I Wish For a Pet

Almost every child either owns a favorite pet or wishes for one (maybe both), so this was a fun project for our 2/3 class. I printed out some animal eyes I found online and laminated them. Each student picked a pair and used them as a starting point to create an animal they were wishing for. We had fish, birds, puppies, even sharks! The students put their animal in an environment and embellished them with paper bows or collars. After gluing their finished piece to a larger sheet of paper, they filled their borders with information about their pet. The borders contained pet names, dates of birth, favorite foods and other facts.

The students filled out brief artist's reflections about their work and why they chose that particular animal as a pet. Since learning to look at and appreciate artwork is an important skill, we had a "gallery walk", viewing and writing one positive thing about each piece. Everyone took the gallery walk very seriously and did a great job being art critics. Click on any image to see more lovely pets!

 

 Our Gallery Walk

We've Got Fish!

No, not real ones...

Our kindergarten and first grade classes started a fun two week project by closely observing a glass fishbowl. We talked about what a contour line means in art as I traced the outside edge of the bowl with my finger. The students drew the line on paper in black crayon, then it was time to fill their bowls with fish.

After looking at lots of pictures of fish, we talked about the things they all have in common; eyes, mouths, fins, scales. Everyone filled their bowls with lots of fish, cut out their bowls and glued them onto orange construction paper. Since all fish need water to live, the students glued torn pieces of blue tissue paper over each fish. Last step, draw a surface for your bowl to sit on and decorate it. Now, we've got fish!

Click on any image to get to the picture gallery and see lots more fish!.

 

I Love Winter Mittens

Our first graders had fun making these mittens by gluing tissue paper squares onto paper, using lots of different colors. When done gluing, we sprayed the mittens lightly with water. Like magic the colors blended with each other around the edges!

The next week, students cut out and glued their mittens onto drawing paper. What a huge leap this age makes with their cutting skills from kindergarten, no difficulty cutting at all. We then talked about the things we liked about wintertime; snow of course, hot cocoa, being home with our families, sledding and skating and Santa Claus! 

After we spelled out the words on the board the kids filled their backgrounds with the things they liked most about winter. The project was lots of fun to create and we got a chance to reflect on our thoughts about the season while practicing our best handwriting!

Click on any image to go to the picture gallery.

      

We Are Art Smart!

 I'm going back in time a bit to talk about our very first art project this year. Seventh and eighth grade students colored individual quarter-sized sheets of paper I had preprinted with outlined letters. The students had no idea what letters they were working on, but were instructed to use complementary colors and their imaginations to decorate their pieces. When we put the pieces together the letters spelled "We Are Art Smart." The project gave me a chance to assess the skill level of each student and discuss what it means to be "Art Smart." My students had fun working with their favorite colors and patterns, and as a bonus, the banner looks great hanging in our art room!

Wreath and Snowflakes

Our school held its annual Christmas bazaar and we made some artwork to hang for the event. Pre K and Kindergarten classes made handprints which were cut out and attached to cardboard to form a wreath. They cut red construction paper berries and decorated paper strips for ribbons and a bow. Turned out great!

Our older students had fun creating giant cut paper snowflakes. When they first saw the sample I heard lots of "I'll never be able to do that!" When they realized they are simple to make they had a blast and didn't want to stop. Many students went home and made more to decorate their own homes.

Winter Projects

Shades of Green Trees

We've already started winter-based projects and I'll be posting more soon. This one was done by our 2/3 class to practice mixing shades of color. It was done over two lessons.

We reviewed blue + yellow = green, how there are many shades of green and how to mix them in a tray with watercolors. Students drew 3 or more simple shapes for trees and outlined them in black crayon. Keeping the tree shapes simple kept them focused on the color mixing rather than the tree drawing. They mixed up at least three different greens for the trees and added blue skies. I think they did a great job with the colors. If they were done early they could add cut snowflakes to their paintings. Click on any image below to get to the picture gallery.

 

Falling Leaves

One last leaf project this fall. Students love to paint, and grade 6 students enjoyed blending paint on paper to create backgrounds for "falling leaves" silhouettes.

We looked at photographs of blue skies and sunsets, observing how cool blues dominate daytime skies while warm colors appear at sunset. Using only blue, purple and white or yellow, red and white paint, students blended the colors directly on 12" x 18" white sulphite paper to create their backgrounds. They then drew or traced leaves from nature and cut them out from black construction paper to create the leaf silhouettes. After adding veins and outlining the leaves with metallic markers, they glued them onto their backgrounds. The composition was important, and the artists strived to create the look of the leaves falling through space against their skies. Click on any image to get to the picture gallery.

Chalk Pastel Leaves

Seventh and eighth grade students drew leaves from nature, taking care to see and recreate the veins in the leaf structure. Working on black construction paper, they drew larger-than-life leaves that filled up the space for a dramatic composition.

Choosing either a warm or cool color scheme, they selected three colors of chalk pastels. Working from the veins toward the leaf edge, the students put down color and then blended. Adding additional chalk was often required to fully cover the black paper. The last step was to outline the leaves and veins with metallic marker. The results were spectacular! Clicking on any image brings your to the picture gallery and lots more images.

 

  

                                                 

Leaves, Leaves, Leaves!

Fall is such a gorgeous time of year in New England, it's my very favorite season. To celebrate its visual beauty, our classes did projects involving fall leaves. Click on any image to get to the picture gallery.

Watercolor Markers

Pre kindergarten and kindergarten used water based markers to color leaves using "warm" colors; reds, oranges, yellows and browns. They then watched the colors blend as they brushed them with water. It was a good opportunity to talk about warm and cool colors and review the color wheel. 

Crayon Resist Technique

The 2/3 class traced leaves from nature and colored them with crayon. We stressed pressing down hard with the crayon and filling up the leaf with color. Next they washed over their leaves with watercolor. The wax in the crayon resists watercolor absorption.

  

Color Collages

Kindergarten and first grade classes explored primary colors while making collages from cut paper. We talked about what primary colors are and how we can mix them to create all the colors in the world! Kinders got to practice basic cutting and gluing skills (we can count out dots of glue instead of pouring), first graders were encouraged to create three dimensions with the paper... fun, fun, fun!

Clicking on any image brings you to the picture gallery.