excited about his train map agamograph.
Here are some more of my art lessons, 5-8th Grade.
Monochromatic Self-Portraits
Still-life tempera paintings
Initial sign language value drawing of hands
Abstract paintings inspired by the mircosopic world
