5th Grade Colorful Landscapes

Another spin from a Pinterest link, finding lots of good stuff over there! I think I've tried new projects with every class this far from Pinterest. This was a project about fore, mid and backgrounds, balance in the composition, and of course we worked around the color wheel. We did a step X step drawing first, the students could add a little of their own flair to the picture, sharpie step, and then they used lines to follow the shapes for a little more visual interest and last we painted with liquid water color. The results are super! I just sent some to our local Culver's Restaurant where they display our schools work every month.

 Does your school do any type of public display on a regular basis?

First Grade Trees

Another little spin off pinterest. This is a 2 day-er for 1st grade. Warm color tissue paper put down with watery glue and brown scribbled paper for day one. Day two we crumpled the brown paper for extra tree bark texture and talked about how a tree starts large and then branches out with medium and smaller twigs. A little log border was a final touch. I have a group of the and I'll re post as soon as I take the picture!

Grovers-Kindergarten

Love this little project, just makes my heart happy. Actually I was SO excited to put them up you can still see a little glue dripping from the group picture. Last year I had the kindergarten do Elmo, but decided to switch things up this year by another teacher suggesting I do Grover instead. I really think they turned out great. My Kinder friends worked on tearing paper, dipping in the glue and cutting more circles and ovals! Love these! Here are the Elmos from last year, which do you like best?

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!

Starry Starry Night

This here folks is a little 'pinspiration'. Grabbed this little number from pinterest, gosh what did we do before? 2nd graders enjoyed learning about Vincent van Gogh. Such a sad sorry but they are always so interested in the cutting of the ear, and I'm sure they'll always remember van Gogh and Starry Night forever. We even listened to Don Mclean's version of Starry Night- funny story: I had one kid that was listening and he kept saying "gosh this singers voice sounds familiar," then I could see the light bulb all of the sudden the kid (2nd grade mind ya!) said oh " Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie!" Wowza, that kid is good!

So anyways, fun little project- background is in watercolor with oil pastels.

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. 

100 Following! Wow & Thanks!

Thanks so much for your support here at The Clever Feather! Doing my best to keep new art work posted! Thanks for looking and following!! Greatly appreciated!

Origami Mobiles

Several years ago I taught a summer school enrichment origami class. It was a 2 or 3 week course where middle school students only made origami. Our last huge project was to make mobiles. Well, I don't know really what I was thinking when I made my examples from straws...because they have warped of course...duh!  Since I have my classroom back I re-did them all over the summer. On one I used pencils which I loved and the colorful one I used BBQ stick skewers. I check into how much these things cost on Etsy and I was amazed to see they can go for close to $100! Yikes! They are quite a bit of time but so worth it hanging in a classroom, even a child's room. I think things hanging from the ceiling really make a room or classroom even more cozy cool! Do you have anything special hanging around? :)

I'm back! Oh yea!

So I was FINALLY able to download some pictures here! It took me 3 WHOLE days to get back in order. Here are the pictures in reverse order. So much to unload, organize and hang up...one of the most dreaded days ever! Time sure does fly though!

First week has gone great and I am so happy to be back into my classroom after a year on wheels. My classes are busy going through our basic procedures and class expectations. Our school is using the positive behavior policy I've read a lot of other blogger's using too-lots to implement but great things after I've heard!

I started with some simple high success projects with the students, pictures coming soon.

I hope everybody's first week, day ? Whatev!...has gone super!!

New Look, New School Year...

A brand new school year is up and coming quick, but I'm sure I don't even need to tell you that! Summer always goes fast but life anymore with two kids just flys period. I'm so ready to get back into my classroom after a year on a big honkin' cart. I miss my space, my tables, chairs, sink, and just my classroom home. I love to decorate my room so it feels homey and comfortable, I already love to be there but extra comforts add a little more cush! Here are some things that make my room a little more like home:
*Little 4 cup coffee pot sending waking coffee bean aromas down the hall, everyone knows when I've arrived
*My fridge with water, soda and lunch-sometimes you just need a refreshment
*Microwave-b/c you how those lean cuisine's get backed & stacked up in the teachers lounge
*Pictures of my little darlin's as well as the hubster
* Holiday decor: fall things, halloween, Christmas, Easter, spring...you name it-we have decor
*Personal artwork-or from college since I've had no time to make my own since I got married, had kids and work full time...someday
*Vases full of spray painted sticks add height to the room & are nice for hanging those Christmas ornaments.
* Butterflies, lanterns, & mobiles hanging from the ceiling


So I had lost my room due to a building that was packed and out of rooms. The addition is finished and my room will once again become an art room instead of a 4th grade class. I am very excited to get started putting everything back in it's place. I will post pics as soon as I get back into it.
So the summer has been busy taking care of two kids, my daughter is almost 4 and my son is already 9 months...geez! 
I decided today to re-do my blog and freshin' things up a bit around here. I am having trouble posting pictures today though & no spell check...so give me a break peeps. I wanted to show you what I'd been up to re-making for my classroom but guess it'll have to wait. I see my post board but it looks like some icons are missing for some reason-or it could be this computer is as old Mother Hubbard. Any whoo, will keep trying.
I'm looking forward to getting things back in action in the art world and posting new ideas, sharing info and just being awesome art teachers!
Here's to the last bit of summa time folks!

Happy Summer!

This is the end of a year on a cart! So happy to get my room back! The new addition is finished and my art tables just arrived back this morning! It will be great to have my own space back for next year and a big perk returning in the fall! Here are a few of our summer projects that will be on display this summer at our local Culver's restaurant.

No real plans around here for me. Just back to being an all day mommy to my 7 month and 3.5 year old. The blog will slow down a bit, it's always good to take a break!

Have a great summer to all! Enjoy, take time for yourself and family!

See ya soon!

Chameleons Grade 3

My third graders love love loved this!! Their classroom teachers said they were doodling these chameleons everyone on their notes, notebooks and scratch paper. I showed them this step by step video HERE and then they followed me again step by step on the board. We also worked with shading and blending oil pastels. Very cool!

A lil' Mondrian-Kindergarten

Students in Kindergarten had previously worked with vertical and horizontal lines. We continued those lines right into a Mondrian style project. We reviewed primary colors and created a pictures based from Piet Mondrian's painting Broadway Boogie Woogie. Student enjoyed making city blocks, streets and colorful cars!

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!

Cityscapes-European Inspired

Students looked at cities like Paris, Florence & Moscow to compare the style of city they would create. We talked about the roof shapes, window styles and the way people live in a city compared to a smaller suburban town. We drew step by step breaking down each piece into shapes and worked front to back. We finished in tempera cakes, I do think watercolor would be a better option for next year. Fun and colorful!