• Subscribe to Blog via Email

    Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 4,601 other subscribers
  • Banner with colorful artwork promoting an art shop featuring kindness coloring pages, artist activities, and resources for teachers.

Category Archives: American art

If I Were President… by Kindergarten

By | | ,
1 Comment
If I Were President… by Kindergarten

With the election coming up, my kindergarten classes answered the sentence “If I were President, I would make the world a better place by…”  and they drew themselves as President.  I got this idea from my daughter’s art teacher, as they did it for President’s Day last year.  I started by reading them a book about what a president does.  This is one that I found that I really liked.  If I Were President by Catherine Stier (affiliate link provided.) After … Read more… →

Happy Veteran’s Day!

By | | , ,
Leave a comment
Children's drawing with "Thank You!" text, a red flower, and a bald eagle. Handwritten note says "Thank you for your service! Happy Veteran's Day!

Today is Veteran’s Day.  A day to remember our history and the people who fought for our freedom and safety. Every year my students create Veteran’s Day posters that are displayed at the Senior Center for their Veteran’s Day ceremony.  My fifth/sixth grade students go on a trip to the program and sing a few patriotic songs and participate in the ceremony. You can see some of the artwork made in year’s past and read more about this lesson in … Read more… →

Poppy Posters for Veteran’s Day

By | | , , , ,
1 Comment
A collage of kids' drawings featuring poppies, American flags, and messages of thanks and remembrance for Veteran's Day.

Monday, November 11 is Veteran’s Day in America. My 5th and 6th graders had the privilege of a visit from a lady from our local senior center whose husband is a veteran. She talked to the students about the symbolism of the poppy and read to the students the poem “In Flanders Fields.” The students were invited to create a small artwork that honors all of the veterans. They also had the opportunity to write a poem in response to … Read more… →

Watercolor Bird Paintings by First Graders

By | | , , , , , ,
6 Comments
Watercolor Bird Paintings by First Graders

I love these charming birds by the 1st graders!  So colorful and a beautiful experience with watercolors. We read the lovely book The Boy Who Drew Birds, which is about the naturalist/artist John James Audubon.  It is a great book that tells the story of how he loved to study birds and spent his free time as a child drawing and observing nature.  Audubon banded birds to see if the same birds returned each year.  It is a great book … Read more… →

American Landscape Paintings with 3rd and 4th Grade

By | | , , , ,
4 Comments
A watercolor painting of a hilly landscape with brown and green tones, depicting trees in the background, showcases elements of American landscape paintings.

  Just a few quick pictures of American landscape paintings that the third and fourth graders created.  A few summers ago I took a watercolor painting class which was very useful.  I used some of the techniques I learned in that class to teach them about how to use the fan brush and sponges to create texture.  The kids looked at photographs of landscapes from America and they learned about the Hudson River school of painters.       

Robots and Chicks

By | | ,
Leave a comment
Several fluffy baby chicks standing and resting on a blue surface indoors near a corner

I just wanted to show you one more very cool picture.. it was another parody of American Gothic.  This student was absent and had to catch up on this project.  Here are the baby chicks our school hatched, which are now growing into chickens!  They grow so fast! I realized that I did not show you the pictures of the chicks when they were first hatched:

Winter Landscapes

By | | , , ,
Leave a comment
Child's drawing of a landscape with tents, a tree, a river, people, a camel, and faint mountains in the background.

2nd Grade Winter Landscapes For this project, we read a book about Grandma Moses:  Grandma Moses (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists) We discussed how to draw a river or road showing depth (by drawing it converging to a point in the distance).  We talked about using size variation to show distance while drawing houses and other objects.  The students cut out mountains from gray paper and a snowy patch from white paper (I walked them through this step-by-step).  … Read more… →

American Landscape Paintings–3rd/4th Grade

By | | , , , ,
Leave a comment
This watercolor painting depicts a flowing blue waterfall surrounded by autumnal trees and a bridge in the background, capturing the charm of classic American landscape paintings.

 American Landscapes  The 3/4s learned about Colonial times and Westward Expansion.  The students watched a video about American landscape artists during the 19th century and they painted their own landscapes.  One of the goals was to use inspiration from the environment to create a painting.  The students chose a landscape scene from pictures of America.  Painting lessons include how to add texture with a fan brush, how to mix colors and how to add shadows on a mountain. I showed … Read more… →

American Gothic– Third Grade

By | | , ,
1 Comment
Modern parody of "American Gothic" with a man and woman using mobile phones, holding tech gadgets and modern items.

This is a tried-and-true art teacher lesson plan.  The students enjoyed learning the story behind Grant Wood’s American Gothic painting.  We read an article about his famous painting. They also enjoyed seeing various parodies of this artwork.  They envisioned their own parody of this famous masterpiece.    You can also read this book about his artwork:

  • Banner with colorful artwork promoting an art shop featuring kindness coloring pages, artist activities, and resources for teachers.