Practicing Lines

This is a series of art pieces that I did with K, 1, and 2.  We incorporated different types of lines on the various pictures with construction paper crayons. The frames were done with torn paper.  If my memory serves me right, the kids who were doing good on time made their own paper design, like the top example.  Kids that were a little behind, like in the bottom two pictures, used scrap book paper to make their frames.  

Complimentary Color Leaves

Complimentary Color Leaves

This lesson I borrowed from the internet several years ago, and try as I might I can not find where it originated from...too much time has past I suppose.  And for all I can remember, it may not have been a compliment color project.  This was a two day project for us, where we drew out our trees with white oil pastel on day one.  We also picked out the papers for the leaves.  I gave each student a small baggie and they started cutting their leaves.  On day two, we continued to cut leaves, then add the white oil pastel outlining detail to each.  Then, the kids glued their leaves to their paper.  I encouraged leaves to be mixed colors and patterns together and for the leaves to go beyond the borders of the paper.  

I feel a Foot!

This is a children's book based on a folk tale, "The blind Man and the Elephant".  It has beautiful illustrations.  All the animals have these fun vibrant colors and patterns.  I saw a perfect opportunity to use some of the patterns books that I have had for years.  So that is what we did.  The kids first picked out a pattern color sheet.  I told them to color however they wanted, but they needed to have a color palette of at least 5.  Then they picked out one of the following characters from the book; turtle, octopus, bat, bird, goat, or elephant. The turtle and the bat were the most popular of the animals to make. After they colored the sheet, they cut out the animal.  Parts of the animals were also made out of construction paper.  Then oil pastels were used to finish the animals before gluing down to the black background paper.

Compliment colors with glue lines

Here is an easy compliment color art piece.  Start with black paper and glue.  The top example is done with regular Elmer's glue, while the bottom example is done with clear glue, which is nice, and it gives a nice shine.  The glue part only takes a few minutes, so we did this part at the end of another lesson.  Then, on our first full day I had the kids color in patterns with their compliment choices, this was done with art sticks.  They had to fill in at least 8 areas with patterns.  Once they were done they could fill in their remaining areas with solid color.  This project took two days to complete.  

If You're a Monster and You Know It

I love the bold colors of all the books written and illustrated by Rebecca and Ed Emberley.  So, this is a sing along book, and yes...my 3rd graders did sing along.  Ok, so one group thought they were a little too cool for singing along, but the other 4 groups were more than happy to sing, be silly, have fun, and get really loud! Sorry Ms. Gilliam and Ms. Whittington, hopefully it didn't disturb an important lesson. We completed our little monsters in two days.  Day one, we cut out the shape of the monster and started adding details with construction paper.  Day two we added more details and more layers, plus finished up with black sharpie and oil pastel.  Oh, and I received one of the best compliments I think I have ever gotten from a student.  She told me "I am so comfortable right now" (not even looking away from her paper as she was diligently cutting eyes out for her monster), "I feel like I am at home".  I don't know if it gets any better than that!!

Scaredy Fish

You can't help but smile when you look at these guys.  I took a break from making them about 3 years ago and here lately I keep seeing art post with these fish. So... I decided I had to do them once again with my 3rd graders. While I have to admit getting these done in 50 minutes, with 3rd graders (almost 30 of them at a time), reminded me why I took a break!  Nonetheless, cute, and worth me almost pulling my hair out! 

Portfolio Name Design

Students design one side of their portfolio with their name.  The other side can be anything they want.

When I first started teaching, the kids would finish a project and take it home.  I never really gave it any thought.  Until... I started paying attention at car dismissal.  Artwork would be shoved into their backpacks, torn and crumpled, even the kids that were really, really proud of their work.  In my second year of teaching, we started to have our district art show, and I started saving work back.  I think for a long time I would save until about Christmas, and only keep back potential work for the art show and other displays.  Then, about six years ago I started keeping all of their work until the end of the year.  We create these pockets to carry the artwork home.  It gives the parents a chance to see the artwork from the full year and appreciate their growth over the year. 

We use construction paper crayons, and the older kids can use black sharpie to make it stand out (2nd-5th).

The Magic Raincoat, Finished Art Piece

Here are the Magic Raincoat finished product from my second graders.  They turned out really great!  

 

 

 

The Magic Raincoat, Marbling (Part 2)

Shaving cream marbling is the way to go.  For the longest time I did traditional marbling with my students, made from seaweed extract.  Big smelly tubs of goohy liquid.  The longer it sat, the more it smelled.  You had to prep the night before so it could thicken enough for the kids to drop the paint.  I discovered shaving cream marbling about 5 years ago, and it has changed the experience for me and the kids.  Clean-up is easy.  The shaving cream smells good, and it's cheap.  The artwork always turns out nice.  Not the case with traditional marbling, if the kids didn't wipe the marbling gooh off enough, you were left with a gray layer over the colors, not pretty!  

I use old cafeteria trays, add your shaving cream and let the students drip their paints.

Use hair pics and combs, even forks to blend the colors and drop your paper.

Rub lightly over the paper, you can see the colors adhering to the paper.  Pull up paper and reposition if their are blank spots.

We use the backside of the comb to remove shaving cream.  Add it back to the tray and continue to print.  You can keep adding paint to the same shaving cream as long as you are using colors that blend well with each other.

This will go into the drying rack and soon be ready for finishing touches!