Paper Quilling, 5th Grade

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.