Lines, Dots, and Doodles

100th day of school

2012-02-12T10:28:00.001-08:00

I have done this lesson several times, and I know it is a lesson that many art teachers have done. I am not sure where this lesson originated, but I have seen it posted on many sites. On the 100th day of school, I had my students draw themselves as 100 years old. We colored the face with crayon, and used watercolors for the background.
Every year I think these are hilarious!

Penguins, Pre-K

2012-02-02T11:54:00.000-08:00

I came across this really cute idea on the blog Just For Fun. The idea from this blog was to create a stamp from a potato, but because I didn't have enough potatoes for 24 preschoolers, I decided to make stamps from craft foam. Basically, I just made a stamp by cutting out a piece of craft foam and then gluing a clothes pin to the top for a handle. After stamping on the body and the wings, we glued a small white oval for the belly. We then used Q-tips to add the feet, beak, and snow to our paintings. While students were working on this, I went around and helped glue a googly eye to their project. These are just too CUTE!

Music, 3rd Grade

2012-01-31T16:48:00.000-08:00

I recently did this lesson with my third graders. We began this lesson by listening to Jazz music. I asked my students to try to visualize the music while it was playing. We then discussed ways to show rhythm and movement in art.

For this lesson, I taught my students to draw a guitar. After this, students were asked to draw designs or patterns to show rhythm. We then used warm and cool colors to paint our pictures.
These turned out really nice. I can almost hear the music now.

Birch Trees, 4th Grade

2012-01-30T14:56:00.000-08:00

I found this great lesson on Deep Space Sparkle, however I have seen similar lessons posted on many other sites. Birch trees are great because they are simple. To begin this lesson, we drew a horizon line and painted the sky with watercolors. Then on a different piece of paper, we drew several trees. On half of the tree we painted a gray shadow. We then use black paint to draw small lines on the tree. After this, we cut the trees out, and glued it to our painting. We then used gray watercolor to paint a shadow in the snow. Lastly we added falling snow by splattering white paint.

Viking Ships- 5th Grade

2012-01-28T15:55:00.000-08:00

When I heard that my fifth graders were learning about the Vikings in Social Studies, I thought it would be a great time to do a Viking ship lesson. These Viking ships were done on tooling foil. After creating the design on the foil, we added a bit of black ink, which we gently wiped off with a paper towel. This made our drawings look antique. Finally, we glued these to a black piece of paper and painted designs in the border with metallic paint.
I think these turned out nice.

My Artwork

2012-01-23T07:57:00.000-08:00

The problem with teaching art is that I spend all of my time planning and creating artwork for kids, but have little time to focus on my art. This weekend I decided to spend all of Sunday working on a painting. Here is the painting I created.
It felt really nice to spend an entire day painting something for myself.

Tessellations, 4th Grade

2012-01-05T14:28:00.001-08:00

Amazingly enough, this was my first time doing a tessellation lesson. I am not very good at math, and I find tessellations extremely difficult. However, I decided that this year I was going to challenge myself to teach it. To begin this lesson we look at the artwork of MC Escher. My students are always amazed with his work.
To make tessellations a bit easier on myself and my students, I had them create a stencil. I gave each child a small rectangular piece of paper with a grid on it. I had my student draw one shape along the side and one shape along the bottom. These shapes were then cut out, and placed on the opposite side. If you use the grid, it is much easier to make sure the shape is placed exactly opposite. Once this is in place, use a piece of tape and secure it. After the stencil is made, I had my students trace it onto their paper. Students then draw details such as eyes, scales, hair, etc. Students then outline everything with a black crayon. After this, all they need to do is color their tessellations. I had my students use liquid watercolors for this part.
These turned out great, and it really wasn't hard to do. Tessellations were not as difficult as I thought they would be.

Space, 5th Grade

2011-12-30T07:50:00.000-08:00

My fifth graders have recently been studying space in science class, so I thought I would use this theme in my art class as well. This is an idea I found on the blog SmART Class.To begin this project, I had my students splatter paint stars. While this was drying, I taught my students to draw a rocket on a white piece of paper. Students also drew planets. Everything was then outlined with a black crayon, and painted with liquid watercolors. After this, these were cut out and glued to the black construction paper. This lesson was completed in one 75 minuted class.

Totem Poles, 5th Grade

2011-12-14T15:05:00.000-08:00

My fifth graders have recently been studying Native American culture in history class, so I thought it was time to create Totem Poles again. Last year, I did this same project with my students. It was such a success, I decided to do them again. Each child made one piece of the totem pole. When hung, we have several large totem poles.

Winter Trees, 3rd Grade

2011-12-12T07:03:00.001-08:00

These beatiful winter trees were created by my third graders. I found this wonderful lesson idea on Elementary Artists, which is a blog I recently discovered through Pinterest.

This is a very simple lesson. I began by teaching my students to draw a "Y" tree. Students then chose three colors. These three colors were used to color the trunk and the branches. Lastly, students used a Q-tip to paint snow. I just LOVE these!

Snowflake Quilt, 3-5th Grade

2011-12-11T16:46:00.000-08:00

This lesson focused on radial symmetry. Each student painted one snowflake. We began by folding the paper into eight lines. Each line became one point of the snowflake. Students then decorated their snowflakes with shapes and lines. The only rule was that it had to be symmetrical. After the snowflakes were painted, students created patterns around the boarder. These turned out great, but I can not take full credit for this lesson. I found the idea from an image on Flickr.

Snowmen, 1st Grade

2011-12-11T15:36:00.000-08:00

Here are a few snowmen that my first graders created this week.
I LOVE the details.

Ten Black Dots, Kindergarten

2011-12-11T10:21:00.001-08:00

This lesson was based off of the book Ten Black Dots, which is part of the Kindergarten math curriculum in my school system. The Kindergarten teachers asked me if I could create an art lesson to go with this book, since they were going to read this book to the kids. I began this lesson by reading Ten Black Dots. I then asked each child to choose a few dots, which I had pre-cut before class. I challenged them to turn the black dots into something. For example; The black dot could be the wheel on a car, or the eyes of an animal. They drew first in black crayon, and then added color.These turned out adorable!

Falling Through Space, 5th Grade

2011-12-01T14:03:00.000-08:00

This is a wonderful project that I have done many times with my fifth graders. It's a great way to teach the idea of foreshortening. It's actually quite simple. We begin by tracing our hands and feet. I then demonstrate how to draw the rest of the body. Finally we color everything with oil pastel, and the background is painted with watercolor.

Every year I LOVE the results.

Hamburgers, Pre-K

2011-11-18T15:39:00.000-08:00

I have done this lesson several times before, but never with my little Pre-K children. One day last week my art schedule was suddenly changed, and I found myself having to come up with a last minute lesson for my Pre-K children. Usually I spend a lot of time preparing lessons, especially for Pre-K, since they often need things cut ahead of time. When I began thinking about the things I had in my classroom, I remembered I had a lot of leftover cardboard, felt, and string, from last year's Hamburger lesson with my first graders. This was perfect because most of the materials were already cut to the right size. That is how this fun Pre-K project came to be; all I had to do was simplify my first grade lesson. In the quick 30 minutes before school started, I had created a last minute lesson that turned out really well.
Every few months, the Pre-K children focus on a specific theme. This month's is; My Five Senses. I think this lesson fit very well into that theme.

Scarecrows, 1st Grade

2011-11-13T09:39:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, I found this cool lesson on Deep Space Sparkle, and I have done this lesson with my students many times. The background was done with oil pastels and watercolors. The the scarecrows were made with paper, yarn, and a popsicle stick.I think these are super cute!

Melted Crayons

2011-11-12T11:16:00.000-08:00

Friday was Parent Teacher Conference day. This is a day that I enjoy every year, because as the art teacher, I have few conferences and can spend the day working in my room. This year I decided to experiment with old crayons. Recently, I have seen quite a few melted crayon ideas on Pinterest, and I decided it was time for me to try this.
This is really simple to do. Basically, I used a hot glue gun to attach crayons to the top of foam-core. Then I used a heat gun to melt the crayons. I have also heard that a hair dryer can melt the crayons too, it would just take a little longer.

Fall Bulletin Board

2011-11-12T04:21:00.000-08:00

I love creating bulletin boards. Here is my fall bulletin board. I put this up about two weeks before Halloween.

Clay

2011-11-09T16:56:00.000-08:00

I teach a Saturday clay class with kids between 5-9 nears old. I am horrible at remembering to take pictures of their work, but here are a couple photos I took last Saturday.

We've done a little bit of everything in this class, but the birds are my favorite. I found the idea for that lesson on Mrs. Pector's website.

Fall Still Life, 3rd Grade

2011-11-07T15:24:00.000-08:00

These simple still lifes were made with oil pastels. We drew pumpkins, apples, and corn on white paper. I encouraged my students to experiment with blending analogous colors (colors next to each other on the color wheel). After this, these were cut out and glued to construction paper. I think these turned out rather well.

Tornadoes, 5th Grade

2011-10-25T16:58:00.000-07:00

This is a fun tornado lesson that I did with my fifth graders. I've done this lesson before, but it has been a few years.
This is a very simple lesson. Basically, we used cotton batting to form the tornado. Then we dug into my scrap paper box to create the rest of the picture. During the last 10 minutes of the lesson, I handed out oil pastels to add details. I just love the creativity in these pictures.

Blue and White Plaster Bowls, 4th Grade

2011-10-24T08:50:00.000-07:00

These were made using plaster gauze, and a plastic bowl for a mold. The great thing about plaster is that it dries really quickly. This entire lesson was done in one 75 minute class. To begin, I have the students rub liquid dish soap inside the plastic bowl. This helps keep the plaster from sticking to the bowl. Then, we dipped plaster gauze strips into water, and laid it flat into the bowl. I had my students do 3 layers of plaster gauze inside their bowls. Next, I had my students use blue paint to create a design inside their bowl. Because of time restraints, I had them do this while the plaster was still slightly damp. I let these dry overnight before popping them out of the mold. Lastly, I sprayed them with a clear sealer to keep the paint from chipping. I absolutely love plaster gauze, and will have to come up with other uses for it in the future.

Leaf Prints, Kindergarten

2011-10-24T08:38:00.001-07:00

This is a very simple project that I do every year with my kindergartners. For this project, we used real leaves. To do this, we painted the back of the leaf. Then we turned it over, and stamped it to the paper. For the background, we used a sponge and tempera paint.
These turned out great, and look even better in person.

Patterned Owls, 1st Grade

2011-10-07T10:04:00.001-07:00

This is a very simple and adorable project. I began by teaching my students to draw an owl (they used black crayon for this). Next, I gave them oil pastels to draw patterns inside their owl. (Pastels were also used to draw stars). I then gave my students red, yellow, and orange liquid watercolors to paint their owl. Lastly, they were given black watercolor for the sky.

These are super cute!

Flowers in a Vase, 1st Grade

2011-10-06T03:24:00.000-07:00

This is my second time posting on this lesson. I did this lesson with 3rd graders just a few weeks ago. I liked the results, so I decided to try it with my little 1st graders. I originally found this lesson on Deep Space Sparkle. I began this lesson by teaching my students how to cut and draw a symmetrical vase. The designs on the vase were drawn with a Qtip and blue paint. Lastly, I taught my students several ways to paint flowers.
I think these turned out nice.

Volcanoes, 5th Grade

2011-10-05T14:15:00.001-07:00

I found this really cool artist online recently. Her name is Margarate Godfrey, click on the link to see her blog. I used this artist as inspiration for a volcano lesson with my fifth graders. Here is what my fifth graders created.For the volcano, we used scraps of construction paper and tissue paper. These were collaged and glued to the paper. The lava was made with liquid water colors. We used a straw to blow the liquid watercolors. This made the liquid watercolors spread in random directions, which looked more like real lava. The sky was then painted with blue and purple watercolor paints.

Silly Skeletons, 2nd grade

2011-10-04T15:57:00.000-07:00

Last week, I had my second graders create Silly Skeletons, which was perfect timing because they have recently been studying the skeletal system in health class. This lesson could also be tied into Halloween or the Day of the Dead.
I began by having my students draw a skeleton with a white pastel. After the skeleton was drawn, students used white tempera paint to paint the skeleton. Lastly, students decorated their skeletons. My only rule was that these skeletons had to be silly and not scary. They were not allowed to add blood or guts.
I think these turned out GREAT!

Fruit Still Life, 3rd Grade

2011-10-03T15:59:00.001-07:00

I found this really fun lesson on Art with Mrs. Smith. (I had to adapt it a bit to make it work with third graders, but the idea is mostly the same). This lesson was inspired after Frida Khalo's Still Life with Parrot and Fruit.
For this lesson, I wanted to focus on analogous colors and color blending. We used oil pastels for this lesson, which is wonderful for blending colors. When drawing the fruit, I asked the students to use three colors. I had them first choose the main color for their fruit, and then its analogous color. For example, if they were coloring an orange, they would use orange, yellow, and red. I then asked them to blend these colors together by smearing with their finger.
After the fruit was drawn, I had them cut the fruit out and lay it onto their paper. I encouraged them to overlap some of the fruit, to make it look like one was in front of the others. After gluing these to their papers, I had them use a black pastel to create a small shadow under the fruit.

Starry Night, 2nd Grade

2011-09-25T17:00:00.001-07:00

Everyone loves Van Gogh's Starry Night, and I have done many art projects based on it. Here is my latest one.
This project is really very simple. I had my students draw stars and wind with oil pastels. Next, we used liquid watercolors to paint the sky. Lastly, students drew a city onto black paper, which was then cut out and glued to their painting.
I just love these! My second graders did a great job.

Pinterest is AWESOME!

2011-09-24T15:15:00.000-07:00

I have seen many people talk about Pinterest, but I never understood the point. However, now that I have joined, I just LOVE it. For a visual person like me, I just love logging in, and looking at the many pictures. Such a wonderful source of inspiration. Plus, I now have a way to save the many ideas I find on other blogs. Never again, will I find a great idea, and forget where I found it.
I don't have many things posted yet, but hopefully I will soon. If you are on Pinterest, follow me at; http://pinterest.com/jvanders/

By the way: The picture at the top has nothing to do with this post. Just thought this post needed some color, so I posted one of my paintings.

Blue and White Vases, 3rd Grade

2011-09-24T14:39:00.001-07:00

I found this wonderful idea on Deep Space Sparkle. I began this lesson by showing students many examples of Blue and White Chinese Vases. The vase was cut out of white paper, and then we used blue paint to paint the designs. After this, I demonstrated different ways to paint a flower. I told my students that each painting had to have at least ten flowers. The flowers were limited to blue, yellow, and white. These turned out beautiful! I am so proud of my students.

Name Mandala

2011-09-13T15:28:00.000-07:00

I have seen this lesson posted on many sites before, but always thought it looked complicated. However, after seeing wonderful step by step instructions on Art Lessons From Belgium, I decided it was time to try this with my fourth graders.
This lesson wasn't hard at all, and I ended up with wonderful results. The hardest part was getting the students to write their name large enough. If they do not write their name large, the letters will not connect to each other. If you need detail directions, they are on Art Lessons from Belgium.
I think these turned out great.

Paper Masks, 5th Grade

2011-09-10T17:31:00.001-07:00

This is one of my favorite lessons, and I do this with my fifth graders every year. This is a wonderful lesson to teach symmetry. I just LOVE how these turned out.

My Art Room and Bulletin Boards

2011-08-25T13:37:00.001-07:00

The new school year has started and my room is ready. Here are a few photos of my bulletin boards and art room.I LOVE having an art room. I teach at three school, but only one gives me a room. Teaching art is a million times easier when your own space. Plus, it's a lot of fun to decorate. Here is my "rules" bulletin board. Once every quarter I choose a famous artist to say something funny about the rules. This month is Picasso. This is my back wall in the art room. I dedicated this space to mistakes, and how it alright to make them.

Random Clay Creations, Summer Art

2011-08-22T16:01:00.000-07:00

Over the summer, I taught a clay class at my local community center. The kids ranged from 5 to 11 years old. Everyday I had a specific lesson for them, but at the end of class, I gave them free time. The photos here, were created during this time. It's always fun to see what the kids come up with.

I just love the end of the summer because my students have been in my clay class for weeks, and truly understand basic clay techniques. This is when they create their best art. I just LOVE all of these!

Clay Dragons, Summer Art

2011-07-31T13:34:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned in a previous post, I am teaching summer clay classes at the local community center. Recently, my students made these really cool clay dragons.
These are very simple to make. Basically, we made the body of the dragon by rolling a long coil. One end is bent upwards to use as the neck and head. Legs and other details were added by scoring and slipping. Unfortunately, we did not have time to glaze these, so we finished by using tempera paint. A few of my students chose to add glitter as well.
This is a very simple project, and is perfect for students who are inexperienced with clay. Also, kids LOVE dragons, so they were really excited to add details to make it their own.

Clay Wizards and Witches, Summer Art

2011-07-29T10:03:00.000-07:00

This summer I have been teaching clay classes at the local community center. Here are some photos of the clay wizards/witches we created. With the new Harry Potter movie out, this project was a big hit with the kids.
I found the idea for this lesson on Deep Space Sparkle. There is a really nice tutorial on her site, so just click on the link for detailed directions. This last person decided she didn't want to make a wizard, so she turned it into an angel. I love it when my students think outside of the box.

Finished Bottle Cap Mural

2011-06-16T14:18:00.000-07:00

The bottle cap mural is finished, and I just LOVE it. This one is hanging in the school hallway.
My students worked extremely hard on this mural, so they were very excited to see it hanging in the hallway. It looks awesome!
Here is a closeup of the mural. We certainly used a lot of caps for this project. This was such a fun way to recycle.

Bottle Cap Mural #2

2011-06-15T17:24:00.000-07:00

It's the last week of school, but I am still trying to finish a few projects. I know I recently posted on the bottle cap murals my students have been creating, and this is our second mural. This one was inspired after Van Gogh's Starry Night. Today three fifth grade classes worked on this mural, and tomorrow, I plan to have a few students finish it up. I will post another picture when it is completely done. I am extremely excited to see how this one turns out.

Sidewalk Drawing

2011-06-13T13:49:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I went to an arts festival. The best part of this festival was the Sidewalk Drawing Contest. There were absolutely amazing chalk drawings there. Here is the one I created.
I did not win the contest, but it certainly was fun to create.

Wizard of OZ

2011-06-05T17:46:00.000-07:00

Every year our music teacher puts on a play with the elementary students. This play is a big deal, and is a major fundraiser for the school. The children have to try out, and practice every day after school. For the past two years, I have volunteered to do the scenery for the play. This is a huge undertaking on my part. During the last two weeks, I have spent many hours after school painting. The scenery certainly came alive during the performance. Here a few photos I took during the performance. Sorry, they are a little fuzzy. My camera doesn't take good photos in the dark.
The costumes were wonderful, and the student did a wonderful job.

Salmon, 4th Grade

2011-05-27T17:40:00.000-07:00

My fourth graders recently read a story called Salmon Summer in their English class. To tie my art lesson into this, I had my students look at Native American salmon art. Native American salmon are very decorative and expressive. I found many examples of salmon art by searching in Google images.
For this project, I had my students draw their own expressive salmon. These salmon included interesting designs and patterns. Students drew everything with black crayon, and then painted with yellow, red, and orange watercolors.
I am quite impressed with the results of this project.

Bottle Cap Mural

2011-05-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

The bottle cap mural is now on the wall and looks wonderful. This mural is brightening my art room.

Bottle Caps Everywhere

2011-05-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of my bottle cap mural project. Today I did this project with two 5th Grade classes. For the past few months, I have had my students collecting bottle caps. Several wonderful fifth graders volunteered to help me sort them by color. Yesterday, I drew the design and created this key. We did this project in color by number format.
Originally I planned to do this project on wood using screws, as I have seen done on many sites. However after looking into the price of screws and wood, I decided to use things I already had. We created this mural on foam core and adhered the caps using hot glue. It's hard to see in this photo, but this mural was divided into 6 pieces, one for each table. Each table had one glue gun, and we rotated to insure everyone had a chance to glue. This worked well because everyone was able to help with the mural.
I was quite surprised how quickly we finished this mural. I had two fifth grade classes today, each an hour long, and we finished this entire mural in one day. There are still three more fifth grade classes, so it looks like I will have to have create one more mural, so that everyone has a chance to do this project.
I haven't quite figured out how to hang this mural yet. Since it is on foam core and not wood, I am not sure the best way to adhere it to the wall. If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

More Falling Through Space

2011-05-18T13:25:00.000-07:00

I know I have already posted on this lesson, but I finally got all of them hung up. I just LOVE the way they look on the wall.

Space, 1st Grade

2011-05-15T11:08:00.000-07:00

I have been doing a lot of space themed lessons recently. This is my first grade space project. Basically, my students used a black crayon to draw planets, stars, moons, suns, aliens, etc. Next all of these things were colored with oil pastels. I emphasize the importance of coloring neatly and dark, since the paint will stick to all things that are left as plain white paper. Finally, I gave my students blue and black watercolor paints to paint the sky.
I think adding a little blue in the background, makes these space pictures look more authentic.

Space, 2nd Grade

2011-05-14T06:37:00.000-07:00

Recently I had my second graders created these beautiful space pictures. To begin, I had my students draw small white stars onto black paper. Next, students drew planets, space ships, aliens, ect. on white paper. These were then cut out and glued to their black paper.
My students love this project every year. I swear my students have more knowledge about space than I do. Throughout this project, students were telling me random facts about planets, stars, and NASA.
This very simple project had wonderful results.

Starry Night, Kindergarten

2011-05-12T03:58:00.000-07:00

I have done this project before, and every year I love the results. I always do this at the end of the year because my Kindergartners really don't have the motor skills needed until then. I begin this project by showing Van Gogh's Starry Night. We discuss color and brush work in his painting. To start their artwork, I have them draw stars, a moon, and wind onto their paper with oil pastels. Next, I hand out purple and blue watercolors, which they use to paint the sky. The houses were done on black paper, which were cut out and glued to their painting. I really love the movement in these paintings.

Annapolis Paintings, 4th Grade

2011-05-11T16:49:00.000-07:00

These beautiful paintings were created by my fourth graders. They recently went to Annapolis for a field trip, so I thought it would be fun to do a painting of it. For this project, I handed out a photo of Annapolis. The photo had boats in the foreground. It had buildings, trees and the capital in the middle ground, and, of course, the sky in the background. Before beginning this project, we talked about simple overlapping to create depth. Judging from these pictures, I think they understood the concept.
Students began by drawing in pencil. After this, students used oil pastels to color the boats, houses, and trees. Lastly, students used watercolors for the water and sky.
These are beautiful and make me think of summer.

Shapes, Kindergarten

2011-05-08T16:29:00.000-07:00

Recently, I needed a quick simple lesson that I could do with my kindergartners. While searching the internet, I found this wonderful lesson from Laugh Paint Create. This was perfect timing because my little kindergartners have been learning about shapes in math class. This was a really simple lesson. I gave each table a pile of pre-cut shapes, which students pieced together to create houses, boats, waves, etc. For the bridge, I just photocopied it onto construction paper, and then had my students cut it out. Before gluing, I had my students design their pictures by laying their shapes onto black paper. They were not allowed to glue until they had my permission. (This makes them think before gluing).
I just love the way these look when hung together.

Flowers, Pre-K

2011-05-07T05:23:00.000-07:00

This week, my Pre-K students painted flowers. A few weeks ago I did a similar lesson with kindergarten. I liked the results so much that I decided to try it with Pre-K also.
This is a fairly simple lesson. I gave each child stamps to create the petals. Instead of a stamp pad, I had sponges filled with paint. This helps keep them from using too much paint. The grass and stems were done with green paint and a Q-tip.

Falling Through Space, 5th Grade

2011-05-03T14:16:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite projects, and my fifth graders look forward to it every year. This lesson is a wonderful way to teach the concept of foreshortening. Quite a long time ago, I found this lesson on Oodles of Art, and I have used it many times since. My students start by tracing their hands and feet. After this, they draw their head, neck, arms, and legs. I then have my students outline everything in black marker and color with oil pastels. Next, I have them cut the entire thing out, and glue it to large black paper. Stars and planets are drawn with oil pastels.We really have to rush in order to get this project done, in our 75 minute art block. I usually warn my students that they will have to work harder in this one class than they ever have before. Most of them will work extra hard because they LOVE this project. For those of you who are fortunate enough see your students every week, you will want to dedicate several classes for this project.

I absolutely love the way these look when they are hung together!

Sunflowers, 1st grade

2011-05-02T08:08:00.000-07:00

Sunflowers are my favorite flower, so I just LOVE this lesson. If you haven't guessed already, this lesson was inspired from the many sunflowers painted by Vincent Van Gogh. I found this really cool lesson idea on the blog How Beautiful You Are

To begin this project, I gave each child a piece of brown construction paper. With a black crayon, I had my students draw their sunflower. Next, I had my students use their finger to paint the dots in the middle of the flower. (It's not often I let my students put their fingers in the paint, so they really enjoyed this). The flower pedals were done with a paint brush. For this part, they used two colors at once. They first put their paint brush in yellow, and then dipped it staight into the red. My students marveled when it turned orange on their paper. To finish, my students painted the stem green, and the sky blue. Some students chose to put a little white on top of the blue to lighten it up.

These paintings make me think of summer!

Covered Wagons, 2nd Grade

2011-05-01T14:39:00.000-07:00

Recently, the second grade teachers asked me to come up with an art project related to the Oregon Trail. This is what I came up with. The wagons are made of milk cartons, which are cut in half. We painted the carton with brown tempera paint. The cover to the wagon was just a piece of paper, which we slid into the carton. I let my students decorate the wagon covers with crayon. I know, the real pioneers did not have colorful wagons, but I decided that the wagons would be more fun this way. The wheels were just made out of poster board and glued to the wagon.
I usually try to stay away from "crafty" art projects, but I couldn't help myself on this one. They are really cute.

Cowboy Boots, 5th Grade

2011-05-01T09:46:00.000-07:00

Recently, my fifth graders have been reading stories about the "Wild West," so I thought this was the perfect time to create cowboy boots in art class. Judging by the wonderful results, I think my students enjoyed being "boot designers."
I began this project by showing my students lots of examples of cowboy boots. Cowboy boots come in many different styles and designs. I found many great examples of cowboy boots by just doing a search in Google. To create our cowboy boots, I had my students first draw their boot in pencil. After everything was drawn, they then outlined with a black crayon. Lastly, we used liquid watercolors to add color. This was a very simple project, but the results were quite wonderful. I definitely wish I owned a pair of cowboy boots (especially if they looked like one of these).

Viking Ships, 3rd Grade

2011-04-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

This week I have had my third graders create these really fun Viking Ships. Students first drew in pencil and then outlined everything with black crayon. I then had my students use liquid watercolors to paint their drawings. I even handed out gold and copper watercolor paint for my students to use.
Overall, I think these boats turned out wonderful. This was the first time I have ever used the metalic watercolor paints, and I really love them. I am sure I will find many uses for this paint in the future.

Hamburgers, 1st Grade

2011-04-25T15:16:00.001-07:00

I have done this lesson in the past, and every year my students LOVE it. This project is a lot of fun, and is also a wonderful way to get rid of some of the "junk" we as art teachers hang on too. It is also a great lesson to teach about reusing and recycling. Quite a long time ago, I found this lesson on Kids Artists, I enjoy this lesson every time I do it.

For this project we used; old pieces of cardboard for the bun, scraps of yarn and felt, old noodles (that have been the the cabinet for years), and leftover Easter grass. I also let my students use my scrap paper box to cut out any shapes they wished to add to their sandwich.
The results are wonderful! It makes me hungry just looking at them.

Flowers, Kindergarten

2011-04-15T14:51:00.001-07:00

My Kindergartners have recently been learning about symmetry in their math class, so I thought this was a perfect time for a symmetrical vase art lesson. To begin this lesson, I give each child a piece of construction paper folded in half. I then walked my students through drawing the vase. The trickiest part is getting the students to draw along the fold. Inevitably, there are always a couple students who will need help. After drawing the vase, my students cut the vase out. I always emphasize the importance of keeping the paper folded, and cutting through both sides of the paper.
After the vase is finished, I have my students start on the flowers. For the middle of the flower, I have my students use a Q-tip to paint a circle. Then, I hand out flower stamps. (I made my own stamps out of craft foam). Instead of a stamp pad, I give my students a sponge covered in paint. I then demonstrate how to stamp the pedals. I always tell them to put the stamp on the paper, and then lift it straight up. I emphasize the importance of not smearing the stamp around.
I really think these turned out well. It is always fun watching the kindergartners grow throughout the year. These students did such a wonderful job, I can tell they are almost ready for first grade.

Giraffes, Kindergarten

2011-04-10T17:26:00.000-07:00

Recently the kindergartners went to the zoo, so I thought this would be a good time to do a giraffe project. Since my kindergartners have been in school for almost a year now, I thought it was time to really get into the skills of painting. As a lot of you know, when kinders paint, they will often paint sloppy putting all the colors on top of each other, until it is a muddy brown color. At the beginning of the year, I do not make a fuss about this, but by the end, I try to get them to slow down and think about their color choices.I based this project on the artwork of Betsy Fowler. She is known for painting animals in very bright vibrant colors. Click on the link to see her artwork, I think you will LOVE it.
To begin this project, I had my students use a stencil to trace the head of the giraffe. This was the only part that was traced. The eyes, ears, nose, horns, spots, and neck were all drawn by the student, with a little direction from me of course. After drawing in pencil, I gave everyone a black crayon to outline with. Next, we began painting with liquid watercolors. I started by having each student choose one color to paint the spots with. (All the spots had to be that one color). After painting the spots, I had my students use a paper towel to dab off any puddles. (This will help keep the spots from running into their next color). Then, I had my students choose a different color to paint the rest of the giraffe (The only rule was that it had to be a different color than the spots). Lastly, I handed out purple paint for the background.
These turned out great. This was the first time that I have allowed my kindergartners to use liquid watercolors, but it really turned out well.

Clay Pots, 4th and 5th Grade

2011-04-07T11:56:00.000-07:00

I just finished my ceramics lesson with 4th and 5th grade. There are 11 fourth and fifth grade classes, so this was quite an undertaking. Just getting the stuff in and out of the kiln was time consuming. Originally, I was planning to have them glaze these, but I have changed my mind after discovering that firing over 300 pots takes an inordinate amount of time. I also thought about having them paint these with tempera paint, but then the beautiful red clay is not visible. In the end, I decided that I liked the pots just the way they were.For this project, we used the coil pot method. Some students chose to make the coils visible, but others decided to smooth the coils out. After this, my students decorated their pots. It is important to make sure student's score and slip when adding pieces. Otherwise those pieces will fall right off. Some students added faces to their pots, while other just did decorations.
I think these turned out WONDERFUL! I just love the creativity in these pots.

Chinese Gold Fish, 5th grade

2011-04-05T16:00:00.000-07:00

I did this project several months ago, but I forgot to post on it. I did this lesson with my fifth graders because I wanted them to learn to loosen up when they paint. Often, I find that they are so worried about making a mistake, that they don't know how to paint freely and loosely. For this lesson, we focused on Chinese Gold Fish Paintings. If you search in google images, you can find lots of examples of these. Chinese goldfish paintings tend to be very loose, and the artist does not usually sketch the fish out ahead of time.
For this lesson, my students could NOT draw with pencil. Everything had to be sketched with paint. We used liquid watercolors, but you could also use India Ink or regular watercolors. My students painted the fish first, and the seaweed second. All mistakes had to be fixed with paint. An accidental drip of paint could become a bubble, or even extended into seaweed. I told my students that, "Our goal is to make our mistakes look like they were done on purpose." I really like the loose free brush strokes in these paintings.

Pigs, Pre-K

2011-04-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

These really cute pig paintings were painted by my little Pre-K students. I found this really cute lesson on Deep Space Sparkle. There are so many wonderful lessons on her blog, and I am constantly searching her site for great ideas. This one was perfect for my little Pre-K students, especially since they have recently been learning about farms.
For this lesson, I taught my students how to draw a pig. With Pre-K I usually have them draw with crayon rather than pencil because they will draw bigger. Plus, most of these little ones don't need or want to erase things anyway. After drawing, I gave my students liquid watercolors to paint with. I gave them only one color at a time. We began with pink for the pig. When they were done with the pink paint, I took it away and gave them green for the grass. After this, I took the green paint away and gave them purple for the sky. This just helps keep the students from getting too excited about all the color choices, and also keeps them from mixing all the colors together.
I just love the simple inhibited way Pre-K kids draw.

If You Give..., 1st Grade

2011-03-29T16:28:00.000-07:00

My first graders have been reading the If You Give books by Laura Numberoff. I am sure most of you are familar with these. She wrote If You Give A Mouse A Cookie and If You Give A Moose A Muffin. Recently, the first grade teachers asked me to create an art lesson around these books. This is what I came up with.
For this project, I had my students come up with their own If You Give scenarios. Each child chose an animal and a food for it to eat. The head then opens up, and on the inside lists the drink he will want after.
We had to get this project done in one hour, so it required a little prep work on my part. To make life easier, I gave each child a piece of paper already folded in half with a head shape drawn on it. This made sure that all drawing were being done along the fold, and would be able to open up. Then, each child turned this shape into whatever animal they wished. Some even chose to turn it into an alien or monster. They did this by adding eyes, nose, mouth, ears, etc. Everything was drawn with marker and colored with crayons.
For the part with the words, I wrote it out by hand, and photocopied it onto construction paper. This way, the students only had to write the animal, food, and drink words onto their paper. Even then, I had to help a lot of the kids with spelling. Even with so much prep work, we just barely finished in our hour long time slot. However, these turned out wonderful, even if we were rushed.

Jazz, 2nd Grade

2011-03-27T08:37:00.000-07:00

I have done this lesson many times before with many different grade levels. This year, I decided to try it with my second graders. To begin this project, we listened to jazz music for a couple minutes. We then talked about how music has rhythm and movement, and discussed the idea that art can also show rhythm and movement. Each child was given a large piece of construction paper to draw their instrument on. I had my students draw with a black crayon in order to make sure they drew big enough. (Most kids will draw bigger with a crayon than a pencil). My students had to draw either a guitar or trumpet, which I showed them how to draw. After this, they cut the instrument out and glue it to the black paper. The rest of the project was entirely up to them. They used scrap paper to cut out simple shapes, to make it look like the instrument was playing music. I even let my students cut up music sheets to add to their collage. Finally, in the last five minutes of class, I let my students use oil pastels to add final details.
While my students were working, I continued to play jazz music. I think these turned out quite nice.

Spring Bulletin Board

2011-03-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

This is the first year I have had an actual art room. (Well, at least in one of my three schools). I absolutely LOVE having an entire room to teach in. One little thing I enjoy about having a room is having bulletin boards. I know, it's a little thing, but I just have so much fun decorating them. This week I had a surge of creative energy, and I created this bulletin board outside of my classroom. As you can tell, I am ready for Spring.

Day 1 of Clay.

2011-03-11T19:06:00.000-08:00

It has been an adventure trying to do a clay unit with my students. I have a very low budget for art supplies, so I can not afford clay. This year, I applied for an education grant in order to buy clay for my students. Back in December the clay was delivered to the school, and I was super excited to begin clay with my students. However, this isn't the end of the story. After the clay was delivered to the school, I began looking at the kiln. I teach in a new school that has a brand new kiln, so I just assumed the kiln would work. Unfortunately, I found that when the school was built, the kiln was put into the room, but was never actually hooked up. After looking at it, I found that the kiln could not plug into the wall, and I needed an electrician to fix it. It took three months, but finally the kiln is functioning, and I am able to begin my ceramics unit.Today was the first day of clay, and we made coil pots. I covered the table with canvas before the kids came in. This really does help keep the clay from sticking to the tables.
I really like how these pots turned out. Can't wait till they are bone dry, so I can finally use my kiln.

Self Portraits, 2nd Grade

2011-03-11T03:07:00.000-08:00

I found this lesson on The Incredible Art Department, and I just had to try it with my second graders. This lesson was tied into the artwork of Marc Chagall. I showed them many examples of his artwork. We noticed how some images in his drawings were sideways, upside-down, and even floating.
This project was a self portrait. I began by having my students draw their face, neck and shoulders. After this, I had my students turn their paper once clockwise. On this side, I had my students draw their house. Next, I had my students turn their paper clockwise again. On this side, I had my students draw things they like to do. Finally, I had my students turn their paper one last time, and draw a family member. Everything was outlined with black crayon and colored with oil pastels. The background was then painted with watercolors.

My students had a lot of fun with this project. Second Graders always LOVE projects about themselves. They also LOVE telling me all about the things in their drawing. It is so much fun to talk about their artwork with them.

Paul Revere's Ride, 5th Grade

2011-03-08T17:26:00.000-08:00

Sometimes relating art to the curriculum is quite frustrating. I want to teach good art techniques, but teaching to the curriculum can be somewhat limiting. When the fifth grade teachers asked me to create a lesson on Paul Revere, I panicked. I spent several hours trying to come up with a lesson that related, without being to crafty. Finally, I came up with this lesson. I can't say that it is my favorite lesson ever, but at least my students learned several good art techniques from it.
For this lesson, I wanted my students to learn some basic atmospheric perspective techniques. We talked about the horizon line, and how everything gets smaller as it gets closer to that line. My fifth graders always enjoy learning ways to add depth to their art. When drawing the houses, I had my students look photos of Colonial buildings. This helped make their drawings look like they were from Paul Revere's time. We drew everything with a black crayon, and then painted with watercolors. Lastly, to add Paul Revere to this project, I had my students cut a picture of Paul out and glue him to the painting.
I think these turned out really nice, even if it did take me a long time to plan this lesson.

Chinese Dragons, 4th Grade

2011-03-05T11:48:00.000-08:00

Recently, my fourth graders have been reading Chinese stories for their Language Arts class. Therefore, this was a wonderful time to do a Chinese Dragon lesson. Before beginning this lesson, we discuss the differences between Chinese and Medieval Dragons. We look at pictures of both, and compare and contrast them. This would also be a wonderful lesson to do for the Chinese New Years.
I have done this lesson several times before, but originally, I found this lesson on The Incredible Art Department. If you click on the link, there are wonderfully detailed instructions for this project.
All kids LOVE dragons, so this project is a hit every time. They look really cool on the walls too.

Whoville, 1st Grade

2011-03-04T05:06:00.001-08:00

Wednesday was Dr. Seuss' birthday, so I thought it would be fun to do a Dr. Seuss project with my first graders. I have done this lesson before, but previously I did it with Kindergarten. Before beginning this project, we talked about how Whoville is an imaginary town with wild colors, curvy roads, and unusual buildings. To begin this project, I had my students draw three unusual blob shapes which would be the buildings. These shapes were then decorated with crazy patterns and designs. Students cut these out, and glue them so that they stick up off the page (I show my students how to do this). After this, we used strips of construction paper to add roads and stairs.
My first graders had a lot of fun with this project. Funny thing, a few of my fifth graders have asked if they could do this project too.

What's in Your Brain? (Portraits), 3rd Grade

2011-03-01T15:36:00.000-08:00

As I have mentioned before, part of my job is to incorporate art into the core subjects. Sometimes this is quite difficult, but other times it works out wonderfully. This lesson was one of those wonderful times. The third graders have been learning about biographies and autobiographies in their Language Arts class. This project was a visual autobiography of my students.
A long time ago, I saw this lesson idea somewhere. Only I am unsure where; I may have seen it on a website, or maybe at an art show, but I really and truly can not remember. Anyway, if this is your lesson, let me know, I would love to give you credit for it.
To begin this project, I taught my students the basic proportions of the human face. After the portrait was drawn, my students used oil pastels to color. I encouraged my students to choose colors that matched their skin and hair. Once everything was colored, they cut the portrait out. After this, the students cut a straight line at the top of the head to make it look as though the top of the head was coming off. Everything was then glued to construction paper. The top of the head should be glued off to the side. Lastly, my students drew things about themselves spilling out of their heads. They could draw things they like to do, their favorite foods, or vacations. Anything was fine as long as it was about them.
These turned out AMAZING! The other grades are jealous, and have asked to make "Exploding Heads" too.

Timing was my only issue with this project. We just barely finished in our 75 minute time slot. For those of you who have the luxury of seeing your students every week, will want to dedicate several days to this project.

Paper Quilling, 5th Grade

2011-02-28T14:26:00.000-08:00

The fifth graders have been studying the colonial times in their history class. To tie my art class into this, I had my students do paper quilling, which was popular around that time. Quilling involves rolling strips of paper, and shaping them into designs. I allowed my students to make any design they wished. Some students did flowers, some did fish, and others simply made nice designs. Before beginning this lesson, I showed the students many examples of paper quilling. We also practiced rolling paper around our pencils. (Some students may find this difficult at first, so making a few practice ones will help). I then showed the students several ways to make a paper quill. For example, the paper can be curled tightly or loosely. After it is rolled, the edges can be pinched or bent into different shapes. Lastly, everything was glud to black paper. These turned out wonderful! They will look even better when the glue dries. The huge glue globs are slightly distracting. I will have to go back and take more pictures later.

Symmetrical Masks, 3rd Grade

2011-02-27T04:52:00.000-08:00

I have done this lesson many times before. However, most of the time I do this with my 5th graders, but when the third grade teacher asked me to do a project on symmetry, I thought this would be the perfect lesson. Unfortunately, I don't have many photos of this project, just the two you see here. In the middle of taking pictures, I was distracted, and never had the chance to get back to it. Oh well, at least I had two examples to post.
I decided to tie this lesson into Venetian Carnival masks. Before beginning the project, I showed the children many examples of these. We then discussed the idea of symmetry, which most students had a grasp on, since they were learning this in math. These masks are entirely made of paper and glue. Since this lesson was about symmetry, the rule was that everything except the hair had to be symmetrical. I did encourage my students to think about overlapping different colors of paper to make their masks more interesting. Overall, I think these turned out very nice. I just wish I had gotten more pictures.

Trucks and Tractors, Kindergarten

2011-02-25T18:53:00.000-08:00

Every year, around this time, the Kindergarten teachers do a Wheel theme with the students. Once I hear that the Kinders are doing this theme again, I break out this Truck and Tractor lesson. It's a success every time. After all, Kindergartners LOVE trucks, so of course my students really get into this lesson.
Quite a while ago, I saw this lesson on Deep Space Sparkle, and I have used this lesson many times. Basically, I begin this lesson by teaching students how to break up a truck into shapes. For example: A circle can be a wheel, or a rectangle can be the body of the truck. I have the students draw everything with a thick black marker. After this, I give the students oil pastels to color their truck. I usually encourage the students to color the entire page, leaving no white space.
I think these turned out quite Amazing!

Pattern Cats, 1st Grade

2011-02-22T05:51:00.000-08:00

I have seen this project done on many websites, and I have even done this one myself before. Though, this is the first time I have done it with first grade. I love this project, because it is a really simple way to teach patterns. To begin this project, I have each child choose a piece of construction paper. Then with oil pastels, I have them draw one large pattern onto the paper. After this, we put the construction paper aside, and I give each child a piece of white paper and a black marker. I then show students step by step how to draw a cat. Once this is done, I have the students draw several lines to break the cat up into several sections. In each section, students use the black marker to draw patterns. I encourage the students to color parts of the design in to make it darker (Many do not think to do this if not encouraged). I just love what my first graders did with this project. Last time I did this lesson, I did it with third and fourth grade. While I liked the lesson when the older kids did it, I just LOVE it for the younger ones.

Clay Cupcakes

2011-02-21T17:50:00.000-08:00

I teach a small Saturday ceramics class at the local community center. Recently, we made these wonderful cupcakes. I found this great lesson idea on Artolazzi. For the bottom of the cupcake, we used a silicone muffin cup. Students made a small pinch pot, which was then pressed into the muffin cup. The top of the cupcake was made with another pinch pot. Students then decorated the top of their cupcakes. These were first bisque fired and then glazed. These look delicious enough to eat.

Folk Art Neighborhoods, 1st Grade

2011-02-20T16:03:00.000-08:00

This art project was inspired after the artwork of Karla Gerard. She is an artist who sells most of her art on eBay. I just love her folk art style, and thought it was great inspiration for an art project.
I began this project by giving every child a black crayon. Erasing was not an option for this project. Students drew a ground, trees, and houses. I encouraged students to draw patterns on the ground. After the drawing was done, I gave my students oil pastels. These were used to color the small things in the picture. I told the students they had to color the tree trunks, houses, and all other small objects with the pastels. The rest of the picture was then painted with liquid watercolors.
I must say that these turned out wonderful. My students just keep surprising me with their talent.

Lizards, Pre-K

2011-02-16T08:48:00.000-08:00

These are the beautiful lizards my Pre-K students created yesterday. Now that these kids have been in school for a while, and most have now figured out how to hold a pencil, I decided it was time to try a little tracing. I gave each child a stencil of a lizard, which they placed in the middle of a white piece of paper. Many of them had never used a stencil before, so I demonstrated before beginning. (Most understood the concept of tracing, while others needed help). Once everything was traced, I had the students outline their lizards with oil pastels. Students also used oil pastels to decorate the lizards. Some of them colored the entire lizard, while others just drew designs inside the lizard. Either way was fine with me. Lastly, I gave each student watercolors to paint the background.

I love watching these little students paint! They are so excited when they rinse their paint brushes off, and discover that the water changes color. I just love their enthusiasm!

Google Art Project

2011-02-15T12:18:00.000-08:00

I discovered the coolest website today, and just had to share it with everyone. It is called the Google Art Project. On this site, you can tour art museums from around the world without leaving your computer. You can navigate your way through the halls of the museums, and also zoom in on famous works of art. I am having so much fun looking through this site. My favorite aspect is being able to zoom in so close that you can see the artist's brush strokes. It truly is Awesome!

Vases and Flowers, 2nd Grade

2011-02-11T17:47:00.001-08:00

I am in the mood for spring, and I am tired of all my winter lessons. So this week, I decided to have my second graders do these flower still lives. This is a fun lesson to teach symmetry. To make the vase, we fold a piece of paper in half and draw half of the vase along the fold. We then cut it out. The petals themselves are also symmetrical. To make these, I had the students cut four pieces of paper at once. (That way, they ended up with four symmetrical petals). We then bent the petals, and glued them so that they stuck up off the paper. I just love these flowers. I hung these in the hallway, and it certainly brightens things up.

50 Awesome Blogs

2011-02-10T04:46:00.000-08:00

I was included on a list of 50 Awesome and Inspiring Blogs for Art Teachers listed by Accredited Online Colleges. It was really nice to be included on this list, and there are some really cool blogs on this list. I am having fun looking through them.

And, No, this picture has nothing to do with this post. I just posted one of my paintings to give this post a little color.

100 Years Old, Kindergarten

2011-02-09T11:39:00.000-08:00

Every year, the kindergartners celebrate the 100th day of school. This year, on the 100th day, we drew ourselves 100 years old. I have seen this lesson posted on several blogs. Most recently I saw it on School at St. George Place, but I am unsure where it originated.Before beginning, we discussed what people look like when they get old. Surprisingly, many of my kids have never seen an elderly person, and therefore did not know what they looked like. To help them understand, I showed the students photos of elderly people. We discussed how old people usually have wrinkles and gray hair. First, we drew the face, neck, and shoulders with a black crayon. We also added hair and wrinkles. After this, I handed out multicultural crayons for students to color the skin. The hair was painted with silver watercolor paint, and the background was painted with watercolors as well. I think these are wonderful! and the students certainly enjoyed this lesson.

Graffiti Castle, 4th Grade

2011-02-08T11:56:00.001-08:00

This lesson was inspired after Kelburn Castle (also known as the Graffiti Castle), in Scotland. In 2007, the owners of the castle were told that the facade was going to have to be replaced. Before completely replacing the facade, they invited graffiti artists to paint their castle. This beautiful castle was the inspiration for our castle drawings this year. Last year, I did a similar castle project with the students, but this year I changed it a bit. Last year it was a completely black and white castle, while this year we added color. I really liked how these turned out. I started this lesson by giving the students stencils for the pillars of the castles. The stencils were in many shapes and sizes. Students then chose where to put their pillars and created their castle. The castle was first drawn in pencil, and then outlined with black marker. After the castle was created, students got to graffiti their castle. I encouraged students to put different patterns on each pillar. I also showed them how they could use both thick and thin lines for their designs. Once the patterns were drawn with black marker, they used crayons to color their castle. My students did an absolutely amazing job on these castles. They seemed to be extremely focused while working on this project. Usually my fourth graders are a very chatty group of kids. However, while working on this project, they were completely silent (and I didn't even ask them to be!). They were so focused on making perfect castles, that no one said a word. It was WONDERFUL! I just wish every class went this smooth.

Dinosaur Super Heroes, 2nd Grade

2011-02-04T17:14:00.000-08:00

This was a fun project I did with my second graders this week. In science class, the second graders have been learning about dinosaurs, and in reading they have been reading stories about super heroes. So, I thought I would combine the two, and do Dinosaur Super Heroes in our art class. We drew dinosaurs and gave them super powers. I love how creative my students are. Each dinosaur had a super power. Some could fly, some could become invisible, some could shoot water from their mouths. The ideas my students came up with were endless. To begin this project, I had my students draw everything in pencil. Once they had their drawing they way they liked, they outlined everything with a black crayon. (I am big on having my students outline everything before coloring). After this, they colored everything with oil pastels. Lastly, the sky was painted with watercolors. My students just LOVED this project! I mean 2nd graders love dinosaurs, and they love super heroes, so this project was a huge hit.

SnowDay!

2011-01-27T10:16:00.000-08:00

Here in Maryland, we had a Snowday today. We got about 8 inches of snow, which is a lot for Maryland. It was the really wet packable snow, so I decided to make a snowman. Even as an adult, I still love to play in the snow.

Fish Bowl, Pre-K

2011-01-25T14:09:00.001-08:00

This was a fun easy lesson to do with the little Pre-K students. To begin this lesson, I gave each child a piece of white paper in the shape of a fish bowl. Students then used black markers to draw fish, seaweed, bubbles, and other aquarium animals into their bowls. Then, students used crayons to color their fish. Lastly, I stapled blue cellophane over the entire thing for water.
These turned out very cute! While I was stapling the celophane on for the students, I had them watch this video. It's always nice to have something for the kids to watch while I am getting stuff done.

Interesting Art Video

2011-01-24T16:59:00.000-08:00

I found this really interesting Art Video on YouTube today. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I need your artistic input?

2011-01-05T14:14:00.000-08:00

I have recently been having my students collect plastic bottle caps. I am hoping to have my students make a bottle cap mural. I have seen this done on both Thomas Elementary and Kunstraum. These two blogs have inspired me to try this for myself.I know I want to do this mural, but I am far from figuring out the details. I really could use everyone's input. I figure the mural will be done on a large piece of wood, but I am not sure how to adhere the bottle caps. Some people use screws, but I really think that would be too hard for my elementary kids. Should I use glue? If so, what kind of glue should I use? I would love everyone's opinion. The last thing I want is to have all the bottle caps fall off the mural.

Polar Bears, 4th/5th Grade

2011-01-01T16:16:00.000-08:00

The day before Christmas break, I had my fourth and fifth graders paint these polar bears. This was a quick filler lesson, that really could have been better. I had planned it quickly, and should have thought through the potential problems. However, the results still turned out nice anyway. Basically, I had the students draw a polar bear onto a piece of paper. They drew it first in pencil, and then outlined with oil pastels. Then, I had the students use liquid watercolors for the sky. I had the students paint the sky entirely with water before adding the watercolor. This wet on wet technique helped make the sky blend together nicely. The sky was definitely one of the best parts of this project. For the ground, I had the students use blues and purples. This was where things began to go wrong. First off, the watercolor dripped and smeared onto the polar bear. Honestly, I should have known this would happen. I should have had them draw the polar bear on a separate piece of paper. Then, they could have cut it out, and glued it to the background. Second, I had not meant for the entire snow to be blue and purple. Really, I just wanted those colors to be shadows in small spots. However, when I realized what was happening, I quickly came up with a solution. I handed out a little bit of white tempera paint, and had the students finger paint a thin layer of white over all the snow. I had them use their fingers mainly to keep the paint really thin. I wanted them to be able to see the watercolor through the white paint. I actually think this turned out pretty well. All of these problems could have been avoided had I not waited till the last second to plan. At least the lesson wasn't a total loss.

Native American Wall Art, 3rd Grade

2010-12-16T06:54:00.000-08:00

For this project, we looked at the art of the Anasazi Indians. The Anasazi Indians were an ancient Pueblo tribe out west. They often painted scenes of animals and people on the rock walls. I began this lesson by showing students many examples of these paintings.

To begin our project, I gave each child a handout with lots of Native American symbols on it. The students used this as reference. I told them that "they were NOT allowed to draw hearts, flowers, or smiley faces." Everything needed to look Native American. They first drew everything on a plain white piece of paper. Then, everything was colored with oil pastels.

To make our painting look old like a rock wall, we tore the edges of our paper to make it jagged. Then we used brown liquid water colors, which I watered down quite a bit. This made our paper look more like to color of rock.

Cardinals, 2nd Grade

2010-12-14T16:59:00.001-08:00

I LOVE snow, but we are still waiting for it here in Maryland. I figure if we paint enough snow, maybe mother nature will get the hint. Anyway, for this project I had my students paint cardinals. I began by teaching the students how to draw a cardinal. Then, I showed them how to draw branches. After this, we began painting. We painted the blue background first, and then we painted everything else. Lastly, we splatter painted the snow onto our paper. Of course the splattering was the students favorite part.These turned out very nice. It certainly makes me want to see some real snow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Dinosaurs, 2nd Grade

2010-12-13T16:37:00.000-08:00

This was a fun lesson that I found on The Artist Woman. This lesson was perfect because the second graders are currently studying dinos in science class. It's great when I find awesome lessons that just happen to tie into the curriculum. To begin this project, I had the students use liquid watercolors to paint the sunset on a white piece of paper. After this, I gave each child some black paper. Students drew dinosaurs, and cut them out. When they are done with the dinos, then they cut out a long piece for the ground. (FYI: The biggest issue I had was getting the students to draw big enough. A few of them drew so small that they couldn't cut it out. You may want to emphasize that they should draw big.)This lesson was incredibly easy, but they turned out AWESOME! Plus, all kids love dinosaurs, so they were totally into this project.

Lighthouse in winter, 4th Grade

2010-12-12T16:44:00.001-08:00

I LOVE winter and I LOVE lighthouses. For this project, I thought I would combine the two. We began by drawing out a simple round shape for the ground, and a simple horizon line. We painted the sky, water and the land with tempera paint. Lastly, we cut out a lighthouse from construction paper and glued it to the painting. I think these turned out very nice. I like how some of my students added boats and whales in the ocean. I didn't tell them to do this, they just did it on their own. I Love when my students come up with good ideas. I just wish I could have had more time on this project. We really had to rush to get it done in 75 minutes.
The basic idea for this lesson came from Deep Space Sparkle. I changed it to a winter scene, but it's basically the same idea.

Arcimboldo at the National Gallery

2010-12-12T11:40:00.001-08:00

One of the coolest things about living near Washington DC is that I have lots of museums to visit. This weekend, I went to the National Gallery and saw the Giuseppe Arcimboldo exhibit. It really was one of the coolest exhibits that I have ever seen. If you don't know anything about Arcimboldo, you are missing out. He was an artist in the 1500's who painted portraits by combining fruit, fish, books, and other objects together. This was really one of the coolest exhibits. If you live anywhere near D.C., you should really go see this exhibit before it leaves in January.

Calligrams, 5th Grade

2010-12-10T15:52:00.000-08:00

Calligrams are a type of poem where words or phrases are arranged to make a visual image. For this project, I had each students draw an animal and a background. Instead of coloring it in, I had the students color with words. The words had to relate to the object they were coloring. They could use single words, or full sentences. I had my students use colored pencils for this project, but markers would also work.This was very cool, and the students LOVED it. Some students did complain that their hands were hurting them by the end, but the pain was worth it.

Optical Illustions, 4th Grade

2010-12-08T14:32:00.000-08:00

All kids LOVE optical illusions, and this one is an easy one. I have seen this lesson posted on lots of different sites, so I really have no idea who originally came up with it. It really is a great one though.
Basically, students draw lines to a point in the middle of the page. Then, students draw slightly curved black stripes on each triangle. Lastly, students shade the triangles. The darkest color should be on the edges of the triangle, and the lightest in the middle. This makes it look more like a cone than a triangle. My students seemed to like this lesson very much.

Ten Black Dots, Kindergarten

2010-12-06T15:44:00.000-08:00

What can you turn a black dot into? That was the idea behind this lesson. Ten Black Dots is written by Donald Crews, and is a wonderfully creative book.

This book is part of the kindergarten curriculum in my district, so I thought I would turn it into an art project. Basically this is a counting book. The book takes black dots and turns them into things. One black dot is turned into a moon; Two black dots are turned into eyes, and so on... For this project, I cut out lots of black dots. Students then chose a few black dots and glued it to their papers. Then, students turn the black dots into things. Students drew in pencil first, and then outlined everything in black. Lastly, students used crayons and colored their drawings. This was a super simple lesson, and the results were just so cool.

Indian Elephants, 3rd Grade

2010-12-05T15:03:00.001-08:00

I absolutely LOVE this lesson, and NO I can not take credit for this one. I stole it from Painted Paper, which is an awesome blog by the way. I had to simplify this lesson a bit in order to get it done in one hour, but I think they turned out quite nice. To begin with, I had the students draw an elephant on grey paper. Students then cut the elephants out. After this, students used sponges with black and white paint to add texture. Next, we glued the elephant to construction paper. Students then used colored paint to add designs to their elephants. Many students even decorated the border of the paper. Lastly, students glued gems to their elephants. In order to keep students from using too many gems, I limited them to only six. I told the students, "when it comes to sparkly things, less is more."

Snowmen Are Awesome!

2010-12-04T13:11:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, I posted about the large snowmen being hung up around the school. Each teacher and school employee got one large snowman to decorate any way they wanted. When it first started, people thought the snowmen were cool, but now they are getting AWESOME. While there is no prize and it was never meant to be a competition, people have gotten very competitive about the snowmen. Teachers are feeling like they have to out do each other, and each snowman is getting better than the last. Here are some of the cool snowmen that have been done.
Some teachers are decorating it themselves. Some are getting parents to decorate them, and some are having their students work on the snowmen. What I really like about the snowmen is that it is getting the entire school psyched about being creative. Even teachers who have little creativity are coming out with awesome snowmen.
The one above is a snowman of the school principal, and it actually looks a lot like him.

Snowmen, Pre-K

2010-11-30T10:44:00.000-08:00

I have done this lesson many times before. However, this is my first time doing it with the little Pre-K kids. Usually, I do this lesson with my kindergartners, but I was curious whether it would work for the littler ones. Honestly, the results are wonderful, and I am not sure what I was so worried about. It is a very simple lesson. Below are step by step instructions. Step 1: Cut out a stencil. Just fold a piece of paper in half and draw half of the snowman along the fold. Then cut it out. With Kindergarten, I have them draw the snowman themselves. But with Pre-K, I had it photocopied for them. If your Pre-K kids have a lot of trouble cutting, you may have to help them out. Step 2: Open stencil up, and put it on construction paper
Step 3: Sponge paint inside of the snowman. Have them dab with the sponge (Do not smear paint all around). Then remove stencil, and paint a little snow under the snowman.

Step 4: Use a Q-tip to paint details. I usually tell them to paint the eyes, nose, and mouth first. Then they can paint other things. These turned out awesome! I am so impressed with my Pre-K students.