FALL ART! Hanging Leaves-Bonus Project

Here we are again, he beginning of a new school year. We are back and going strong here in the art room. I already have students finished with their first art project...so the questions begin "What do I do, I'm done?" Oh yes, no what!? I am so tired of dishing out 'free draw,' model clay, drawing book stations...ect. So I am now planning to do a group project/collaborative art for early finishers. The first one of the year were these lovely free falling leaves. I had plenty of leaves mod podged through the years and templates made-so student were to trace, cut and create a leaf as real as possible. They used watercolor as a final touch of color. I hung the little mobiles but 1/2 a toilet paper roll and filled it by stringing on leaves. WAY better that wasting free draw paper! Plus- we work with warm colors, cutting, observations of leaf veins and a little watercolor practice. I plan on doing many more of these types of things for my early finishers!!

Bird Cages-Grade 1

I've always wanted to do a little bird cage project so this was the year and the time. We started off drawing three birds, sharpie, color in the primary colors and then we did a little watercolor over the top. Day 2 we drew large cages and colored them in, glued the birds with a little tissue paper wing for texture and used black strips of paper for our vertical and horizontal lines. Fun times in 1st grade!

Self Portraits

This was a start off project for my first graders. We've done self portraits in the past but I decided to have them cut around and glue onto their color choice. We started with the 'U" shape in the middle and that's the greatest tip ever for getting the faces centered and not too terribly small. The kids did great! Sharpie outline and crayon, glue & scissors. Just a basic to get us back in the swing of caring for supplies and using basis tools in the art room. 

Cupcakes! 1st Grade

I showed students several cupcake images to observe the variety of toppings, colors and icing types. We did a step by step drawing together in pencil, then outlined with sharpie and finally students used tempera cakes. Once dry we cut and glued onto a matching color. I think next year I'll try watercolor instead for brighter paints. Looked fun in the hallways! Students love this!

Shape Reindeer

I love having the kids use basic shapes to create. I believe it helps them learn to draw later on by breaking things down into shapes. Students were given: Blue 9x12, brown 6x9, white 2x9, tan 6x6 & red 2x2. I gave them an example and let them go to town on creating their own reindeer. They all have their own little personality too!

Crazy Pumpkin Faces

Here's the link where I grabbed this awesome idea: THANK YOU!

http://mnartgal.blogspot.com/2009/10/jack.html

This really brought out 1st grade creativity. I usually direct them step x step but this time I was free with how they did the face and the fence. I am so proud of the creative results!

On a side note, I'm under 2 weeks away from my due date..so I have been relying heavy on blogs and posts! I have been giving credit where credit is due to those awesome art teachers coming up with some neat things! Also this is my first year on a cart in about 5 years and it is short-term thank goodness! Our building is adding on and I'll have my lovely classroom back next year! Thanks to all the super duper blogs out there helping a 9 month prego-cart-puller-art teacher through this fall!

Sunflower Inspiration

Have you ever seen fields and fields of sunflowers!? They are just amazing and gave me inspiration for my next first grade project that we are starting up today. I think we are going to view some Sunflower paintings, of course van Gogh and Diego Rivera 'Girl with Sunflowers.' I can't wait to see how these turn out!

Anyways, spent the labor day weekend in northern Missouri at my parents house. There is a conservation area with fields of these beautiful flowers! I'm so glad my dad suggested that my daughter, mom and I take a visit! I hadn't see fields of sunflowers since I'd been in Italy in 2001!

FYI- I'll be taking a 6 week break coming up in Mid-October. I'm having baby #2 and will have a sub. So forgive me for the lack in posts! I'll be back strong come December!!

Rocket Ships

I've seen some rocket/space ship projects floating around on the blogs so it gave me an idea to try one...another reason I love art blogs! Together the students and I drew space ships and added aliens, planets and stars. Once their drawing was finished they used liquid watercolors to fill in the spaceship but not the background. During class number 2, students carefully cut out all their plants, ships, and stars. Once cut, they glued them on to a black or blue piece of construction paper making sure all the edges were stuck down tight and no curling! I think their imaginations took off super great on this project! I think it's a keeper! The results were pretty fun and amazing!

Thiebaud Ice Cream Cones

This is the second year I've done this project and once again it was a success! I saw it a few years back here:http://oodlesofart.blogspot.com/search/label/Wayne%20Thiebaud and will probably continue to do it! We look at Thiebaud's art, get hungry and then layer on some ice cream. The kids color with crayon and then do a light watercolor over the top!

Tree Resist

First graders did these blending tree resists. We started by using rulers to create a border. We drew the horizon line, 3 triangles above the line and squares for tree trunks. We started with blue, violet & red-violet. I added a little salt at the end for some texture.

Crazy Print Birds

This was what I decided to do with printmaking this year in first grade. We also used the primary colors. I found various junk items around the room, some paper plates and let the kids print on two 9x12 sheets. This week when they come in we will assemble the birds. Drawing an arch across the first 9x12 turned horizontally. Fold the 2ND piece in half, draw a 'U' shape with a cloud-like line over the top for the wings. Make sure the kids keep the paper folded in order to get two wings. We will finish with some eyes, a beak and little legs. I'm anxious to see these hanging around the school!

Angel-1st Grade

I take art work to the local Culver's Restaurant every month. I needed something Christmas and quick for the December display. I started the students out with a 'U' shape to help them get the proportions correct, we drew step by step with sharpie. Student colored in with crayons and added glue and glitter for the halo. Nice work first grade! This took us one 60 minute class.

Basic Shapes Reindeer

First graders created a reindeer by using geometric shapes. When

I showed the students the example they thought it looked too hard, but then we talked about breaking it down into small shapes like circles and ovals. The students did well with this! I gave them two 9x12 pieces, 1 blue & 1 brown. We started by drawing an oval standing up for the head and a oval laying down for the body, 4 rectangles for legs, and a triangle tail. Once we piece the body together we added the eyes, nose and then created the background.

Clay Guppies

First graders started their first clay project making clay guppies. Totally snagged this idea from Deep Space Sparkle http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/?s=guppies, thanks Patty! We are using paint and modge podge to cover ours. They are turning out super fabulous!! So much more fun than the basic pinch pot!

Flags for Veteran's

My first graders made these little flags for each of the Veteran's that attended our assembly last Thursday. Simple little flags that send a big Thank You!

Clowns

I found this project on Art Projects for Kids blog...a great source with excellent guides! We talked about all the places we would see a clown, what makes a clown look like a clown and if there are any famous clowns they know of. One boy said Crusty the Clown, I guess he already watches The Simpsons. Kind of funny hearing all of the answers! We drew the clown together on black paper and made sure we used solid color with our oil pastels. I thought a little border at the top and bottom would look circus-like. I love the one with arms, very creative!

March '10

Cherry blossom blow painting