Clay Fish, 1st Grade

I teach on a cart at one of my schools.  This is a simple clay lesson that I did with first graders, and it worked very well on a cart.  I found the idea for this lesson on Cassie Stephen's blog.  I made a few changes to the original lesson though, since I teach from a cart. 

 I brought small pieces of cardboard to the classroom, for students to work on .  This helped keep the clay from sticking to their desks.  Students created the texture by stepping on the clay with their shoes. One hint: make sure the clay is not too wet.  If the clay is really wet, it gets stuck to their shoes.  Details were added and everything was scored and slipped. 

After the clay was dry and fired in the kiln, students added color using oil pastels.  Then we brushed over everything with watered down India Ink.  This created a resist.  

Art Show!

 Here are some photos of our school wide art show.  Every students from PreK- 5th grade had one piece of artwork in the art show.  There were about 720 works of art on display.

This show doubled as a fundraiser. We used a company called Artome to frame the artwork.  It was really simple.  Basically, I sent artwork to Artome, which I labeled by student name, grade, and class.  They framed the artwork, and brought it the night of the show.  Artome even set the entire show up for me.  We sold the frames for $25 dollars a piece, and parents were able to take their child's framed artwork home that night.  After the show was over, Artome dismantled the entire show and mailed the unsold artwork back to the school about two weeks later.  Artome only charged us for the frames that were sold.

The art show turned out great, and we did end up raising a good amount of money for the school!  If you are looking for an simple way to do an art show for a large school, I would definitely recommend Artome.

County Art Show

Every year my county has a big art show and every school has a display. Here is my school's display for this year.

Art Show

 This week the county is sponsoring an art show.  Every school in the county had two panels to hang artwork on, and it is displayed at a local mall.  Here are a few pictures from my school's art display.

School Starts Tomorrow

 School starts tomorrow, and my art room is ready.  This will be a busy school year because I will be teaching art full time as well as working on my thesis for my master's degree.  I will try to keep this blog updated as much as possible through this crazy busy school year.

In my school, I teach 6 classes a day for 35 minutes each.  I see a total of 30 different classes each week.  Keeping track of all my students is probably the biggest challenge of my job. Organization is the key to survival in my classroom.

 I did about four bulletin boards in our hallway this school year, and here is a picture of two of them.

In order to maintain order in my classroom, I utilize a voice level chart, and students earn "Art Dollars" for good behavior.  Four times a year students get to spend their art money on prizes.

Art Show 2015

This was our first Art Show.  I decided to turn our art show into a fundraiser.  We had a company called Artome frame the artwork, and we sold each frame for $25.

By using this company, the whole process was really easy.  I labeled the artwork, and sent it to Artome two weeks prior to the show.  They came on the day of the show with the framed artwork, and even hung the artwork for me.  At the end of the show they packed up any unsold frames, and will send the artwork back to me.  This was great because it made cleanup easy, and we are only charged for what is sold.  

 Other than the framed artwork, we also had sculptures up for everyone to see.  

 Here are our 4th grade paper mache ice cream cones.

 These flowers were made by my kindergarten and fifth graders.  They worked collaboratively on this.

The Totem Poles were made by my fifth graders.  Each student created one piece of the totem, and put them together to make a large totem pole.

Musical Art, 1st grade

 I have done this lesson many times in the past.  This time, I did it with 1st grade.  This lesson focuses on creating an instrument and showing visual rhythm.  My students created these using cut paper.  I allowed my students ten minutes at the end of the lesson to add details with oil pastel.

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!

First Week Project

Last week was the first week of school, so I needed a simple easy lesson.  I found this wonderful lesson on Pinterest.  Unfortunately, I am unsure what blog or website it originally came from because it was pinned incorrectly. If this is your lesson, please let me know so I can give you proper credit.

For this lesson, I had each student create one 5 inch by 5 inch circle design.  The circles were simply cut out of construction paper, and glued to their square piece.  After the students created their designs, I hung them on the wall in the art room.  It certainly has brightened up my room!

Topiaries, 1st Grade

 I found this really cute topiary idea on the blog, Painted Paper.  Check out her blog for more detailed directions.  I had simplify her lesson a bit, in order to finish it in one 60 minute art lesson.

I think these are very cute! I love how my students attempted to put the shadow on the vase at the bottom.

Symmetrical Butterflies, 1st Grade

 This is a very cute simple art lesson.  I started by having my students fold their paper in half, "hot dog style."  Then, students drew half of a butterfly with oil pastel.  Next, students folded their paper so their design was now on the inside, like a sandwich.  Students then rubbed their paper until the design was copied onto the opposite side of their paper.  Once the butterfly was drawn, students used watercolors to paint. 

These are very pretty. 

Monet, 1st Grade

 These beautiful Monet Paintings were made by my first graders.  I found the idea for this lesson on Art Sonia.

 This lesson was very simple, we used sponges to paint the grass.  Next, we painted simple circles for flowers, and finally we used oil pastels to draw the bridge.

These turned out beautiful!

Carolers, 1st Grade

About a year ago, I found this really cute lesson on the blog, Plastiquem.  Now that it is finally almost winter again, I decided to try this one for myself.  Here are several examples from my first graders. 

I think these are wonderful!  I just love the way they look all together. 

Chrysanthemum, 1st Grade

 Last week was the first week of school.  Every year during the first week, the classroom teachers read the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes.  This is a very adorable book about a mouse named Chrysanthemum, who was teased about her  name on the first day of school. 

To tie our artwork into this book, I had each student pretend that they were a mouse in Chrysanthemum's class.  We then drew a mouse portrait of ourselves. I taught my students how to draw a mouse, which was drawn in black marker.  Students then colored everything with crayon.  Lastly, the students drew things about themselves in the boarder.   

These are just too cute!

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. 

Recycled Robots, 1st Grade

I found this really great lesson on Deep Space Sparkle. This project was all about Recycling, and it was perfect because my students have been learning about being "Green" in Social Studies. The background was done by stamping with a Styrofoam cup. Students then used old pieces of cardboard to create a robot. This robot was then painted with gray paint. Lastly, students used bottle caps, foil, straws, and string to add details to their robots.

Folk Art Landscapes, 1st Grade

This project was based after the artwork of Karla Gerard. Karla Gerard is a folk artist, who uses bright colors and patterns in her work.
For this project, I had my students draw hills, houses, and trees with a black crayon. After this, students added patterns with oil pastels. Lastly, students used watercolors to paint their drawing.
I think these are wonderfully colorful!

Snowmen, 1st Grade

Here are a few snowmen that my first graders created this week.
I LOVE the details.