2nd Grade Chalk Pastel Landscapes

Who doesn't love a good glue and chalk pastel project now and again? This ones an oldie but goodie...Simply use glue to 'draw' the landscap or object of your choosing, let dry, and fill in with the chalks!  As my students would say, "easy peasy lemon squeezy", and the results almost always look great.

1st grade Starry Nights

 

 I created this lesson on the fly, class by class deciding the change things up a little as I went.  Overall the lesson was focused on line, texture, and shape.  I had a few classes create the background (sky) on black paper with chalk pastels and glitter and then I changed it up and had the remaining classes work on white paper with oil pastels and water color resit.  I like the white paper resist better you see the variety of lines better and the is more vibrant than the chalks.  Under the sky, I  took a period and had students use bubble wrap and paint scrapers to create various textures in the same blues, greens, and purples.  The following period the kids used that paper to create different buildings.  For last details students used neon paint over the top half to create different kinds of lines and then markers to add details like windows, roofs, sidewalks, and trees to their buildings.

My 3rd graders are such a SCREAM!

Evdard Munch is not necessarily the most appropriate artist to study for elementary art students, but his series of 'Screams' is an instantly recognizable and hugely famous work of art.  In terms of the artist himself, I teach my kids some facts about his life and how Expressionism is a style of art that emphasizes color as a way to show the artists feelings as opposed to simply copying colors observed from real life.  I have included the PowerPoint I used for the project below:

 

Edvard Munch Presentation

More PowerPoint presentations from Artmuse

Overall, I LOVED this project...Out of all the projects I've taught over 5 years, this is definitely one of my favorites.  What was great about this project was that everyone came out with great results. Because the painting could be abstract and slightly 'messy', the end results were great no matter how neatly or precise each student painted.  My students that tend to rush through their projects or who don't necessarily pay attention to details in their work even had great result.  One of the most effective aspects of the project was the last step which constituted layering some oil pastels on top of the paint which really helped to emphasize line and movement within the work. Also, the photo's of the silly student faces really added humor and interest to the artworks. Here are a few of the finished pieces:

Underwater Jellyfish-4th Grade

I got this lesson from the website Create Art With Me. I can't take any credit for the lesson, I pretty much followed it as it was written on the website.  It's a great website and a great lesson, I highly recommend it!  This Michelle!

Bulletin Boards

Here are 3 bulletin boards for 3 projects my students recently did...4th grade Native American paper pots, 2nd grade Dali inspired Surreal elephants, and 1st grade sunflower still-life paintings..Enjoy :)

1st Grade Sunflower Still-Life Paintings

 

As part of first grades Van Gogh unit, I put together this simple still-life and discussed with the students that for this project they would have to use their observational skills to replicate the group of sunflowers.  I tried the project a few different ways, with a few different media (all on 16x20" white paper).   In some classes I had the students outline their drawings in black acrylic paint, and in some I had them outline their drawing with black sharpie. I also had a few classes use tempera for the whole picture and some used crayons for their background. At first I liked the crayon background better, but on second thought, I think I like the tempera the best, it has more 'pop'!

 Here are the results.

Aztec Meets Modern Masks

As a culminating project to end our (very long) Aztec art unit, my fifth graders created decorative clay masks that integrate Aztec features with the modern masks of mask maker Kimmy Cantrell. 

I showed students images of Aztec masks, and then images of masks by Kimmy Cantrell.

     

 We discussed how by manipulating the features of the face, an artist can elicit certain emotions.  We also discussed the idea of asymmetrical versus symmetrical face forms and how shape, size, and texture can change the overall appearance of the mask. Students were challenged to design an mask digitally, using the Pixie program and then create their mask in clay.  As they worked, they had the option of changing their mask from their sketch or keeping it the same or similar.  Here are a few examples:

First Grade Sunflowers Display Case

As I was putting up the display case today at work everyone that passed by said "Oh, how lovely...It reminds me of Spring...I wish it was Spring"  (considering that the weather forecast was calling for a BLIZZARD TONIGHT) lol.  Oh well, here's a display case to remind us of the warm and sunny days soon to come! :) If you would like to see the original post on how the sunflowers were created you can click HeRe

Art Bytes-Sites to checkout

Here are some great websites I found from the "tech4arted" article of the January 2013 edition of school arts: This months theme was 'Place'

Imaging walking into M.C. Escher's Ascending and Descending...Better yet, have your students imagine it, and then show it to them!

'Tribute to Escher'




The website 360Cities is a pretty cool site in and of itself and is worth checking out

Next up is the site Build Your Wild Self , sponsored by the New York Zoo's and Aquariums, which I LOVED! The best part for me is that at the very end when you are finished it tells you a little about the features you have chosen to create your 'wild self' This would be a fantastic jumping off point for a surreal project or a science collaboration!






 Third is the American Visionary Art Museum Website.  A treasure trove of unique folksy art.






Lastly we have the Washington Post's First Ever "Peep" Show- a contest of creative dioramas inspired by everyone's favorite yellow marshmellows: Peeps.  These are toooooo cute! (Side note: not every image is 'child-appropriate)