FuNnY BIRDS

TEACHER EXAMPLE

I have seen many bird lessons on blogs and Pinterest. One blog that really inspired this lesson was Deep Space Sparkle. I had the students use very little water when using the watercolors. I called the lesson funny birds because of the long legs and large eyeballs.

More Birch Trees

The students did such an amazing job I wanted to show more examples.

Birch Trees

I had been inspired to create a project on birch trees. I pinned many examples of birch trees on Pinterest. My students used black construction paper, liquid glue, and oil pastels. The first day I showed pictures of birch trees and the class dicussed the characteristics of this tree. Students then created 4 to 5 trees using a pencil and then liquid glue was used to trace over the pencil lines.

The next day the students used shapes and color to create the knotches on the birch trees. Once all the color was added with oil pastels the last color that was used was white. Students did have to touch up the shapes of color after the white pastel. I am very pleased with the outcome of the project. A pre-school teacher loved the project so much she asked me to create a version of it for her students. I had the preschoolers just make 2 trees and no branches. The students used a white crayon to color the tree. The colorful knotches used where pre-cut construction paper that the students just glued onto the tree.

Self-Portraits

                                                    Another PINTEREST inspired project.
For this lesson I got out the mirrors and a handout for students to look at. The handout showed examples of different shaped heads. I also went over where to draw the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.  I had students look at the shape of their head and try to determine which shape on the handout matched the shape of their head. I did a step by step approach. Once all of the facial features, neck, and shirt were drawn, students then went over the lines with liquid glue. Students used chalk to add the color. Next time I do this I think I will have the students put a design in the background.

Hearts and Hand

 I saw this beautiful inspiration on Pinterest. You can link the website here. I had extra cardboard which is the base for the students painting. Tissue paper  (white) and glue act as the texture for the background. Students used tempera to paint the background. I traced the students hand onto newspaper and the students use watercolor to paint their hand. Scraps were used for the hearts.

Jim Dine Inspired Artwork

This lesson is so much fun because the primary students get so excited experimenting and working a variety of painting techniques. I have the class experiment with the straw technique, the students use colored bubbles to paint, crayon resist, epson salt, and rubbing alcohol. I also added chalk, glue, and oil pastels to the mix.

Bulletin Boards



  I love making bulletin boards. I rarely use bulletin boards to put students artwork on. I just use the hallway wall space for that. I was rummaging through my camera pics and thought I would share a few. The first bulletin board idea came from a photo Mr. E posted on his website. It was last year but I am almost positive it was from Mr. E. I think he took a pic in the library of a gigantic soc monkey made out of a large brown bag.

 I found penguins in the shape of an egg. while surfing the Internet. I love creating the bulletin board with construction paper. The majority of the lines on the surf board are created out of colored masking tape.

These snowmen have been used and reused quite a bit. This year I added mittens to the stick arms. We don't have a laminater so I try to store my creations in a safe spot so they do not get ruined.

Mittens

 I found this idea on Pinterest. I vamped it up a bit. Students used a crayon resist with watercolors for the background, oil pastels for the mittens, crayons for the arms/sweaters, and yarn for pom-poms. The funny thing is it just doesn't feel like winter. It almost feels funny making snowmen and snowflakes. That is what I would like to do next but I am rethinking it.

SNeeZing

Oh MY!!! I know we have all experienced this in some shape or form. The other day I had a student not once but twice sneeze directly into my shoebox full of colored pencils. So I ended up taking disinfectant wipes and cleaning all of the pencils. I don't know why but I find this to be humorous.

Singing Reindeer

I saw this on Pinterest. It was on a smaller scale as a Christmas card.
I even had the kids write down their favorite holiday song in the books that the reindeer are holding.

Bottle Cap Ornaments

I have been collecting and storing pop caps since the beginning of the school year so I can do a lesson on Michelle Stitzlein and her bottlecap art. These white and clear pop caps have been staring at me for some time. So for my inspiration.....Kristy Swanson and "A Christmas Wish".  I love shows on ABCfamily and the Hallmark Channel. A tree was drawn on the motel the family stayed at (in the movie). The ornaments used were old rootbeer caps. The kids and I really enjoyed this art lesson.
Students used sharpies to color the top of the ornaments. I had my 4th and 5th graders use an ebony pencil and green colored pencils to create the pine tree.

I didn't forget

I know I haven't posted in a while. I do want to show one more example of our Thanksgiving Lunch decorations.

Turkey Basket Table Decorations

Every year I am in charge of the table decorations for our Thanksgiving lunch. This year the students are making turkey baskets.  We just started. I will post more pics later on in the month.

Picasso Monsters

I borrowed this lesson from Mrs. Picasso's artroom. http://mrspicassosartroom.blogspot.com/2011/09/picasso-monsters.html

Students, teachers, and parents loved the artwork. Thank-you so much for sharing Mrs. Picasso. I use to do a similiar project like this but with witches. I think I will continue with the monsters. It was so much fun for students and teacher!

Junior High Printmaking

Printmaking. What can I say about printmaking? I love printmaking. I enjoy teaching the students all of the techniques, the rules, the don'ts, and everything in between. Every time I teach this unit the students want to cut corners. They want to hurry up so they can get to the carving. So of course the rule is , teacher needs to aprove of the drawing and all steps need to be followed before tools can be passed out.