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!