Bulletin Boards

 I teach at three schools, but only have an art room in one of them.  One of the things I love most about having an art room, is creating bulletin boards.  Here are a few bulletin boards that I created at the beginning of the school year. 

Masks, 5th Grade

 I have done this lesson almost every year, and my students always love it.  I begin by showing my students how to fold a paper mask.  After this, they use paper scraps to create, eyes, nose, mouth, and other details. 

 These seem to get better every year. 

Chagall, 2nd Grade

 This lesson is based on one of my favorite artists, Marc Chagall.  I just love his fanciful Surreal paintings, and my students always enjoy pointing out the "odd" things in his work.  I found the idea for this lesson on Mary Making.  I did have to change the lesson a bit to fit my time constraints, so my results were not as wonderful as hers.  However, I think these turned out nice, and my students definitely enjoyed this lesson. 

To begin this lesson, I had my students sponge paint a simple blue, white or pink background.  While this was drying, I had my students draw three things on a separate piece of paper.  Each student drew themselves, an animal, and a plant.  These things were then cut out and set aside.  Next, I had my students paint buildings with black paint onto their simple sponge painted background.  Lastly, my students glued their drawings to their paintings.  Since this is surreal art, they could glue these drawing anywhere.  They could even make themselves fly, if they chose too. 

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!

Painting Again

I love summer because I have time to paint.  During the school year, I spend so much time planning lessons that I have little time for my own art.  It is wonderful to have time to paint again.  This painting is for my sister's birthday.   

Summer Clay Lessons

This summer I am teaching clay lessons at the local community center.  I have a mix of ages in this class.  They are anywhere from five to ten years old.  Here are just a few of their creations.  

 I just love my student's creativity.  These are just wonderful! 

Giraffes, Kindergarten

Recently my students took a field trip to the zoo, so I thought it would be fun to create giraffes.  I had my students draw the giraffes with a black oil pastel.  Then, students used liquid watercolors to paint their giraffes. 

I think these are cute!