Clay Tile Mural Completed!

 I finally completed the clay tile mural today.  Attaching these tiles was extremely time consuming. First I had the custodian screw a large piece of plywood into the wall.  Then, I used tile adhesive to attach each tile.  Lastly, I used grout to fill in the spaces.  This was my first time tiling a wall, so it was definitely a learning experience. 

I need give a huge shout out to Deep Space Sparkle.  With out the help of her blog, and detailed Ceramic Tile Booklet, I would never have been able to finish this project.  If you are planning a project like this, you should definitely check out her site. 

I think this mural turned out very well.  It was a ton of work, but I think it was worth it.

Clay Tile Mural, Part 2

 A few weeks ago, I posted on the Clay tile mural that I am doing with my fifth graders.  This mural is in the style of Keith Haring.  It has taken a lot longer than expected to get all of these tiles fired and out of the kiln. (Between teaching at three schools and taking a graduate course, I have been extremely busy).  Today I finally got the last of  the tiles finished.  This mural will have 130 tiles, and it looks like it will be about 8 feet tall. 

 Now that the tiles are finished, all I need to do is attach them to the wall. The plan is to get it up before the school year ends. I will post the final results when it is finished. 

 

Cakes, 2nd Grade

 These cakes were created by my second graders.  For this project, we looked at the artist, Wayne Thiebaud.  My students just love his artwork. 

 For this project, I taught my students how to draw a cake.  Students then colored the cake with oil pastels.  Next, students cut the cake out and put it aside.  Students then created a cake stand with construction paper.  Lastly, students glued the cake and the cake stand onto a larger piece of paper. 

These look good enough to eat.

Calligrams, 4th Grade

Calligrams are a type of poem where words are arranged into an image.  For this lesson, I had my students choose an animal to turn into a calligram.  Students drew the picture first, and then used colored pencils to add words.  In this project, students could not color in the traditional way.  Instead, students had to add color by using small words. 

 This project was time consuming, but it turned out great!

Annapolis Harbor, 4th Grade

 My fourth graders recently took a field trip to Annapolis, so I thought it would be fun to paint the Annapolis Harbor. I asked my students to include at least one boat, several buildings, and the Annapolis State House in the background.  To help my students with this, I gave them several photos of Annapolis to use as reference. 

 To create these, students used oil pastels and watercolors. 

Recycled Hamburgers, 1st Grade

 I have done this lesson many many times!  Years ago, I found this lesson on Kids Artists, and have been doing it every year ever since. 

To create these, my students used old pieces of cardboard, felt, yarn, and scrap paper.  Every year I just LOVE these. 

Art on a Cart

This is a picture of my new art cart.  Until recently, I had to work off of a small media cart.  I received a grant this year, and with the money, I purchased this cart and the drying rack on top.  I love the cart, but more than that, I LOVE the drying rack.  I no longer have to spread artwork along the walls and counters of the classrooms.  While the classroom teachers were always very understanding about this, I think they enjoy the fact that our paintings are now consolidated to this drying rack.  My only complaint about this cart is that it is heavy and somewhat hard to push, but even with this small issue, this cart is far superior to my old one.

Turtles, 3rd Grade

 These turtles are wonderful.  Students drew the turtle with a black crayon, colored with oil pastels, and then painted the background.  

Ships, 3rd Grade

 My third graders have recently been studying Explorers in Social Studies.  They have been studying everything from Vikings to the Pilgrims, so I thought this would be a great time to do an art lesson on ships.  I got the idea for this lesson from Deep Space Sparkle.

 This lesson was a lot of fun.  First, I had my students paint the water with blue and white tempera paint.  While the paint was still wet, they used a fork to carve waves into the paint.  Next, students used construction paper to make their ships (small details were added with oil pastels). 

 Lastly, my students drew and cut out a sea monster.  This was my favorite part of this lesson.  I just love the creativity of my students. 

Starry Night, Kindergarten

 Everyone loves Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh, and these are my Kindergartner's rendition of this famous work of art. 

 My students began by drawing stars, winds, and a moon with oil pastels.  We then used watercolors to paint the sky.  Lastly students drew houses on a separate piece of paper, which were then cut out and glued to their painting. 

These are very cute!