Category: Art

National STEM Day Nov. 8th

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National STEM Day is November 8, 2025, the unofficial holiday that celebrates science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education throughout the United States. Many add ‘art’ to the celebration for the acronym, STEAM.

Here are some great ideas that remind your students of the excitement that is these core subjects:

Ten Ways to Celebrate National STEM Day with NASA

National STEM Day focuses on helping students advance in STEM fields, a priority of NASA as we continue to push the boundaries of exploration and soar into the future. In celebration of National STEM Day, we challenge you to engage and inspire the Artemis generation as we go forward to the Moon by 2024 and continue to innovate in the areas of Earth science and aeronautics. To help you join in on the festivities, here are 10 ways you can celebrate National STEM Day with us.

49 STEM Activities for Students 

On November 8th, we will celebrate National STEM Day to get kids excited about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). Together the STEM subjects represent some of the fastest-growing and most in-demand fields in the United States.

While STEM topics seem a natural fit in high schools and post-secondary curriculum, education experts are promoting a focus on STEM subjects for younger and younger children. 

12 Projects for your STEAM program

Twelve favorite STEAM projects where artistic thinking becomes the engine for unpacking solutions. 

(more…)

#9: How to Look Like a Photoshop Pro–in Fifth Grade

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Here are the basic skills fifth graders can learn in Photoshop if you’ve prepared them with basic computer skills:

Ready? Let’s start with what Adobe Photoshop is–a grown-up KidPix, and the default photo-editing program for anyone serious about graphics. This series of projects (available in 55 Technology Projects for the Digital Classroom Volume I) introduces students to a traditionally-challenging program in an easy to understand way, each scaffolding to the next, thus avoiding the frustration and confusion inherent in most Photoshop training.

Adobe Photoshop has an impressive collection of tools to add pizazz to pics. You might have students open their school picture for this project. They love working with their own image.

  • #1: Artistic Renderings—artistic overlays that add flair to pictures. Go to Filter—artistic and it brings up dozens of choices. Try some (it gives a preview of the result) and select a favorite.

 

[gallery columns="2" ids="68588,68589"]

 

  • #2: blur and smudge tools on left tool bar to soften the background, and sharpen a focal point.
[gallery columns="2" ids="68590,68591"]
  • #3: Use Filter-render-clouds to create a cloudy background (the colors of your foreground and background tool)
[gallery columns="2" ids="68592,68593"]

 

Troubleshooting Tips

  • I can’t get the right colors for the clouds (check your foreground and background tools. That’s where Photoshop takes the colors)
  • I’m trying to drag the picture but I get an error message (Check your layers. Do the have the correct layer highlighted?)
  • I don’t have Photoshop. (Try GIMP–it’s free)

Do you have questions? Please add a comment and I’ll answer. Thanks.

Here’s the sign-up link if the image above doesn’t work:

https://forms.aweber.com/form/07/1910174607.htm

Copyright ©2025 worddreams.wordpress.com – All rights reserved.

“The content presented in this blog is the result of my creative imagination and not intended for use, reproduction, or incorporation into any artificial intelligence training or machine learning systems without prior written consent from the author.”

Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.

8: Fifth Grade Cloning in Photoshop

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Adobe Photoshop is kind of KidPix for grown-ups, as well as the default photo-editing program for anyone serious about graphics. This series of projects (available in the first volume of the book, 55 Technology Projects for the Digital Classroom) introduces students to a traditionally-challenging program in an easy to understand way, each project scaffolding to the next, thus avoiding the frustration and confusion inherent in most Photoshop training.

Here are the skills fifth graders can learn in Photoshop if you’ve prepared them with basic computer skills. I’ve provided links. The bolded ones are published, unbolded coming soon:

Today: Cloning

The clone tool duplicates a hard to crop-and-copy image (like the flowers below) or deletes part of a background—a sign or a post in a nature scene—you don’t want there. You can clone within a picture (as with the flowers), (more…)

#3: Windows Skills: Make Your Own Wallpaper

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One of the best ways to get students interested in technology is allow them to personalize their work area. That starts with placing wallpaper of their choice on their desktop. (more…)

#7: Fifth Grade Cropping in Photoshop

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Here are the basic skills fifth graders can learn in Photoshop if you’ve prepared them with basic computer skills. I’ve provided links but they aren’t live until publication:

Before trying this lesson, start here. Don’t worry. It’s not hard–just the basics.

Getting Started

Ready? Let’s start with what Adobe Photoshop is–a grown-up KidPix, and the default photo-editing program for anyone serious about graphics. This series of projects (available in 55 Technology Projects for the Digital Classroom Volume I) introduces students to a traditionally-challenging program in an easy to understand way, each scaffolding to the next, thus avoiding the frustration and confusion inherent in most Photoshop training.

There are three ways to crop in Photoshop:

(more…)

Photoshop Basics

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Here are the basic skills fifth graders can learn in Photoshop if you’ve prepared them with basic computer skills. I’ve provided links but they aren’t live until publication:

Get started

Open Photoshop. What you see will vary depending upon your Photoshop version. Adapt the lesson to what your school offers.

Notice the tool bars at the top. These will change depending upon the tool you choose from the left side. These are the crux of Photoshop. Cover about ten in fifth grade. The rest will have to wait. The right-hand tools are used independent of the left-hand tools. They are more project oriented.

  • Click the File Browser tool. It shows you the folders on your computer. From here, you can select the picture you’d like to edit (or use File-open) (more…)

Photoshop for Fifth Graders–Change Backgrounds

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Here are the basic skills fifth graders can learn in Photoshop if you’ve prepared them with basic computer skills. I’ve provided links but they aren’t live until publication:

  1. Photoshop artwork–already live
  2. Photoshop actions–already live
  3. Photoshop basics #5
  4. Photoshop filter and rendering tools
  5. Photoshop starters–auto-correct with the auto-correction — quick fixes that make a photo look cleaner #6
  6. Photoshop crop tool–with the lasso and the magic wand #7
  7. Photoshop clone tool– within a picture and to another picture #8
  8. Photoshop–change the background (put yourself at the Eiffel Tower or on Hoover Dam)–published here
  9. Photoshop tools–add custom shapes–already live
  10. Photoshop–start with Word (a little dated but still useful)

Get Started

This one you already know how to do if you’ve been following along through the book. Because it is a must-have in a school environment, I’m going to step it out for you.

  • Have your child or students open a photo of themselves in Photoshop
  • Use the cropping tools learned here to crop themselves out of the background
  • Go to select-inverse to select the individual rather than the background
  • Edit-copy (this will copy the student’s cropped picture)
  • Open a picture of the background they’ve chosen
  • Edit and then paste the picture they cropped into the background
[gallery columns="2" type="square" ids="72592,72593"]

 

Imagine, putting your students in the historic events you study together, in the landforms they learn about in science, or the natural math that appears in nature. Now, with this Photoshop lesson, that’s all possible.

PS–If you don’t have Photoshop, try the free download called GIMP.

–from 55 Technology Projects for the Digital Classroom. 

Copyright ©2025 askatechteacher.com – All rights reserved.

Here’s the sign-up link if the image above doesn’t work:

https://forms.aweber.com/form/07/1910174607.htm

“The content presented in this blog are the result of creative imagination and not intended for use, reproduction, or incorporation into any artificial intelligence training or machine learning systems without prior written consent from the author.”

Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.

Photoshop Skills–Custom Shapes

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The program that says ‘pro’ more than any other is Adobe Photoshop. Believe it or not, there are a whole list of skills easy enough for a fifth grader (maybe even fourth, but I haven’t had time to test it on them yet).

Here are the basic skills fifth graders can learn in Photoshop if you’ve prepared them with basic computer skills. I’ve provided links but they aren’t live until publication:

Get started

Custom shapes are great fun in Photoshop, and one of the simplest skills to learn. (more…)

#4: Photoshop for Fifth Graders: The First Step is Word

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Here are the basic skills fifth graders can learn in Photoshop if you’ve prepared them with basic computer skills. I’ve provided links but they aren’t live until publication:

Getting Started

Before we get into Photoshop, we’ll start with a program your fifth grader is most likely comfortable with: MS Word. For basic image editing, Word does a pretty good job, so we’ll start with a project using Word’s tools. Each version of Word has slightly different tools so adapt your lesson to what is available in your school. Plus, if you’re using a different word processor (i.e., Google Docs), adapt this to its tools:

  • Open a blank document. Insert a picture with multiple focal points (see samples).
  • Duplicate the image once for each focal point.
  • Click one image to activate toolbar.
  • Crop each duplicate to show just one of the focal points available in the Picture toolbar
  • Use other tools available on the toolbar. This will vary, but may include
    • add a border
    • wrap
    • change background
  • Rotate picture creatively.
  • Resize and move to fit on page
  • Test picture effects available
  • If you use pictures from the internet, be sure they’re royalty free.

(more…)

Photoshop Skills Fifth Graders Can Do

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The program that says ‘pro’ more than any other is Adobe Photoshop. Believe it or not, there are a whole list of skills easy enough for a fifth grader (maybe even fourth, but I haven’t had time to test it yet).

Over the next months, in this series, I’ll show you how to teach Photoshop skills appropriate for fifth grade and up. The list includes:

I’ve provided links, but they aren’t live until publication. These can be adapted to other art programs like Canva. Here are examples of the type of project students can create: (more…)