Sweet Art Project

In getting ready for my annual school-wide art show, typically held in March, my students and I used the heart as our jumping off point.  I was curious as a teacher to explore variations on such a simple theme, and Jim Dine is a very appropriate artist for elementary, and for February.  I did not foresee all of the snow we've had.  Our art show is now scheduled for early April. But, since I haven't seen my kids through 1/2 of February, and Spring Break is at the end of March-we're pressing on, and presenting our hearts in spring.

This little project was done with 2nd grade.  We drew a bunch of hearts.  The only rule was they had to show overlapping.  I did not care which way they turned them, and I even allowed stencils.  We then traced our designs with sharpie on overhead plastic, or acetate.  This allowed us to lay tissue on top, and trace pieces. Once we had the pieces traced, they were attached by spreading a thin layer of glue onto the acetate.  A large sheet of tissue covered the entire thing.  When the glue is COMPLETELY dry, the design can be peeled back off the plastic, and attached to white paper.  This gives it a stained glass look.  We constructed frames, and used black paint to add the contour lines.  The kids absolutely loved the look of it.  I like this project because it can be adapted to many themes- I've done ocean scenes with it as well.  All students can find a measure of success, because it is a lot of tracing.

File Folder Neigborhoods

I am lucky, in that I see my kids every 3 days, for an hour at a time.  However, the flip side is that there is the potential to go through a lotta art supplies, especially with the Kindergarten crew, who tend to do shorter art projects to begin with.  So, how to keep their interest at the end of the school year, and not empty my supply cupboards?  File Folders.  Huh?  I had a bunch of leftovers, that the office was gonna ditch.  So, I wrote each student's name on one tab, and came up with this.  In MNPS curriculum, Kindergarten is to work on houses this 9 weeks.  They drew their own house, and we've been talking about how shapes work together to make things.  So, on the bottom of the inside, they used scraps, and created a neighborhood.  (3 houses was my requirement, some did more). At the end of art, it was a snap to clean up, and any necessary unglued parts could just be stored with their folder.  The next session, we did tissue collage on the top, to be the sky.  Then, they could continue working on the neighborhood.  Next session, we will finish the sky, by adding birds, bugs, hot air balloons, etc.  I am thinkging just having them draw contour line with sharpie.  And, my final plan is to have them create themself and their friends on the exterior of the folder.  So, there you have it.  Cheap, a great review, at least 4 artclasses of work (depending on how you stretch it) and fun, cause to the K's its kind of like a secret, with the picture being inside.  I'll let you know how it turns out, but so far, I think I love this idea.

Fall Trees and A Rootin Tootin Art Class

 Just a little Fall Fun with my Kindergarten Class- we learned about Warm Colors, as we talked about Fall/Autumn.  A simple tissue paper collage (with a little glitter in the medium) made a lovely fall background for our torn paper trees.  We talked about outlines, and we looked at assorted leaves before drawing leaf outlines over the tissue.

So, my 2nd graders and I have been indulging in a couple of Western Themed art project.  I saw this on Pinterest, and just knew I had to give it a go.  We made "Wanted" posters.  We talked about the old time need for accurate portraits, and I demonstrated how to make a head and shoulders portrait.  We also brainstormed Cowboy details, like hats, badges, vests, bandanas- you get the idea.  The kiddos did a great job with their self portraits.  We attached them to brown paper, and worked on lettering "WANTED" along with thinking up cowboy names, and crimes.  I wanted to steer clear of actual crimes, so we chatted about humor, and exaggeration.  Our crimes are things like running in the hall, spilling milk, and reading too many library books. And, of course, we needed to offer a reward.   If you found one of my rascals, you'd be set for life going by the prices my kiddos set. I'll be honest, the writing took the better part of a class- it was a great opportunity to talk about lettering, contrast and size though.  What I did was I gave each student a card, and as they needed something spelled, I wrote it on their card.  This saved me from writing every word on the board, and allowed me to circulate better.  Today's class had a high ratio of English Language Learners- I'll be curious to see how the other classes do with the writing. We had a great time Cowboying it Up, and it was a fresh look at Self Portraits.  Thank you to whoever I pinned the idea from-it's a keeper!