1st Grade Autumn Landscapes

Hello ALL and Welcome!

This is the first year I did this project with 1st grade. I ABSOLUTELY recommend it. We went over our elements of art, THANK YOU Cassie Stephens for the idea of creating hand motions for the elements of art (i did change some of them to make them more suitable for my students and I)

First day we read Stellaluna, by Janell Cannon from storyline.online.net, and then did a venn diagram comparing and contrasting birds and bats. Then on painting day we added birds and bats in the silhouette landscape

We spoke about color and watched this awesome (I have used this video so many times in my classroom) youtube clip, from Sesame Street, to learn about primary and secondary (or should i say review).

I then gave them liquid watercolor, in the primary colors only, and they were able to mix colors and "experiment" (ahem, science collaboration, anyone??)

Then we took a break to learn about silhouettes and looked at pictures of real sunset silhouettes and prior projects.
We spoke about shape and created "autumn" landscapes, including ground, trees, pumpkins, bats, birds, swing sets.. whatever they thought was in an autumn landscape.

We briefly discussed foreground, middle ground, and background.

Last day, we added black borders and white contour line drawings of "Fall" and "Halloween" images. Then added name label and PRESTO we completed our first official project of the year.

Please let me know if you have any questions!!

HAPPY ART MAKING!

NEW School Year

Dear Blog and Blog Readers (if there are any out there!! hahaha... i don't blame you)

Every year I start off with the idea that i'm going to update my blog all the time and do all of this crazy stuff, but then LIFE gets in the way. So this year, on my planner I put that every Friday I will update my blog.  I have some great lesson kick starters and i can't wait to see all the light bulbs turn on and project making begins!

SO this year I would like to focus on my use of technology in the classroom. I have a lot of things I would like to start incorporating in my art classroom. SO, be on the look out!

Today is the first day for staff and our students start Monday! So I need to get EVERYTHING prepared.

Have a wonderful school year!

Take Care,
Candice

3rd Grade Wayne Thiebaud cakes

Hello Everyone!!!
My 3rd grade students created 3 tier cakes based off of well-known pastry/cake painter (on canvas) Wayne Thiebaud. I found a great video ( showed like 3 ish minutes about the artist) on youtube:

The students loved seeing the compare/contrast of real cakes/pies to his paintings and the way that Thiebaud talks about the paint being like 'icing'.
So 1st day we drew the 3 tiers and then added a slice out (choice for students). They outlined and erased any sloppy lines.

2nd day they painted the "details" with water color. And the rest of the cake with DIY PUFFY PAINT. DIY PUFFY PAINT is the best. I made puffy paint using same parts glue, tempura paint and shaving cream. My students LOVED using this paint. It felt like icing (didn't smell like it, which is a good thing because i think i would have had students licking the paint otherwise, hahahahaha.. it was that convincing looking)

here are some results (some classes needed 3 full classes just depending on class size and speed)

I had a couple of hand outs with how to draw a step-by-step 3 tier cake and how to 'cut' a slice of cake out.

If you look closely you can see the 'icing' texture on the cakes.

Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by!

How cute is this?

Check out this awesome outfit! I would totally wear this outfit and I'm definitely not a 4th grader!! if you look closely the leggings are ice cream scoops! ICE CREAM SCOOPS

Don't get me started on how much i love mustaches! We gave them out at our wedding for a favor and this Halloween we had a "You are FanTASHEstic" car trunk for our churches trunk or treat. I think it just adds the right amount of silly humor!

In the ART ROOM:
4th grade: Wooden Figure Drawing
3rd: Wayne Thiebaud inspired 3 tier cakes (using DIY puffy paint made out of SHAVING CREAM)
1st: Sleeping/self portrait drawings
Kindergarten: Hot Air Balloons

BOOM! Happy Friday and Merry Art Making on this Fantastic Friday!

Back into the Thick of it!

Hello All!!!! I know it's like the 4th week of school but man how time flies and I just remembered that I forgot to update thee ol' blog. I am going to try to update like once a week this year.

This year I started out the year in Kindergarten with shape monsters, after being inspired by the Book, "The Monster Who Lost His Mean", by Tiffany Strelitz Haber, Kirstie Edmunds. Pictures to come.

In First Grade: We started with Warm/Cool Color Leaf Echo line Drawings. Pictures to come. 

In 3rd Grade: We are working on studying the Elements of Art in depth and we are starting with LINE. We discussed lined and filled out a line design graphic organizer. We then studied different tree houses and created some beautiful tree houses. Pictures to come. 

In 4th grade: We are studying the Element of Art: Color, specifically COMPLEMENTARY colors. We are doing this by creating OPTICAL illusions and adding complementary color groups to help make them POP! I know that many of you have either saw this project before or maybe have done it before with your classes but I allowed the students to color it in anyway they would like, as long as, they developed a pattern using a COMPLEMENTARY color group. 
To create the "Web" we created a dot inthe middle of the paper with pencil.
We added 6 lines (from edge to edge) through the dot. 
Then we added "smile" lines to every other triangle. 
Then connected the "smile" lines with frown lines in all the blank triangle spaces. 
We outlined with a fine sharpie marker and erased any pencil lines peeking through. 

Then we discussed COMPLEMENTARY colors and did a couple of class activities. 

Here are some of the end results:

Well I hope to add the k, 1, 3 projects by Monday! 

Happy Art Making!!!!

Mona Lisa in Disguise

So this is the first year I did this project. I did get the idea from this here, FANTASTIC BLOG Art with Mrs. Seitz. Instead of calling it a parody, I wanted them to come up with a story, to link writing/literacy into it, about their Mona Lisa needing a day off and why she was in a certain disguise. I always like to give credit to where I find projects, but try to modify and put my own personal spin on it. After they completed their drawing, they had to fill out a 'graphic organizer' and write a story about their Mona Lisa being in disguise.

The students received a 11" x 17" piece of white construction paper. They also received a piece of paper with a photocopied black and white Mona Lisa Head and Hands. They cut out the head and hands and glued them on the paper. I gave them the option of using the hands, just in case they might have wanted her 'moving' or 'standing'.

We did this project in the fall near Halloween, so many students dressed their Mona's in Halloween costumes. All in all, the students blew me away with their creativity and imaginations and THEIR STORIES.

 

I wish you all could see the amazing stories that go along with their amazing drawings!

Happy Art Making!

Woven Basket Heads

My undergrad was for Crafts with a concentration in Fiber Design. If you just read that and are thinking "What in the world does that mean?" Don't worry, your not the first! I went on an interview right after I graduated (undergrad) and they though I had a concentration in Fiber-OPTICS. Yea, no way!
I took courses in weaving, needle felting, felting, knotless netting, etc. Then I went back to school to get my teaching cert. to teach k-12 art education.

SOOOOOOO.. what I am getting at is that I love to do a yarn woven basket with my 4th graders, pretty much every year. But after a while, even though the kids beg me to do this project, it gets a little redundant to say the least so this year I added a whole other element (humorous, engaging you might think!) to it, and they were totally successful.

I have the original lesson here. This year we turned our baskets in to Wacky HEADS/PEOPLE. We still focused on traditional vs. contemporary materials. They received a 'cup loom' a plastic cup cut into a odd number of 'spokes' or 'warp'. They wove in using a yarn color pattern 'weft'.

Add the top of the cup they could add a more contemporary material for hair or whatever they choose. Here are some of the outcomes:

 

These are just a few examples of the many that were extremely creative, humorous and well though out!

If you have any questions about the lesson, please let me know. This was done with 4th grade but could be adapted or modified for other grades

I love reading all your blogs but need to get it together with mine!

This site will be under construction. Just had a baby. but have so many lessons to upload, please bear with me!

It's that time AGAIN!!

Well hello Blog World! I am back.. it has been quite a long time. I apologize for my long absence. My husband and I bought a house and this summer has been dedicated to making it "ours" by adding our little touches. One thing that has been amazing is our Garden! Since it's new to us, every week I walk out or take a look out into the many (MANY) gardens and I see something new blooming, it's just beautiful.
I think this school year we are going to have a lot more nature themed projects because I am so inspired.

We started school last monday! We are working on our folders and doing introduction and reviews! Can't wait til Thursday for the 2nd cycle to begin so we can really start out main content lesson projects.


Kindergarten: Primary Shape Mobile
1st Grade: Realistic Owls focusing on texture- Black paper/construction paper crayons
3rd Grade: Barn/Farm Landscape- focusing on Patterns/Foreground/ Middle Ground/ Background/Form
4th Grade- Optical Illusion Hands

This year I would like to post every week. If you notice that I am not and your curious about a lesson/procedure/idea. Let me know!

Have a great day and Happy Art Making! :)

Kindergarten Muddy Pigs

This is one of my favorite projects to do with Kindergarten. I usually do this project to introduce/review basic shapes, and how to make shapes to create an animal.

I use 9" x 12" white construction paper.  We usually read a story and/or discuss information about pigs.
We draw in pencil and outline with medium Sharpie Markers. YES, I said Sharpie Markers with KINDERGARTENS.
I feel with great explanation and expectations, I usually do NOT have a problem with misuse of the Sharpies. Sometimes we use Black Crayola Markers to outline.

They use crayons to color in and then to finish the projects they use brown tissue paper to add more "mud" to their pigs. They can crumble the tissue paper or keep the tissue flat.

I love all the personalities and how all the environment have a little different interpretation.

One-Point Perspective Barn and Pumpkin Patches

(4th grade student work, love the colors and details, esp. the windmill in the background and sheep)

This project was completed by my fourth grade students in October. I originally found this idea on pinterest, here and wanted to add the (3-Dimensional) barn for my students to have experience drawing  a one-point perspective building. I like to look for ideas online for good lessons, but I always like to "tweek" them to make them my own and for my students particular lessons.

To start out we used 11" x 17" white construction paper. We drew a horizontal line near the top of the page. They added a dot in the middle of the line, this would be their "one-point" where all the lines point to. We added 3-4 lines to make the Pumpkin Patch rows. They added pumpkins to their patches, trying to make the lines "realistic" so the pumpkins would look rounded. Some student chose to make them into Jack O' Lanterns. 

For the Barn, They drew a vertical rectangle added half a circle for the front of the roof. They use rulers, lined them up to the dot to make the side of the barn, lines. 

Last but not least we added a dark blue, black, or purple watercolor wash over the crayons. 

 

(love the haunted farm look, it was around Halloween, must have been on their minds :) )

 

They turned out great. 

HELLO EVERYONE!

I can't believe it has been sooo long since I have updated. The School year has been hectic, but OH SO GREAT. Since we have an up and coming Holiday from Wednesday on, I will be posting... EVERY DAY. THAT'S RIGHT I said EVERYDAY!! until I have caught up on all the projects.

Thank you all for reading and posting comments. I will get better with posting. (I need to stop pinning, hahaha.. and everything else that is distracting in life)

:) Happy Monday and Enjoy your Art Making!

Kindergarten Primary Color Shape Mobile

This year we have some slight changes to our schedules. The unified art teachers are now teaching all the kindergarten classes, since we went to all full day kinder classes this year. I was a little nervous because with kindergarten you get so many different levels. I just want to be attentive towards their needs but also covering some of the principles and elements of design at a good pace.

I have no idea why I was so nervous, the students are doing excellent! We painted on the 3rd day. THATS right the THIRD DAY!!! NO spills, barely any messes and lots of smiles and successes.

I wanted to start out with basic shapes, drawing and cutting. We introduced outlining or tracing. We glued the shapes together. Talked about the primary colors. *** To add element of surprise and crayon resist you can have your students make designs in white crayon... they forget and when they paint the next day, it appears. You get a lot of ooooohhhh'sss and aaaaahhhh's, one class CLAPPED.

When the painting was completed we read mouse paint together and discussed primary and introduce how to make secondary colors.

 

These are some of my examples and one of some student work drying on the rack.. I will be posting the student work once hung in the hallway.

Student work drying

 

Can't wait to post the mobiles that are completed! They did such an amazing job!

1st grade Pattern Owls

Now.. I have done this lesson before, but as you all know I love to improve/tweak projects. I tweaked this project for this year, because I wanted to incorporate color and free choice. This year I used it as the first project to review, practice and introduce pattern, basic line design, animal design, coloring and patterned border frame. Here is the post from last year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love the students choice of coloring/pattern in the background.. and their patterns on the border.

If you do this project please link here and let me know! so I can see what you and your students do with this project OR if you have any questions.

:)