4th grade Aurora Borealis landscapes

Thank goodness we live in an age where we can get inspiration from teachers all over the world! Most art teachers are alone in their building, so we do not have the opportunity to collaborate with our peers as much as the other teachers do. I'm so blessed to live in an age where an art teacher clear across the country or world is accessible in mere seconds! We can all share our great ideas, and not have to leave the comfort of our pj's if we don't want to! Anyway.... As I was scrolling through Instagram, I came across this beautiful project from Art with Mrs. E. Her 4th graders did such a great job, I wanted to try it out with ours as well! 

We will be starting this when we come back from Christmas break!

I love this technique of spreading chalk to create the look of the Northern Lights. Here's how I did it.

3rd Grade Ornaments

Last week and this week, third grade was busy getting ready for their music program,  so they needed to practice during specials. (which is fine, just gets us off schedule a bit :) Today we were able to get back on a regular schedule, and were able to start this neat little Christmas picture.
 I wish we had more time to spend on it, but they were able to complete quite a bit in a 45 min class.
(I found this lesson on the Color Like You Mean It blog!)

Blended Candy Canes take II

This year, I decided to try out our favorite Christmas project from last year (4th and 5th Blended Candy Canes), and again they turned out beautifully! Click on the link above to see how to do this fun, easy, and awesome project inspired by Katie Mallette (instagram @katieplus4) The kids are learning about blending, using Crayola oil pastels, and also learning about the Element of Art, Value!

Here are some examples from this year!

Kindergarten Matisse Inspired Goldfish

This week, Kindergarten started their Henri Matisse inspired goldfish bowls. Here's the painting we got our inspiration from! 

1st grade Woven Winter houses

First grade is learning about weaving and is starting their woven winter house, this week! We started by talking about weaving, showing examples of weaving, and discussing the importance of this art form. We also discussed all the different materials you could weave, like thread, fabric, straw, wood, plastic, etc. I told them we were going to start with the basics and weave some paper! ;) 

Decking the Halls!

Here are some adorable doors, from teachers around our school! 

Our halls are merry and bright, thanks to everyone decking out their doors for the upcoming Christmas season! I love how our school comes together to do fun things like this! Makes this time of year even more special! Amazing art, teachers!!!

1st grade Basket of Apples

The past couple of weeks, 1st grade has been working on their basket of apples project! This has quite a few steps for these littles, but they've been doing well!

Here's what we used in this project. 

2 9x12" 90lb paper for the apples and background

(or construction paper for the background)

little apple tracers

pencils, black crayons, white pastels, construction paper crayons

tempera cakes

4x6 brown paper

3rd Grade Sandra Silberzweig Portraits

This week, 3rd grade will be starting their Sandra Silberzweig inspired portraits. These portraits were also inspired by the awesome artwork of Cassie Stephens' students in Nashville!

Here's an example of Sandra Silberzweig's art!

I love the vibrant colors and designs she adds to her portraits!

Here's how we did it!

4th Grade Fall or Winter Birch Trees

This week 4th grade will start their fall birch tree painting! We create these by using....

3rd grade Gustav Klimt Trees

Last week, 3rd grade started their Gustav Klimt inspired trees. Originally, we were going to paint 

Kindergarten Apples! 🍎

This week, Kindergarten started working on their color mixing apple project! We got our inspiration from the website Deep Space Sparkle, and decided to make our own!
Here's how we did it!

2nd grade Fall reflections

This week, 2nd grade started their Fall reflection paintings. These were created in just a few steps.

This project was inspired by,

Lauralee Chambers . You can check her work out on Instagram, if you click on her name.

Here's how we created ours. 

Kindergarten Fall Trees

This week, Kindergarten embarked on a whole new frontier in the art room...PAINTING! This may not sound very challenging, but believe me it can be. Luckily, this entire Kindergarten class is a dream, and they have done so well their first day experimenting with this medium. We also, are using something else new to them, called oil pastels. These are like thick, creamy crayons. They're one of my favorite mediums to use in the art room.  Here's how we created them!

This project just took one 45 minute art class.

This week in Art!

I'm LOVING the fall projects we've been working on! The students are doing a GrrrrrEAT job! Mrs. Stacey is so very proud of all their hard work, perseverance, and creativity that they have been applying to their awesome art!

4th Grade Spooky Sky Value Paintings

This week 4th grade will start their Spooky Sky value paintings!

Here's how we created ours!

1st Grade Van Gogh Sunflowers

First grade has been working on their Van Gogh sunflowers for a couple of weeks now. This is a challenging lesson for them, but they're doing well! We're getting our inspiration from Vincent Van Gogh's painting, Fourteen Sunflowers 1888. 

Day 1: 

Kindergarten Pumpkins!

Today we started the cutest little pumpkins in the patch with Kindergarten, and they did such a great job! I love all their toothy grins! We made these in under 45 minutes too! It was a super fun one day project, that fit in many skills! We even had a couple of extra minutes to paint the next class some orange paper to use! Whew!! :D

To create these pumpkins....

5th Grade Printmaking Calaveras 💀 or Sugar Skulls

 For the past few art classes, 5th grade has been working on their printmaking project, and learning about the Mexican holiday, Dia de los muertos. Calaveras, or skulls, are one of the many symbols of this meaningful holiday, and will be the subject matter for this project! We will be learning about the customs of this time and how it celebrates the memory of loved ones, no longer here. There are a lot of colorful decorations such as, candles, flowers, food, photographs, that decorate the "ofrendas" of their loved ones. You will see many calaveras that are covered in designs and color, in the decor, and that is where we're getting our inspiration from. We're also learning about another country's culture in the process, which is one of our art standards! Here is a great website that further describes the customs of this day

Dia De los Muertos facts

Here is the process by which these artworks are created!

2nd Grade Starry Night Pumpkins 🎃

This week, we looked at the art of Vincent Van Gogh, talked about the Element of Art, VALUE, and started creating these cute lil pumpkin paintings! Here's Van Gogh's painting, we were inspired by. 
Starry Night

Here's how we did it!

Kindergarten Line Sculptures

This week, Kindergarten is learning about lines, and they're creating their very own line sculpture! I love how well they are listening, how hard they are working, and how unique each little sculpture is! We got our inspiration from, a super fun art teacher in Nashville, Cassie Stephens. Click on her name, and you'll be transported to her UH-MAZING blog.

This project was done in one 45 minute class, so the students were able to take their art home today! I had the strips already cut out, demonstrated how to glue them down on my document camera, and then let them take the reins! I think they did a wonderful job! Here are a few of their finished examples. Great job Kindergarten!!

3rd grade Dia de los Muertos Cats

Today we started our Dia de los Muertos cats! This project was inspired by the folk art from Mexico, and another fabulous art teacher on the blog Paintbrush Rocket. Mrs. Stacey discussed this holiday, and showed examples of the beautiful art and decor centered around this special time. We also saw examples of this holiday in current cartoons like Elena of Avalor, and the moive The Book of Life. We learned that Dia de los Muertos or Day of the dead, is a Hispanic holiday that celebrates the memory of our loved ones. We talked about how all the use of bright colors, flowers, candles, food, and art make this a festive time, instead of a sad one. Here's how we create our own Dia de los muertos gatos!

This week in ART!

This week in ART, we are creating some really fun things! 

Kindergarten & 1st grade Owls

Today, due to an early release schedule, specials are only 30 minutes long. So, Mrs. Stacey did a directed drawing (teaching how to draw something step-by-step on the screen) with Kindergarten and 1st. They didn't have time to color, but they did such a WONDERFUL job!! Mrs. Stacey is so proud of these awesome little artists! Here are some fabulous examples!

3rd Grade Dot Paintings!

Last week, 3rd grade celebrated National Dot Day, by creating their own dot paintings! The Dot, is a book written by Peter Reynolds, and is about a young girl who's frustrated in art class, and says she can't draw. Her teacher says, "Make a dot, and see where it takes you." The student does, and realizes that she is capable of making great art, all she had to do was try! Here's how we create our own!

1st Grade Butterflies 🦋

For the past couple of weeks, first grade has been putting a lot of effort into creating butterflies, inspired by the author and artist, Eric Carle. We read The Hungry Caterpillar, and saw all his beautiful illustrations like the following. 

Eric Carle first paints his paper, 

and then uses that paper to create his art! That's what we did too! The students painted their own paper. One was supposed to be warm colors, (Red, Orange, & Yellow) and the other sheet was supposed to be cool colors (blue, purple, & green). After their sheets were dry, the next time they came to art, we started drawing the pieces and gluing them on our background. The students did all the cutting and drawing by themselves, with no tracers! They just followed Mrs. Stacey's lead, and did what she did. That's quite a challenge for these little ones!

 They prevailed though and did a great job! Here are some of their finished pieces! 

3rd Grade Painted Paper Parrots

The first day in art class this year, we painted paper, like the artist and author Eric Carle, to use for lessons like this!

The first day in art, I talk BRIEFLY about the rules and procedures. Spending the entire class on rules and procedures is torture for the both of us! After we go over the basic rules, and what procedures we're going to use that day we PAINT PAPER!

I have 7 tables in my art room, and each table receives their own color of paint to paint their 12x18 paper. I put yellow construction paper under their paintings, and that was the start of our colorful place mats. They used large brushed to spread and mix the colors on their 90 lb Sax multimedia paper. After they painted their paper, they were allowed to go get tools to create designs and texture on their painted papers. We have plastic combs and different sponges, and sponge brushes to do this.  Some took the entire class to finish one piece, others made at least two! I reminded them that this is community painted paper, and they will not be getting back their painted paper, but someone will be using it to create a future project. Never had anyone complain. They don't care, they just LOVE to paint!
3rd grade used their painted paper to create these fantastic parrots! I demonstrated how to draw the body parts on the back of their pieces of painted paper, and then they drew them out themselves. They drew out all the body parts on the back of the painted papers, so in case they make a mistake it won't show up on the front! Then they cut them out, and assembled them on the blue construction paper. I love the vibrant colors they chose! Great job third grade!!