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Category Archives: fourth grade

Cooperation and Playground Rules Posters

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A colorful drawing with "Support Others" and comic illustrations showing a person helping another who fell down stairs, highlighting the importance of cooperation.

This year, our school has been focusing on kindness and cooperation.  In art class, my students created posters to display around the school about kindness, cooperation and playground etiquette. Students cooperated together to make posters about cooperation! Each group received a slip of paper with a cooperation “slogan”. The Power of Cooperation C – Care for each other – Be Kind O – Obey rules O – Offer to help others P – Participate together as a team E – … Read more… →

In Case You Missed It: Frank Stella Inspired Children’s Art Project

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Abstract artwork featuring intertwined red ribbons and geometric shapes on a dark background framed with a colorful border.

Two and a half years ago I posted this lesson about using Frank Stella’s artwork as inspiration for children’s drawings.  I love Frank Stella’s work.  After visiting an art museum and seeing an exhibit of the progression of his style, I was hooked.  It is so fascinating and there is a lot to look at.  The sheer size of these prints are stunning. In case you haven’t figure out by now, my favorite style of art is BUSY, abstract, super … Read more… →

Fun and Easy Mandalas with Metallic Gel Pens

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Fun and Easy Mandalas with Metallic Gel Pens

One day this summer, my daughter came home from camp with a circle design drawn using metallic gel pens.  I thought it looked so cool, I wanted to try it with my students in 3rd/4th grade.  I usually teach about mandalas and radial balance at this age level. Mandalas have religious and spiritual significance around the world.  They have been used for meditation and relaxation.  I showed the students mandalas including Tibetan and Navajo sand paintings, ancient Aztec and architecture.  … Read more… →

All About Me Foldable Explosion Books

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Hand holding a colorful, foldable squash book.

One of the first projects my 4th/5th grade students created this year were personal “About Me” folded squash books.  The kids were introduced to a simple foldable bookmaking technique and then they personalized them with drawings and collages about themselves.  Each section of the book had a prompt to get them started. I showed them a video demonstration of how to assemble the book and I provided square templates printed on card stock.  Both the video, templates and instructions are … Read more… →

Toothpaste Batik on Fabric

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A child's drawing of a unicorn with a pink mane and horn stands under a night sky with stars and a crescent moon, capturing the scene with the intricate detail of batik art.

My creative and wonderful blogging friend, Phyl, has posted several times about her toothpaste batik process.  I have admired the results for years and decided to try it last year for our Wild about the Arts Fine Arts Night.  I was hesitant to try because of the logistics.  It was not a quick and easy project, but I loved the process and I loved that it was so “different” than other things my students have experienced. These were made with 4th … Read more… →

Repeated Shape Designs

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Colorful abstract art with various textured, layered shapes resembling petals on a white background features repeated shape designs.

This is a simple challenge that leads to a variety of creative artworks!  Choose one shape to repeat throughout your artwork.  Use markers, watercolor paints or any art media of your choice.  The challenge is to arrange the shapes in a unique and interesting composition. Include a variety of colors and sizes.  Overlap some shapes to add interest.  Add patterns or designs inside the shapes. Limitations encourage students to think in new ways.. to be creative within the constraints. Repetition is … Read more… →

Designer Tree Houses

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Designer treehouse with a small cat looking out of a window, rainbow scales, and a bubblegum pink background.

Hi!  One day when I was sick I left a sub lesson plan for my students to design their own tree houses.  I printed out examples of tree house drawings for inspiration, like these here and here.  There is also this resource by Art Sub Lessons which has many pictures of real tree houses for inspiration. I did not leave a lot of directions or specific requirements, but encouraged creative thinking and unusual designs. Here are some of our whimsical pictures.  I think … Read more… →

Mixed Media Collages by Kids – Inspired by Sabrina Ward Harrison

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A pile of colorful tissue papers with a group of people seated at tables in the background.

In my last post, I showed you some of Sabrina Ward Harrison’s artwork and talked about what she shared with us at her artist visit.  Her artwork is very inspiring, messy and beautiful.  Please check out the other post to learn all about this artist. After the presentation, smaller groups of kids in grades 3-6 had a collage workshop with Sabrina.  She demonstrated how to use Mod-Podge to paste down pieces of her pinwheel shape. While she demonstrated the pinwheel … Read more… →

Mixed Media Artist: Sabrina Ward Harrison

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Three abstract paintings with text, colorful circular designs, and expressive brushstrokes in various shades by mixed media artist Sabrina Ward Harrison.

We recently had artist Sabrina Ward Harrison visit our school to give an artist talk and workshop with the kids.  Today I am going to introduce you to her artwork and life as an artist.  In Part Two of this post, I will share with you some of the amazingly diverse mixed media collages that the students made in response to learning about her artwork.  All of the artwork on this page was made by Sabrina. Her message to the … Read more… →

4th and 5th Grade Profile Drawings: In the Style of Egyptians, Mixtec Codex and Duncan Tonatiuh

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4th and 5th Grade Profile Drawings: In the Style of Egyptians, Mixtec Codex and Duncan Tonatiuh

My students were treated to a visit by illustrator Duncan Tonatiuh.  He is both Mexican and American. He grew up in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and graduated from Parsons School of Design in New York City. His images are inspired by ancient Mexican art, especially the Mixtec codex of the 14th and 15th centuries. Like the people and animals in the codex, the figures in his illustrations are always drawn in profile– their entire bodies are usually shown and their ears … Read more… →

Stitching on Burlap: A Painting & Sewing Experience for Children

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Fabric artwork of a penguin wearing a blue hat and purple scarf on burlap, enhanced with intricate stitching, with white heart patterns in the background.

One type of art skill that I haven’t been the best at consistently teaching in my classroom is sewing.  I was reminded of how you can sew on burlap after seeing some painted and stitched leaves at my daughter’s school.  My third/fourth grade classes were often asking me if they could sew and I already had a lot of yarn and a roll of burlap at school. I wanted to share this idea with you quickly without a whole lot of … Read more… →

“Emily’s Blue Period” Art Project: Personal Collages

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A colorful personal collage featuring animals, words like "hoping," "joy," and "style," along with various textures and images.

Personal Collages:  4th and 5th Grade   We read the book Emily’s Blue Period, which is about a girl whose parents are divorcing and now she has two homes. Emily was learning about Pablo Picasso, his Blue Period and his collages in her art class. She goes through her own “blue period” of sadness.  Her art teacher asks the class to make personal collages about their homes.  She doesn’t know what to do because she has two homes now.  She ends up … Read more… →

All About Me Collaborative Puzzle Pieces

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Four colorful and uniquely decorated puzzle pieces with various drawings and patterns, perfect for a collaborative project.

You are part of the puzzle!  Each student in my older grades (3-5) made a puzzle piece about themselves and their interests.  I should have written:  You are a PIECE of the puzzle.  Or, I could have said: We all fit together.  I know, it’s kind of corny, but the puzzle piece making was fun. I bought a set of wooden puzzle pieces (the package came with two pieces) and I traced them onto several pieces of tagboard to make … Read more… →

Inspirational Quotes into Artworks

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Fourth and fifth graders' handwritten quotes are transformed into inspiring artworks, displayed on a purple background.

At the end of last year my students created some inspirational quote artworks using artistic lettering and their choice of media.   I typed up a list of inspirational quotes (below) for them to choose from.  Many of the students had their own ideas and wanted to use a quote they already knew and liked. I saved the artwork for the beginning of this year so that we would have some artwork with inspirational sayings on them for the start of … Read more… →

3-D Bedroom Constructions and Perspective

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3-D Bedroom Constructions and Perspective

Student-directed vs. teacher-directed and choice vs. “cookie cutter projects”  (I hate that phrase, it’s so annoying) are big discussions with art teachers online lately.  This is an example of how teacher-directed projects (perspective and interior models) can include lot of student choice and opportunities for creativity. When I went to the Art Institute of Chicago this Spring, I was lucky to be able to see the traveling van Gogh bedroom paintings exhibit.  My friend Dawn told me that she used … Read more… →

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