I had the best celebration I could have ever imagined! Thanks to all the students, teachers, and friends who made my retirement celebration so special. It started with an escort to my room - the most far away in the building - by my sweet friend Mr. Maloy. Then it was nonstop hugs, hand-drawn notes, and even a parade planned by Ms. Noles and Ms. Shaffer with students chanting my name! Next came the party in the media center where I received lots of love and a beautiful award. Miss Pratt and the hospitality committee did a terrific job of putting out a yummy snack spread with a Snoopy theme ..read more

March is the month we celebrate the Fine Arts in our schools each year - unfortunately we have not been able to have our traditional art show and musical performance the last few years, but this year we were able to do a simplified version. Sometimes simple can be very effective! I knew that this would be my last art show at Dolvin so I talked the theme over with Ms. Young, our new music teacher, and we decided to get to the heart of the matter - that we are all artists.  We spent some time in our art and music classes going over all the different ways that we can create. We also le ..read more

Hi readers - I am so sorry that it has been almost a year since my last post. I was diagnosed with a serious illness last summer and have been trying to balance school with medical treatments. I will be retiring on March 31 in order to fully focus on my health and recovery. I have had the honor of teaching at Dolvin Elementary for 26 years and a total career of 30 years, so as hard as it is to let it go, it is time. I want to thank all of you who have followed my blog posts since the start over 10 years ago. I started it to have a new means to show off our work in the art room and make connect ..read more

We have been stitching up a storm this spring in all grade levels. My youngest artists start out with plastic needles, burlap, and yarn to sew a running stitch, and each year we add some steps to the process. My older students can select from a variety of stitches for their designs and can embellish their work with buttons and beads. We also move to a finer woven cloth and embroidery floss. We all feel a sense of accomplishment when we view our progress each art class. Take a look ..read more

This is a lesson I do almost every year - it is a great one day artist study that packs in lots of curriculum content and is always successful. I usually do it with paint, but this year we tried crayon instead for my at-home friends to be able to participate as well and I may even like them better! Monet’s Impression:Sunrise  The lesson is available in my TpT shop:  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Knights-Smartest-Artists ..read more

Grades 3-5 have been trying different perspective techniques in their artwork to creat the illusion of space. These are lessons I return to again and again because they offer some personal choices and connections for the students while giving them technical experience. Let's start with third grade - they researched and selected a bird whose habitat is here in our state of Georgia. We drew the birds in great detail because they were in the foreground of the picture, and then to create an atmospheric perspective we used watercolor and the wet on wet technique to create a blurry, out of focus b ..read more

I have a new Mystery Drawing out and I thought you might like to see how I present them to my students, so I am sharing this video with you. This one involves a special day in February - no spoilers, so watch the video to find out more! Feel free to share with your class if you like. This one is available in a pack on Teachers Pay Teachers called Mystery Drawings: Seasons and Holidays - it is a bundle that will continue to grow as I add more. I have three other sets of mysteries with five in each that have been very popular with teachers in both the art room and the classroom. I started using ..read more

I am so excited to announce that my new book, ABC Arts, is releasing today! I am celebrating with a giveaway - just leave a comment on this blog post and I will select a random winner tonight, 1/26. This book is part of the STEAM Baby series for very young readers - it is an ABC book with very jazzy vocabulary all about the fine arts. I am super proud of it and it would be a great baby gift, birthday gift, or an addition to your classroom or home library. You can get your own copy here: https://amzn.to/37z2a2o Thank you so much for the preorders and reviews -  I appreciate each and ..read more

Big day - the e-book is live! Just go to the link and select Format>Kindle if you want to have the digital copy for kids on the go. Although real books are my favorite, ebooks are a handy alternative. The paperbacks are pre-ordering now on Amazon and will be sold at other locations too starting 1/26. You can also leave a review here and it will show up for the paperback AND the Kindle version. Thank you so much to all the folks who have offered to leave a review, offered support, or purchased your own copy! It means the world to me. My ABC Arts Book is part of the STEAM baby series and teac ..read more

https://amzn.to/37z2a2o Today's the day! My book, ABC Arts Book, is now available for preorder on Amazon - it will be shipping out in late January. I am thrilled, and you can get your copy for 8.99. If you have young kids in your life, this is a book that introduces vocabulary from all of the fine arts. There are other books in the STEAM baby series as well - some are out now and some are on the way. Thanks for all your support, friends ..read more