Just Lovely

I am SO  impressed with my second graders.  They blow me away with every project we do.  They are just amazingly creative!!! This is an observational lesson where the students had to look at the flowers and draw what they actually see rather than what they think they see!  We practiced color mixing as well.  The results were just beautiful.

The Scream by Edvard Munch

The first lesson of the year for 5th grade was all about teamwork.  I gave every student a tiny square of the painting The Scream by Edvard Munch, and I asked them to produce their square on larger paper.  They used oil pastels and learned how to color blend.  In the end, we put them all together and then compared it to the actual painting.  It was really neat to see how each class interpreted it differently.

Travel to Tibet

In Tibet, the Prayer flags are meant to bless the countryside, so we decided to bring positive vibes into our art room with our own version!  The traditional Prayer flags are made using the three primary colors.  I bought really fun Japanese paper that bleeds when color is added to it.  The students were allowed to use the three primary colors and discover the secondary colors that they made when the colors bled together!

Color Theory

I wanted to teach a seasonal lesson involving Color Theory.  This 4th grade lesson was really fun to teach.  I started with a review of the color wheel (primary, secondary, analogous, complementary colors) Then we talked about tints and shades and I showed them some artwork painted in all tints and shades.   Oh, the power of one color (plus black or white..of course!)

I made this lesson really fun by challenging the students to make the lightest tint of orange and the darkest shade of orange.  I told them I would choose my "Art Star"  based on who could do it the best!

A great tip for this lesson is to make them draw 6 lines (seven spaces) for their pumpkin, so they all have the same number of tints and shades.

Paint a Pumpkin Raffle

A fun way to get your school some money!

My very first post

One of my first lessons with the Kindergarten kiddy's...to celebrate our new Eastern Painted Turtle friend in the science room! 

Every Kindergarten and 1st grade lesson that I teach will start with a story.  For this lesson I read the book How the Turtle Got it's Shell by Justine Fontes. 

 Before working as an Art Teacher, I worked at an Aquarium where we try very hard to teach children that turtles can NOT leave their shell...but the story was too cute to pass up.  (Plus I tell them that turtles can't really leave their shells...just to make myself feel better! )

The kids had a lot of fun giving the turtle a colorful shell.  A good tip for this lesson is watered down glue in cups with paintbrushes..it's just easier that way!