It's a Small World Mural - Time-Lapse Video - 3rd, 4th, & 5th

Mary Blair and Joey Chou are the inspiration behind these murals. I loved Mary Blair's original work for Disney. All of her amazing illustrations remind me of my childhood. Joey Chou was hired to modernize her It's a Small World illustrations. He did an amazing job and is now a big source of inspiration of mine.

I pre-drew several versions of the city on paper before I grabbed my chalk and drew on the black paper. But when I start, I like it to flow, I do not stick to the drawing. It is more a guideline and source of ideas. 

Once the whole drawing is complete, I go mix my paint. MIX PAINT BEFORE NUMBERING! You need to know how many numbers you need. I like to mix a lot of intermediate colors, trying to stretch the color wheel. 

Once colors are mixed,  I number and create a chart for myself. Additionally, I set up a paint cart and get it labeled and numbered. 

Once the paint is mixed, I number the painting! usually 20-26 colors... depending on the subject. 

When students start painting, they are instructed to OUTLINE each shape before painting it in. They get one color, I hand them the cup. They look for their number only. For the most part, they all do it perfectly. I do not worry if there is a spot painted with the wrong number.

Once we got most the mural painted in, I added the black and white ribbon in the background and the tile look at the bottom. It needed a break in color. Then to fill in the back ground, we printed with large sponges on sticks, gold tempera paint. It finished it off!

Kindergarten - Eric Carle Very Hungry Caterpillar Collages

Who doesn't LOVE a kindergarten Hungry Caterpillar??? I have done this a couple different ways in the past, but this is my favorite. I like it on YELLOW. I am not sure why, but it makes it so happy! 

Students get to paint a 9x12 yellow piece of paper with green and yellow paint, creating texture with scrapers and sponges. Next time, I give them a 2x9 inch strip, they cut it up into "french fries". Not too thin... then I walk by and put a long line of glue down, they glue it all down. 

Next, they cut out the circles for the caterpillar. Before class, I prep a bunch... I cut all their painted paper up into 3x3's. Their paper becomes community paper, each student gets 5 green and a red, (from other classes who have made painted paper). I hand draw circles on the back for them to cut out. We get the caterpillar glued together and then make a sun in the sky with some yellow orange papers from other classes. If they want clouds, they can cut some blue papers or use markers. 

I love giving them markers to add "friends". I demonstrate how to draw some bugs with dots behind them suggesting movement. They love it! They all like to draw a rainbow. This one is always so sweet when hanging in the hallway, a crowd pleaser for sure! 

2nd Grade - Laurel Burch Fantastic Felines!

A real favorite of mine... Top 10 when it comes to results. My students have always done an amazing job with this lesson. After a BIG look and discussion about the beautiful designs, patterns and colors of Laurel Burch's Fantastic Felines... we get to it!

I teach 4 sections of each grade level. To stay organized and add variety to our show, I have two classes use warm color papers, the other two classes, cool colored paper. Students get to choose, from 4-5 colors. First, students are taught how to draw the sitting cat and laying cat with just chalk on the board. They choose the one they want to paint...

and then we get started...

It seems scary to paint direct, with no pencil drawing first, but I prefer to. The only thing students draw with pencil is the head. I have them trace a 6" circle in the top corner of the paper first. It establishes scale. We start with outlining the head with black tempera, then draw the front legs. Tall cats - I stress all the way down to the bottom of the paper. Laying cat - under the head towards the bottom. 

Then paint the cat's back, stretching all the way over to the side of the paper and down. Then the back leg, big letter C with a foot that is a flat littler c. 

The face details - large human like eyes, long nose and simple smile. Then PATTERNS! We stop for a minute and look at her cats again and look at the patterns she used. I demonstrate painting the patterns on the whole cat and then let them go!

Coloring, we discuss her use of warm and cool colors but I give them freedom to be creative with their color choices. I only stress good craftsmanship, careful, purposeful coloring.