3rd Grade Sea Creature Prints

3rd Graders explored the art of printmaking. Students were asked to create a sea creature on a sketch piece of paper.  They then transferred it onto a piece of foam that they used as their template.  Students were then able to make two prints using two different colors of ink and paper.

2nd Grade Warm and Cool Color Mountain Landscapes

2nd Graders continued their study of color theory, this time looking at warm and cool colors.

We talked a little bit about how warm colors makes us feel vs. what cool colors might make us feel.  We usually think of warm colors as being daytime and cool colors as being nighttime.  

We drew our mountain scene together.  Students had to think about if they wanted a moon or a sun in their sky.  If they had a daytime sky they used warm colors and a nighttime sky they used cool colors.  They used the opposite colors on the mountains. After students colored in the entire sky and mountains they were able to use a black and white oil pastel to create patterns on top.

Kindergarten Patterned Mittens

We started by watching the reading of this book:

Because we do not want to lose our mittens in the snow students were asked to make their mittens colorful with designs so they could be easily found.  We drew our mittens together, students added patterns and finished them off with oil pastel.  We cut our mittens out and added them to our snowy background.

4th Grade Personified Polar Bears

For this lesson 4th graders discussed icons and what icons are.  We took a look at many iconic figures such as Albert Einstein, George Washington, The Mona Lisa, Michael Jordan etc. I showed an image and students were asked to raise their hand if they knew what the image was.  Almost every student raised their hand.  We ended with this image: 

Naturally, everyone's hand shot up because they new that these were the iconic figures used in Coca-Cola advertising.  We talked a little bit about the history, how these bears were first used in 1922 and how most people worldwide recognize them.  We then watched a montage of commercials with the polar bears.  Students were to pick out some of the unusual things they were doing that polar bears can't actually do.  Students came up with the conclusion that these polar bears were acting like humans.  

Personification: Describing objects or humans as though they have human personalities or feelings. 

For this project students were simply asked to personify their polar bear:

1st Grade Snowman Portraits

In the spirit of snow, 1st graders designed their own snowman portrait.  We had a little help from frosty to get us in the mood.  

We drew our snowmen together and students finished them off with oil pastel.

3rd Grade Ebenezer Bleezer's Ice Cream

This lesson came with the help from a fellow art teacher.  This lesson was intended for students to use their critical thinking skills by interrogating across the curriculum.  3rd graders read the poem "Bleezer's Ice Cream" by Jack Prelutsky, if you're not familiar with it, it's too good not to post.

I am Ebenezer Bleezer,

I run BLEEZER'S ICE CREAM STORE,

there are flavors in my freezer

you have never seen before,

twenty-eight divine creations

too delicious to resist,

why not do yourself a favor,

try the flavors on my list:

COCOA MOCHA MACARONI

TAPIOCA SMOKED BALONEY

CHECKERBERRY CHEDDAR CHEW

CHICKEN CHERRY HONEYDEW

TUTTI-FRUTTI STEWED TOMATO

TUNA TACO BAKED POTATO

LOBSTER LITCHI LIMA BEAN

MOZZARELLA MANGOSTEEN

ALMOND HAM MERINGUE SALAMI

YAM ANCHOVY PRUNE PASTRAMI

SASSAFRAS SOUVLAKI HASH

SUKIYAKI SUCCOTASH

BUTTER BRICKLE PEPPER PICKLE

POMEGRANATE PUMPERNICKEL

PEACH PIMENTO PIZZA PLUM

PEANUT PUMPKIN BUBBLEGUM

BROCCOLI BANANA BLUSTER

CHOCOLATE CHOP SUEY CLUSTER

AVOCADO BRUSSELS SPROUT

PERIWINKLE SAUERKRAUT

COTTON CANDY CARROT CUSTARD

CAULIFLOWER COLA MUSTARD

ONION DUMPLING DOUBLE DIP

TURNIP TRUFFLE TRIPLE FLIP

GARLIC GUMBO GRAVY GUAVA

LENTIL LEMON LIVER LAVA

ORANGE OLIVE BAGEL BEET

WATERMELON WAFFLE WHEAT

I am Ebenezer Bleezer,

I run BLEEZER'S ICE CREAM STORE,

taste a flavor from my freezer,

you will surely ask for more.

3rd Graders loved this poem, of course you had to leave some room for the "EWWWW's" and the "AHHHH's." After reading the poem students talked about some of the poetic elements of rhyming and alliteration.  Students were then asked to brainstorm five flavors of ice cream combining foods that do not go together and adding some sort of ending like twist, swirl, dip, blast, etc. We then drew a five scooped ice cream cone together writing the flavors next to the scoop.  Students were then instructed to add detail to their scoops making them look like the flavor they created.  To finish them off we used colored pencil and if students had extra space they were to create a sign for their ice cream shop.

Here is my example:

Student Examples:

5th Grade Clay Pinch Pot Sports Spheres

5th Graders were very excited about this project.  For this project students made 3 different pinch pots to form a sports sphere of their choice. The challenge was that our sports sphere needed to be hollow.  Students wondered why we couldn't just roll one big piece of clay into a ball an call it good.  

1. It's a waste of clay.

2. There is a greater chance of air bubbles and the piece could break.

3. It would cause the piece to be heavier than what it needed to be.

Steps in making our sports sphere:

--Students started by rolling two even balls of clay. 

-- They formed two pinch pots that needed to be about the same size.

--They slipped and scored the rims of both pinch pots and put them together.

--Student then worked on smoothing their pinch pots together so it looked like one piece of clay.

--Once smoothed, students made another pinch pot for the stand.

--They slipped and scored the sphere to the pinch pot, placing the pinch pot upside down.

--Students then used a clay tool to draw into the clay showing what type of sport they chose.

--After they dried students used acrylic paint with a coat of clear acrylic to add color.

Pieces waiting to be painted.

Finished Examples:

Kindergarten Gingerbread Men

Kindergarteners decorated Gingerbread Men.  I made the gingerbread using this recipe.  We started the lesson by reading "The Gingerbread Pirates" By Kristin Kladstrup.

Overview

What if a brave Captain Cookie stood up to Santa? A fresh, funny story that sparkles with all the excitement of a pirate adventure — and all the magic of Christmas morning.

It’s Christmas Eve, and Jim and his mother are making pirate gingerbread men to leave for Santa. Jim’s favorite is Captain Cookie, who carries a gingerbread cutlass and has a toothpick peg leg. The captain is much too good to be eaten, so Jim keeps him close by his bed. But late that night, when Jim is fast asleep, Captain Cookie steptaps away on a daring adventure to find his pirate crew — and rescue them from that mysterious character he’s heard about: a cannibal named Santa Claus. At once contemporary and timeless, suspenseful and joyous, this masterfully illustrated tale is destined to be a new holiday classic.

Student's used pipe cleaners for an ornament holder they decorated their gingerbread men with puff paint and glitter mixed with medium.