The Magic Raincoat, Part 1

The Magic Raincoat by Ryan David Is a fun book to read.  The illustrations by Sibylla Benatova are fabulous!  I just enjoy flipping through the book to look at all the textures and I discover something new almost every time I look through.  The illustrations are done with handmade paper, which is super fun to do...but, there are a lot of materials and time invested in handmade papers.  This is better suited for small groups, not 115 kids.  So I decided that we would do something a little different for the background (I'll show this off in part 2).  Here are some of our fun characters we did.  While the main character in the book is a little girl, I gave my 2nd graders a choice to do a boy of girl and come up with the design for their magic raincoat.  

Panther Pride

 

This is a clay project I do with my 2nd graders.  I have the students roll out a slab for the face and trace a template that I made out of cardboard.  Then they cut out the small triangular nose to be attached later.  When everyone is ready, I draw a large panther face on the white board and the kids follow along, copy cat style, for the details of the face.  Once we are done with this we use a marker cap to put a circle in the eye and attach the nose.  We can finish these in one 50 minute class.  Glazing will take another 50 minute class after firing.

 

 

 

 

Eric Carle's Mr. Seahorse

Eric Carle's Mr. Seahorse

Here is our seahorse from the Eric Carle series we are working on.  We used Portfolio oil pastels, which are also water soluble.  As you can see, that is why there is smudging on the white paper.   I LOVE this product, but it is hard for students to control.   I like to introduce it in small ways such as this, so that they can get a feel for how it works.  I also notice that just the oil pastel residue on the kids fingers takes some adjusting to as well.  

Eric Carle's The Mixed Up Chameleon and The Grouchy Ladybug

Here is the second installment of Eric Carle inspired art by my Kinder and First graders.  I read a different book for each day and the students artwork was based on the chosen title.  On art pieces such as these (more complicated shapes), I draw the image on the back of the paper, and let them do the cutting for the larger or more difficult parts.  Because of the large number of students in the classroom (up to 24 in a 50 minute class), this helps us move through the projects more quickly, and lets them focus on their cutting skills.

 

 

 

Eric Carle's A House for Hermit Crab

Here is Kinder and 1st grade pictures inspired by A House for Hermit Crab.  I wish we would have had time to add all the extras, just like in the book.  But, because we are trying to wrap up so much other stuff I decided to stop here.  It has taken us 2 1/2 days to complete these, which is good considering all the cutting and pasting.

 

 

 

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Author/Illustrator Study with Eric Carle

 I think everyone can agree that Eric Carle is a must do in the art room.  So much fun to paint and add layers of color and texture.  There are always smiling faces and lots of extra hugs as they leave the artroom on these days.  This is when I hear over and over again, "when I grow up...I want to be an art teacher"! 

Our beautiful painted papers! Each class takes a base color and then each table adds various colors on top.  I will show off the art work very soon.

Honor Hearts

I do honor hearts each year with my 5th graders.  Clay is one of my personal favorites, but I do find it difficult to teach.  Like so many others, I have very little storage space.  Plus, the back to back classes make it difficult to change out projects.  So when one class does clay, we ALL do clay, all 680 of us.  It is exhausting...then the firing starts.  But when it is all said and done, I start forgetting the extra hours I put in for these beautiful little clay pieces of art.  Here are some, fresh out of the kiln.  I suspect there will be some very happy Moms on Mother's Day!