mollie Filmore art lessons – Art with Mrs Filmore

STEAM CLUB!

January 8, 2020 No Comments

STEAM club started this year at Roosevelt Avenue Elementary School! If you are new to the idea of STEAM the acronym stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math.

Andrea Bolton (the Librarian/ Media Specialist) and I, have started some fun projects for students who wish to participate every Tuesday in my art room. This is something new to Roosevelt and began in October 2019.

Kindergarten through 5th grade can participate, but it is not mandatory. Steam club runs for 20 minutes, once a week. Short timeframe for sure! to do activities, but we see the same students each week for 4 weeks for the younger grades, and we see the same students for 5th grade for 6 weeks, so projects can continue the following week(s) if necessary.

We have a K-2 (20 minute) steam activity block and then a 3rd-5th (20 minute) steam activity block each Tuesday.

Here’s how it works…..

Every Tuesday, during the K-2 recess, which is from 12:00-12:20pm, either just Kindergarten, just 1st grade or just 2nd grade participate in STEAM club. Andrea and I decided to work only with one grade level at a time, so currently, only 2nd graders join us during that time. 10 students total for the duration of 4 weeks.

At Roosevelt, there are 2 classes per grade level. We ask the 2 classroom teachers of that grade, to choose 5 students each that want to participate (so totaling 10 students). Once the 4 weeks are up, the 2nd grade teachers select another 5 students from each class. Once the next 4 weeks are up, it repeats selecting a new group of 10 students total until we have seen all kids in that grade level that want to participate.

So as of now, we are on our last group of (10) 2nd graders and we will have a NEW group of (10) 1st graders beginning Tuesday February 4th. We’re working backwards from 2nd grade to Kindergarten.

So far, Andrea and I have taught steam projects that only require 20 minutes to complete for 2nd graders. Some are collaborative/team based projects, and other projects we have done, kids create individually.

Tuesday’s, during the 3rd-5th grade recess, (which is from 12:40-1pm), only just 3rd grade, just 4th grade or just 5th grade participate in STEAM club. Like I mentioned above, we decided to stick with just one grade level at a time for each block starting with the higher grades working backwards, so currently, only 5th graders join us during that time. Ten 5th graders total, (5) from each class, and their 5th grade teachers select students who want to participate as well. The only difference with 5th grade is the same 10 students see us for STEAM club for 6 weeks rather than 4 weeks. This is because we wanted to teach 5th grade about STOP-MOTION ANIMATION which takes a bit longer to create! 5th grade students stop-motion videos below!!

During those 6 weeks we saw each group of ten 5th graders, students focused on creating a stop-motion video using iPads with the stop-motion app, and LEGOS! We split them up into two teams of 5 working together to create their videos. They could create whatever they wanted and had so much fun creating their LEGO stop-motion videos! Check them out below!

5TH GRADE STEAM PROJECTS: LEGO STOP-MOTION ANIMATION

Here’s some pics of kids working on their stop-motion animations!

The last group of 5th graders have started creating their LEGO creations and will finish up Tuesday February 11th, just before February break! After that, we will move onto STEAM club for 4th grade February 25th!

Here’s some STEAM projects we’ve been working on with 2nd Grade!

2ND GRADE STEAM PROJECTS:

CHATTERPIX

Andrea showed students how to use a fun app on the iPad called Chatterpix that makes any picture you take speak! Students each drew a picture, then took a photo of it with the iPad. Then using Chatterpix, drew a line across where they wanted their drawing to speak in their photo of their artwork, and recorded their voice. Their drawings came to life, playing back their recording! And if they didn’t like their recording, they could just re-record! Kids loved it!!

I wish I took videos of this, but at least there’s photos below!

TOWER OF CUPS

2nd graders were placed into 2 teams of five, to work together for this fun, yet challenging, team building project!

The goal was to work collaboratively to stack, and build a tower of 6 cups (3 on the bottom, 2 in the middle, and 1 on top!) without touching the cups with their hands or feet! HOWEVER, because it’s a bit of a challenge not to knock cups over, if a cup falls, teams could pick up the fallen cup from its side and place face down again, to be able to continue.

In order to move the cups, they used a rubber band with 5 pieces of yarn tied to it, evenly spaced apart. (pics below)

Standing in a circle, students held onto the end of their yarn and by pulling the yarn (making the rubber band expand) or releasing the yarn (making the rubber band tighten up and get smaller) the rubber band would wrap around and grasp the cup, or release the cup to stack it!

To prep ahead of time, I tied (5) 24″ yarn pieces around each rubber band (1 for each team). I placed 6 plastic cups face down randomly on the floor for each team. After demonstrating with a group how it works, they got the picture and couldn’t wait to start!!

To make it a friendly competition, whichever team could build a tower of 6 cups first….wins!

Here’s a pic of the rubber band with yarn so you get a better idea and photos of kids working together to create their tower of cups!

One student was absent that day so we were short a team member. Andrea joined that team as I took photos!

It was pretty tricky!!!

**But BOTH teams did it!!!** Great job 2nd graders!!!!!

Tower of Cups was a project I discovered via Pinterest from The Water Lily Way

RAINBOW PAPER

This activity goes super fast! So PERFECT for just 20 minutes to create!

I placed a large, shallow tinfoil tray (turkey roasting pan size) with water filled 1/2 way up, on the middle of a table. Students dipped a sheet of black construction paper into the tray of water, making sure it was fully submerged.

Then dropped 3-4 droplets of clear nail polish (I know! Stinky! We had the windows in the art room open for this project!! ) into the water. After a few seconds (you want to do this quick!) kids took a corner of the paper and pulled it out of the water and set to dry in the drying rack.

**Here you can see the rainbow film from the clear nail polish floating on top of the water**

FYI: The rainbow patterns are more visible on the paper once the paper dries, which only takes about 5 minutes. Especially if you tilt the paper next to a sunny window!

Students each took a turn dropping the nail polish in the water, and pulling their own rainbow papers. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to take any other photos since the project moved so quick!

THE SCIENCE BEHIND IT: The nail polish creates a thin layer of colorful film that floats on top of the water. This is called thin-film interference.

It’s a natural occurring phenomenon and also happens when oil mixes with water on the road on a rainy day, and on soap bubbles! You can read a more detailed explanation of Thin-Film Interference on Wikipedia HERE.

I discovered this fun rainbow paper project via Science Kiddo

SOLAR PRINTED SNOWFLAKES

Solar prints like these take a bit of patience to see the final results, BUT is a fun science project that demonstrates the power of the sun’s rays!

To create them, students each received a sheet of printer paper, cut out a large circle and folded in half 3 times, creating a cone shape.

(I traced the top of a large plastic container to create the circle for each student ahead of time)

They cut out small shapes from all 3 sides of their folded paper.

And then carefully opened it up, revealing their cut paper snowflake!

These snowflakes were then taped onto sheets of 12 x18″ colored construction paper (I stuck a few loops of scotch tape on the back of each one) and then taped them to the window in the art room (snowflakes facing out).

After about 2-3 weeks, I took the papers down (More like 3 weeks! We had quite a few cloudy days!!) and carefully pulled the snowflakes off the paper. The suns rays penetrated the colored construction paper and faded it everywhere except where the white paper snowflake was!

THE SCIENCE BEHIND IT: This is caused by a chemical reaction. The sun’s UV (ultraviolet) rays break down the pigment (color) of the colored paper. The ultraviolet radiation from the sun’s rays discolors the paper wherever sunlight hits. The areas where the snowflake covers the colored construction paper, prevents /blocks those UV rays from discoloring the paper!

Check this link out on the snowflake activity above along with other ones HERE!

For quicker results, try this out with Solar printing paper! To learn more about Solar Printing paper , I found a great link HERE!

PENNY SPINNERS

To create these in 20 minutes, I did a little prep ahead of time for students. I cut out the center circles from 2 white paper plates and hot glued them together. Make sure you only add hot glue around the edges, not the center.

I tried using just one plate, but it ended up being too flimsy to spin right, after drawing with markers on it. Two plates glued together worked!

So after gluing the plates together, I pre-cut a small slice using an X-acto blade in the center for all of them. (1 spinner for each student, so I used 20 plates).

Students could color their circles (spinners) any way they wanted with markers.

Once colored, we gave each student a penny to put in the center slice of their spinners. It’s important to have the penny come out halfway on the top, and halfway on the bottom.

Then spin!!

Kids loved it!!

After a few times spinning fast, the penny can sometimes dislodge so we added a touch of hot glue to the penny where it meets the center of their spinner on both sides to keep in place.

In the blue and yellow spinner photo above, I was showing kids how adding two primary colors (blue and yellow for instance) could appear as a secondary color (green in this case) if spun fast enough! They thought it was such a cool illusion!!!

THE SCIENCE BEHIND IT: Our eyes can’t focus on just one section of color when spinning so fast, so the two colors mix (or appear to mix!) creating another color!

I found this fun penny spinner activity HERE !

GLITTER JARS

Glitter.

Pretty much my LEAST favorite material to work with in art. BUT… since we had it fairly contained to a cart top, and only 10 students were working with it to create their glitter jars, I survived.

Plus, I must admit, they were quite enjoyable and calming to watch afterwards!

I prepped the jars and glitter before students arrived. Clear glue was poured about 1/2 way up each jar. The caps were screwed back on and various glitter was poured into separate bowls with plastic spoons for scooping.

When students arrived, we showed them example glitter jars that were made ahead of time. Turning them upside down, seeing all that glitter sparkle, and knowing that they could take them home, students of course were THRILLED and couldn’t wait to make one!!

Each student could scoop 5 spoonfuls of glitter into their jars. We had 5 kids at a time come up to the cart to add their glitter. After glitter was added, Andrea helped kids add water from the art room sink, while I helped the other 5 students with their jars. Water was added so it almost went to the top, with a little wiggle room in the bottle for water/glue/glitter to move around. I put a ring of hot glue around the inside of each cap and screwed back on tightly, just to make sure it was leak proof before students took them home.

2nd graders LOVED them! And what kid doesn’t like a bit of sparkle?!?

THE SCIENCE BEHIND IT: The reason the glitter moves slowly is due to the clear glue in the bottle that’s mixed with water. Glue has a thick consistency and slows down the glitter as it moves!

Interesting note about glitter: After doing a little research online about glitter, and why we are attracted to it, I found an interesting article that mentioned a theory.

To quote the article I came across, “our attraction to sparkle is derived from an innate need to seek out fresh water.”

Makes sense to me! Water sparkles in the sunlight, and we need to drink water in order to live.

If you’d like to check out that article click HERE

Also- I’ve read on a couple sites that if you add a squirt of baby oil to your jar, it can give a slower moving “galaxy” kind of effect! If you’re reading this and haven’t made one with the addition of baby oil yet, try it out and let me know how it worked!

COLOR HUNT

Students were grouped into 2 teams of 5 students. The goal for this project was for each team to find things in my art room that were either COOL colors, or WARM colors, and take photos of the objects/images with an iPad. One team had warm colors (reds, oranges, yellows, pinks) and one team had cool colors (blues, purples, greens). The team that found and took the most photos of their color scheme won! They had about 15 minutes to take photos after directions were given, and off they went! Both teams took A TON of photos!!

There were just about 10 or so more photos that one team captured than the other, so it was a CLOSE CALL! BUT, we emphasized that it was more about helping each other out / working collaboratively, and having FUN rather than winning! They had a great time doing it AND I think the activity helped with “locking away” what the warm and cool colors were because it was so engaging!

PAPER TOWERS

This was a fun team building project that I’ve done with 5th graders before on the very first day of art class and I wanted to re-create it but with a few changes.

We had 2nd graders get into 2 teams (5 each team) at a table in the art room. A stack of construction paper that was, lets just say “less likely to use/old and discolored” was placed in the center of their tables. The goal was to create the tallest tower (or somehow structure) of paper only using their bare hands. No tape. No scissors. No nothin! Just their hands and some ingenuity!

Teams had about 10 minutes to construct and create the tallest paper tower!

Students created volume by crumpling up the paper at first and piling the crumpled papers on top of each other. Soon enough the crumpled papers tumbled and wouldn’t stay because they discovered a lack of support and balance. BUT they knew in order to create volume, they needed to manipulate and crumple up the papers! They were definitely onto something!!

Papers were feverishly crumpled and some were cast aside, falling on the floor, as time was ticking away! It was getting close to the final minutes! Both team’s crumpled up/ bent pieces of paper were tumbling and towers were losing height! But they both persevered and picked them back up and tried again!

The two teams worked on balancing crumpled, and layers of flat papers that were in the shape of a pyramid (ish) to achieve the weight balance ratio, and soon enough……. time was UP! THEY DID IT!!

Both teams had quite a good height on their paper towers, and after measuring them there was one tower that was just a few inches taller!

2nd graders had so much fun during this fast paced team activity! I wish I had photos of this too, or a video, but might have to do this one again with another group down the road!

MAKING CLAY!

Kiddos in 2nd grade all had their hands in creating their very own homemade air dry clay! It was a sticky mess at first! But then became a soft smooth white clay they took home and could make whatever they wanted with it!

I found the recipe on Pinterest from kitchentableclassroom.com !

I found almost all the ingredients needed (besides cornstarch) at the DollarTree.

We doubled the recipe ingredients so it would make more, so the run down of ingredients and directions looked like this

Students took a piece of folded paper from the bowl which had 1 ingredient written on it, then measured and added to the bowl. Each student had a chance to stir all the ingredients together and after separating into smaller sections, each student kneaded their clay on the table with additional cornstarch until soft and smooth!

It was a VERY sticky mess at first!!! All that glue!!!

ADDING MORE CORNSTARCH ON THE TABLE WHILE KNEADING MADE IT MUCH SOFTER AND MUCH LESS STICKY!!

Kids had so much fun making it, and each took about a “lime” size chunk home in a ziplock baggie!

JUUUsst enough time for a 20 minute STEAM project!

I’ll be posting MORE STEAM projects that we create very soon! Some other ideas we might do for STEAM club are making shaving cream marbled paper, creating structures with clay and toothpicks, growing plants/ or from seeds, sound: making simple musical instruments, and making crystals!! Plus others! ….. If you have any ideas please share!! I’m always looking for fun, creative, engaging projects for steam club! You can either send me an email (contact page) or click on the comment box on my “Contact” page.

AND FINALLY.…… if you haven’t followed this amazing YouTuber Mark Rober yet (Former NASA engineer. Current YouTuber and friend of science.) You should check him out!! He has a ton of amazing videos!! Highly recommend.

Thanks so much for visiting my website! Check back soon for more artwork and amazingness by my students!

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WATERMELON WEAVINGS! – 1ST GRADE

June 11, 2019 2 Comments

I can’t get over how ADORABLE these weavings are!!!! I LOVE them!!

I absolutely LOVE these fun watermelons!!! Thank you Nichole ( Mini Matisse) for sharing this wonderful lesson! My students loved creating them!

STEP 1: Creating the loom!

Students folded a sheet of 12×18″ red construction paper in half. They turned the folded paper around so the opening was at the top. Then they drew a horizontal line all the way across the top, and wrote their name above that line.

After that, they drew a short vertical line along the line where they wrote their name, starting in the center, then finding the halfway points between the center and to both the right edge and left edge of their paper. Then splitting those areas in half again and drawing 4 more vertical lines like below.

Then they drew straight vertical lines from those marks to the bottom

Then they cut along each of those lines, making sure to stop at the top horizontal line like below

STEP 2: Weaving the pink strips!

Students opened up the red paper, (the loom) horizontally, and wove 1″ x 12″ cut strips of pink paper all the way across creating a tight weave.

1st graders learned how to go over and under each horizontal cut red strip with their pink vertical strips of construction paper and noticed how it created a checkerboard pattern!

The trickiest part of this step was to be sure to reverse the pink strip every other time they wove. If the very first pink strip started on TOP of the red (like pictured above), they had to start weaving the next pink strip underneath the red, then the following pink strip started ON TOP of the red and so on so forth…. all the way across.

Art educator, Nichole Hahn’s Mini Matisse Blog had an awesome and easily explained video my students watched for this lesson. Click HERE to check it out from her blog!

Here they are watching it!

Students could choose from pink strips, magenta strips or a combo of both!

If students finished early, they became my teachers assistant and helped kids that wanted help weaving! It was so sweet and nice to see friends helping one another out!

Once all the pink strips were woven in the red loom, they glued the pink tabs along ALL the edges (both front and back) with a glue stick. This helps make sure the strips woven in won’t fall out or move out of place.

STEP 3: Adding the rind and seeds!

Students drew a GIANT letter U along a piece of 12×18″ green construction paper with pencil. Then cut out and glued to the weaving using a glue stick. Students applied glue heavily to the rind and pressed for 5 seconds to make sure it was stuck on!

Then they cut along the edge of the green rind, cutting off the extra watermelon weaving to create the watermelon shape!

For the final touch, students added watermelon seeds within each pink strip with a black sharpie!

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post!!

More artwork coming up REAaaaaaaL SOOOooooon from 2nd grade (“Springtime Bunny, Bears or Foxes”) , 4th Grade (“Enlarged Flower Drawings”) inspired by artist Georgia O’Keeffe, and 5th Grade (“Grid Drawings”) inspired by artist Chuck Close !! Check back soon!

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3D Water Lilies Inspired by Claude Monet! 2nd Grade

May 28, 2019 No Comments

This is one of my absolute FAVORITE art lessons!

It incorporates focusing on (5) of the 7 elements of art – (Line, Shape, Color, Form, and Texture) and is inspired by artist Claude Monet and his beautiful water lily paintings. This lesson took (5) 40 minute art classes to complete.

Read below student artwork to see the steps on how we created them, as well as view my YouTube tutorial!

DAY 1:

Students learned about Claude Monet and looked at a slideshow of some of his paintings- Especially (of course ) his water lilies!

Then they painted a sheet of 12×18” tagboard with magenta liquid watercolors.

Students also viewed a fun video on Monet once paintings were set aside to dry. This is the video they watched below.

DAY 2:

Students painted a sheet of 10×10” tagboard with turquoise liquid watercolors, and sprinkled salt on the paintings while still wet. This becomes the water background for the water lily. The salt creates a sort of “resist technique” soaking up the bits of blue watercolor paint and once dry, leaves a bit of white– Making it look like light is reflecting off of the water.

We talked about how Monet (and other Impressionist painters) tried to capture a sense of light within their paintings.

These paintings were set aside to dry. Then students cut out the petal tracers I provided, which were printed on a sheet of cardstock. The 3 petals (1 large, 1 medium and 1 small) were cut out, then each size petal was traced 6 times, resulting in 18 petals total on their magenta painted papers.

Last year, when I created this lesson, I for some reason traced all 18 petals on EVERYONE’S pink painted papers for them to cut out???!!! Glad I decided to have them cut and trace out their own this year!

I demonstrated to make sure they were traced nice and snug next to one another so all 18 would fit. And to make sure all the Large petals were in one row then mediums in 1 row below the large and the smalls all in one row.

DAY 3:

Students created their lily pad on a sheet of 10×10” 80# drawing paper. They did this by filling in a drawn circle on the paper with layers of green and yellow pre-cut tissue paper and watered down white glue, overlapping each piece. Glue was applied to an area first, then a piece of tissue, then another layer of glue. Glue was brushed on after each piece of tissue to ensure they laid nice and flat.

I showed students how they could “pick up” 1 piece of tissue at a time, without using their sticky fingers by using their “gluey” paint brush and touching it to the tissue.

The lily pads were set aside to dry and for some classes that had some time left over, I read them this great story about Monet below! It’s a lovely story with wonderful illustrations!

DAY 4:

Students cut out their green lily pad and then cut out a triangle from the circle. This was then glued down onto their blue painted paper with a glue stick. (I rubbed off all the salt from the blue paintings once dry, ahead of time and pressed them between stacks of paper to make them flat before they did this step). A lot of glue is needed here and kids pressed down for 5 seconds to ensure it laid flat and adhered to the painting.

Then, after setting aside, students cut out their traced flower petals. They cut out all the large’s first, then medium’s, then small’s– making sure to paper clip each size together and labeled “L”, “M”, or “S” on the back of the paper-clipped petal bunch.

These were then saved in individual zip lock baggies and students wrote their name and class with sharpie on the bag for the next class.

DAY 5:

Assemble the flower!

Students finish cutting out petals (if needed) then glue down all the large petals first, then medium, then small.

I used tacky glue (pictured below) for this step. I love how easy the glue bottles are when squeezing, and the glue dries clear once dry. It also “grabs” onto the petals quickly. I bought them in packs of 5 at A.C. Moore for around $5. I also bought larger bottles.

I show students under the document camera, how to apply a dot of glue about the size of a pea, and stack the fish “tail” of each petal (we talked about how the shape of the petals looked like fish) right on top of each other– like making a sandwich –stacking the next rectangular fish tail over the previous one each time.

After each petal “fishtail” is held in place with a dab of glue for 5 seconds, students then held the tail down with one finger while bending and pressing the petals tip back to create the 3D element in the flowers petals, and makes the petals stick out.

Once ALL the petals were attached they rolled up a piece of pre-cut yellow felt fringe and glued it to the flowers center. I pre-cut 8″ x 1.5″ pieces of yellow felt and cut the fringe ahead of time for students. Students rolled their strip of fringe TIGHTLY! and then applied a lot of glue (using the same tacky glue as the petals) to the end and then a bit on the flowers center, before pressing and holding down for 20-30 seconds. If there is any extra glue coming out from the bottom, don’t worry about it because the glue dries clear as mentioned before.

And there you have it!!!

These beauties went up on the wall for display as soon as they were dry! (I like to let them dry overnight -or at least a few hours just in case).

Here’s my YouTube tutorial on this lesson below!

If your’e wondering what students are working on for the reaminder of the year (yikes only 3 or so art classes left!!) here it is!

1st Grade– Watermelon Weavings (new lesson!)

2nd Grade– Springtime Bunny, Bear OR Fox! (To view previous art on this lesson from last year, click on “2nd Grade Art Lessons” under the main menu and scroll down)

3rd Grade– Matisse Inspired Organic Shapes Collage (to view previous art on this lesson, click on “3rd Grade Art Lessons” under the main menu and scroll down)

4th Grade– Georgia O’Keeffe inspired “Enlarged Flower Drawings” (and ditto- check out previous flower drawings by going on their webpage and scrolling down)

5th Grade– Grid Drawings inspired by artist Chuck Close (yep, you got it- check out previous artwork by students under “5th Grade Art Lessons” and scrolling down!)

Thanks so much for stopping by! I’ll be posting again VERY sooooon!

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Dandelion Puffs – 4th Grade

April 27, 2019 No Comments

Additional artwork below!!

This easy and fun 2 day art lesson focused on the elements of art; Line, Shape, Color and Value. Students also learned about a new watercolor resist technique using rubber cement before painting!

Special shout out to artroombritt.blogspot.com for this lesson idea!

DAY 1

Students observed various drawings of dandelions and reviewed the meaning of composition in artwork, (composition= the way things are laid out or where things are drawn/placed on paper).

Students drew three stems spaced apart a bit coming from one side of a sheet of 9×12″ tagboard with pencil. They could be drawn coming from either side of the paper going towards the middle.

They drew a small circle at the tip of each stem for the dandelions center and then lightly drew a large circle around it to act as a guideline to where their dandelion seed heads would be drawn to, to create a full, fluffy dandelion puff.

Students drew 1 large dandelion and 2 smaller ones on either side of the large one. Then drew a variety of seed heads stemming out from the center of each dandelion. I demonstrated various seed head tips for drawing before students drew on their own papers. I also offered a handout to refer to and observe, if they wanted while drawing.

Then once all three were drawn, they added drifting seed heads blowing away from the dandelion puffs in the wind. These drifting seed heads were drawn traveling in different directions (just like in real life) and not only adds interest, but creates a nice composition with the three dandelions along the opposite side.

Then students went over their stems lines and dandelion puffs lines and drifting seed heads with a black sharpie. After using sharpie they erased any pencil lines that remained.

Once that was done, after class, (when students were no longer in my art room), I brushed on a thick layer of rubber cement where each circular dandelion puff would be, as well as on the drifting seed heads. The rubber cement was a bit stinky and isn’t healthy to breathe in, so I worked next to an open window. This is why I applied the rubber cement and not the students.

The rubber cement was left to dry until the next class. (BTW- This doesn’t take up much rubber cement at all- I used about 3 small jars for 4 classes (roughly 24 students per class).

I used an old tempera brush rather than the rubber cements brush that it comes with. I found it was much easier to spread that way.

DAY 2

Before applying paint to our drawings, we reviewed warm and cool colors.

I had ice cube trays filled with liquid watercolors (one end with warm colors (warm colors=reds, pinks, oranges and yellows) and the other end with cool colors (cool colors= blues, greens and purples).

We also reviewed the wet-on-wet watercolor technique before painting. After demonstrating, students applied water only to 1/2 their paper quickly with a watercolor brush. THEN applied dabs of either just warm colored paint OR just cool colored paint onto the wet areas using one color at a time.

Students noticed how the paint spread outward from where they dabbed little bits of paint over the watered down paper. The water helps spread the paint and it also changes the value of the color making the color lighter and less vibrant (value= the lightness or darkness of a color).

Then once one 1/2 of their paper was painted, they dabbed the painted section with a paper towel while still wet, to help soften the color and spread the paint even more.

Then painted the other 1/2 of their paper with water only and applied paint to that wet area then dabbed off with a paper towel.

Once paintings were dry, the rubber cement was rubbed off, revealing the white dandelion puffs!

Thanks for visiting my blog!! Check back soon for new 1st grade artwork! Next week!

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Birch Tree Landscapes- 2nd Grade

April 21, 2019 4 Comments

This art lesson took about ( 3) 40 minute art classes to complete. Students learned about foreground, middle ground and background and how it creates a sense of space in artwork.

Read more below students artwork to find out how they were created!

DAY 1 – Creating the birch trees

After introducing foreground, middle ground and background to students, showing them multiple student artwork examples from previous years, and demonstrating the steps for day 1 of the lesson, students got to work creating their birch trees. We used 12 x 18″ medium weight tagboard for the paper.

Students drew 1 large tree in the foreground (area closest to the viewer- with objects drawn LARGEST along the bottom of the paper to show this) going all the way to the top of their paper.

Then drew a land line in the middle ground –(area in artwork that is placed in the middle of the paper or canvas, with objects drawn a bit smaller in this area, to show it is a bit further away from the viewer.) I demonstrated to make sure that they jumped over the tree as they drew the middle ground! Then proceeded to draw 2 slightly thinner trees from the middle ground up to the top of their paper.

Then they drew another hill / land line to show grass and trees growing in the background. This line was drawn near the top of the paper to show objects that are the furthest away from the viewer. Objects along this area are drawn the smallest to show they are the furthest things away in the artwork.

Once these areas were drawn with largest to smallest birch trees, going from the bottom of their paper to the top, students used a small piece of recycled currugated cardboard dipped into black paint to create the birch tree bark.

Dipping the currugated side of the cardboard into a small amount of black tempera paint, then scraping from one edge of the tree to the other, students created the black lines within their birch trees. ***It’s important to tap off extra black paint on the paper plate, before scraping, otherwise sometimes too much black paint can create larger black blocks of sections as opposed to black “lines”.

After creating the black lines for the birch bark in each tree, we created 1-2 branches for each tree by tilting the cardboard diagonally along the edges of our trees, and dragged the cardboard downward.

DAY 2 – Creating grass, flowers and painting the landscape

Students drew grass blades within their landscape using 2 different shades of green crayons and yellow. They pressed HARD as they drew the lines– It’s important to press hard not lightly here because the crayon bits would be painted over in the next step (creating a “crayon wax resist” technique with watercolors).

I showed kids how to hold all 3 crayons in one hand, drawing vertical and diagonal lines for the grass. (Doing this makes it easier and faster!) Some students held all 3 ok, and some preferred holding 2 then drawing the rest with the 3rd crayon after.

Then they drew a variety of flowers using crayons within each grassy section.

I love the triangular shaped crayons Crayola makes! They don’t roll off the tables!

Once complete with grass and flowers, students painted the grass and sky with slightly watered down liquid watercolors! Creating a crayon wax resist.

DAY 3- ADDING THE WOODLAND ANIMALS TO THE LANDSCAPE!

Students referred to a variety of “step-by-step” how to draw animals that I had created and stapled together into packets to draw at least 1 animal to add to their landscapes.

Foxes, squirrels, owls, skunks, bunny’s, racoons, deer, and wild horses (which could OF COURSE be made into unicorns!) were in the packet.

Students chose 1-2 animals to draw, and used their observational drawing skills to draw them, color in with colored pencils, cut them out and glue onto their beautiful landscapes!

LOVE her Amelia Earhart outfit! Some 2nd graders were doing book report presentations on this day in their classrooms!

And there you have it!! Beautiful work everybody!!

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SPRINGTIME BUNNIES AND BEAR CUBS- 2ND GRADE!

May 19, 2018 No Comments

How adorable are these?!? My 2nd graders did such a fantastic job creating them!

This lesson took (3) 40 minute art classes to finish and incorporates the Elements of Art- Line, Shape, Color, Value and Texture! We also used overlapping, contrast and pattern in our work! Students could choose between creating a bunny or a bear cub. Read below the photos of students artwork to see how they were created!

Sorry, there are A LOT of photos!! I couldn’t help myself–they are ALL too cute!

TEACHERS – You can get a free downloadable BEAR CUB template on my TPT page HERE!

These are currently up on display!

I couldn’t decide which image to post –so I decided on showing both panoramic and regular!

DAY 1

Students drew flowers all over their 9×12″ 80# drawing paper using markers and crayons. They were encouraged to draw the flower heads LARGE and draw LOTS!! Especially along the top and sides since later on the bunny or bear would be placed over their painting.

I demonstrated a bunch of different ways to create the flowers first, but students could draw them any way they wanted! I also encouraged them to use bright colors. If they drew flower heads with a circle center, they colored in the circles with crayon, pressing hard. Once their paper was filled they drew green stems from each flower head going all the way to the bottom, using a green crayon as well as a green marker for each one.

DAY 2

Students finished up creating their flower heads and stems if needed (they really took their time with this step and loved created intricate flowers!!) then using just water on a paintbrush, they went over each flower with water.

This turns the marker into almost a watercolor consistency, which kids LOVED!! I showed them how to just do one flower at a time then rinse their brush before moving onto the next so the colors wouldn’t get muddy.

Then students went over all their stems with water. The crayon part of the stems would remain a solid line since crayons resist water.

We talked about the Element of Art “Value” and how the colors of the flowers would get softer and lighter in value once water was applied.

I absolutely LOVE this flower painting below!! Particularly the way the yellow flowers came out! So lovely!!

The wet flower paintings were left to dry until the following class. Students then either chose a bunny or bear cub template to start drawing lines with sharpie to add TEXTURE!

I downloaded and printed the bunny template from a website for teachers called Teachstarter (free template) and then created the bear one myself and made copies for kids.

I demonstrated how to draw straight lines close together in between each section using sharpie. Students could leave the eye area as it was, or go over the lashes and create longer lines. We discussed how the lines created fur- like texture. We also discussed how the black & white vs. the colorful flower background would create CONTRAST.

DAYS 2-3

Students continued drawing lines if needed, then carefully cut out their animals and glued onto their flower background! I just LOVE how simple yet beautiful this lesson is! Plus- kids continue to understand how they are applying the elements of art while creating!

Thanks so much for visiting my blog! I hope you enjoyed viewing their beautiful artwork 🙂

To view additional 2nd grade artwork, and other art lessons, click on “2nd Grade Art Lessons” under the drop down menu! Follow me on Instagram for more work too!

Be sure to stop on by again tomorrow (SUNDAY!) to view NEW artwork by 1st Grade —then Monday night for NEW artwork by 4th grade!!!

Have a great weekend everybody! Take care and be kind 🙂

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COMPLEMENTARY CREATURE PRINTS! – 3RD GRADE

May 13, 2018 No Comments

3rd graders finished up their prints! They did such a fantastic job!! Take a look below!

(Read more below the pics to find out how they were created, and to view my YouTube tutorial on this lesson!)

(haha don’t mind the “Dirty Water Bucket” in the background ….I don’t have a sink in my art room and use a water bucket system to dump out old water between art classes. I’ll probably blog about how I go about that for lessons involving paint at a later time. If you’re an art teacher and don’t have a sink in your room, please share what methods you use!)

A panoramic picture of the 3rd grade prints –up now on display!! I love all the bright colors!

And then a pic of the same display… only non-panoramic because sometimes I can’t decide which way to post it!

This lesson took about 4 (40 min.) art classes to finish, and students created three prints of one drawing total. We used markers and styrofoam printing plates to create our prints!

DAYS 1-2

On the first day of the lesson I read students the book Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak for inspiration. We discussed what printmaking was and I showed them students prints from previous years as well as my own teacher examples. They also watched the first few minutes of my video tutorial before they began drawing their own creatures.

Kids then got to work drawing their own made up creature on 8.5″ x 11″ regular printer/copy paper with pencil. The goal was to create a unique creature, large on the paper, with simple lines and details. I explained their creature could consist of a combination of animals, aliens, monsters, inanimate objects, people, sea creatures, food, fantastical creatures….whatever they wanted! Something that was from their own imagination.

(I didn’t get a chance to snap pics of kids doing this step so this pic and the next few with the pink background are ones I created for my video tutorial)

Once drawn, students then taped their drawing to a sheet of styrofoam (the printing plate). They only taped it to the top in two areas so the paper wouldn’t move on them while tracing.

Then using a dull colored pencil (not to sharp–if its too sharp, it could tear or puncture the styrofoam) they traced over all their lines to transfer their image to the printing plate underneath. I have them use a colored pencil so they can see clearly where they’ve already traced.

Here you can see the image has transferred to the styrofoam plate

Once that’s done, students trace over all the lines indented in the styrofoam plate once more. They used a colored pencil for this step as well. They trace twice so the indentations are deep enough for printing a crisp, clear image of their drawing.

DAYS 3-4

Students learn what complementary colors are, (colors opposite one another on the color wheel and consist of a primary color and a secondary color–red + green, blue + orange, yellow + purple). They learned that when used next to one another in artwork it makes an image pop and really stand out.

They colored their creature (on the styrofoam printing plate) with one set of complementary colors, and then their background with a different set, using markers. I saved and set aside a large box of markers for just this lesson to ensure we’d have juicy markers!

Students were creative and made some cool unique creatures!!

After completely colored, they took off their taped on drawing (if they haven’t already) and dampened a sheet of 9×12″ 80# drawing paper using water from a spray bottle and damp sponges –(For the spray bottles, I just use empty spray cleaner bottles after thoroughly rinsing out).

They sprayed the paper 6 times- two on top, two in the middle and two along the bottom on either side of the paper.

Then using a damp sponge, they hold down the paper along the bottom, and wipe going away from their fingers in one direction to help spread the water evenly all over the paper.

They then lay their colored styrofoam color side down onto the wet paper. They press all over the back of their printing plate using the flat of their hands to help transfer their image to the dampened paper. After pressing for a few seconds, they used a brayer to roll over the back of their printing plate to help further transfer their image. I explain to students it’s very important to always have one hand holding down the styrofoam plate so they don’t smudge their print.

Students roll the brayer over the entire backside of their plate for at least 15 seconds, then while holding down a corner with one hand, lift the opposite corner with the other hand to check if there are any bald spots. If so, they roll over that area again and/or use their fingers to press into any smaller detailed areas where needed. Once they check again, they lift off the styrofoam plate to reveal their print!

I have students watch the printmaking portion of my video tutorial in the beginning of the first couple of art classes where they print, just to help them remember all those steps!

So glad I decided to make that video for this lesson! It’s such a time saver…. I don’t have to waste paper or marker ink each time as I would in a demonstration for the kids…. and since it’s recorded- I don’t ever have to worry about forgetting something while explaining!! I wish I had started make youtube tutorials a long time ago for those reasons!

Also— if I must be completely honest, students are way more engaged and STAY silent throughout the ENTIRE time watching my video— rather than when I am demonstrating in person under the doc camera! What’s up with that kids?!??!

As you can see in the photo above I have printing supplies (pre-dampened sponges, spray bottles, brayers, 9×12″ paper, and box of fresh new markers) along my extra “supply” table. Kids get their needed supplies and bring them back to their seats and print there. Water bottles, sponges and brayers are shared so I don’t need a ton of each.

Once they print their first print, they repeat the process of coloring their printing plates and wetting their papers to print etc. to create 3 prints of the same image total. This way, students have some practice with printing and have the opportunity to create a good, clear, colorful print!

Click HERE to view my video tutorial on this lesson!

Hope you enjoyed reading this blog post! If interested, you can get email updates on when I blog next by signing up with your email over on the right hand side of the top of this page!

I’ll be posting again REAL SOON on new 1st grade, 2nd grade, and 4th grade artwork!! STAY TUNED!!!……

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1st Grade– “MIXED MEDIA ALPHABET SOUP!”

April 9, 2018 No Comments

SOUPS ON!!!

I was so excited to try this lesson out with my first graders this year–I absolutely LOVE them!! Especially the mixed media/ 3D aspect of them!!! A big shout out and thanks to Lauralee Chambers for the wonderful lesson idea!!

Read below to view process pics and read how we created them!!

(the photos of artwork above and below are by first graders in Mrs. Uthoff’s class)

The focus of this lesson combines letter formation/identification with an understanding of mixed media (we used oil pastels, liquid watercolor paint, markers and charcoal), and three-dimensional elements within artwork.

This lesson took 3 (40 minute) art classes to complete.

DAY 1:

After showing students my teacher examples, and reviewing what mixed media is (using multiple art mediums in a piece of artwork), and what 3-D means (artwork that isn’t flat and sticks out–soup spoon and plastic letters), students each received a piece of 9×12″ 80# drawing paper with a circle traced on it (for the soup). The alphabet was projected onto the white board for students to review if needed.

Students drew the alphabet using oil pastels inside the circle to create their alphabet soup. They were encouraged to draw their letters large, pressing hard (so the oil pastel later on would resist the paint!) as well as draw some upside down, and backwards and going in different directions with multiple colors.

Once drawn and the letters almost filled up their bowl, they drew small orange squares (for carrots) and green circles (for peas).

Then students painted over their letters with a yellow-orange liquid watercolor (creating the broth), creating an oil pastel resist!

These soups were then set aside to dry until the next art class!

DAY 2:

Students each received a 12×18″ piece of 80# drawing paper with another (larger) circle pre-traced with black sharpie. This circle was drawn off to the side of their paper, so there would be room for the napkin later on.

After reviewing vertical and horizontal lines, students drew a plaid tablecloth (or placemat) using 2 chosen colored markers. Then kids painted over their lines with water to create a “painterly” look. Students thought it was so fun that the marker could turn into “paint”!

I had students place a paper plate over their “bowl” while painting with water, to avoid water getting inside their traced bowls.

These were then set aside to dry until the following art class.

DAY 3:

Students cut out their soups carefully and then glued down in the center of the larger traced circle bowl, using a glue stick.

Then they glued down a pre-cut “napkin” (heavyweight tagboard cut to about 4 1/2″ x 9 1/2″) next to their bowls of soup using a glue stick. They then used a piece of charcoal to outline one side of their napkin (I told them to create the letter “L” with their charcoal, as well as half the side of their soup bowl (I told them to create a “C” with their charcoal). I explained this would create a shadow effect, and make it all look more realistic and 3-D. Then students smudged the lines of charcoal with their finger!

This is a first time for first graders using charcoal, and they loved this step!

For the final steps, I glued down a plastic spoon (metal imitation soup spoons found on Amazon) and 2 colored plastic letters (plastic letter beads from Roylco) using a hot glue gun!

They look SO real don’t they??!!

Like I said, I absolutely LOVE this lesson, and I hope you do too!!

Thanks for visiting my blog! Please check back again SOON for more student artwork!!

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4th Grade -COLLABORATIVE FLOWER DRAWING!

April 8, 2018 No Comments

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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4th Grade Enlarged Flowers and 5th Grade Falling For Foreshortening

April 2, 2018 No Comments

4th Grade- Enlarged Flower Drawings inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe!

Students learned about the artist Georgia O’Keeffe, and viewed examples of her flower paintings. We talked about the scale (size) of her work and that her flower paintings were so large because she thought flowers were incredibly beautiful and wanted people to notice them! She loved to create close-up paintings of flowers. Looking at her flower paintings is like looking at a flower with a magnifying glass!

We also reviewed what abstract artwork is (artwork that focuses on mainly lines, shapes and colors), which is how Georgia O’Keeffe depicted a lot of her flowers in her work. She focused on just small sections of a flower –instead of the entire flower in a lot of her work, therefore abstracting the image. Not all of her flower paintings are abstract, but many are.

DAY 1:

I showed students multiple examples of her flower paintings through a power point presentation and discussed her work and background.

After demonstrating how to focus in on one area of a flower and block out the rest (students could choose their own printed flower image to observe) by using a viewfinder, (using a black square piece of construction paper with a small (about 2×2″ square) cut out in the middle). Students had to select an area of their flower so it’s petals touched or ran off at least 3 sides of their viewfinder (see pics below).

Students then practiced drawing and enlarging small sections of their chosen flowers, in their sketchbooks. They did this 3 times, each flower drawing on a different page in their sketchbook. They had a choice of choosing 3 different flower images OR drawing from 1 flower image but focusing in on different areas of the flower each time.

DAYS 2-3:

Students selected 1 photo of a flower for their final drawing. They enlarged a section of their flower on 12×12” paper, making sure that their drawing of their chosen flower ran off or touched at least 3 of the 4 sides of their paper, while considering the composition (how and where things are placed on the page).

Once drawn, students colored in using oil pastels. Students had a choice of coloring in their flower any colors they wanted!! In previous years I had students color in their flowers trying to best match their flowers colors in the photo. The only rule with color I had was, was to switch to a different color when their was a transition of color in their flower photo. Also, If their was a bit of background showing in their composition, (some students selected areas of their flower that only showed the flower– without any background) they needed to color it in with any one chosen color for contrast.

DAY 4:

For a final step, students created a bit of depth within their flower by adding shadows around the edges of their flowers petals with black oil pastel, then blending with their finger. Adding black for shading with oil pastels is a pretty tricky step, and can be a bit challenging, but I think students did a wonderful job adding that element to their artwork!!

5th Grade- “Falling for Foreshortening” Drawings!

For this art lesson, students learned about a type of perspective called foreshortening.

(Scroll down further to view more photos of students working on this lesson!) Foreshortening is a drawing technique used to create the illusion where parts of something or someone appear to come out at the viewer strongly, making those areas seem closest to the viewer, and some parts appearing to recede strongly, making those areas seem the furthest away from the viewer.

Students used this technique by drawing a person that appears to be falling backwards into something, with their arms and legs outstretched. They did this by tracing their hands along the top of the paper, and their feet along the bottom of the paper, leaving space in the middle. They then drew the head, neck, arms, and legs of a person smaller, to create the illusion that the body was further away than the feet and hands.

Students were instructed to pay special attention to the soles of their shoes, being sure to add details and texture to make it look like the bottom of their shoes. Students also had to draw the person’s facial expression to match whatever it was they were falling into (something scary, or something soft and fun!), show movement in the hair, and add details to the palms of the hands.

Once the person was drawn, 5th graders outlined in black sharpie, then drew a background depicting what their person was falling into, and colored in everything using colored pencils.

Thanks for visiting my blog! Check back soon for NEW artwork by 1st Grade!! (Mixed Media Alphabet Soup!!)

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