3rd Grade - Laurel Burch Cats

This is my all time favorite lesson, and not just because I am definitely a cat lady. This lesson always produces BEAUTIFUL results. I split it up into four days:

Day 1 - Introduce the artist - Laurel Burch! Students love her colorful cats.

This is the day I demonstrate how to draw the cat. The students draw along with me. Sometimes, I have papers with the different steps on them that I will put up on the board in case students fall behind.

Students also are to add a lot of patterns to their kitties!! They then trace their pencil lines with permanent marker.

Students may use CRAYON to color the kitties in. I emphasize that they need to color darkly in order for the crayon to show up later. Oil pastel would work to, but my students always end up smearing them all over the place!

**It is important to remind students not to color in their entire cat, JUST the patterns!

Day 2 -

This day I have students start on their frames. Many students are not quite done with the patterns on their cats, so I don't want to force them to paint yet. I tell students to pick a color of paper and make a frame/border using more patterns and a lot of colors! Students that are behind start on their frame after they finish color their cat.

Day 3 - TIME TO PAINT! I go through the first "rainbow" of watercolor with my students, then allow them to paint it on their own, continuing the pattern. Students can paint over the lines of their cats since we will cut them out later.

When students finish, they bring them to the drying rack and work some more on their frames (if they need to).

Day 4 - This day creates a TON of paper scraps. Students have three things to make or cut: a rug, a mouse, and their cat. I cut small rectangles of paper OR put the scrap paper box at the front of the room for students to use as rugs. I also cut small squares for mice. A lot of students don't know how to draw a mouse, so I put a step-by-step on the board for them.

Students glue down in this order:

1. Rug - towards the bottom of the paper
2. Cat - sitting on the rug
3. Mouse - at the cat's feet

My students love their final products and are always antsy to take them home!!