2nd Grade “Thinking of Summer Self-Portraits” and 1st Grade “Dream Houses”

2ND GRADE- “THINKING OF SUMMER” SELF-PORTRAITS!

Every year, near the end of the school year, I’ve had my students do this quick, fun lesson!

We draw just a portion of our heads large along the bottom of a 12×18″ 80# sheet of drawing paper. I demonstrate on how to draw a “rainbow line” along the bottom and then add eyes and eyebrows.

We talk about different facial expressions and how our eyebrows go up when we get excited!

We went around the room and shared a variety of ideas!  They then drew images on what things they wanted to do over summer break within a large thought bubble. They could incorporate words too, but I told them to focus more on drawing than writing.

I demonstrated on how to draw a few ideas (one being a pair of sunglasses that looked three-dimensional, which kids loved drawing and did a fantastic job!)

Once complete in pencil, they outline all lines with a black sharpie then colored and painted!

One year I had students create a cut out version of themselves. After drawing, they cut out the entire head and neck and then cut the top portion of their heads off and glued it onto separate 12×18″ paper hinged open with the thoughts/images coming out. 

AND NOW FOR SOME CUTE PICS OF KIDS CREATING THEIR ART! ….

I LOVED her t-shirt so much I had to take a pic!

 

1ST GRADE- “DREAM HOUSES”

On the first day of this lesson, I read the book “The Big Orange Splot” by Daniel Pinkwater.

I LOVE this book!! If you haven’t read it to your child, or students you should!

It’s about a man, Mr. Plumbean, who paints his house to “look like all his dreams”. In the beginning of the story, a big orange splot of paint falls on his house. Instead of getting rid of it, he adds to the splot, and paints his home with a ton of bright, vivid colors, and pictures of fun, random things.  His neighbors get upset at him and want all the houses to look the same. Neighbors one by one, try to have a talk with him to change it back, but…. instead… each neighbor gets inspired, and ends up changing all their houses to look like their own dreams!

After reading the story, we discussed how it’s important to be yourself and to not be afraid to stand out. I showed students examples of previous 1st graders dream home drawings, as well as a few of my own, then kids got started!

I had no rules for this art lesson except to add a pattern somewhere within their work! Kids could draw whatever kind of house they wanted! It didn’t have to be rectangular or square like most houses—it could be any shape! It could be a slice of cake, a puppy, a cookie, a robot, a spaceship, a boat, a unicorn, slides coming from the roof to a pool in the yard….you get the idea!

I just wish I took more photos of their artwork….It was on their last art class that they finished them up and time just escaped me!!

Below these kids pics, I posted some other dream houses created by my 1st graders from last year to make up for that!

LOVE THIS STUDENTS T-SHIRT!!! AND FUN MULTI-COLORED HAIR!

SOME PICS FROM LAST YEAR….

 

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!!

TUNE IN SOON FOR 5TH GRADERS SUPER AWESOME GRID DRAWINGS!!!! ……

 

 

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SNAILS, FLOWERS AND BUTTERFLIES OH MY!

In the last few art classes, before summer break, my special ed students made these lovely creations!

These snails were a cinch to make! We used model magic air dry modeling clay, liquid tempera paint, pipe cleaners, and large googley eyes!

It was a 2 day process since the clay needs more than 24 hours to dry before painting.

I demonstrated how to roll out the clay like a snake, then rolled one end on top of itself to create a large spiral for the shell.

We rolled out another “snake” for the body with another piece. We then curled up one end of the body creating a hook shape for the head, and wrapped it around a pipe cleaner that was made into two spirals on either end for the eyes. Students watched me demonstrate first and then we did it together as I demonstrated again.

The snail shell (large spiral) was then attached, by just pressing onto the body.

I love model magic since it’s so soft to work with AND STICKY! which adheres instantly to itself. Great for so many art lessons! —-A little pricey to to buy in large quantities if you ask me, but when you need small amounts per student or for small classes like this, it’s perfect!

I let them dry on tinfoil sheets on a paper plate, until the following class when they painted them. Kids could pick whatever colors they wanted. For a final touch, I hot glued the eyes on after they painted them!

These flowers came from Pinterest. I’ve seen many varieties on this easy paper strip flower and thought we’d give it a try! All it took was pre-cut strips of paper, punched out construction paper circles for the centers, and glue sticks. I thought it was a great lesson to strengthen students fine motor skills. They did a fantastic job! I wish I had more photos of kids art and of kids working on them- but at least there’s 1!

These butterfly beauties were all created with just cut up tissue paper and watered down white school glue!

I did a similar lesson with students using this method on fall pumpkins (these can be viewed here (then scroll down to see them) which I LOVE. I just love how the colors all bleed into one another. The centers were done with just smaller strips of black tissue.

Students each received a 9×12″ 80# sheet of drawing paper with a pre-drawn butterfly in black sharpie.

They used pre-cut warm colors and did the gluing themselves, overlapping colors as they glued.

On a separate sheet of 9×12″ they used pre-cut cool colors (just various blues really) to glue on the entire paper for the sky background while overlapping shades of blue.

It was okay to go beyond the black outline since they would be cut out later. Same with the blue background– they could go beyond the papers edges, since the edges would be trimmed off later as well.

*** …I DID cut out the butterfly for students and attached to the blue background to save a step (and save time!) for one special ed class, but for my other special education classes in my other school, we had more time, so students cut them out and glued them themselves. However…. I completely forgot to take photos of them before they snatched them up and took them home!!

For our FINAL art class before the break- they created a quick construction paper ice cream cone!

I had pre-drawn ice cream scoops on various colored papers as well as pre-drawn cones that kids cut out themselves, and assembled together. They added sprinkles and texture for the cones with crayons.

They also decorated their own cute white cotton baseball caps! I got these at Michaels art supply store. They used fabric markers for decorating whatever they wanted!

Thanks so much for visiting today! 🙂 

Be sure to check back sometime tomorrow to see 1st-2nd grade final art lessons of the year as well as 5th graders AH–MAAA-ZING Grid drawings!! 

HAPPY SUMMER EVERYBODY !!!! Especially to you art teacher friends out there!!! Woo-Hoo!!!

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KINETIC ARTWORK BY 3RD GRADE!

This was my 3rd graders last art lesson of the year before summer break! Kinetic Piranhas (OR…. any other creature really!) In previous years I had students draw only piranhas, but decided to open the lesson up to anything the students wanted to draw! They came up with some fantastic and creative ideas!

Students learned that kinetic artwork is art that moves and depends on motion from someone or something to make it move, in order to reach it’s full effect. This could be from a bunch of rotating gears, a computer, batteries, the wind, solar power, water etc. or in our case—hands to open and close the folded paper!!

Students looked at kinetic artwork by artists Theo Jansen, Arthur Ganson, Anthony Howe, and Mark Nixon before they began their drawings. Below the photos of students artwork, is a video of Theo Jansen’s “Strandbeests” kinetic creatures– watch the video! It’s incredibly amazing!

Doesn’t the one above remind you of something from Monty Python?! Or is that just me? 

 

Here are a couple videos on artist Theo Jansen and his AMAZING kinetic Strandbeests…..

 

 

Hope you enjoyed this post! Be sure to check back in a few days to see 1st grade “Dream Houses”, 2nd Grade “Thinking of Summer Self-portraits”, 4th Grade “Animal Drawings”, and 5th Grade “Grid Drawings”!! I will be posting these throughout the week!

If interested in checking out artwork by grade level, click on the grade level under the drop down menu!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

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NEON POP OUT SELF-PORTRAITS – 4TH GRADE!

They’re done!! (Well… most of my classes anyhow!)  I LOVE them so much! It’s a new lesson I started this year and I think it’s a keeper! Read below the pics to see how these were created!

This lesson took (4) 40 minute art classes to finish.

This lesson focuses on The Elements Of Art: (Line, Shape, and Color) and the Principles of Design: (Balance, Emphasis, Variety, Movement, Contrast and Pattern) as well as enhancing knowledge on drawing facial details and proportion.

I don’t think this self-portrait would be the same without the POP OUT 3D element! It makes it SO much more fun!

Plus, If you’ve been following my blog or Instagram account this year, you’ve probably noticed a lot more 3D artwork in the mix. I’ve made it a goal to incorporate more 3D elements in different art lessons for each grade level, since we don’t have a kiln for firing clay pieces at either school I teach in. This was definitely a fun lesson to teach and students seemed to really enjoy it!!

DAY 1:

On the first day of the lesson students drew their self-portrait large on a sheet of 12×18″ neon construction paper. Students had a choice of pink, lime, orange, yellow, or green.

I demonstrated under the document camera to start drawing the head a little bit more than halfway up the paper, and we reviewed ways to draw facial features. I also said they could draw their eyes closed or open, or winking! They were also encouraged to draw a pattern on their shirt for added detail.

Once drawn in pencil, they went over all their lines with a black sharpie to define them and make them stand out.

I absolutely LOVE the texture and movement of this student’s hair!

Check out the pattern on this student’s shirt!  Loving the detail!!!

 

DAY 2 – 3

The following art class students finished drawing and outlining if needed, then carefully cut out their self-portrait leaving a little neon color all the way around the edges.

They then traced their cut out self-portrait along the bottom of a piece of 12×18″ black construction paper, vertically with a pencil.

After that- they set the cut out one aside, and wrote positive attributes in pencil all around their traced self-portrait. We talked about VARIETY and BALANCE and to write some words larger than others and some diagonally, sideways, and straight across.

I had a printed list of adjectives that each student could refer to for suggestions if they needed it. Kids could write other things as well of course if it wasn’t on the list, as long as it was positive.

Then they went over their words with a white colored pencil, making sure to make some brighter and more bold than others. The bright white lettering adds CONTRAST against the black paper.

 

DAY 4:

On the final day, students then traced a variety of colored chalk pastels all along the traced outline on the black paper. We went over the color wheel beforehand and reviewed primary, secondary, warm, cool, complementary, and analogous.

They applied the chalk pastels in short, thick lines and then using their finger- smudged the chalk going outward and away from their outlined self-portrait to create a glowing affect.

Students washed their hands (or used baby wipes) after using the chalk pastels, then took their neon cut out self-portrait again and traced it once more but this time, onto a sheet of 12×18″ white 80# drawing paper. Then went over those pencil lines with black sharpie.

Then carefully cut that one out –leaving a bit of white paper showing all around the edges. Then glued it into place on the black paper using a glue stick.

Then later on I attached their NEON cut out to go over the white one. I originally thought it would be a good idea to hot glue strips of cut cardboard to mount between the two in order for the neon one to pop out.

HAha…. That proved to be waaaay to time consuming cutting cardboard into strips. Plus I’d have to layer more than two strips to achieve the thickness I wanted.

SOOOoooo…. scrap THAT idea!

Then I tried bending strips of cardboard (from the neon paper packaging) into an accordian fold and hot-gluing those in between the two. Like so…

That DID work….however….. it too was VERY very time consuming (and kinda hurt my hands after awhile folding back the cardboard over and over and over).

I knew it wasn’t a very good method, but went on with it anyways. I wanted to get what I could done, since I planned on working on them that afternoon, and only had those materials on hand to make the pop out portion work. I think I got through 20 pieces of artwork.

THEN…. had the idea of using SPONGES!!! I went to Dollar Tree the next day and basically bought out the store of ALL of their sponges!! They sold them in packs of two, for just a buck and I only needed 1 sponge per students art.

I also cut each one up into smaller pieces to help spread and distribute the needed pop out support. Cutting them with scissors was super easy, thank goodness!!! It went SUPER quick and worked out perfectly with the hot glue!

YAY! (insert happy dance)

TA-DA!!!

Would LOVE to hear what you all think! I hung up a bunch so far at both schools, (I have a total of (5) 4th grade classes doing this project) and will be adding everyone else’s SOON!! 🙂

To view other artwork by 4th grade from this year (and previous years) click on “4TH GRADE ART LESSONS” under the drop down menu!

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my blog! Join/Subscribe to my blog and submit your email to get up to date notifications!

Be sure to check back SOON for more amazing artwork! Take care and be kind everybody! 🙂

 

 

 

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4th Grade -COLLABORATIVE FLOWER DRAWING!

I was so excited to try this out with my 4th graders as a continuation on learning about Georgia O’Keeffe and it didn’t disappoint! I can’t wait to hang it up on the wall above their lockers with their other flower drawings (see previous post on that below)!

The artwork below was created by Ms. Eagleston’s 4th grade class during one 40 minute art class.  It was a collaborative enlarged flower drawing using oil pastels of Georgia O’Keeffe’s Red Poppy painting. Scroll down below it to view the printed photo of O’Keeffe’s work students observed.

(Photo below of everyone’s drawing glued together. Total image size 30″ x 36″)

 

(Photo below of the printed photo of her painting “Red Poppy No. VI” that has been cropped a little, with a grid drawn on it. Each student received one 1 1/4″ square to draw)

 

 

(Photo below is of Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Red Poppy, No. VI” in it’s entirety)

 

Each student got a tiny 1  1/4” square section of the photo to copy on a 6” square of 80# drawing paper. Each tiny photo had a number written on the back as well as the word “Top” along the top edge, so students knew how to view their image before drawing. Students wrote their corresponding number on the back of their 6″ paper as well as the word “top” along the top edge. This would make assembling the flower a whole lot easier for me later on!

They then drew the lines and shapes first with pencil then colored in trying to best match the colors of the print out.

Once complete, I brought them all home and assembled together on large white paper with hot glue.

PLEASE NOTE: The photos of students working below are from Mrs. Roberts class, and observed a different flower image by O’Keeffe to copy. (Unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to snap pics of kids working on the red poppy flower).

4/10/18 UPDATE!! View Mrs. Roberts classes finished collaborative flower drawing below these “in process” pics! 

Any takers on trying to guess which flower their working on???!!!!!!!

 

(Below is Mrs. Roberts Classes collaborative flower drawing of Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Pink Tulip, 1926”)

 

(This was a bit tricky to create trying to have everyone’s lines connect! In retrospect, I think selecting an image with less line changes/ shapes and colors would have been more successful, but I LOVE this painting so much I wanted to give it a go and see what would happen. Although it’s a bit fragmented, it’s still VERY beautiful and I love the attention to detail students put into each individual section!! Awesome work everyone! )

 

(Below is a selection of the image by O’Keeffe I used to create the grid. )

 

(Below is Georgia O’Keeffe’s painting “Pink Tulip, 1926” in its entirety.)

Thanks for visiting my blog! More to come SOOOOOOOOoooooooon! ….

 

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All You Need Is Love!—Mixed media hearts by my Special Education classes!

My students in my special education classes created these AMAZING mixed media hearts for their Square 1 Art papers!!

I LOVE how they came out!! 

 

This took 2- 40 minute art classes to create with a little left over time each class.

First, students traced a heart on 80# paper, then glued pieces of pre-cut tissue paper with watered down white school glue, overlapping any of the following color combos-red, pink, purple, yellow, and orange.

On their Square 1 sheet, they then traced their heart again and drew lines with oil pastels in whatever colors they wanted coming out from the heart, then painted over their lines with watercolor paint creating a resist.

Once dry, on day 2- the hearts were cut out, glued in place on the Square 1 sheet, and either red or pink oil pastel was added around the rim of their cut hearts!! ❤️❤️❤️

To view other art lessons for special education please click on “special Education” in the drop down menu at the top of this page!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

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Printmaking with Markers on Styrofoam—Complementary Creature Prints!

Complementary Creature Prints

Here is my latest art video tutorial on printmaking with markers on styrofoam!!

Students in 3rd grade will be learning all about this and will create their own “Complementary Creature Prints” SOON!

I hope you enjoy it!!! 

 

Thanks for checking it out!! 

STUDENTS!! —- If you are looking for my other YouTube Art Video Tutorials you can touch or click HERE to take you to my art instruction videos page on this website. OR, just click on “ART INSTRUCTION VIDEOS “ under the drop down menu!

If you’d like to learn more about this lesson and see artwork by my 3rd grade students from previous years, click on “3rd Grade Art Lessons” under the drop down menu above -and scroll down!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

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Mixed-Media Donuts—-4th grade!

STUDENTS!! —- If you are looking for my YouTube Art Video Tutorials you can touch or click HERE to take you to my art instruction videos page on this website. OR, just click on “ART INSTRUCTION VIDEOS “ under the drop down menu!

4th graders at Amvet, in Mrs. Buckley’s class, finished creating these delicious donuts!!

 

Students learned about Wayne Thiebaud and his artwork, as well as applied the elements of art LINE, SHAPE, COLOR, TEXTURE AND SPACE to create them!

4th graders at Roosevelt just started this lesson yesterday, and my other two 4th grade classes at Amvet will begin once Square 1 Art is finished!!

To learn more about this lesson, and the steps to create the donuts, as well as view donut artwork from last year, click on “4th Grade Art Lessons” in my drop down menu, and scroll down!

Here is an art tutorial I created on this lesson!

 

Thanks Cassie Stephens for the awesome lesson idea!!

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MIXING PRIMARY COLORS!- 1st Grade

First graders had a blast mixing primary colors to create secondary colors!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the mixing fun we watched a couple fun videos on primary colors! Students couldn’t get enough of these! We watched them more than a few times! 

 

 

ITS ALWAYS A FAVORITE YEAR AFTER YEAR!

 

 

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New Video Tutorial up! -3D Waterlily inspired by Claude Monet

I FINALLY created another art video tutorial —and I’m so excited because this video was created with my new iPad!!! Much better than shooting with a cell phone! I’m still learning some tricks with editing in iMovie so hopefully the more I play around with it the better I’ll get the hang of it!

Would love to hear feedback from people😉!

Thanks so much for checking out my blog! 

 

Additional info and photos on this lesson are posted under ‘2nd grade art lessons in the drop down menu or by clicking ‘here

 

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