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.

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?!

First Grade Dogs

Yikes! I came to my second school and realized nearly too late that the classes here had already finished their faces!! This is because I see these classes twice a week and the others only once. I had to come up with something fast!!

Thanks to Deep Space Sparkle, I was able to find a cute project quickly. The first day, the students drew their dogs. I used the ELMO to show my drawing magnified on the projector screen. This worked for most of them; others I may need to sit next to me next time in order to make sure they are able to follow along. The dogs turned out so cute!

The next class day, I had the students finish up their dogs. While they were finishing, I had a group of three at a time come to a station and paint a second paper half blue and green. This is for the sky and the ground. I used tempera paint for this. I thank my summer experience at TLZ as an assistant art teacher, because otherwise I would not have been as effective at showing students how to hold a paint brush (Thank you, Amy!) I did not get through all of the students, so I will have an activity next week and pull those aside that have not finished painting yet.

I can't wait to see and share the final projects!