Pumpkins for Sonic!

For the last 3 years, Sonic in my districts town provides pumpkins for each 1st grader in my building. They always deliver them 2 weeks before Halloween and ask that each first grader paints a pumpkin. The kids always love this because they learn in kindergarten that when they are first grade they get to paint a pumpkin for Sonic! Sonic picks their pumpkins up about a week before Halloween and creates a pumpkin patch in front of their store! It always looks so great! Students can then go pick up their pumpkins on Halloween from Sonic and take them home! It never fails each year we do this, mother nature decides to let it rain ( and usually it pours) and some years the rain has washed the kids designs off their pumpkins(we have used regular paint, tempera paint, oil pastels in the past and no such luck) So this year, we used paint pens that we rotated around the art tables to ensure all kids got to use all the colors provided and it worked like a charm!!!! It poured this year after Sonic came and got them but their designs stayed and they of course looked awesome!
So note to self, paint pens are the way to go!!!!

Check them out below! The kids had a ball painting with paint in a marker form. They thought it was so cool!

 

Love these personalities! Makes me smile!

Color wheel

A few weeks ago among the chaos of my world, my 7th and 8th graders created color wheels. I always like to have my middle school kids create color wheels just because it is such a good review! On this project, students used their hands to create their giant color wheels. They simply traced their hand and cut it out. They then used their hand print as a pattern in which they traced 12 times (once for each color on the color wheel.) They just loved this step =) After 12 hands were traced, students began painting primary colors first on 3 hands. Then they painted 3 hands secondary colors. These 6 colors were already provided for them. Once primary and secondary colors were painted we discussed tertiary colors ( red violet, red orange, yellow orange, etc.)  They had to use their primary and secondary colors to color mix the tertiary colors. This is always a challenge for some because they always feel the colors don't look any different. I always stress to add more primary color then secondary color and it normally works perfectly! Once all paint is complete and dry, the kids used scissors to cut out their hands, and arranged them onto big paper. One thing I stressed is to make sure their complementary colors were across from one another to make sure they had correct placement.
They turned out awesome!

 

After this project, I always do an edible colorwheel just to ensure the concepts of color mixing, and placement are understood. It is a fun post test! Plus, if they do the edible colorwheel correctly they get to eat their project which they love! Middle school kids are always hungry!=)

Working with texture!

This past week we have just finished up working with texture in 4th and 5th grade! We started off talking about fall and how the leaves change to from green to beautiful fall colors. We then discussed texture and how artist create texture on their art using various techniques and how texture is how something feels when you touch it. Things can be hard, soft, silky, rough, smooth, furry, etc. I also introduced them to the technique of crayon resist! We began by taking leaf patterns along with acorns and pinecones and began to trace then randomly on the paper. I told them that we wanted our leaves to look as if we put our paper on the ground and the leaves just landed on them. I told them that leaves never fall in a certain order, they just randomly fall to the ground and we wanted to achieve that on our paper. They did a great job with making sure they were going off the page and overlapping to make them more interesting!

We did all tracing in pencil first so if they need to erase they could!  Once all pencil lines were drawn, the next step was to trace on top of their lines with a crayon real heavy( this will help us when painting). I didn't tell them to use a certain color, they chose whatever they wanted!

The crayon just makes their leaves pop!

After they traced their leaves, the next step was to take texture plates ( I love these things and so do the kids) and begin filling in their background with different texture. They simply put the texture plate under their paper and used crayons to texture rub. The kids loved this step and it makes the background stand out! They could choose whatever color they wanted for this step. Some chose numerous colors for their backgrounds.

Once the textured background was complete, the last step was to begin painting their leaves and then their background! The crayon with the tempera cakes helps keep their paint from bleeding together. This technique is called crayon resist!

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of a finished piece because they were so excited to take them home, but believe me they turned out lovely!!!!

 

As the seasons change....

Like I have said in previous posts, we have been so busy creating fall art. We have painted real pumpkins to creating our own pumpkins along with creating a painting about the four seasons. This is a project in which I have taught before at a previous school, however, I added some new elements to it and I believe the kids loved it! Plus, we got to paint which is always an exciting time!

In this project, 2nd and 3rd graders drew beautiful trees using the basic Y system. I have them draw one big Y and then they add little y's to them to create a bigger tree. Next, we talked about how trees are not always skinny so we need to color on each side of our Y's to make our tree big and fat! Then, we talked about texture and drew some on our trunks of our trees. Since we were doing a painting about the seasons, students had to fold their paper two different ways to create 4 squares on their paper. They had to draw 4 trees, one for each season. Then they got to add elements to each section that went with the season! They loved this part and got very creative! Lastly, we painted them using tempera cakes ( my favorite things ever!!!!)  They turned out awesome!

Oh! we also used a white crayon on the winter section and their designs just showed up magically when they began painting this sections! The kids thought this was SO cool!!

This project took 2 weeks, so the first week we did fall and winter and the second week we created our spring and summer trees.

Kids art always makes me grin ear to ear!

This is still a work in process but we are getting there! The ones that are complete have turned out beautifully! 

 

These kids make me smile with their creativity and willing to take chances! True artists at work!!!!!

Where has the time gone...pumpkins with personalities

I just cant believe we are in the middle of 2nd quarter. Time has just flown by...I hope that I can get caught up and get back on track...

This week in art we are drawing Indians from a profile point of view, which I am so excited to post about them when they are finished. I'm telling you what, my kids are such a great bunch of artists! I just love them so much! Those will be coming soon! Keep checking back!

 Don't you just love these pumpkins below! these were done by kindergarten and first graders. I always love this time of year because we can do such fun projects about nature and of course, pumpkins! We are still working each week to improve our gluing and cutting skills. This project we talked about secondary colors and adding personality to our art! I definitely think they achieved that! We have worked on cutting circles and rectangles from ovals and circles, we are getting better each week!

 

oops, wrong direction...

This one I love too, this student decided to add arms and legs...why not!? haha

they were glue happy too but that's why we have a drying rack!

 

My favorite thing is to just put the art supplies out and let the kids go after it! I love seeing crayons, glue and scissors all over the table and let the creativity loose and they always do a great job!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whew! Time has flown by...

I cant believe it has been over a month since I have posted any artwork. We have been crazy busy in the art room. I have finally had the chance to upload some photos to my computer so in the next few days I will post some new projects!

Fall time is here and we have been busy creating great fall art! Here is a sneak peek...

We love Pete the Cat!

We are wrapping up our shape unit with kindergarten and 1st grade. We ended our shape unit with creating Pete the Cat from the book Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin. This was a great project to end our shape unit because we used triangles, ovals, circles, etc. to create our Pete the cat. I began our art class by showing the Pete the cat video from the link  http://youtu.be/QfE5X-bn3uU

. I had a ball watching the kids dance in their chairs and sing to the jingle in the book. They had the most fun! After the video, we reviewed the shapes we would need to use to create our own Pete the cat. After much cutting, gluing and adding personality to our Pete's, students got to chose four shoe shapes. They could choose four of the same colors or they could choose four differently colors. Students added four shoes to their Pete the Cats and along with final touches such as shoe laces, and a background around their cat! They turned out so cute! My favorite moments during this lesson was seeing their personalities come alive while creating their own Pete the Cat!

What great personalities they each have!

What is Art...?

This year for my 7th and 8th grade, I wanted to do something different when we came to the point in our curriculum discussing what is art? This is always something I love to teach and discuss, however, this can always bring a challenge to the art room because students in middle school do not want to openly talk about what they consider to be art. So, I thought I would go in another direction and bring spaghetti and marshmallows into the discussion... Thanks to pinterest =).

To begin, I had my 7th and 8th graders fill out a questionnaire where I just wanted their personal opinion of what they thought art was. This questionnaire had questions like if something is made on the computer would they consider it art, or something like if a piece of art had movement or turned would it be considered art. They had to use sentences to explain because I did not want the basic lazy answer of yes and no. After I read over their responses, I brought some interesting ones back to them and we discussed them briefly and then I let the chaos begin...I gave each table one bag of marshmallows and one box of uncooked spaghetti. There of course were some rules...They had to work together cooperatively as a table to build a tall three dimensional structure using nothing but the marshmallows and spaghetti and their structure had to stand free standing with no help!
So I set the smart board timer to 20 minutes and the chaos began...Check out their process below.

Some tables chose to build individual structures and then bring them together near the end of the time.

While some worked at a very slow BUT steady pace

 

 

 Building cubes was a popular way to go...

 

I loved watching them go to work as a table. It was interesting to watch how each table approached this project differently. Some chose to tear the boxes and bags open and go at it and spaghetti and marshmallows flying everywhere, where some barely opened their bags and boxes and worked at a steady, non chaotic pace. They kept a close watch on the smart board for time and begged me to allow them 5 more minutes. haha

When the timer went off, we had 3 out of 5 tables have standing three dimensional structures. I went around a measured how tall the structures were and the three standing were  12'', 14'' and 23" tall. The winning table got a prize but so did everyone else because they worked so hard and had fun!

Here is the winning free standing structure that measured 23 inches!

 

At the end of class we cleaned up and discussed if they thought their structures were considered to be art.The entire class was in agreement that they considered their structures to be art because they worked hard creating it, they had to problem solve and it took time!

I encouraged students to be more aware of their surroundings and what they would consider art when they were out and about in their daily lives! I think they really liked it and it is definitely a project I will use in the future! =)

 

Lines, Lines and more Lines!

With kindergarten and 1st grade learning about shapes, 2nd and 3rd graders are learning about the elements of art. We are learning that these are the building blocks an artist needs to create a great piece of art! We are starting with the very basic element of art which is line!

We began this project with a basic worksheet where students experimented with drawing various lines such as vertical, diagonal, horizontal, zig zag, wavy, thick and thin lines, etc. Next, I put out lots of strips of colored paper and kids just went at it. I love watching their artistic minds go to work!  Before we started I showed them numerous ways to fold and cut their paper to achieve the lines that we created on their worksheet. This took two 50 minute class periods. Some thought outside of the box and made some 3D which I thought was clever!

Love this one and their use of the entire paper!

Making some 3D was a challenge for some but everyone helped each other at their table!

This one was glue happy but that is just part of making art =)

 I loved that we used black paper to make their lines pop against the paper!

They had a ball with this project! Let us know what you think of it!=)

Having a blast in the art room!

This year in art so far we have been very productive!  I'm am so excited because kindergarten thru 5th grade has art once a week for 50 minutes. This has been a life savor because we are not rushing around trying to get our art finished! Plus, my little artists get to take home art the same day which they love and so do I! In kindergarten and 1st grade we have been learning about identifying and recognizing shapes. We have talked about what makes a shape and how does shapes differ from each other.

One project we just finished was Don't Let the pigeon drive the bus by Mo Willems. The kids love this project. We began watching the YouTube video Don't let the Pigeon drive the bus!
The kids LOVE this video because the video is interactive and they have a ball interacting with the pigeon. Every class made me giggle! They had so much fun! After the video we learned about a rectangle and a square. We discussed what makes them the same but also what makes them different. We used these two shapes to form a bus in which they then turned on their creative juices and created fun colorful buses. Lastly, I taught the kids how to draw the pigeon from our story as well as how we could add a speech bubble to make it look like he was begging us to let him drive our buses! I love how they turned out! Check them out below and let me know what you think =) until next time, enjoy our art!