My Kindergarten students learned about types of lines. They used oil pastels to draw a variety of line types and then painted over them with watercolor paints. We are going to turn these into windsocks! Stay tuned to see how we transform their paintings.
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…
From time to time, I will show you some artwork from the middle school classes. I teach K-6 and Rebecca teaches the older students. These paintings on canvas were particularly beautiful. Painting water and glass is definitely challenging, but these kids did an awesome job! The 7th/8th graders set up their still lifes and took a photograph of the setup. Then, they used acrylic paint to paint them. I will be picking the winner of the Smart Fab sample rolls … Read more…
How is your year going? Ours is rapidly coming to a close. There is so much to do… grading, finishing projects, finishing the yearbook, planning a middle school dance, inventory and cleaning the room! Yikes, I don’t know about you, but April is the craziest month. I think in the summer, I am going to blog about some tips for organizing Student Council events. Not that I am an expert, but since I’ve done it for about 7 years now, … Read more…
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.
This 3rd grade lesson was related to the Chinese scroll paintings. I have taught this lovely project for several years and I know I saw a version of it online when I first started teaching it. I did some internet digging and this awesome scroll project from Oodles of Art looks like it might have been where I saw it. The students studied Asia in their classroom and we learned a little about Chinese art through a video: Oriental Art- … Read more…
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I was inspired by the polar bears at We Heart Art so I taught a painting project with my 2nd graders. The students could choose to paint either a polar bear or snowman with white paint. Hats, scarves, snow and facial features were drawn on with oil pastels or cut from the scrap box.
This art project is an oldie, but a goodie. I’m not sure where I first saw this project. I think maybe one of the other art teachers taught this lesson in one of my previous school districts. I have seen some lovely variations of this project online. Here is a beautiful one from Pixels and Paintbrushes. It looks like we were both working on them at the same time. 🙂 We began by tracing mitten templates on a piece of … Read more…
These were made by my kindergartners. I have seen a lot of gorgeous heart pictures around the internet lately. None of the techniques we used to make these are brand-new but maybe they are new-to-you! The kids experimented with watercolor pencils on a sheet of paper. They practiced mixing and blending colors. A large heart was traced on to their picture (when dry). Then, these were cut out. We stamped gadgets on the hearts using pink, red, purple and gold … Read more…
Each year, I tend to try something different for Valentine’s Day. I like to spice things up, don’t you? Here are some from the past that I have done. 1. Valentine’s Heart Collages 2. Cool Hands, Warm Heart 3. Easy Clay Hearts for Kindergarten I have made these for Christmas presents, but they would be perfect for Valentine’s Day. 4. Maps of My Heart (by Kindergarten) 5. Styrofoam Printed Valentines Follow @marcia_beckett
Clouds. Aren’t they amazing? Two years ago I took a very helpful watercolor painting class. One of our assignments was to paint clouds. Connecting Art with Science I love to make connections with other subjects. This one is perfect for my 5th/6th grade because in Science class they study cloud identification. They come into my class with a broad understanding of clouds which makes my lesson richer. Clouds and Art Resource The Clouds in Art Gallery is amazing. This gallery … Read more…
I love lessons where I can tie in different areas of study, art history and art techniques! This is a project I developed that incorporates study of frogs, Monet and watercolor painting. To start this project, we learn about the artist Claude Monet and his paintings of ponds and lilypads. We read a book about Monet from the Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists series. (This series is awesome for read-alouds in class. I love the picture books about … Read more…
The Intermediates (grade 3) are studying Africa in their Social Studies class. We learned about the African Korhogo Clothes. See this link for more details. This project focused on how symbols are used in African art. The students designed their own painted Korhogo cloth on muslin. They decorated the border with symbols and drew their main figure with Sharpie. Then, they added paint with watercolor.
This is a lesson I teach every year because the results are so beautiful! Each of the kid’s drawings just turns out wonderful. The 4/5s drew trees to complement their studies in Science class. How can line be used creatively to make a stylized picture? How can oil pastels be used effectively? The students aimed to use line creatively and made stylized art. A focus of the lesson was color mixing, blending and layering of the oil pastel. Steps: Day … Read more…
