Kindergarten Update and Pendants

Snowflakes that were begun the day before Winter Recess...simple oil pastel resist.

Textured pendants - one day for exploration and another day for creation of final piece.

Textured Mittens

First Graders just completed these lovely textured mittens.  We began by reading The Mitten by Jan Brett, which served as a great inspiration for the students.  They then were introduced to the word texture (the way an object feels) and began cutting up strips of various fabric.  On the second day we discussed the word symmetry and used the analogy of a butterfly as an example from nature.  We arranged our fabric strips from the week prior in a way that was symmetrical, thus creating a pair of matching mittens.  The third day students cut up glitter paper (made by brushing glitter glue on regular construction paper) and arranged their pieces to form a border surrounding their mittens...similar to the the borders surrounding Brett's lovely illustrations.  This lesson was inspired by the lesson found on the color, collage, and much more blog (http://colorandcollage.blogspot.com/), one of my favs!

Inspiration for Future Art Lessons

I'm dedicating this post to art lesson ideas gathered from some wonderful art teacher blogs from around the web!  I plan on creating lessons inspired by these posts and appropriating them to meet the needs of my students.  Thank you to all the art educators who constantly inspire me to try new and exciting things!

Kindergarten

http://modernartsmock.blogspot.com/2011/01/1st-grade-picasso-faces.html  
http://linesdotsanddoodles.blogspot.com/2010/12/ten-black-dots-kindergarten.html
http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/hme/k_5/shapebook/toc.html
http://kids-finelines.blogspot.com/2011/05/city-shapes-and-sounds.html

http://aheartists.blogspot.com/2009/09/first-grade-cityscapes.html 

1st Grade

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1005798@N23/pool/page5/
http://sgpart.blogspot.com/2010/08/lots-of-lines.html

http://josettebrouwer.edublogs.org/2010/09/16/lines-and-more-lines/ 
http://artlessonsforkids.wordpress.com/2008/11/30/lines-all-around/
http://kids-finelines.blogspot.com/2011/03/still-life-collage.html
http://mrspicassosartroom.blogspot.com/2010/03/mr-mrs-gadget.html
http://artolazzi.blogspot.com/2011/03/kandinsky-paintings.html
http://www.artismessy.org/?p=495

http://mrspicassosartroom.blogspot.com/2010/09/name-projects.html
http://ms-artteacher.blogspot.com/2010/09/joan-miro-animals.html
http://snippetygibbet.blogspot.com/2011/02/first-grade-architecture.html 
2nd Grade

http://dalimoustache.blogspot.com/2010/01/collagraphs.html

http://pantherspalette.blogspot.com/2011/02/2nd-grade-starry-night-paintings.html

http://davinciswings.blogspot.com/2010/02/2nd-grade-printmaking.html

3rd Grade

http://artwithrmotta.blogspot.com/2010/12/3rd-grade-torn-paper-landscapes.html
http://dolvinartknight.blogspot.com/2011/03/picassos-guitar-cubism-for-2nd-graders.html
http://dolvinartknight.blogspot.com/2011/01/matisse-inspired-studio-collages.html
http://vividlayers.blogspot.com/2011/05/contour-shoes-3rd-grade.html

Fundraiser Projects - Pre K

Pre K - Flowers

In order to do this project in a one hour period, I decided to prepare the paper beforehand using squares of bleeding tissue paper.  Normally I would distribute a variety of colored construction paper for students to paint on but because this was for a fundraiser and the paper was non-negotiable I opted do to this instead.  I chose a simple subject (flowers) and broke it down into simple shapes  for the center of the flowers and lines for the petals.  After spending more time with Pre K students I've decided that working in groups of 4-5 at a time would ensure that every student get an adequate amount of one-on-one time while working on their paintings.  It's quite difficult to manage 18 Pre K students on a painting project all at once!  Of course this means that projects would last longer and span a period of a few classes but I'd be willing to try if it means a higher success rate.

Suggested Materials
artificial flowers (daisies, roses, sunflowers) or photographs of flowers

sponges cut out into circle and petal shapes (for a stamping/printmaking approach)
medium bristle brushes
paper plates

Fundraiser Projects - Second Grade

Second Grade - Cat and Dog Portraits

Fundraiser Projects - First Grade

First Grade - Still Life Flowers

Ideally this project would be broken down into two lessons (1 day for oil pastel/drawing from observation and 1 day for watercolor washes), but because of time constraints I had to condense the project into one day.  To do this I had to do a directed drawing lesson where I broke down the drawing into steps (find center of paper, use geometric shapes to draw a simple vase, emphasize originality).  I gave examples of flowers that could be drawn, such as daisies, roses, and tulips (students had the option of drawing other types of flowers as well).  To complete the project, we used two halves of bleeding tissue paper (different colors) and arranged them on the top and bottom of the drawing to give the allusion of the vase sitting on top of a table.

I'm pleased with the results considering how limited in time we were, but if I were to do this project again in its condensed version I'd have created 3 drawings of each step (1. drawing of vase, 2. drawing of flowers in vase, and 3. drawing with final watercolor step).  This would have given the students a better idea of where the project was going.  Finally we would discuss oil pastel resist...which would have been very evident following the bleeding tissue paper.

Matisse Cut-Outs

First Grade students learned about the French artist Henri Matisse.  We focused on his later works, specifically his cut-outs.  Students took note of the geometric shapes found in the background of his collages, and the organic shapes found in the foreground.  Typically I would approach this lesson by having students create a variety of painted paper, cut them out into squares and rectangles, adhere them onto another larger sheet of paper, and use black & white construction paper for the organic shapes.  However, this would require twice the amount of paper and had the possibility of requiring an additional fourth day to complete.  Painting geometric shapes onto one large sheet of paper required less materials and days (3 to be exact, 2 if I used 9 x 12 paper).  This lesson was inspired by the There's a Dragon in my Art Room blog...such great lessons!