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!

Hot Air Balloons: 2nd Grade

Second grade did a collaborative project with Hot Air Balloons! We looked at the artist David Kracov and imitated his style. Each student drew, colored, painted, and cut out a hot air balloon on a piece of posterboard.

 I had students come up by table and lay their balloon somewhere on the floor overlapping one another. I used pieces of foam to space out the balloons as I attached them (I used masking tape).

I put them all up after school and decided they were missing something. So the next day, I had each student create a cloud! Here is the final product!

Looking back, I wish I had taken the time to cover the board with a blue paper. The final piece is still pretty amazing though! Go second grade!

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!!

Pop Art Fruit Bowls; 1st Grade

In an attempt to take a new spin on still lives, I added a pop art twist! First grade really liked it! We began by looking at Pop Art by Roy Lichtenstein. I photocopied five fruits, and demonstrated how to add dots using markers. On a different day, we created the bowls. The students spent the last day gluing everything together! These looked awesome.

My Example:

Student Display!

Blue Dog: Kindergarten

This project is awesome!! I walked the kindergartners through a blue dog drawing step by step on a piece of blue paper. All we used were blue, white, and black crayons (and yellow for the eyes!).

There are so many paintings of blue dog! We looked at many different paintings. I then had students create their own, unique setting for their blue dog. I encouraged students to make the setting something special about themselves, i.e. a favorite place, where they are from, etc.

Here is one of my blue dogs:

Check out how talented my Kindergartners are!

The final project on display in the art room!

African Sunsets: 3rd Grade

Third graders experimented with mixing colors on a paper rather than in a dish. I've seen similar projects online saying this project deals with value, but we did not emphasize this. Our focus was on contrast, shape, and painting techniques!

Here is my smaller example:

Below are the pieces created by some of my students! They did an excellent job!

Radial Symmetry: 6th Grade

Sorry about my awful photography on these next projects! I introduced my sixth graders to types of symmetry before tackling this project. To accomplish this project, I pre-cut paper into squares (12x12) and had my students fold them into eighths. I had a box of shapes on the counter for students to start out with. I encouraged students to add their own organic shapes as well.

A lot of students struggled with knowing where things repeated, but most of the students understood after the first day.

Pictured below is my own, unfinished example:

A few of my students are fellow Doctor Who fans!

These students did an EXCELLENT job on their pieces!

A display at one of my elementary schools.

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!!

2nd Grade: Autumn Trees

What better way to bring in the fall than with a project about the trees and their autumn leaves?!

I started this lesson out by passing out a piece of construction paper. I told students to pick a crayon: brown, tan, gray, black, etc. On the board I demonstrated how to draw a tree as the students did each step along with me.

1. Draw two parallel, vertical lines that go from the bottom to about the middle of the page.

2. Curve the lines outwards, away from each other

3. Use "V's" to create lots of branches.

Obviously, I am not going into too much detail on here since I'm sure other art teachers already know how to draw a tree!! If not, there are many tutorials online.

For the tissue paper, I used red, orange, and yellow. Each student was to use all three of these colors. I only instructed students to put leaves around the bottom of the tree and on the branches of the tree. Some students, however, wanted to make falling leaves. This I allowed. Any time that a students wants to be creative with their art, my heart leaps with joy and I nearly shout "YES, DO THAT!"

Here are the steps for applying tissue paper:

1. Rip off a small piece of tissue paper.

2. put a pencil (eraser end) down in the middle of the ripped tissue.

3. crinkle the excess tissue up, around the pencil. Hold it like that.

4. Put a dot of glue where you want the "leaf" to go.

5. Push the tissue/pencil down onto the glue, let go, and lift up! Don't flatten the tissue!!

These turn out REALLY nice. I did these with my students during student teaching. It's definitely a lesson I want to keep doing!

Here are the final products displayed in the hallway!!

Some students added tire swings, birds, etc. I love them all!

Close-up view!

Aren't these great?!

1st Grade Dogs: Finished!

My first graders did a step-by-step how to draw a dog with me. We also used tempera paint to create a very simple background. 1st graders then cut out their dogs, glued them, and used oil pastels to finish the picture. The results are "pawsitively" precious! Check it out!

Here is a close up!

And finally, all the dogs on display. Aren't my 1st graders talented?!

Keith Haring 5/6th grade!

Due to the death of my kitty I have had for 16 years, sickness, and the end of the nine weeks fast approaching, I have been behind on posting. So, really quick, here is a picture of my kitty that passed. She was my best friend and losing her has left a huge gaping hole in my life. It's been a rough week, but every day is getting easier. It is still hard to go home to a place where she no longer lives. Rest in peace, sweet kitty:

I will always miss you!!

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These Keith Haring pieces certainly took a long time to finish!! It was worth the wait because they turned out so expressive and vibrant!! I tried to get creative with the display, but I didn't have a lot of time.

And the individual pieces!

They're awesome, right?! I hope you enjoy these as much as I am!! My students did SUCH a great job!