If You Give..., 1st Grade

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.