It’s been awhile since I last posted, so thought I’d share what we’re working on in the art room! I’M SUPER excited because there are 3 NEW art lessons that we’ll be starting!!

Let’s start with 5th grade!

5TH GRADE – MIXED MEDIA BIRD NESTS

Let me tell you, I couldn’t wait to start this lesson! It’s a perfect one for springtime and the kids in 5th haven’t done any real 3D artwork yet this year, so I thought it was a perfect fit! This lesson was inspired by Laura Lohmann of Painted Paper Art~ Thanks Laura for the inspiration!

These are my teacher examples I created!

It includes an oil pastel background on 6×6″ tagboard, cut painted papers, twigs, model magic for the eggs, and tempera paint. I’ll discuss more on how we create them in a future blog post!

Students in Mrs. Yeomans class started them today, and other classes will follow next week.

We cover ALL the Elements of Art for this one! (Color, Form, Line, Shape, Space, Texture, and Value)

I can’t wait until they finish (it’s a 3 day lesson) and display them all in the hallway! I plan on using twigs to write out “mixed media bird nests” with a hot glue gun above their work!

The rest of my 5th grade classes are finishing up their “Falling for Foreshortening” lesson  (seen below) this week, and like I mentioned, will start the bird nest one NEXT week.

I LOVE this rendition of Alice falling down the rabbit hole!! 

AFTER they complete their MIXED MEDIA BIRD NESTS, 5th grade will do a final art lesson for the year on GRID DRAWING! CHECK BACK FOR THAT ONE LATER ON! (If you’d like to view artwork from previous years on grid drawing, go to the drop down menu and select 5th Grade Art Lessons and scroll down to that one, to view some pretty AMAZING art!!

4TH GRADE- POP OUT SELF-PORTRAITS!

This is another NEW art lesson, that I’m also VERY excited about! I love the addition of text (listing positive attributes of themselves)  the NEON paper, and the 3D POP OUT effect! I think kids will LOVE it! (See my teacher examples below)

This will be a 3 day art lesson.  This lesson focuses on the Elements of Art (Line, Shape and Color)  but also Principles of Art (Balance, Emphasis, Variety, Movement, Contrast, and Pattern) as well as enhancing their knowledge of facial proportion when drawing themselves!

Students at Roosevelt will start this lesson on Wednesday! Kids at Amvet will begin once they finish their “Enlarged Flower Drawings” seen below.

Once other 4th grade classes at Amvet finish up their enlarged flower drawings,  they will begin the pop out self-portrait one!

The FINAL art lesson of the year for 4th Grade will be “Animal Drawings” (see students drawings from previous years under their 4th grade page, under the drop down menu).

3RD GRADE- COMPLEMENTARY CREATURE PRINTS

This one is an oldie but goodie (I’ve taught this lesson since I’ve started teaching) and is a 3-4 day art lesson. I love the bold colors used in this lesson and the creative creatures students come up with!

These images below are of my teacher examples

Here are some student examples from previous years!

This lesson focuses on the Elements of Art (Line, Shape, Color, and Texture).

3rd Graders will draw their own made up creature (this can be anything!) and learn about Complementary Colors and printmaking techniques (using markers and styrofoam printing plates). ALL 3rd graders are currently working on this lesson at both schools.

Then— once they finish printing their complementary creature prints (to learn more about and view additional prints from previous years, select 3rd Grade Art Lessons under the drop down menu and scroll down), they will work on the lessons “Kinetic Piranha” and “Sunset Silhouette” for the remainder of the year (you can view artwork from previous years there as well)!

2ND GRADE- SPRINGTIME BUNNIES AND BEAR CUBS

This lesson is also a NEW one!! I can’t wait to start this one with my students tomorrow at Roosevelt!

Here is a picture of my 2 teacher examples below!

2nd graders will have an option of creating either a bunny or a bear cub with their spring flower background! This lesson incorporates the Elements of Art (Line, Shape, Color, Value, and Texture) and includes overlapping, contrast and pattern!

Some classes are finishing up their “Birch Tree Landscapes” (see student example below) but will start this “Springtime Bunnies and Bears” lesson next week!

Once 2nd graders finish their “Birch Tree Landscapes” as well as “Springtime Bunnies/Bears”, they will move onto another possible NEW art lesson (this one is still in the works….) and THEN,  for the final art lesson of the year it will be “Thinking of Summer Self-portraits”. Which also can be viewed under 2nd Grade Art Lessons from previous years!

1ST GRADE- BUBBLEGUM BLOWING SELF-PORTRAITS

One of my favorites for 1st graders! I did this one last year and LOVED them! Here’s a pic from one of my firsties from last year! I LOVE how she drew her eyes closed and her expression! It really does LOOK like she’s blowing up her balloon (aka bubble)!

Students not only learn how to draw the face and facial details, but we also talk about color matching and trying to best match our own unique skin colors, eye colors and hair colors using crayons.

We focus on the Elements of Art (Line, Shape, Color, and Form), as well as use (Principle of Art) Pattern in the background!

Students at Amvet have started this today and students at Roosevelt will begin their “Mixed Media Alphabet Soup” tomorrow! (See the previous blog entry to view students artwork on that lesson there)

YIKES!  There are a lot of classes that seem to be a bit off from one another in regards to what art lesson they are on, but that’s par for the course I suppose when snow days, sick days, 1/2 days, and holidays etc. sometimes throws some classes off track and pushes things back a bit! 

Once classes finish up both of those art lessons, the final art lesson of the year (cross my fingers hope we have time for it!!!) is the “Tanglebird Collage” lesson. (You can view that one from previous years under 1st Grade Art Lessons and scroll down as well!)

SPECIAL EDUCATION CLASSES – “APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY FLOWERS”

I LOVE these so much! We used a wet-on-wet watercolor technique for the umbrella (using only warm colors), and crayon, oil pastels, and marker for the grass, puddle and flowers background.

They brushed just water over the areas with marker to create a painted sky, puddles and grass.

I took a photo of each student “holding their umbrella” and printed out on regular copy paper.

Thank you to Mrs. Price over at wh_artroom (Instagram) for this lesson inspiration!! I love it!!

Phew! I think I covered everything???? Now I need to go take a nap!!

Hope you all enjoyed this blog post! I try to update it as much as possible, and definitely will be posting new artwork from all the above mentioned art lessons soon!!!!   If interested, follow me on Instagram for the latest info on what’s happening in the art room!