Ocean Silhouettes

 It's the end of the year, and I needed a quick, fun, and simple lesson. This lesson was perfect because it's fun, uses few supplies and takes little time. My second graders created these silhouette ocean scenes.  I found the basic idea for this lesson at: http://youngschoolart.blogspot.com/2016/10/2nd-gradesilhouettes.html?m=1.  This took two classes to complete.  In the first class, students created the watercolor background. We discussed warm and cool colors to create the background.  During the second class, students used black sharpies to create silhouettes.

Pinch Pot Monsters, 2nd Grade

My second graders made pinch pot monsters. 

First, they created pinch pots with clay. Then students added eyes, mouths, and other details to create a monster.  All added pieces were scored and slip.  Hint: If you add vinegar to the slip, it attaches better.

After they were out of the kiln, we painted with watercolors.  I then put a clear acrylic sealer over it, to add a shine.

Folk Art Landscapes, 2nd Grade

 This lesson was inspired from the artwork of Karla Gerard.  Her artwork is bright, colorful folk art, and really resonates with young students.  My students focused on drawing landscapes with patterns.  These were painted with tempera paint. 

 I think these turned out great!  My students are very proud of them. 

Chair

At the end of the school year, I had some of my fourth and fifth graders paint this chair.  This was a fun filler project to help fill time the last two week of school. 

Art Show!

 Here are some photos of our school wide art show.  Every students from PreK- 5th grade had one piece of artwork in the art show.  There were about 720 works of art on display.

This show doubled as a fundraiser. We used a company called Artome to frame the artwork.  It was really simple.  Basically, I sent artwork to Artome, which I labeled by student name, grade, and class.  They framed the artwork, and brought it the night of the show.  Artome even set the entire show up for me.  We sold the frames for $25 dollars a piece, and parents were able to take their child's framed artwork home that night.  After the show was over, Artome dismantled the entire show and mailed the unsold artwork back to the school about two weeks later.  Artome only charged us for the frames that were sold.

The art show turned out great, and we did end up raising a good amount of money for the school!  If you are looking for an simple way to do an art show for a large school, I would definitely recommend Artome.

County Art Show

Every year my county has a big art show and every school has a display. Here is my school's display for this year.

Jazz, 2nd and 3rd grade

 My 2nd and 3rd graders have recently been learning about how to show motion in art.  This lesson focused on jazz music.  Students listened to music, and then created a piece of art to show the movement of the music.

2nd graders created their Jazz artwork out of cut paper.

3rd graders created a painting.  

Both grades did a great job on this assignment!

Art Show

 This week the county is sponsoring an art show.  Every school in the county had two panels to hang artwork on, and it is displayed at a local mall.  Here are a few pictures from my school's art display.

Family Portraits, 2nd Grade

 This lesson was focused on families.  Students drew their families, their home, and some drew their neighborhoods.  I asked students to focus on overlapping.  This overlapping brought depth to their drawing.  I found the idea for this lesson on the blog Apex Art.

 I think these turned out wonderful.

School Starts Tomorrow

 School starts tomorrow, and my art room is ready.  This will be a busy school year because I will be teaching art full time as well as working on my thesis for my master's degree.  I will try to keep this blog updated as much as possible through this crazy busy school year.

In my school, I teach 6 classes a day for 35 minutes each.  I see a total of 30 different classes each week.  Keeping track of all my students is probably the biggest challenge of my job. Organization is the key to survival in my classroom.

 I did about four bulletin boards in our hallway this school year, and here is a picture of two of them.

In order to maintain order in my classroom, I utilize a voice level chart, and students earn "Art Dollars" for good behavior.  Four times a year students get to spend their art money on prizes.

Art Show 2015

This was our first Art Show.  I decided to turn our art show into a fundraiser.  We had a company called Artome frame the artwork, and we sold each frame for $25.

By using this company, the whole process was really easy.  I labeled the artwork, and sent it to Artome two weeks prior to the show.  They came on the day of the show with the framed artwork, and even hung the artwork for me.  At the end of the show they packed up any unsold frames, and will send the artwork back to me.  This was great because it made cleanup easy, and we are only charged for what is sold.  

 Other than the framed artwork, we also had sculptures up for everyone to see.  

 Here are our 4th grade paper mache ice cream cones.

 These flowers were made by my kindergarten and fifth graders.  They worked collaboratively on this.

The Totem Poles were made by my fifth graders.  Each student created one piece of the totem, and put them together to make a large totem pole.

Reflections, 3rd Grade

This is a great lesson to teach reflections.  I found the idea for this lesson on the blog, Fine Lines.  Basically, all you have to do is have students draw and color the top half of their paper with regular washable markers.  Then students spray water on the bottom half of their paper.  After this, students fold their paper and rub.  This makes a simple easy print of the image.

I allowed my students to draw any landscape image.  Some students drew houses, while other drew castles, mountains, or farms.

This is a great example of art that connects to math.  This one is easy enough to be done by either the art teacher or the classroom teacher.

Folk Art, 2nd Grade

These beautiful paintings were inspired after the artist, Karla Gerard.  Students painted their drawings with tempera paint and then added details with oil pastels.

I just love how colorful these are!

Fall Trees

 These fall trees were made by my second graders.  I found the idea for this lesson on the blog Painted Paper.

 This is a very simple lesson.  Basically, students start by creating painted paper.  I gave my students only primary colors, so they could blend to create secondary colors.  After the painted paper is dry, students cut out the leaves and glue it to the paper.  Lastly, students painted a tree trunk and add dots for falling leaves.

First Week Project

Last week was the first week of school, so I needed a simple easy lesson.  I found this wonderful lesson on Pinterest.  Unfortunately, I am unsure what blog or website it originally came from because it was pinned incorrectly. If this is your lesson, please let me know so I can give you proper credit.

For this lesson, I had each student create one 5 inch by 5 inch circle design.  The circles were simply cut out of construction paper, and glued to their square piece.  After the students created their designs, I hung them on the wall in the art room.  It certainly has brightened up my room!

Cakes, 2nd Grade

This lesson is a great way to introduce the artist Wayne Thiebaud.  For this lesson, I teach my students how to draw a cake with a piece taken out of it.  They love this, because they think it makes it look realistic.  We draw the cake first, and then color it with oil pastels.  After this, I have my students make a symmetrical cake stand out of construction paper.  We then glued both the cake and the cake stand to a large piece of black paper.

 I think my second graders did a nice job with this lesson!

Cuckoo Clocks, 2nd Grade

 My second graders have recently been learning about time in math class.  This seemed like a perfect opportunity to do a cuckoo clock lesson.  I found the idea for this lesson on Cassie Stephen's blog.

This is a very simple lesson.  All you need is construction paper, scissors, glue, and oil pastels.  Students simply cut out shapes to create the clock. I walked them through putting the numbers on the clock, since many students struggle to put the numbers in the correct spot.  After the clock was created, students used pastels to decorate their clocks.

I absolutely LOVE these!

Penguins, 2nd Grade

 These penguins were created by my second graders.  I found the idea  for this lesson on Flickr.  Overall, this lesson was simple. I taught my students how to draw a penguin.   Students then added clothes (such as coats, scarves, or hats).  Next, my students painted everything with tempera paint.  After this, students cut their penguin out and glued it to blue paper.  Lastly, students added snow in the background.

 I think these are adorable!