Pointillism

My art majors, which includes my 4th and 5th graders see me every day. So I have to have projects that take many classes and are time consuming. I introduced pointillism which is the method painting by using dots or points. We went with a sea theme, so I checked books from the library that would give the students ideas on what to draw. Each day students used 2 to 3 colors on their pallet and many Q-tips. A lot of students used taditional colors but some added a little floresent colors to the picture. This made some very interesting here are a few.

Kenya's Giraffes

Our school was and is studying Kenya. When I researched Kenya, giraffe's are what stood out to use in art. After a couple of hours looking for art projects here is one I found for my 4th and 5th graders. I showed them 8 steps to draw a giraffe with vines behind them. Then we used chalk pastels to color in the giraffe.

How I post our work by grades

To let the students know which grade is working on which project I post my finished example on my cabinet doors. It allows the students in the younger grades to see what the older kids are working on and give them something to look forward too. Also my 4th and 5th graders get to pick their majors, so it helps the 3rd graders see what they will get to do if they choose visual arts as their major.

Scratch Giraffe

I am always searching for new ideas to use in my art classroom. After a search for giraffe art I found an interesting idea from Mrs. Juiles' Art School. It is become a 5 week lesson due to only have my 3rd graders for 30 minutes total. Which also includes directions and clean up time. So really only 20 minutes to acutally work on the project. Our hardest step is the scratching, it has become a messy and tiring step. But I get my paperclip and jump in and help scratch off. Here are some students who have finished.

Rainforest Animals

Our school chooses three countries to study each year. This year Kenya and Brazil were on our list. The library and I are trying to connect our lessons with the countries. Right now we are in the middle of working on our giraffes from Kenya. I will post pictures as soon as we complete them. But next we are moving into rainforest animals, such as frogs, butterlfies, parrots, and tucans. This winter break I had the opportunity to visit Belize and hang out with monkeys and parrots. I found the parrots to be just stunning with their bright colors. Here are some pictures I will be using to teach my kids about parrots and their colors to transistion into a textured paper collage.

Musical Art

I teach at the school of arts, needless to say we have chorus, dance, visual arts, graphic arts and strings. Since our strings teacher only teaches in the afternoon my art room is where the instruments are held. Here are a few creative shots of a base instrument. I love the curvy lines of the instruments and how they look as gorgeous as they sound.

The Art of Borrowing

I love to log on to the internet and surf my favorite art blogs. I have a few listed on the right side of my page. If you teach any subject you know that you are constantly having to revise, create, and borrow activities and projects. I get such a high when creating my own projects or revising something I saw being used. When I get to implement it and the kids love it is when I know I hit the jackpot. Since I am a fresh and new art teacher most of my ideas are borrowed and revised to fit the needs of my kids. Here are a few projects I have borrowed from my favorite blogs.
Contrast Bird  and Chipper Ship from http://www.deepspacesparkle.blogspot.com/