Warm and Cool Color Hands, 3rd Grade

This is an oldie, but a goodie.  I have been teaching this lesson for years.  I did not create this lesson myself.  I have seen it on numerous sites, so I am not sure who originally created this lesson idea.  If this is your lesson, let me know, I would love to give you credit. 

This lesson is about practicing patterns and warm and cool colors.  Students draw a pattern for their background first.  After this, students are asked to use either all warm or all cool colors for the background.  Then the hand is colored with the opposite. This lesson is simple, it looks amazing, and student's love it!

Reflections, 3rd Grade

I have done this lesson many times, and my students always LOVE it.  From an art standpoint this lesson can teach about landscapes, reflections, and basic printing.  From a math standpoint this lesson incorporates the concept of flips which is also referred to as reflections.  I love when art lessons cross into other subjects!  

This is very simple to complete.  All you need to do is have students draw and color a landscape on the top half of their paper with washable markers (You can also use liquid watercolor paint if you want).  Then just spray the bottom half of the paper with water, fold, and rub.   I think the results were wonderful! 

One Point Perspective, 4th and 5th Grade.

Believe it or not, after 10 years of teaching, this was my first time teaching one point perspective to my students.  Until I saw this simple lesson on the blog Elementary Art is Fun, I have always been intimidated to teach one point perspective to young children. This lesson breaks one point perspective into simple, easy to understand steps.

While students did struggle a little with understanding one point perspective, with a little guidance, they did a great job!

Notans, 4th and 5th Grade

My 4th and 5th graders created Notions.  Notan is a Japanese word for the interactions between dark and light.  Traditionally Notans use a black square piece of paper, which is then cut to create symmetrical images that play with the idea of positive and negative space.  It also ties perfectly into geometry, since Notans focus on reflections/flips.

Reflections, 3rd Grade

This is a great lesson to teach reflections.  I found the idea for this lesson on the blog, Fine Lines.  Basically, all you have to do is have students draw and color the top half of their paper with regular washable markers.  Then students spray water on the bottom half of their paper.  After this, students fold their paper and rub.  This makes a simple easy print of the image.

I allowed my students to draw any landscape image.  Some students drew houses, while other drew castles, mountains, or farms.

This is a great example of art that connects to math.  This one is easy enough to be done by either the art teacher or the classroom teacher.

Paper Masks, 5th Grade

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

 I LOVE the detail in these!

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.

Cuckoo Clocks, 2nd Grade

 My second graders have recently been learning about time in math class.  This seemed like a perfect opportunity to do a cuckoo clock lesson.  I found the idea for this lesson on Cassie Stephen's blog.

This is a very simple lesson.  All you need is construction paper, scissors, glue, and oil pastels.  Students simply cut out shapes to create the clock. I walked them through putting the numbers on the clock, since many students struggle to put the numbers in the correct spot.  After the clock was created, students used pastels to decorate their clocks.

I absolutely LOVE these!

Notans, 4th Grade

I have seen Notans posted on many blogs.  Most recently, I saw this lesson posted on Dali's Moustache.  I really like this lesson because it's a great combination of math and art.  My fourth graders have been learning about flips in math, so this lesson is a great art integration lesson. 

 To begin this lesson, we start with a simple black square.  Students then cut very simple designs on each side.  These designs are then flipped out to create the Notan. 

I think these turned out wonderful!

Winter Houses, Kindergarten

 I found the idea for this cute art lesson on the blog, Plastiquem.  This lesson is quite simple.  Basically my students used simple shapes to create houses.  Then, we used a bit of torn paper for the snow at the bottom.  After this, we used dots of white paint for the snow in the sky.  Finally, the trees were drawn in oil pastel.

 These are very cute! Plus, It is also a great math integration on shapes.

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. 

Tessellations, 4th Grade

Amazingly enough, this was my first time doing a tessellation lesson. I am not very good at math, and I find tessellations extremely difficult. However, I decided that this year I was going to challenge myself to teach it. To begin this lesson we look at the artwork of MC Escher. My students are always amazed with his work.
To make tessellations a bit easier on myself and my students, I had them create a stencil. I gave each child a small rectangular piece of paper with a grid on it. I had my student draw one shape along the side and one shape along the bottom. These shapes were then cut out, and placed on the opposite side. If you use the grid, it is much easier to make sure the shape is placed exactly opposite. Once this is in place, use a piece of tape and secure it. After the stencil is made, I had my students trace it onto their paper. Students then draw details such as eyes, scales, hair, etc. Students then outline everything with a black crayon. After this, all they need to do is color their tessellations. I had my students use liquid watercolors for this part.
These turned out great, and it really wasn't hard to do. Tessellations were not as difficult as I thought they would be.

Ten Black Dots, Kindergarten

This lesson was based off of the book Ten Black Dots, which is part of the Kindergarten math curriculum in my school system. The Kindergarten teachers asked me if I could create an art lesson to go with this book, since they were going to read this book to the kids. I began this lesson by reading Ten Black Dots. I then asked each child to choose a few dots, which I had pre-cut before class. I challenged them to turn the black dots into something. For example; The black dot could be the wheel on a car, or the eyes of an animal. They drew first in black crayon, and then added color.These turned out adorable!

Name Mandala

I have seen this lesson posted on many sites before, but always thought it looked complicated. However, after seeing wonderful step by step instructions on Art Lessons From Belgium, I decided it was time to try this with my fourth graders.
This lesson wasn't hard at all, and I ended up with wonderful results. The hardest part was getting the students to write their name large enough. If they do not write their name large, the letters will not connect to each other. If you need detail directions, they are on Art Lessons from Belgium.
I think these turned out great.

Paper Masks, 5th Grade

This is one of my favorite lessons, and I do this with my fifth graders every year. This is a wonderful lesson to teach symmetry. I just LOVE how these turned out.

Shapes, Kindergarten

Recently, I needed a quick simple lesson that I could do with my kindergartners. While searching the internet, I found this wonderful lesson from Laugh Paint Create. This was perfect timing because my little kindergartners have been learning about shapes in math class. This was a really simple lesson. I gave each table a pile of pre-cut shapes, which students pieced together to create houses, boats, waves, etc. For the bridge, I just photocopied it onto construction paper, and then had my students cut it out. Before gluing, I had my students design their pictures by laying their shapes onto black paper. They were not allowed to glue until they had my permission. (This makes them think before gluing).
I just love the way these look when hung together.

Symmetrical Masks, 3rd Grade

I have done this lesson many times before. However, most of the time I do this with my 5th graders, but when the third grade teacher asked me to do a project on symmetry, I thought this would be the perfect lesson. Unfortunately, I don't have many photos of this project, just the two you see here. In the middle of taking pictures, I was distracted, and never had the chance to get back to it. Oh well, at least I had two examples to post.
I decided to tie this lesson into Venetian Carnival masks. Before beginning the project, I showed the children many examples of these. We then discussed the idea of symmetry, which most students had a grasp on, since they were learning this in math. These masks are entirely made of paper and glue. Since this lesson was about symmetry, the rule was that everything except the hair had to be symmetrical. I did encourage my students to think about overlapping different colors of paper to make their masks more interesting. Overall, I think these turned out very nice. I just wish I had gotten more pictures.