Clay Masks, Art Club

 I am having so much fun teaching my Thursday afternoon art club.  It is so nice having a group of students who have chosen to be in art club, and are willing to put forth a lot of effort.  These clay masks are our most recent creations.

This lesson focused on creating slabs, and using scoring and slipping to add details.

I just love their creativity!

Art Club

Last week I started an after school art club for my 4th and 5th Graders.  I have 30 students in art club, and I have several teachers who have volunteered to help.  This was our first art club assignment, which was inspired after the artwork of Keith Haring.  

Students were grouped of 2-3, and worked collaboratively to create a person in motion.  One person posed on large paper, while the others traced.  This was then cut out and decorated with paint.

Silhouette Houses, 4th Grade

It has been a long time since I have posted new lessons.  This is because I have recently started a Master's Degree, and it has taken most of my extra time.  I will try to do better though, and post more often. 

Here are a few silhouette houses my fourth graders created a few weeks ago.  To begin this lesson, we discussed what a silhouette was, and looked at photos of silhouette houses.  Students also created a few sketches of houses for practice.

After that, students created the background with liquid watercolors, and then painted the house with black tempera paint.

 I just love that each house looks different.

Folk Art, 2nd Grade

These beautiful paintings were inspired after the artist, Karla Gerard.  Students painted their drawings with tempera paint and then added details with oil pastels.

I just love how colorful these are!

Paper Mache Cats, 5th Grade

These paper mache cats took us almost 3 months to complete.  With almost 120 fifth graders, I felt like the cats were beginning to take over the art room.  Paper mache is always a fun project, but it takes a lot of coordination and time.

 I began by having students use wadded up newspaper and foil to created the body, head, legs, and tail.  Students then added 3 layers of paper mache to their sculpture.

 After the paper mache was dry, we used tempera paint to add details.  I found that the kids had trouble painting the eyes on, so the eyes were drawn on a piece of white paper and glued to their cat.

These are wonderful!

Falling Through Space, 5th Grade

I have done this lesson many times, but this year the results are better than ever before.  This year, we had more time to do this project, and therefore their drawings had more detail.  This lesson focuses on the concept of foreshortening.  This is a hard concept for even experienced artists, so to make it simpler, we traced our hands and feet.  The other details were drawn in after.

 I found the idea for this lesson years ago on the blog Oodles of Art.  Over the years, I have adapted this lesson, and this year the results are amazing.

 I just LOVE these!

Cupcakes, 5th grade

 My fifth graders recently drew these beautiful cupcakes. The focus of this lesson was to use tints and shades to create a realistic cupcake. These were colored with soft pastels.

Paper Masks, 5th Grade

 This lesson focused on symmetry.  Students created a symmetrical mask by cutting paper.

 I LOVE the detail in these!

Fish, 3rd Grade

I found the idea for this lesson on Deep Space Sparkle.  To begin this lesson, students painted a piece of paper.   After the paper was dry, students cut their paper into fish.  I wanted my students to focus on repetition, so students created a stencil and traced their fish 3 or 4 times.  After their fish were cut out and glued, students used a marker lid to stamp bubbles onto their paper.

 These are wonderful!

Cupcakes, 3rd grade

 This week my third graders created these beautiful clay cupcakes. To begin, my students looked at the artwork of Wayne Thiebaud.  My students then used the pinch pot method and silicone cupcake molds to create these awesome cupcakes.  After these cupcakes were bisque fired, students used tempera paint to add color to their creation.  Of course if you have the time and resources, these could easily be glazed instead.

 These are beautiful, and my students are very proud of them!

House for Hermit Crab, 1st Grade

The first grade teachers recently asked me to do an art lesson on A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle, since they were reading it in class.  I love Eric Carle's art, so I jumped at this chance.  Here are the results.

Carolers, 1st Grade

I have done this lesson several times in the past, but I love the results every year.  Here are my results from this year.

 This lesson took two (30 minute) classes.  The first week, I had my students create the head and the hat.  On the second week, students made the mittens, music, and snow.

These are adorable!

Snowflake Quilt, 4th Grade

 This is my second year teaching this snowflake lesson.  In this lesson, we focus on radial design, symmetry and patterns, which tie right into the fourth grade math curriculum.  These turn out beautiful every year.