Adaptive Art- Pizza

We started this lesson by reading The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza.

Each student received a paper plate and 2 coloring sticks (tan, red, and yellow). We shaded the outside of the plate tan, then the circle indentation red for sauce, and last the middle yellow for cheese. Students then wrote the alphabet on pre-cut red circles. Lastly, we glued on the pepperoni, green paper for green peppers, and tan paper for onions. Here are the pizzas baking (drying) on the oven rack (Trixie the hamster's cage).

5th Grade- Symmetry Self Portraits

This was a quick, one day lesson. Many students get nervous or embarrassed when doing self portraits so I thought we would incorporate photographs. I took a head shot of each student during class one day, while we were working on another project. I enlarged the photos and printed them out. Next I cut all the pictures in half down the middle... some were more down the middle than others. If you do this project, try to get the student looking directly straight.

We glued our half photos to the left side of a white piece of paper. I showed them to measure facial proportions with their fingers on the photo side, and transfer them to the drawing side. We did this by marking little dots. Next we stared a line drawing. We drew in eyes, nose, mouth, head shape, outline of hair, neck, and shirt. After most students seemed like they were finished with the line drawing, I introduced them to shading and how to use an ebony pencil. I liked this more than the celebrity portrait because students really had to think about symmetry and proportions because they did not get to see the other half of their face. Here are some of the finished products. 

1st Grade- Picnic Weavings

I love doing weaving project and once I saw this one, I knew I had to do it in my class. Here is the link to the original: Artsonia

This was a 2 day project
Day 1: We wove. This is the first time these students weave in art so it takes almost a whole class period. We fold a yellow 18 x 12" paper in half. Draw a vertical line on the open side. Then we draw horizontal lines leading from the fold to the vertical line. Students cut on the horizontal lines. They get excited about this part because they say it looks like a hula skirt or a lantern. We then weave the pre-cut strips of red paper into our project. Students really need to focus to do over-under on the first piece, and the second piece is under-over. We then put glue on the back in a picture frame shape and attached a 18 x 12" paper of any color.

Day 2: This is lots of step-by-step directions. We glue on the plate, we cut manila paper into bread slice shapes, shade the edge of the bread slices with color sticks to make crust, glue one piece of bread to our plate, add tissue paper to the bread to create sandwich fillings, and  glue the top piece of bread on. Students then received red and green paper to make a fruit of their choice, as well as crimped paper to cut out chips. They received a square of white paper to make the napkin (which can be decorated to their liking) and finally they added ants and watermelon seeds with Sharpie marker.

5th Grade- Lego People

This is a great sub lessons for intermediate students. What child doesn't love Lego People? Especially since the Lego movie came out recently. I found this great tutorial for how to draw Lego Man here. I had the sub display this image on the smart board and students got to work.
Here are some of the results.

I even have younger students asking me to put the tutorial on the board if they finish a project early.

2nd Grade- Egyptian Mask

What better way to study Egyptian art than to look at King Tut and create Egyptian Masks?

Day 1- We looked at examples of King Tut's sarcophagus and discussed Tut's history, Egyptian history, and after life rituals used by the Egyptians. Then using card stock paper, we drew the mask outline step-by-step. Students then went back and added their own face, symbol on the top, and designs on the beard. We went over our lines with Sharpie to make it look nice and neat. We watched Reading Rainbow's Mummies Made in Egypt while we were working.

Day 2- We colored in our masks using crayons, markers, and colored pencils. Once finished, students cut out their masks. I cut slits in the eyes with an Exacto knife so they could easily cut out the eyes. And there we have it, Egyptian Masks!

5th Grade- Celebrity Portraits

Being at two schools allows me to do different versions of the same lesson. One school, I am doing celebrity portraits, while the other I am doing self portraits. We will see how they turn out so I will decide which one I stick to in the future.

For this one, each student selected an image of a celebrity. We cut the image in half- preferably down the middle if possible. And glued one half to our paper. Then, using the other half or thinking in terms of symmetry (if possible) we drew the other half of the face. Students had to be precise to make the proportions and the values the same as the printed version.

Overall, I believe this project was successful. However, it would be easier if the portraits were all looking straight on, the ones that were more difficult had the celebrities faces at an angle.

Adaptive Art- St. Patrick's Day

To begin this project we read Leprechaun Gold, any leprechaun or St. Patrick's Day book would work.

Then each student received a pre-cut black pot and an 8 x 11 piece of paper. Students glued the pot in a bottom corner of their paper. They then drew 5 rainbow lines coming from the pot to the other bottom corner of the paper.
We then dipped our paint brushes in paint and followed along the lines doing, dot-hop-dot-hop. Lastly we put some glittery gold paint on the pot.

Kindergarten- Fish Bowl

We began this lesson by reading The Copycat Fish. We then discuss how there is good copying (doing the same thing as someone else because you like it) and bad copying (mimicking).
We then set to work. We draw the fish bowl first then add a rock/sand line for the bottom of the bowl and a water line at the top. The book discusses how Rainbow Fish and his friends have to put together a garden so we include things that might be in a water garden such as plants, rocks, shells, castles. Lastly, students add in fish.
We color everything but the water with crayon. Then we cut out our picture and glue it to another color paper. Lastly, we paint the water and we can paint other details on our background paper if we have time.

Art Contest

Vote for my student, J.R., so he can win this fabulous art contest and have his artwork turned into a sculpture at a local park! 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1xZM2o-ZZM3ggPF2hc0YxqJ5gXkxqKzf93irZ6Mj1F9Q/viewform

Magic Mirror by: J.R. 

Voting closes March 18.

Kindergarten- Penguins

We started this lesson by reading the book Pierre the Penguin, A True Story. It is such a cute book. We first added torn white paper to create the snow, then we cute black construction paper for the body, arms, and head. Then we cut white construction paper for the belly and eyes. Next, we cut orange construction paper for the beak and feet. Lastly, students used a white crayon to add snow falling or stars. This we a tough lesson to complete in 50 minutes.

Kindergarten- The Very Hungry Caterpillar

This was a 2 day lesson

Day 1- We read the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar and discussed how the caterpillar is orange, purple, and green which are all secondary colors. A secondary color is made by mixing two primary colors. We mixed  up the paints and painted a 12 x 18 inch paper. Half of the paper was painted green, a fourth was painted orange, and another fourth was painted purple.

Day 2- We drew the corresponding shapes on our paper (students used yogurt cups to trace the circles) and cut them out and glued them on blue paper to create our caterpillar.

1st Grade- Moose

We had 25 minutes of class to spare, so instead of allowing the students to free draw, I decided, why not do a quick painting lesson?

I gave the students paint, paint brushes, and a water cup and we got to work. We didn't draw with pencil beforehand so they really had to focus what they were doing so they wouldn't make a mistake. I did my painting step by step on the smart board and students followed along. Some enjoyed painting without planning ahead, while others were stressing out. If I were to do this project again, we would draw it with pencils first, except we were in a time crunch this time.

1st Grade- Heart Necklaces

What better time to discuss wearable art than around Valentine's Day? We made heart charms using clay. Students rolled out the clay into slabs and cut out hearts using templates provided. Next, students decorated the hearts using stamps and various clay tools. Some students even stepped on their clay to create a shoe print.

After the clay was fired, students painted their necklaces and put them on strings. Each student made 4 charms.

1st Grade- Sign Language

Students created signs that say "I Love You" by tracing their hands on colored paper and cutting them out. Even though the students are in 1st grade, this is great project for them to use fin motor skills by tracing, cutting, and manipulating paper.

After the students glued down their paper hands, they decorated the background using markers, crayons, and scrap paper.

2nd grade- Figure Portraits inspired by Keith Haring

We created figure portraits inspired by Keith Haring.

Day 1- We discussed body proportions and practiced drawing figure portraits in different positions. We used circles and ovals to keep it simple

Day 2- We viewed artwork by Keith Haring. We took our 4 favorite figure portraits and a drew them on a 18 x 24 inch piece of white paper. We talked about the placement of the people, they should be positioned below the floor line if they are standing on the ground. We added details to the ground and a symbol to the background like Haring did. We then traced over our pencil lines in sharpie.

Day 3- We colored out figure portraits, the floor, and the symbol. Then we added glue and glitter.

1st Grade- Cats

This started as a Valentine's Day cat, but students took the lesson and ran with it.

I showed them how to draw a basic Valentine's cat which I found on Art Projects for Kids
The students changed their cats into burglars, superhero, etc.

2nd grade Wayne Thiebaud Still Lifes

We started this lesson by looking at still life paints by Wayne Thiebaud. We noticed that he tends to paint mainly sweets such as candy, pies, cupcakes, cakes, ice cream. We also noticed that his paintings look 3-D instead of flat.

Together we drew the shape of the cake. Students then decorated their cakes using oil pastels.

Kindergarten- Hot Dog, Cool Cat

This is the perfect/easy lesson for Kindergartners to learn about warm and cool colors.

We started by reading the book Cool Dog, School Dog. I then told the class that we are going to be making dogs and cats today. We drew the dog and cat step by step using pencils on 18 x 12 inch paper. Next, I had students trace over the eyes, nose, mouth, feet, ears, and whiskers with sharpie.
We all gathered at the carpet again and discussed warm and cool colors. Warm colors are fire colors and cool colors are ice colors. Students then colored in their cats using cool colors and their dogs using warm colors.
Our last step includes me spraying the students' artwork with warm water to make the dog and cat look fuzzy.

3rd Grade- Children's Grove Art Contest - Butterflies

We participated in a local art contest. Each child made an artwork influenced by butterflies and 3 artworks from our school were selected to be entered into the competition. The overall winner will have have their artwork transformed into a sculpture or be the inspiration for a sculpture at a local park.

On day one we looked at different examples of butterflies. We then used watercolor paper and drew our butterflies with pencil. Next we colored in the butterflies with oil pastel. We discussed blending and that we should use colors that are similar so they blend nicely.

On day two, we water colored the background and sprinkled salt on it to get a spontaneous look.

4th Grade- Dragon

I can tell I am very behind on updating my classroom projects; this one was from Chinese New Year.
4th grade created dragons. I used a how to draw dragons cheat sheet that was created by another art teacher in my district. Students could follow the paper or add their own details and designs.

Students worked on this project when I had a substitute.

Adaptive Art- Dr. Seuss

Happy birthday Dr. Seuss! To honor him we read I Can Read with My Eyes Shut and created a Cat in the Hat Project.

Adaptive Art- Snow Globe

Last snow project of the year, I promise. This lesson worked great with Snowmen at Night.

Adaptive Art-Alligator

This lesson went with Lyle Lyle Crocidile

Adaptive Art-Seasons

This project tied with The Season's of Arnold's Apple Tree

Adaptive Art- Piggies

This project corresponded with Piggies by Audry Woods 

5th Grade Abstract 3-D Animals

This is one of my favorite projects. The ideas kids come up with amaze me. This year, my favorite animal was the crocodile. This project usually lasts two class periods. The first one includes making the body and day two consists of all the additives. It's also a great way to get rid of some scraps in the scrap box.

First Grade- Overlapping Winter Trees

I think I need to stop doing winter projects, it's probably the cause of all the snow we have been getting this season.

This one is an easy one day project. Each student picked out 4 green pieces of construction paper, preferably all different shades. one 18 x 12, two 12 x 9, and one 6 x 9. We folded all of our papers in half "hot dog style". next we drew diagonal zig-zag lines. This was a little tricky. And we didn't want the lines to be too crazy because we had to cut them out later. After that, we had 4 pine trees.

Next we glued our pine trees onto our background paper; I had the students choose between purple or black. We glued the biggest one first, then medium size, then small. We realized we had to overlap our trees to fit them all on our paper. We added trunks to the bottom of our trees.

Last, students brought their papers to the spraying station where they used spray water bottles (old Windex bottles will work too) filled with half white paint, half water. They sprayed their paper a few times to create snow falling.

Kindergarten- I love you to pieces

I've seen this project floating around the internet. It is a quick one day project and I even used it as a sub lesson and it went smoothly.

I read My Monster Mama Loves Me So to start and I tell the students that we are making a Valentine for our home family.

Next, we draw the heart, write our sentence "I love you to pieces", and begin tearing scrap paper. Lastly, students glue the paper to their heart. If there is extra time, students can decorate the background with crayons.

Kindergarten- Butterfly

I wanted to do a caterpillar project to follow our caterpillar project.

We started with the background paper and shaded three different sections horizontally using art sticks: green, brown, and blue. Students then used crayons or markers to add other background details such as flowers, trees, other animals.

Next, we created the butterfly by folding a yellow piece of paper in half and drawing a 3 close to the folded side. Students then cut out the 3. They were so excited to see it turn into a butterfly. Last they decorated their butterfly and glued it to their background paper. 

4th Grade- Spiral Weavings

I just love weaving projects and students do too. We created spiral weaving using cardboard. To set up our weaving we used a template created by another art teacher in my district (she is amazing). Students used the template to determine where to put notches with scissors in their project. Next, students chose a long piece of string to be the weft color. Finally our weaving was set up. Students then started weaving in a spiral pattern. I found myself constantly reminding my students to go over, under, over, under. The weaving aspect took about 3 classes. On the 4th class, students could continue weaving or they could use markers to decorate their edges.

5th Grade- Color Wheel Project

I find myself doing different color wheel projects each year, and I think I like this one the best because it is simple and only took 3 classes.

Day 1- Each student took a 9 x 12 paper and drew and "X" and a horizontal line across the middle. This allowed our paper to be divided into 6 parts. Then, students drew an image of their choice in the middle of their paper. The image had to enter all 6 parts and have detail. They went over their lines with sharpie.

Day 2- After reviewing primary and secondary colors, students were introduced to analogous colors (3 colors next to each other on the color wheel) They then used oil pastels to color in their image. Each section was designated for one color (yellow, orange, red, violet, blue, and green). They had to put the colors in color order. However, they could use analogous colors in the sections. For example, the yellow section could have yellow, yellow-green, and yellow-orange.

Day 3- Students learned about complementary colors (opposite on the color wheel) and water colored the background the complementary color to that section.