Blog Award...Wow...

I was excited to find out that my blog has been included on the Top Teacher Blog List. I am not sure how I was lucky enough to be chosen for the award, but I was excited to find out about this.

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Patterns, Kindergarten

This was a super fun and easy kindergarten lesson. I loved this lesson because it was a simple but fun way to teach the concept of patterns to my little kinders. To begin this lesson, I had the students divide their paper into six sections. Then I had the students use oil pastels to draw a pattern in each section. I emphasized that it needed to be a pattern, and not just random designs. Lastly, students used a light watercolor wash over the whole thing. (I had them paint each section a different color).

These turned out great. I think they came up with quite interesting patterns too!

Totem Poles, 5th Grade

These Totem Poles were lots of fun for my fifth graders. To begin this project, I showed them photos of real totem poles. We discussed that often the animals on the totem pole were representation of family or tribe members. The Native Americans often associated themselves to one specific animal. For this project, I asked the students to choose an animal that they felt they identified with. (Students chose everything from birds to fish). Each child created one animal which became one piece of our large class totem poles.
I found the idea for this lesson on Thomas Elementary Art, except instead of painting, I had my students use construction paper. To begin this project, I had my students choose a piece of large construction paper. They then folded it in half "hot dog style," and cut the sides to make interesting shapes. The rest of the mask was made from my construction paper scrap box. Students used small scraps to cut out eyes, nose, mouth, and designs. For this project, I emphasized overlapping shapes and colors. For example: To make an eye, they could use one color for the eye shape, and then cut out a second color for the eye ball.
I absolutely LOVE the outcome of this project! They look absolutely wonderful hanging tall in the hallway.

Fall Tree Reflections, 2nd Grade

This was a really simple, but fun lesson. I found this lesson on the Incredible Art Department Website, however, there are many versions of this floating around cyberspace. To begin with, we folded our paper in half and drew a line right at the fold. We then used a light watercolor wash on our papers. The bottom half needed to be blue to make it look like the water. I told the students that the sky could be any color they wish. After this, students used brown tempera to paint the trees. Before the brown paint dried, I had the students fold their paper in half, and print the trees on the bottom half of the paper. Some of my students were amazed and thought this step was magic!. We then painted the leaves. I had them paint the leaves using fall colors and a paint brush. Instead of painting normally, I had them dab the leaves on with the brush. After this, the students folded the paper in half again, and print the leaves.

Some of the students were a little upset that their prints weren't perfect. I tried to explain that reflection are generally a little choppy and imperfect. Next time, I will bring in photos of reflections so they understand this better.

Fall Still Life, 2nd Grade

This was a really fun lesson, and my students LOVED it. As many of you know, most of my art lessons have to be completed from start to finish in one, one hour class. (This has to do with the way my job is set up.) However, I was very convincing, and talked my way into having two classes for this project. Even with two classes, I really had to keep the kids moving quickly in order to finish in time.First Day: To start this lesson I brought in a few pumpkins, and showed them how pumpkins can be multiple colors and have lots of texture. Then, we painted three pieces of paper. One for the apples, and the other two for the pumpkins. The paper was first painted one solid color, and then added textures after. The textures can be done by splattering, using combs, or simply brushing on paints. This was all we had time for on the first day. The idea for this part of the lesson was found on Deep Space Sparkle.

Second Day: The second day was extremely busy. To begin, we started with weaving the basket. It took about 20 minutes to weave the baskets. (By the way, some students found weaving extremely difficult. I had to spend a lot of time helping certain students). After the basket was weaved, I gave the students a half sheet of construction paper to use as the table cloth. I gave students about 5 minutes to decorate the table cloth with oil pastels. After this, we finally got to cut out our apples and pumpkins. Basically, we just turned our painted paper over and drew circles on the back. Pumpkins were big circles and apples were smaller ones. During the last three minutes of class, I had the students use paint to add stems, vines, and lines onto their pumpkins. It is important not to give students too much time with the paint or they will over do it.
These turned out absolutely AWESOME!!! Some of my students have claimed that this was their favorite art lesson ever!

Mayan Skulls/ Masks, 5th Grade

My fifth graders have recently been studying the Mayans in their history class, so this was the perfect time to do a Mayan art project. This project also fits perfectly into the Day of the Dead as well. I found the idea for this project on Painted Paper; I changed it a bit in order to get it done in a hour class, but the idea is the same. Before beginning the lesson, I showed students examples of Mayan artwork, and specifically showed them a few examples of decorated skulls. We also discussed how the Day of the Dead actually dates back to the Mayans and the Aztecs. To begin this project, I had the student fold a piece of white paper Hot Dog Style. Then, students drew half a skull right along the fold. Students then cut the skull out. Next, I had the students draw wild and crazy faces on the skulls. The only rule was that it had to be symmetrical. Students then colored everything with oil pastels. We then glued the skull to construction paper, and decorated the boarder with patterns.

These turned out pretty cool. Some of them look more like masks than skulls, but they are awesome anyway.

Playground, 1st Grade

I did this project with my first graders a few weeks ago. I found this lesson on someone's blog not long ago, but I really can't remember which one. So, if this is your lesson, let me know, I would love to give you credit for it. Basically, this lesson is about playgrounds. We began by discussing playgrounds, and I asked students to describe their favorite playground. I then had the students compile a list of the things that might be on a playground. Our list included things like: slides, monkey bars, tree houses, swings, etc.
To begin this project, I had the students use oil pastels to draw a horizon line, a sun, and clouds. Then we used watercolors to paint the sky and the ground. Once this was done, the fun began. I asked the students to design the coolest playground that they could think of. Their playgrounds had to be made of shapes; such as squares, rectangles, circles, etc. These shapes were cut out of construction paper and pieced together on their painting.
I just think these are adorable!

Skeletons, 2nd Grade

Last week I did this project with my second graders. Since the second graders have recently studied the skeletal system in health, this was the perfect time to paint skeletons. This lesson could also be tied into Halloween or the Day of the Dead, which are both coming up soon. I can not take credit for this lesson because I stole it off of Deep Space Sparkle, which is a wonderful site by the way.
I had my students first draw the skeleton with a white crayon. After this, I gave them white paint and they painted their skeleton. After the skeleton was painted white, they decorated their skeleton. They could paint flowers, jewelry, clothes, hair, etc.

This was a very simple project and the kids loved it. Some of the other grades have asked if they could do this project too.

Vertebrate sculptures, 5th Grade

The fifth grade teacher at my school specifically asked me to do an art lesson about vertebrates with the fifth graders. They are currently studying this in science, and she thought it would be great to have it carry over into art. I immediately agreed, and I came up with this art lesson. I tied this lesson into the artwork of Alberto Giacometti. He is one of my favorite artists, so I was totally excited to introduce my students to him. I thought his artwork was perfect for discussing vertebrates because he reduces people and animals to their basic forms, and it is quite easy to tell that these animals have backbones. To begin this project, we began with pipe cleaners. I asked the students to think of the pipe cleaners as the animals bones. We twisted and bent the pipe cleaners until we had a head, back, and legs on our sculptures. To help our sculptures stand up, I had them use a tiny bit of modeling clay for the feet. I then asked the students to cover everything with foil. The foil acted kind of like skin. We then used a hot glue gun to glue the sculpture to the cardboard. Lastly, I had the students use gold paint to paint both the cardboard and the foil sculpture. This helped make the sculpture less like foil and more like an actual gold sculpture.
I was very impressed with the results of this project. My students always surprise me with their artistic talent though!

Mixed Up Animals- 2nd Grade

This is a project my second graders always love. For this project, I handed out lots of photos of animals. Then I told students to choose three of them. The students were to take those three animals and combine them into one Very Mixed Up Animal. I have posted on this project before, but I just love the results every time. To begin, I had the students draw their animal in pencil. Students then drew the habitat which the animal lives. I tell them that it could live anywhere, even space. After this, students outline everything with a black crayon. The animals were colored with oil pastel, and the background painted with water colors. This project is perfect for second grade. It really works well with their wild imaginations! :)