2nd grade Square 1 art Cardinals

              

Our 2nd graders have been hard at work creating these beautiful winter cardinals for our Square 1 Art fundraiser! This project took two days to complete and was such a fun way to combine drawing, painting, and mixed media.

Students started by sketching their cardinal in pencil, then outlined their work with sharpie markers. Next, they added details with oil pastels before finishing with bright tempera paint backgrounds to make their birds pop.

The results are stunning—each student created a unique and colorful winter scene! Best of all, the fundraiser helps us purchase new art supplies so our young artists can keep exploring and creating all year long.

We’re so proud of their hard work and can’t wait to see their art come to life on keepsakes for families!

Here's how we made them!

2nd grade cardboard castle prints

This week in art class, our amazing 2nd graders studied the colorful, geometric work of Swiss-German artist Paul Klee— especially his painting “Castle and Sun.” Klee loved using shapes, color, and imagination to build dreamy cities and abstract scenes.

Take a look at his original masterpiece below:

Paul Klee, “Castle and Sun,” 1928

Sweet Treats & Bold Colors: Wayne Thiebaud-Inspired Ice Cream Art

This week in our elementary art room, we dove into the colorful world of Wayne Thiebaud, an American artist known for his whimsical, dessert-themed paintings full of rich color, bold shadows, and delicious detail. Our young artists created their own vibrant ice cream cone drawings using oil pastels on black construction paper, and the results are as sweet as the inspiration!

This lesson came from the fabulous art teacher Joel Scholten! You can download his ice cream templates here!  

Kindergarten & Pre-K Fall Tree Paintings

 

Isn't that little smile just adorable? He was so proud of his art, and the kids had so much fun making them! 

This was Kindergarten's first experience with paint, and I thought they did a great job! 

Here's how we made them!

I cut a 90lb 12 x 18" piece of paper in half. First, I demonstrated how to draw the grass and trees, 

using Crayola Oil Pastels. Then, I showed them how to "dip & dot, dot, dot" with  my Crayola Tempera paint  & my  Royal Langnickel paintbrush! 

After that, they were ready to make their own! 

Here's some sweet examples from today.

Here are some Pre-K examples too! (this is my first year teaching Pre-K btw) 

3rd grade Oil Pastel Snowmen at Night

3rd grade has been working on this project, inspired by the book, Snowmen At Night, for the past couple of weeks now, and I had to share how they're doing! This was one of my last art on a cart lessons, so I thought it might be helpful for art on a cart folks, or just someone looking for a simple, but beautiful wintry lesson.  Here's how we made them! By the way...This lesson was inspired by A Faithful Attempt art blog! Look em' up! :)

Beautiful 3rd grade Beehives!

Last month, 3rd grade started this little project, after I was inspired by the Instagram post of the incredible art teacher, Ms. Rogers! You can check out her IG here! I believe they painted their backgrounds, but since we're still art on a cart this year, we had to improvise! 

Here's how we created ours!

2nd grade Pablo Picasso Portraits

Last week, 2nd grade started their Pablo Picasso portrait lesson! We learned about his life and art, and the art movement, Cubism. I was inspired by The Artsy Art Room, and wanted to create something similar with our students! Btw, we're still on a cart!! No news as to when the portable will be ready yet!

Here's how we created ours! 

2nd grade Monet Water Lilies Chalk Print

Today, 2nd grade will start this new artwork, which is inspired by the artist, Claude Monet, and the art teacher Crystal Dunn! You can check out both artists, by clicking on their names! 

Here's how we created ours!

1st grade Snowy Penguins

This week, we're finishing up day 1 of our precious lil penguins! I found this beautiful idea on Mary Making's blog!  This project incorporates watercolor painting, drawing, value, and oil pastels. 

Here's how we created ours! 

Colorful 5th grade Self Portraits

Last week, I was inspired by the great Cassie Stephens yet again! Her 4th graders have been creating some Fauvist style self-portraits, and I thought our 5th graders would be great at it to! Here's the link to her original post on the topic! In the Art Room: 4th Grade Fauves

3rd grade Oil Pastel faux Batik pumpkins

This week, 3rd grade is trying something new! I found this on A Faithful Attempt blog, and wanted to try it with our students! 

Here's how we created ours!

Kindergarten Line Painting Monsters

This week, kindergarten continued their exploration of line, and started these fun line paintings! We used a new medium, to them, oil pastels and tempera cakes. 😄 Here's how we did it!

2nd Grade Charley Harper Raccoons

Today, 2nd grade will be starting their Charley Harper inspired Raccoons! This project came from the fabulous teacher, Cassie Stephens, and you can find her original post here!

Here's how we will make our own!

3-5th grade Kandinsky inspired mural

This week and part of next week, we're in testing mode!( I'm still in the getting ready for the art show mode!!) 

With a different schedule and shorter classes, we've got to adapt and make it work! :) We're doing that by learning about a famous artist (Wassily Kandinsky), learning what a mural is, making some awesome art, and creating a backdrop for our photobooth for our annual art and music show, Night of the Arts! 

I got this idea from another art teacher, Mrs. Lynes', and wanted to try it out with our kiddos!

Here's how we made our own! 

5th grade Origami Dragon Eyes

5th grade is finishing up their Chinese New Year kites, so it's time for a new project! I thought we'd go in a more 3-d direction, and create some origami dragon eyes! The kids LOVE origami, and these aren't too complicated to do! I was cruising Pinterest, and found Krokotek's blog about creating origami eyes, and thought I'd try it too. & Sabrina Wingren, with A Space to Create Art, has this project for sale in her TPT store, if you'd like to purchase additional details of this project. There are also dozens of youtube videos, showing how to make similar reptile/dragon eyes, if my videos aren't sufficient. :) 

Here's how we made them and a sample of my students' work! 

Kindergarten Radiating Design Hearts

Kindergarten completed their exploding hearts this week, so it's time to create something new! I thought it'd be fun for them to learn how to cut out a heart, and use patterns, lines, and paint to create a work of art around their heart!

3rd grade Amate Bark Painting

This week, 3rd grade is starting their Amate Bark Paintings! This art form comes from Mexico, and the Otomi & Nahua people.  They create the paper by hand, like their ancestors did long, long ago. Birds, animals, flowers, plants, and scenes from everyday life, make up the subject matter in their art, which is very bright and colorful! Here's how we created our own!

We create this project using:

9x12" Brown tru-ray construction paper

Sharpie markers

pencils

Crayola Oil Pastels

Day 1: Watch a short Power Point presentation about Amate bark painting, talk about the art, and practice drawing a bird and flowers with Mrs. Stacy

Day 2: Draw their final art on their brown paper. We typically draw with a pencil first, trace with a marker, on most of our art. After they trace, they'll crumple their paper up before they color with the oil pastels. I get them to crumple up their paper about 4 times. Don't let them crumple or unfold their too fast, or it will rip. I few tears around the edge are fine though, and are bound to happen. 

After it's nice and wrinkled, they can start to color. I stress to them that they have to color dark, to cover up the brown spaces. I tell them we want this to look like we painted it!

After they finish coloring, they will trace with a black pastel. 

Here's some awesome student art!

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