Many Thanks

Thank you to Teacher Salary Info--

This blog was chosen as one of the top Art Teaching Blogs! I'm honored.

Sorry I'm not around much this year. I'm snuggling and kissing baby cheeks instead of teaching art. But, I'll be back.

For now, enjoy the other blogs listed on their site.

Thanks again!

Teacher Salary Info

Pumpkin Patch Art, 1st Grade

***repost***

My first graders are so much fun, and so much work :-) They have surprised me so much with these, they aren't even done, and they're BEAUTIFUL. They learned to "shade" a little, and mix their colors. If you look closely they have mixed some yellow into their orange pumpkins, to make them look further in the distance. Very, very cool so far. The finishing touches will add leaf rubbings. Fall fun, eh?

Create your own Cartoon Characters, 3rd Grade

The kids ate this project up. I really had NO idea how much they would love creating their own cartoon characters! I have a worksheet that a previous teacher left (looks like it was scanned from a book, maybe?) that has some ideas of eyes, noses, mouths, heads and bodies of characters. It helps to get the kids started. They are free to use their own ideas, too-in fact, it's encouraged.


We start off on a 9x12 manilla paper, and the students sketch 8 characters.

Then, they have to choose their favorite 4.

Then, they put their favorite 4 on a 9x12 white paper (we fold it in half twice to get 4 equal spaces).

Students then outline, color in prismacolors, add a border to each character (that goes with the theme), and create a name for their character.

They are then cut into 4, and mounted on a black piece of paper.

I didn't realize how much they'd LOVE this project...seriously, they were obsessed! But, it was great for hand-eye coordination, to get their little minds going creatively, and to use colored pencils.

Who knows-one day, these could be famous :)

Spring Butterflies, 1st Grade

I actually got inspiration to draw this butterfly from one of my 1st grader's shirts last year. It had the prettiest butterfly on it, that was a very simple line drawing.

I decided to teach my 1st graders how to draw it (again, this year!), and then we added lots of different line designs using our sharpies of course.

The students were to color the butterfly with markers, trying to keep two of the same colors away from each other.

Then, we cut them out (with a "bubble" around it), and glued them on yellow paper. You may use whichever color you'd like-but yellow definitely pops for spring.

Next, we added a tissue paper border just for fun and to add texture.

This was a great 2-day lesson, and they look gorgeous!
**

Get a masters in education to better teach your 1st graders.

Before and After Self Portraits, 1st Grade

Seeing this lesson, all framed out, honestly--makes me want to cry happy tears (or it could be the hormones from pregnancy--whatever!). The reason is due to the before and after effect these self-portraits have.

They are learning! I love it! The proof is there. See?

Lesson Procedures:

1. Give all students a "before" sheet. I make mine up on the computer and photocopy. Then, I label it, "Self Portrait drawn before instruction". I give each student a sharpie, and tell them to draw a picture of themselves.

They turn it in.

2. Hand out any size paper you want to have them do their self portraits on. The only thing I recommend you doing ahead of time is tracing their head's first. REASON BEING: If you have ever tried to get all 1st graders in a classroom to make something the same size--you know the chore that is. So, I cut out a little time and just did it myself. It's worth it, trust me.

3. Start with the facial features. Go through everything. They love to know all those little facts about where your eyes actually are, how far they are apart, where your ears should be, etc. Draw on the board as you teach. (They should be using pencil until you check it, and then we outlined with extra fine point sharpie!)

4. Continue on talking about different hair styles, etc...draw a few types on the board. At this point, you'll have to walk around and make sure they are all "getting it" and giving help for the more difficult hair styles :)

5. Continue on with the body. Talk about the body parts and things they typically used to forget when drawing their "old" people [I continually emphasize how good they'll be at people after this!], and how we DO indeed have necks, arms that flop down by our side and that don't stick out straight, fingers (and not dagger's!), etc.

6. Give them free reign to make them look like "them". I let them use markers to decorate their shirts and pants, shoes, etc.

Take everything STEPS. Trust me.

(Oh, and make sure you have multicultural crayons, too!)

This lesson may take a few weeks--but the results are worth it.

Just look at how far Mr. Blake has come:
(He was SO SO SO proud of himself! He kept saying, "I'm so good at drawing!")

Cities using Rulers, 3rd Grade

I think I have an obsession with cityscapes. Either way, the kids don't seem to mind--because they LOVE drawing cities, too especially when I give them free reign of what type of buildings/companies/stores/restaurants can go into them.

This year, I incorporated ruler use, and had each student make a 3.5 " building and a 5" building. Anything like that to throw some math in the lesson is always a plus! I went around and "checked" the buildings to make sure they were accurate.

This time around, we used prismacolors for our cities, and watercolor for our sky. I tend to switch it up every year--this year, I liked the results!

One day Starry Nights, 1st Grade

I love this project so much for many reasons.

1. It takes ONE class and they look awesome.

2. It's simple, but the results are beautiful.

3. The kids think they're awesome and feel like mini-famous artists. They are always super impressed with their artwork!

~*~

Lesson Steps:

-Talk about Starry Night and Van Gogh a bit (have a print of Starry Night for easy viewing!)

-Give each student a 12 x18 black piece of paper (can use light blue or dark blue, too) and a pack of oil pastels

-Go through the steps of drawing the swirling, free-flowing details of Starry Night. No real rhyme or reason to it, just look at the painting to guide you along. (The kids should draw at their seats along with you...encourage overlapping the oil pastels to make different colors. They can also have free'er use of colors, too--so each look a bit different.)

[Note: I always start with the tree-like form on the bottom left, and then do the city/hills...then leave the sky for last!]

-NO PENCILS! Only oil pastels. This way, there is no such thing as "messing up".

Enjoy the beautiful results!

Snowy Cardinals, 2nd Grade

Another lovely idea I got from APFK and just modified a bit.

We used 9x12 white paper, did a step-by-step of the cardinal after discussing them and looking at books--then the kids outlined, and used oil pastel to color.

They went back and re-outlined with a black oil pastel to make it bold again.


They added snow at the end using q-tips and white tempera paint.