Warm Color Tree Silhouettes - 3D Grade

We are in a creative firestorm this year! Third grade just finished up creating their Warm Color Tree Silhouettes and they are stunning in all their warm color glory!

It took us about three 30 minute classes to create them. Some finished in two and some needed the extra third to complete their piece due to absence and working paces...

We started by sketching out a simple tree with black paint. I demonstrated how to use their paint brush to do a quick, simple sketch of their tree and then go back and paint in the lines, spaces neatly. This saved a lot of valuable time not sketching in pencil first and the kids did just fine doing their initial sketch in dry brush.  This took one 30 minute class...

During the second class the kids started by creating a visually textured collage of leaves in the backgrounds of their piece using leaf rubbing plates and only Warm Colors.  Rubbing plates are super popular with my students from Kindergarten all the way up to my Fifth grades! In Kindergarten they think its magical how the patterns/pictures appear on their paper! Even as they get older and understand why the images appear the magic of the rubbing plates still appeal to them! 

The rubbings only took a few minutes to complete so when the kids were ready they started painting over the background with Warm color watercolors.  This was a great opportunity to discuss the concept of contrast in colors. We have been talking about contrast since our first project this school year so when they started painting some of the kids noticed that some of the rubbings were harder to see than others. "Why do think that's happening?", I asked. ( higher order questioning people! I've taken several workshops on higher order thinking/questioning recently...) I had the students offer their thoughts and they all began to conclude that it was because yellow watercolor over yellow crayon had no contrast and didn't show up as well as a red crayon rubbing would with a yellow watercolor over it, yay for contrast! They are making connections!  (Now to just get some of this to happen during one of my observations, lol... )

Most of the kids finished painting during the second class but several in each class needed some more time to catch up with their classmates so we used a third class as an "Art Ketchup" day.  I had several activities prepped for the kids to do if they wanted instead of going to the activity center and let the finished choose.  

 My Thursday Third grades are a little ahead of the Tuesday Thirds so tomorrow I am planning a collaborative circle painting activity for them that coordinates with our Peace week that is happening this week.  The kids know I have something special planned and are eager to find out what it is...

I can't wait to display these tomorrow! They are going to look beautiful together in a group!

I am enjoying my new IPhone 5 ( yeah, I know, I'm slow to keep up with technology... the Verizon dude thought I was nuts when I said I didn't want to wait a couple of days for the 6 ,but hey, that's me, I move to my own beat and it's usually not that of the popular crowd... ) I love how easy it is to take pictures with and they are nice pictures ( to me anyway ) most of blog pics since September have been from my IPhone. I got another new app ( new to me anyway ) last night,  it's called, Color Cap.  I wanted something that I could use to write words on my photos to make some cool visuals for my room.  I made the " Create" one last night from a pic of a watercolor set I had on my phone.  Some of you out there are really tech savvy so I know that it may not be too impressive to you, but for the technologically challenged "moi" ( me ) it's pretty cool! My son and daughter ( 21 and 15 ) are all "check out Mom" using technology and social networking! I'm slow getting there but I'm catching up!  I also put a couple of Flipgrams that I made recently on my Instagram page. You can access it from the link on the top right of my blog page.

 Hope your weather and week are going well! It's blustery, cold and rainy here today!  Came home early today because of a small vertigo spell but it's better now... the room no longer spins out of control when I move my head!  ( like my head isn't always spinning, lol...)

Mrs."C"  :)

Kindergarten's Shooting Stars !!!

                                Kindergarten started painting their shooting Stars today! Yay!

We started the class on the rug in front of the Smartboard to watch this video from Youtube. It's Roy G Biv by They Might Be Giants.  The kids love this one! At the end I pause the video and we talk about what the letters in Roy G Biv stand for.

From there the kids moved to their tables for directions on how to use the watercolors and our new "artist" brushes.  This was the first time they were using the watercolors in the art room this year. They already knew how to go get their smocks from their Color Wheel Sunflowers...

When I gave them back their Shooting Stars they could get up to get their smock and begin to paint...

When the kids finished they put their paintings on the drying rack, put their smock away and if they had time got a free time activity.  Since our art time has been reduced to 30 minutes this year there is very little time for free time activity ( much to the disappointment of many of the kids who are used to having 5-7 minutes to free create... ) (As second grade finished up designing the backgrounds of their leaf prints and filling out their A.R.T. Splat ( Art Reflection Time - self reflection sheet) today I let them have the rest of their art time to free create today... they were over the moon! Some were done but a few needed about 10 minutes to tie up loose ends. I debated starting the rest of the class on our new project but thought it would be too crazy, chaotic and rushed... I'm happy the 2nd graders got the time to create freely and so were they :)  As they worked I went around and sat with each table a bit and talked with them about what they were making, what they are going to be for Halloween, etc... They even did a great job cleaning up when they were done :) 

Monday's classes have to paint their's yet but that won't be for a couple of weeks as next Monday is Columbus Day and the kid's have no school but I will be at school for a day of professional development.

Well... since my lesson plans don't write themselves and I think I've procrastinated enough for one evening,  I will leave you with this thought...

Gyotaku and 3d Grade - Science and Multi-Cultural Connections

Happy Friday everyone!  It is snowing here again! (we have about 6.5 inches already and its still coming down!)  Originally I had a delayed opening and busted my butt to shovel out the driveway before we all had to leave for work and school.  As soon as I finished shoveling, I got a call saying school was now closed!  Well, at least its done!

My third grades have been working on some Gyotaku pieces.  The kids LOVED this!  In fact I am going to develop a Gyotaku lesson for 4th and 5th grade also.  They saw the ones 3d grade was working on and begged to do it as well!  This is the first time I have done this lesson.  I just purchased my rubber fishies this school year.  I also picked up a set of leaves and moths/butterflies.  We will use them also before the school year is out.

This is another STEAM piece as it has a science connection.  It also has a multi-cultural connection.  So to start I showed the students this short video clip...

 

The video clip shows the students how the artist, Naoki, uses Gyotaku as his art form.  I found this clip a while back when I knew i wanted to do a Gyotaku lesson.  I have also have seen links to it on other blogs. What a great little clip!  I also showed the kids some of the art work Naoki has on his web gallery.

There are many lesson ideas out there in blog land for doing Gyotaku with kids.  These are a few that I found:  Fine Lines, Dali's Moustache and Art Project Girl.  I'm sure that there are more out there just Google Gyotaku lessons with kids.

 

I had the students start working by drawing some seaweed, lakeweed onto a piece of 12x15 white sulphite drawing paper with oil pastel.  I gave them light, dark green and yellow.

 

When they were done drawing, I had them paint their water using only the greens and the blues in our water color sets.  I told them to stay away from using the warm colors since it would muddy the colors and we didn't want our water to look polluted!

 

While the kids worked on their backgrounds independently at their tables, I called them to the back of the classroom two at a time to print their fish. (one of the classes named them Bob and Gertrude!  They name everything Bob!)  They got to choose whether they wanted to print the fat fish or the skinny fish.  I had both fish pre-printed and on the front board so they could see what each looked like.  We used tempera paint cakes to paint the fish.  This kept the amount of paint at the perfect level for getting a successful print.  I didn't have rice paper, so I cut up some Dippety-Dye paper I had to print the fish on.  It was perfect since it has a soft, flexible quality!

Close-ups of our rubber fishy friends

I placed them in the fiber board trays.  

It was crazy busy to get everyones fish printed but the kids were great following directions and we got it all done in one 30 minute class!

We let our fish prints and backgrounds dry.

This week when the students came in for art they found these supplies on their tables...  Glue sticks, scissors, pencils, painted paper scraps and a tray with black, yellow and orange paint on it.

All the painted paper scraps are leftover from an arctic landscape 4th grade is working on. More on that next week. 

 

In the second class the students cut out their fish and chose where they wanted to glue them in place.  They used the painted paper scraps to cut out fishy friends, shells, etc...  we used the eraser end of pencils to dot in fish bubbles, gravel, sand, what ever they wanted it to be.  a couple of the kids made the orange and yellow dots into fish eggs! I love it! :)  

 

 

 

 

These are just a few of the finished pieces from my Tuesday classes.  Everyone was thrilled with their end result!

Well, I am off to enjoy my unexpected day off from school!  The temperature is supposed to be in the high 50's this weekend and next week!  I can't wait for Spring!  Have a great weekend!  

Mrs.C  :)

"S" is for Spiral and Snail !

 

Ok... So, if I have not made it abundantly clear yet.  I LOVE teaching art to my Kindergartner's!!!  I can't begin to tell you how they brighten up my week!  I wish I could bottle their enthusiasm and excitement!  They are always so excited about everything we do in art class!  We have been working with all the basics...  Shapes, lines, color, art material procedures and I am now working on teaching them to draw by using lines and shapes.

Before Thanksgiving I needed a subject for another painting/drawing with shapes project for my Kinders.  So, I went to the main source...  The Kindergarten teachers and asked them what they were working on in class.  They said the letter "S".  Perfect!  I decided quickly on spiral lines and then I would show the kids how to turn their spirals into snails!  I was excited and the Kindergarten teachers were excited to have the educational connection between their  room and mine!   (I aim to please!)

And thus, the lesson "S" is for spiral and  a Snail was born!

 

Ok, so this is not the best visual I have ever made for a lesson but I was in a rush and it has served it's purpose! I also made a large visual with step-by-step directions for drawing their snails.

I started the lesson by explaining that they were going to be drawing a spiral and use it to create a snail drawing.   Their hands instantly started to shoot up in the air as they excitedly began to tell me how spiral and snail start with the letter "S" !!!

First we practiced making spirals in the air.  I went through each drawing step one by one.  When the kids were done with a step they would give me the "thumbs up" so I knew they were done and ready for the next step.  I stressed that each snail would look different since we are all different people.  I gave them different options for drawing the heads, eyes and faces and also letting them add shapes and lines to decorate the snail's shells if they wanted.  I had them trace their pencil lines with a black Sharpie before we painted them with watercolors. 

When they were done painting we put them on the drying rack to dry.  The second class I had each painting pre-stapled to a colored paper.  I had the kids glue painted paper scraps I pre-cut all around the frame to create a border design and finish them up!  I like how the papers resemble mosaic tiles!

I cut up old pieces of bulletin board paper I had used as floor protection under paintings we had done in the past. (recycle and re-use!)  I also printed out some photos of painted papers I had taken last year and cut those up as well.

Once they were cut up I put them into little baskets on each table for the kids to use.

 

 

The kids were so excited to take their finished snails home! Here are some of the  completed snail masterpieces!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Here is a preview of our next project...

"P" is for painted paper Peacocks!

 

This display board is much better than my rushed snail one!

 

My example is still in progress.  There is more work to be done on the tail feathers!

How to draw a peacock direction poster is hiding under my example.

 

Some painted papers one of the classes made today!

We will begin to turn them into Peacocks next week!

Hope the rest of your week is creative!  :)