Fall Trees

 These fall trees were made by my second graders.  I found the idea for this lesson on the blog Painted Paper.

 This is a very simple lesson.  Basically, students start by creating painted paper.  I gave my students only primary colors, so they could blend to create secondary colors.  After the painted paper is dry, students cut out the leaves and glue it to the paper.  Lastly, students painted a tree trunk and add dots for falling leaves.

Banyan Tree Project, 4th Grade

I found this cute Banyan Tree project on the blog Art. Paper. Scissors. Glue.  To begin this project, students used black paint to draw a tree.  After the paint was dry, students began using oil pastels to color the background. I encouraged the students to blend several colors together and blend with their finger.   

These turned out beautiful!

Folk Art, 3rd Grade

 I have done this lesson many times, with many different grades, and every year it turns out wonderful.  This project is based on the artwork of Karla Gerard.  Her artwork is colorful and fun, and my students seem to generate a lot of good ideas from looking at her art.  For this project, I had my students use a black crayon to draw hills, trees, suns, wind, etc.  Then students used pastels to add patterns to the hills.  Lastly, students used watercolors to paint their drawing.

Pre-K, Polka Dot Owls

Pre-K students are adorable, but I have always found it difficult to come up with art lessons for these little ones.  Thank goodness for sites like Pinterest, where 90 percent of my Pre-K art ideas come from.  I found this project on pinterest, unfortunately I do not know what blog or website it was pinned from, because it does not seem to lead back to the original site.

This lesson requires quite a few pre-cut shapes, and the art teacher in me almost cringes just saying pre-cut shapes.  As a general rule, I do not like pre-cutting anything for my students because I prefer my students to create their own work.  However, after several years of teaching Pre-K students, I have come to the conclusion that pre-cut shapes are a necessity at the beginning of the school year.  For most of these students, holding scissors is a brand new concept, and it will take a good portion of the year before they are proficient with them.

Owls, 5th Grade

These beautiful owls were made by my fifth graders.  This project took three, 30 minute, classes.  To begin this project, students drew an owl that had interesting lines or patterns onto black paper.  Next, students painted a different piece of paper with with two analogous colors.  After the background had dried, students cut their owl out and glued it to their painted background.

 I think these are just beautiful!

First Week Project

Last week was the first week of school, so I needed a simple easy lesson.  I found this wonderful lesson on Pinterest.  Unfortunately, I am unsure what blog or website it originally came from because it was pinned incorrectly. If this is your lesson, please let me know so I can give you proper credit.

For this lesson, I had each student create one 5 inch by 5 inch circle design.  The circles were simply cut out of construction paper, and glued to their square piece.  After the students created their designs, I hung them on the wall in the art room.  It certainly has brightened up my room!

New School Year

The school year begins tomorrow, and my room is ready for the kids.  I am quite excited for the beginning of the school year because I am no longer a traveling art teacher.  Previously, I taught at three schools, and had almost 2,000 students.  This year, my principal decided he wanted a full time art teacher, so he used his school budget to buy out my position.  I am so excited to be stationed in one school and to see my students more regularly.  This year, I will see each class once a week for 35 minutes.  I have 28 classes and about 850 students.

 Looking forward to starting a new school year tomorrow, and hopefully there will be many new posts to come.