Starry Night

I saw this lesson in Arts and Activities years ago.  I do some version of it every year with Kindergarten.  We look at van Gogh's "Starry Night" and name what we see.  During the first class we Glue shapes for the houses, moon, and the cypress tree.  The cypress is cut from a 6x9 rectangle of green paper.  I show kids how to draw a tall triangle, but cut a crazy line to give the tree a wild texture like van Gogh's tree.  If time allows they can draw details with marker.

 

 

Jordan

 

 

 

Brodie

Week two, we made our stars shine by adding them in glitter.  Then we painted the wind!

Triangle Tree

Here is an easy one shot lesson plan that makes me and the kids happy.  They love to paint, I love the whimsical shapes and lines they create.  Today's class is using a magenta background and a chartreuse colored tree for even more whimsy!

Materials: 9x12 background paper, green square or rectangle (6x6 or 6x9), brown scrap for trunk, white paint and q-tip for painting.

I show students how to draw an X on their green paper: from corner to corner.  When you cut it out, you get four triangles.  A little geometry never hurt anyone.  As we stack them into a tree and glue them down, we do some trimming so the top is smaller than the bottom.



Immy

This tree took two and a half squares.  It is ready to paint.


When others look at our paint they will see snow.  But the artist who paints the picture is thinking of interesting lines to show a gust of wind, snow on the branches, piles of snow on the ground.   

Impressionism

In second grade, I teach the major styles of art: Realism, Abstract and Impressionism. 

One of my proudest teacher moments came years ago, when I walked past a classroom and heard the teacher starting to teach abstract words.  I noticed the word abstract written on the board, so I hung around to hear more.  Several students related what they had learned about abstract art in my class.  

This is my favorite way to teach Impressionism.

Students read the Mike Venezia book on Monet.  Since the major purpose of impressionism is to show how something looks with the light on it, we color in a heart using impressionist "brush strokes" with oil pastels.  Students choose one color for the entire heart.  They use light colors on one half of the heart and dark colors on the other half.  I show students how to check the color wheel to find the compliment of their chosen heart color.  To keep their colors bright, Impressionists used compliments (opposites on the color wheel) side by side, but usually avoided mixing them. 

 

 

To finish, I let students use paper edgers (we call them "crazy cuts") to trim a paper frame and decorate with scrap paper.  The results are not perfect, but charmingly child-like.  They make a wonderfully colorful display.

 

 

 

Painting to Music

Of course painting to music starts with a lesson on Kandinsky.  I tell my students how Kandinsky liked to paint to music.  He said when he saw a painting he could hear music in it.  I played various types of music and students made one painting per song.  I encouraged them to stop and listen for inspiration, or to let the music move their paintbrush hand.  Can you hear colors too? 

 

 

 

 

Q-tip Winter Tree

Kindergartners LOVE to paint.  I like to keep it simple so clean up is not overwhelming.  So I often use a Q-tip for the paint instead of a brush.  This project reviews rectangle and triangle.  I tell my students that the person who looks at their picture should see snow, but the artist who paints it is CREATING LINES.  According to basic geometry, a line starts with a dot that moves.  And q-tips  make perfect little dots.  Now move the q-tip and create a line!

Paul Klee Hearts

 

After my fourth grade students look at Paul Klee's colorful abstract art work, I show them how to use primary tempera paints (magenta, yellow and turquoise) plus white to get any complicated colors.  I find if I don't give them white the colors get very deep and dark. 

While they already know red and yellow make orange, a little more red makes yellow-orange.  We use egg cartons to mix the colors in.  So one egg cup ean mix three or more colors.  The more colors they make in each cup the more complicated the colors get.  Sharing colors is a great time saver.  It is soon obvious to everyone that analagous colors create brights, while opposites create neutrals.  I wish I had learned this in elementary school instead of college.  Painting 101 would have been much easier.

 

                                   

Koi Fish

The inspiration for this painting came from the artist Aleah Koury "Floating Motion".  The students work came out great.  Their biggest challenge was drawing the koi fish to look like they were moving.  I showed them how I started with a slight S curve in pencil.  We used contrasting color outlines for the fish and the water lilies.  We colored in the fish with warm color crayons.  Then we went over the fish bodies with white crayon to make sure the water colors would not cover them.  Also in crayon, a white spiral or three.

Last we painted the water and the lillies. 

Not a Stick

I read my third graders Not A Stick by Antoinette Portis.  The main character finds many uses for an ordinary stick. ( Brings back fond memories of when my boys were small.)  I then supplied them with a tooth pick, a small paper, pencil with eraser and black marker.  I showed them how easy it is to draw a person in marker, if you draw a stick figure in pencil first.  Some kids had so many ideas they did two.  We mounted them on a piece of black poster paper to hang in the hall.  They were the topic of many water fountain conversations.

More Quilling

I can't get enough quilling.  These are from last year.  We used spring colors.  How cheerful!

Spring Bloosoms

Second grade students painted this branch of spring bloosoms for Mother's Day.  Their classroom teacher adds poetry the children wrote.  The finished prouduct is rolled up and tied with a ribbon, just like an Asian scroll.
When students walk in to the room, the lights are low and bamboo flute music is playing.  In Asian culture painting is a form of meditation, so no one talks during work time.  We use a bamboo brush and water color paints for the branch.
During the second class students paint the blossoms.  I reuse styrofoam breakfast trays for the paints.  The kids use a q-tip for the blossoms, and their finger for the green leaves.  I find it helpful to remind them, they are not lining up the bloosms with the branches.  They are creating an interesting collection of blossoms (color).  Objects in nature are random not orderly.

Since I already had the paint trays, I reused them for an extra first grade class the same afternoon.  The first graders made a still life.  Students select a 9x12 background color, and a 9x3 table color to glue at the bottom.  They make a vase by folding the paper and cutting lengthwise.  After adding a pen outline and details, they sign their name and start painting.  They found lots of interesting ways to make flowers.  These were done in one class time!

Scrap Box Sculpture

Every teacher needs an easy one shot lesson kids will love.  Scrap box sculptures are inspired by the work of artist George Sugarman, whose large metal sculpures look a lot like paper cut-outs.  His work is bright and colorful.  While Sugarmans sculptures are mostly abstract, sometimes kids see realistic touches.  After viewing the Sugarman sculptures, I review the three dimensions of space that make a sculpture (height, width and depth).  Then the work begins.  We leave five minutes at the end of class to walk around and compliment our friends.

teacher prouduct

Gum Eyeball

My kindergarten students love making this gum ball machine.  It is an exercise in shapes and sharing.  The original idea came from Doug Vitarius. The picture goes with the Shell Silverstien poem "Gum Eyeball".  Originally, I used a white circle and a red trapezoid for the gum ball machine.  But like many others my schedule is so tight, I don't have time to cut all those shapes. 
So this year I am trying it with tracers.  I am using plastic lids (cool whip, etc) and scrap cardboard I cut into a trapezoid.  Students will trace a lid and the trapezoid with a pencil. Great for fine motor skills.  With permanent pen we will outline and add details, then color.  I drew the eyeball on this one.  I may surprise them, and glue a large wiggle eye instead if time allows.
Each table gets one box of paint markers to make the gumballs.  As I demonstrate how to use the paint dotters, I talk about how important sharing is.  If we don't share, no one can have all the gumball colors!  Sharing is a way to show caring and friendship.  Those are both good feelings to have in our class!
When they are finished, I will mount each 9x12 drawing on a 12x18 colred paper with a copy of the poem centered underneath. 

The Tiny Seed

I read my first grade students The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle.  It is a great way to tie into science and nature.  I also put the word texture on the board.  I point out the way Eric Carle uses texture in his pictures.  When students have their picture glued, I ask them to use a permanent marker to add texture in their picture (seeds inside the flower, roots, veins in the leaf, etc.)  I also point out how Eric Carle uses size relationships to make the flowers look small and BIG.  Students put one or two details in the picture that help show size relationships.  Another great way to have fun with size relationships is to cut and glue a photo of each student next to the flower.





Wayne Thiebaud Landscape

 I love the abstract landscapes of Wayne Thiebaud (Tee-Bo).  After viewing several to identify land forms and abstract colors, my 5th graders, painted these landscapes using the primary colors (magenta, turquoise and yellow) plus white.  I find if I don't give students white paint, their colors are too intense.  We also briefly reviewed the color wheel to keep colors bright not muddy.  I had fun making my own!

Mrs. P

Chloe

Aayesha

Katrina

Quilling

Each student filled a six inch box made from construction paper.  I cut 1x18 inch strips on the paper cutter.



I showed examples of quilling from the internet. 



I showed students how to make a tight roll.  And then a loose roll that can be folded into shapes.
Week two, I showed them how to make a heart.  They came up with many more createve ideas on how to combine color and shape.