Lizards, Pre-K

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.