City Prints/Reflections, 5th Grade

 I stole this lesson idea from the blog, Laugh Paint Create.  My students have recently been studying reflections in math class, so I thought this was a perfect integration.

 To begin this lesson, I had my students use watercolors to paint their paper.  Next, we did a basic Styrofoam print.  Students drew a city on a piece of Styrofoam and then printed it onto the top half of their paper.  To get the reflection, I had my students fold their paper in half while the ink was still wet.   

I think these turned out well. 

Fish, Kindergarten

 These adorable fish were made by my kindergartners.  They drew and colored the fish with oil pastels and then painted the background with blue watercolors. 

Pumpkin Still Life, 3rd Grade

 This was a simple still life lesson.  I had my students draw apples, pumpkins, and corn on a piece of white paper.  Everything was then colored with oil pastels.  I encouraged my students to experiment with mixing and blending analogous colors.  Next, we cut all of these vegetables out and glued them to construction paper. 

Overall, I think these turned out really nice. 

Folk Art, 4th Grade

 These beautiful paintings were created by my fourth graders.  I based this lesson off of the artwork of Karla Gerard.  Her paintings are wonderfully colorful.  Click on the link to see her art. 

 For this lesson, my students focused on drawing farm land.  We drew hills, trees, fences, etc. with oil pastels.  After this, I asked my students to add patterns to their drawing.  Next, we used liquid watercolors to paint our drawings. 

These are wonderfully colorful!  I just love them!

Recycled Flowers, 4th Grade

 I had several boxes of old magazines sitting around my house, so I decided to finally put them to good use.  This project is fairly straight forward.  My students cut out circles to create the flower, and rolled the magazines to create a center.  The stems and the grass was simply cut out and glued down. 

 For the most part, the flowers all look the same.  If I were to do this project again, I think I would encourage my students to experiment with different sizes and shapes for the flower petals. 

Symmetrical Butterflies, 2nd Grade

These very cute butterflies were made by my second graders.  We began by folding a piece of paper in half and drawing half of the butterfly in black pastel.  Next, we refolded our paper so that the design was on the inside.  We then rubbed the paper so that the pastel design transferred to the other side.  After the butterfly was complete, we used liquid watercolors to paint. 

 I think these turned out beautiful!  I love the colors.