5th Grade: Zentangle Animals

This is a project that takes a while, but if students will put the effort in always looks cool at the end!

First, we talk about drawing what we see, not what we think. We practice first with two drawings. One drawing I demonstrate with them, the second I have them do without my help. Students then pick out their own animal picture and apply what they've learned to drawing an animal. There are a lot of choices so they can pick something simple or complex! But they need to draw it the way it looks in the photo - drawing what they see!

This student did not get to add color to his (due to time contraints), but I thought it was a good example of the process. Photograph, draft, and final drawing!!

After students draw their animal, they split the entire drawing up into 6 or more sections. Each section will be filled in with a solid color of paint. After it's dry, students will begin adding patterns to each section. Below are the examples that were chosen to hang in the hallway.

Student Portfolios

The first project I do with my students each year is their Portfolios. We talk about how art can be functional and how the portfolio will function as something to hold all of their art in until they take it home.

I demonstrate on the board how to write using block letters. I stress the element of SPACE. I instruct students to write their names lightly with pencil and then trace the block letter around it so they do not run out of space. We also touch on line and shape.

Students color their portfolios and add personal touches. I try to keep them to the front so later on the early finishers can add more on other sides of their portfolios.

Examples!

3D Paper Relief: Radial Symmetry

 

This project is seriously the coolest! As a class, we discussed different kinds of symmetry with a focus on radial symmetry. With our limited amount of class time (only 30 minutes!) It's hard to do 3D projects like clay, plaster, etc. This project allowed students to make something 3D and introduced simple origami folds. I pre-cut 2 inch squares in a variety of colors for my students. I used colored printer paper from the office rather than construction paper because it's so much easier to fold. My only rules were that it needed to have radial symmetry and, of course, craftsmanship!

Here are the folding steps:

Start with a square

 \

Fold into a triangle (bottom left corner to top right corner)

Fold the top layer's triangle in half: tip to bottom 

Repeat on the other side

It should look like this from above

Push the flaps down to be flat. The little triangle flaps will be where glue is placed.

These little papers should fit right into each other!

Students started gluing along either a "+" shape or an "x" shape. Some of my students were creative and came up with more complicated designs! Here are a few examples:

This last example is the same lesson, but accommodated for a student who struggles with fine-motor skills like paper folding. He was really excited once we figured out a project he could do with ease!

Complementary Colored Hands: 1st Grade

We spent a lot of time on colors in the first grade! This project focused mainly on complementary colors, a bit of a difficult concept for some younger students to grasp.

I had each student trace their hand by the edge of the paper three times, their hand + arm, twice, and parts of their hand on the edge of the paper 2-3 times. Afterwards, I gave students permission to add a few hands if they wished.

I told students to pick out one color to do patterns with on the insides of their hands. On the outside, they had to use the complement of that color to create the circle pattern. Even my older students were impressed with how these turned out!

Tree of Life: 6th Grade

In sixth grade, we studied movement. I have always thought that Klimt's Tree of Life looks like it's moving! My students agreed and we set to each creating our own Tree of Life. Students used tempera paint and oil pastels to create these beautiful, unnatural trees!

I wish this student had been able to finish! He was working very steadily and doing an amazing job!

Cupcakes: Kindergarten

I was really struggling with how to teach Kindergarten about texture. This project just came out of nowhere and it is now one of my favorite projects!

I precut a LOT of cupcakes out of posterboard for my Kindergarten classes. Seriously, my hand hurt for hours after cutting all these out.

I gave each student a cupcake a paint pallet of four colors: red, blue, yellow, and white. I told students to start painting! I loved listening to them discover how colors create other colors all on their own! They even remembered it later when we talked about primary and secondary colors. Teacher win!

 

 

The next class, I gave students a paper to draw patterns on. We talked about how patterns can create texture. After the patterns were all drawn, I demonstrated (and helped a lot of students) how to fan fold! During my prep period, I stapled the paper to the cupcake bottom. I explained to the students how the folded paper also created texture!

Here is my example: 

The last step was to add sprinkles! I gave students a pile of foam stickers on their table. Some students used all of the stickers, some only used 10-15. ALL of the results were perfect!

Glue Bottle Poster

Okay, so I found this online, but it was super helpful teaching my students to use glue bottles properly!!