3rd Grade Reflection Drawings

This has to be one of my all time favorite projects to teach! I sorta feel like a magician when I reveal the reflection pressed into the bottom half of the paper. The kids think it's so cool! To start, we talk about different types of art - landscapes, seascapes, cityscapes. Next, students share what types of big cities they have visited and some of the most famous features of those cities. I demonstrate how to draw different sizes and shapes of buildings on the upper half of the folded paper. The more color they add, the better the drawings will look! When the drawings are complete, they paint the bottom half of the paper with water and then fold the paper and reveal the reflection! You should try it with your students! You won't be disappointed!

Picture The Music

On to my annual winter project -  compliments of the St. Louis Symphony...Picture The Music!!!! I get excited every year to collaborate on this unique opportunity with a great organization. This year, our song selection is Beethoven's 6th Symphony 4th Movement (I think...). Anyway, we listen to the piece of music, discuss how art and music can elicit emotions and feelings. We do a lesson on comparing and contrasting between paintings that elicit certain 'moods' so kids can see a connection between line and color and feelings. This project had a LOT going on! We cut shapes from sheet music, used rulers to draw straight lines (like in Kandinsky's paintings), used watercolor crayons to add color, and stamped circles on the finished piece.  It took the entire class period but the kids were really intrigued and did a great job on their artwork! Now to select the finalists to send to the Symphony...hmmm. 

Van Gogh Sunflowers

My plan this week was to do Van Gigh watercolor Sunflowers with all of my 2nd and 3rd grade classes...but I got bored. Does that ever happen to you? Well, I stuck to my original lesson plan as far as the objective goes, but I changed things up a bit for my own entertainment. And for the sake of decorating the school, nobody wants to see 4 classes with the SAME project. So...we made construction paper Sunflowers instead! It was a bit more prep work but these will look darling hangin in the hallway! 

Van Gogh Sunflowers

I just LOVE teaching about Van Gogh. Kids can learn so much from him. Such as his unique sense of color and texture, his depiction of movement and rhythm,  his whimsical subject matter, and his sheer determination in his art. I read the book 'Camille and the Sunflowers' before we began our lesson. Students drew their still life with sharpies and then used watercolors to add color. I showed them how to mix colors together on their paper like Van Gogh did. Aren't they adorable!? 

Crazy Hair Paintings

Let me begin by saying, I LOVE my student teacher! She's just the breath of fresh air that I needed. This is a project that she decided to teach to my 3rd graders. First, students drew a portrait of themselves and colored it. Next, they used watered-down tempera paint to put along their hairline so they could blow the paint in different directions using a straw. We had small cups of the tempera on each table and a brush for each color. We instructed the students to take one 'scoop' of paint and blow it then select another color of paint and blow it again. How fun! You should definately try this project!

Stamping with homemade paintbrushes

This project was a lot of fun!  I decided to go out on a limb and try something new for our St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Picture the Music Art Competition.  First, we all listened to a musical composition and brainstormed some colors, shapes, and lines that would go well with the music.  The students used oil pastels to create an abstract work of art that best represented the music.  Next, for some added interest to their drawings, we made our own paintbrushes/stamps using pipe cleaners.  Each student got 5 pipe cleaners, twisted them together, and spread out the bottom ends to create a 'star' shape.  Students then used their new 'paintbrush' to stamp colorful shapes on top of their drawings.  This was  a lot of fun and gave the students the chance to think 'outside of the box' or 'outside of the painting' for once!

Mixed-Up Chameleon

Welcome to the third week of school!  I'm a little embarrassed that this is my first post of the new school year, but things have been so busy around here!  I have been focusing on the all-time favorite children's author and illustrator Eric Carle this week.  In fact, I have found some great You Tube videos showcasing his lively illustrations and storytelling!  Most of the kids have heard this story before, but who can complain about hearing an Eric Carle story for the second time???  Not I!  Here are some fantastic Mixed-Up Chameleons made by some fabulous 3rd graders:

Snowflake Collages

     I really love projects involving snowflakes because of the technical, mathematical aspect.  Now, I will admit the ONLY mathematical theories that I enjoy are those involving symmetry and shapes...that's it!  So, to introduce this lesson, we always begin with an overview of symmetry and rotational symmetry.  By this point in the year, 3rd-6th graders are pretty familiar with the concept of symmetry so I'm basically just reinforcing what they already know and giving them a hands-on approach to further stretch their knowledge on the subject.  I showed the class several different examples of snowflake designs that I found on the ever-handy Google Images.  Next, I passed out strips of paper that measure 6" long and 1/2" wide.  They are encouraged to start the snowflake by gluing strips of paper in an X and putting one or two more strips of paper through the middle of the X both horizontally and vertically.  Now the fun begins.  I show them how to cut the strips into little pieces to add details to their snowflakes.  I reinforce that each line has to be the SAME in order for the snowflake to remain SYMMETRICAL.  Here are a few great examples from 4th grade:

 By Mary Jane

By Gabby

Wow City!!

      I found this book on Pinterest and asked my librarian to track it down for me.  I like it because it is visually stimulating.  The author is actually an illustrator who decided to write a book after he took his 2-year old daughter to the city for the first time.

      I used this book with my K-3 classes but changed the medium according to grade level.  For example, these are examples of glue-line relief drawings using chalk pastels.  K&1 classes used Crayola oil pastels to add color to their drawings.  The first class, we drew the city using the concept of overlapping buildings.  I showed them how to draw buildings in the foreground and add buildings that look like they are behind the other buildings.  Some little ones got this, and some didn't.  It is a more advanced thinking skill for little artists, but I figure I may as well introduce the concept early so they might remember it when they are ready to manipulate the skill.  Here are some stellar examples:

By Krystal

By Rachel

Symmetrical Insect Collages

I began our lesson on Symmetrical Insects by showing the students this video I found on You Tube:

It's an adorable short video with a catchy song that the kids really enjoyed!

We worked together on our insects.  I demonstrated how to fold small squares of paper in half and cut out a shape so that it will be symmetrical.  We brainstormed many other details that we could add to our bugs.  Some of the students were coming up with some really creative additions.  Here are a few snapshots that I took using my iPhone:

Fine Arts Fair Prep

I have been neglecting my blog this past month because I am getting ready for our Fine Arts Fair in a couple of weeks, as I am sure you are too!  Although, I hope you are less stressed about it than I am.  For some reason, I have this innate desire to out-do myself every year.  So, this year, I am having my students display one 2-D and one 3-D piece of art for the event.  I also planned each and every class to have a separate 2-D and 3-D work of art so there are no classes with the same project.  That's a grand total of 36 different lessons and 600 pieces of artwork that needs to be finished, presentable, and displayed by May 15th.  Whew!! And of course I have left ALL 300 3-D sculptures for the month of April, that's what I do best...wait until the last minute.  So, here are a sampling of the lessons we have been working on this past month.

4th Grade Origami Flowers

The 4th graders have created glue-line relief flower paintings in the style of Georgia O'Keefe, so I thought some flower sculptures would compliment the paintings nicely.  I walked them through the step-by-step process of folding each flower petal and I hot-glued the petals together when they were complete.  I also added a dowel rod for the stems and a wood block so the flowers could stand tall.  I will also have the students paint the stems & base green and add some leaves next class period.  I used a collection of buttons for the center of the flowers.

2nd Grade Ceramic Cloud Mobiles w/ birds

I want to give credit to the Etsy artist who inspired these cloud mobiles.  You can find her work here: almapottery, http://www.etsy.com/listing/49331222/sale-price-adjusted-rain-cloud.

We started out with a slab of clay and I had my students roll the slab until they had even consistency.  Next, they cut out the cloud shape and saved their scraps of clay to make the birds.  They poked three holes in the bottom of the clay and one at the top for the strings.  The next class period (after the clay has been fired), I helped them hot glue the beads along their strings and they painted the clouds and the birds.  I had to spend a lot of my free-time attaching the birds to the strings and attaching a wire at the top of the clouds so they can hang.  But, I think they turned out pretty well!

3rd Grade Stamped Ceramic Pendent Necklaces

This was a really fun project to do with 3rd graders!  I showed them how to pinch off a small piece of clay, flatten it out into a round disk, and stamp the bottom of their shoe on the clay to get the texture.  This was neat because everyone's shoes had different patterns on the bottom.  Some even had the name brand stamped on like the one above.  After they were fired, I had the students paint them using acrylics and I helped them hot glue the string to the pendent and attach the beads. 

2nd Grade Q-Tip Colorful Dandelions

I was inspired by an Anthropologie photo that I saw on Pinterest using q-tips to make dandelions.  Of course, I couldn't leave the q-tips white!  All you need are enough styrofoam balls for each person and q-tips cut in half.  I thought 1,000 q-tip halves would be enough for one class, but I definitely could have used more!  Again, I used dowel rods and wood blocks.  Maybe we'll make some leaves for these, too?

Cube Sculptures

3rd graders last week worked on folding paper cubes in Art Class.  It took 2 weeks of folding cubes before students were ready to create something interesting out of them.  I encouraged students to have a collection of 5 or more cubes to work with.  Some students created alphabet letters, robots, rockets, and other objects.  But this student created an adorable little building and attached it to a scrap paper, colored it, and added details.  I thought she did a fantastic job!

symmetrical bugs

This is a cute, one-day lesson I found over at davinciswings.blogspot.com.  I had pinned this lesson months ago and decided since Spring has sprung and the bugs will be out...what better time to do symmetrical bugs?  Also, the 2nd and 3rd graders are working on lines of symmetry.  So, we discussed examples of things around the room and in nature that are symmetrical.  I drew several shapes on the board and the students agreed on which ones were symmetrical and which ones were not.  And, lastly, I showed them examples from Da Vinci's Wings so they could see some student work.  

 (I have no idea why this is in italics, but just go with it...my 'I' button is not working at the moment...)

Here are some examples from 2nd grade: 

Fancy Peacocks

I have been seeing beautiful peacock artwork on teacher blogs and Pinterest a lot lately, so I hopped on the bandwagon and did a peacock lesson of my own.  This was the first lesson that I tried out my new liquid watercolors and I have to say, I am quite impressed.  We first drew the peacocks with Sharpies and painted the background using the liquid watercolors in cool colors.  Next, I passed out cool colored oil pastels and instructed the students to draw the 'eyes' on the feathers right on top of the watercolor paint.  The oil pastels I use are Portfolio, so if we had drawn the 'eyes' on the feathers before the paint, the oil pastels would have washed away since they are water soluble.  Otherwise, traditional oil pastels would have worked fine before the paint was applied.  Here are some samples of 3rd grade peacocks:

 Tyler's Peacock

 Elise's Peacock

Noah's Peacock