Myself in a landscape...

I heard it from a friend... who heard it from a friend... who heard if from a friend... Well you get this picture. I don't know who I can give credit to for this lesson because I have seen it in a couple of places. This lesson works on the vocabulary terms foreground, middle ground, and background for my 1st grade students.

Students placed themselves so far in the foreground that only their feet are showing. They add a horizon line and several added details. The details can be place in the any of the grounds. The most successful landscapes had details in all grounds. The kids love making theirs unique!

Storyline Online

Storyline Online!

Wow! I'm in love with this site. It's fun to incorporate children's books into my lessons. This site is a great way to have a simple book read in a different way. It has great children books like...

Check it out!

http://www.storylineonline.net/

Come one come all...

It's done, It's up and the kids are proud!

Next week is conferences for Rogers Elementary and we welcome parents and community to join us in the opening our RES Mosaic. This untitled work of art is ready to view in main entrance of the school, across from the office. It is the buzz of the school!

Symmetrical Dragon Kites

Our 3rd grade does a large study on Japan and it's cultures and traditions. To help support the classroom study we are starting Dragon Kites. Students are creating their kites to be ready and displayed by May 5th. Classrooms plan on celebrating the day May 5th.

Students first created reviewed Symmetry and Axis. We cut the head shape out of a 12x12 colored sheet of paper. We glued it onto a different colored 12x12 sheet placed in front of the student like a diamond (or a kite).

The Dragon face was created from various sized paper and scraps. The kids got really creative.

K's Printing!

I'm letting the kids work on some printing projects for the next couple of weeks. We worked with card stock, sponges, and coiled up corrugated paper. Crazy hour but fun!

K's Landscape

Kids learned about the horizon line, foreground and background while making this landscape. We talked about the habitat of the animals. Students were asked to create two of the same four legged animal. One in the foreground and one in the background. I'm always amazed that Kindergarten can get these concept so well. I feel it make their art though out the rest of their elementary years more successful.

One point perspective

We worked on one point perspective with this project. I worked step by step creating part of the dresser and they added the 'stuff' inside. I told them they could put anything they had in their room or anything they wish they had. It was fun to watch the kids personalities come out in the work.

Aboriginal Design

Students looked at both original Aboriginal artwork and student work form a website I found...http://www.bardaglea.org.uk/aboriginal/. We talked about the high design and the dot patterns.

To prepare for this lesson, I took an 18X12 inch black piece of paper and cut it into 12X12 and used the remaining sheet (6X12) for a warm up activity. Students were asked to fold the paper to create 8 spaces within it. They used construction paper crayons to create several designs in each space. Once time had run out I asked them to tape their work up on the wall so we will have a large idea base for our final work.

The students traced an oval to assure a large body. They very designed the animal off from the oval with very simple lines. The students then added 5 lines from the outside of the page into the animal.

Students used oil pastels to add their designs onto their animal. They used many colors, shapes and lines. The wall of designs from last art class assisted in this big task. They then used a Q-timp and paint to add the dot pattern.

Color in Bunny...

You think... I'm an art teacher, I'm going to expose my kid to LOTS of art... This child will know artist names and recognize works of art... They will be gifted in art because of their exposer and be as passionate as I am. Turns out, that isn't always true. That's why this bunny is so important to me. This is my 4 year-olds first work of art that he colored his best, stayed in the lines, and filled the background. I'm one proud mama:)

Who could't love that face?

I love doing K's self portraits! My favorite part is when I ask them to show expression. We practice in the mirror. It fun to see 30 K's looking in the mirror and making a happy face, sad face, scared face, mad face... And the end result... as Master Card says... Priceless!

Rainy Day?

The dollar store is great for little crafts to do on a rainy day. I picked up some frames and the kids decorated them with paint on night. We are waiting for the next rainy day to mosaic our found shells from Florida.

Because it's fun...

Check out the cute little doodads I got from a local craft store. It has been a fun little project for me kids to do at home. They get to cut the hair on the little guys about every 4 days. I bought this one but I found a 'how to' on the web.

I Like Myself!

I read the book, I Like Myself, by Karen Beaumont to my first grade students. I highlighted a line that say, "Even when I look a mess, I still don't like me any less." We talked about how even if your hair was messy, or if you didn't have any hair at all... your still you!

Student were asked to look into the mirror and create their face under teacher instruction.

Student colored their face and added 'crazy' hair to the top of their head. We used liquid watercolor and a straw to blow the color across the page. They had a BLAST!

Many students had time to complete a worksheet about their project. They told me with pictures what they liked about themselves. It's a great way to get to know more about your kiddos.

My self in the snow.

4th grade worked on self portraits in a truly mid west way:) Student brought their winter hats into class and drew their face with the winter hats on. Students had the option to add a pictorial background or design background. They had fun wearing their hats for the hour it took them to draw themselves.

We are done!

It's done! Whoo Hoo!

Hoo Ray for Thursday! We finished and grouted our Mosaic. Second through fifth grade students are proud of the work they have accomplished. We plan to have this work displayed before conferences. Please come to see this amazing work of art!

It's coming along...

Things are coming along. Lisa has just a couple of days left and things are spot on! We are just putting the finishing touches on. It's looking great!