Art Blog Directory

I can't believe there are so many art education blogs out there.  Check out this directory.  It's a few years old but I clicked on a few of the links and they are still current.  Looks like a great resource.  Here is the link:  http://vividlayers.blogspot.com/2010/12/art-teacher-blog-directory.html

Clay Orbs

One of my favorite artists from Durham, NH is Jane Kaufman. I love her orbs,  they are these organic spheres made from clay. She makes them in all different sizes. Her website is great and I love sharing it with my students.  She shares where the ideas for her work come from. I think it's important for students to see the process of an artist.  Check it out:  http://www.janekaufmann.com/orbs/index.html  

She has some great whimsical clay characters too.

Third grade students created their own Winter Landscape orbs.  We used 2 circular slabs of clay and newspaper to create the orbs.  We talked about how to transfer our two dimensional sketches onto our three dimensional forms. 

Artwork with a Medieval Theme

Second grade students had fun creating artwork with a Medieval theme.  I found two of these great lessons at one of my favorite blogs, Deep Space Sparkle.  Here is the link for the painted royalty lesson and you can also find her castle collage lesson there too.  
http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/2012/01/09/fairy-tale-kings-and-queens-art-project/

It was fun creating artwork with the same theme using different materials; collage, clay and tempera paint.  

 

Model Magic People

First grade students worked with model magic clay creating these fun clay people.  We talked about different ways that we could roll, pinch, or stretch the clay to make the body parts.  We also talked about the difference between 2D and 3D artwork.  I love using model magic with my students.  It is a fun, non-messy way to practice handbuilding techniques.  

Van Gogh Chairs

    

Fourth grade students looked at Vincent van Gogh's chair paintings and then created their own.  We talked about how to draw and color something so that it looks three dimensional.  We also experimented with our cray-pa, blending and creating textures.  Each student added personal touches to their pictures with objects that represent hobbies or favorite things.  

Painting Challenge

I saw this idea on Pinterest and decided to give my third grade students this challenge and they loved it.  Here is the link where I saw the lesson:  http://www.teachkidsart.net/mixing-100-colors/.  Each student was given the primary colors plus white and asked to see how many colors they could come up with.  At first it seemed impossible but once they took a look at the color wheel and were reminded that they could mix different shades of colors they were off and mixing up a ton of new colors.  They really had a blast and learned a lot about color theory.  

Straw Weaving

Each year in our school first and fourth grade students participate in a feast.  The first graders are Pilgrims and the fourth grade students are the Native americans.  They gather together to share a snack, sing songs and bring a handmade gifts.  In art class the fourth grade students made straw weavings to wear to the feast.  The weavings took a long time but the kids love them.  They also worked on them in their classroom during snack or quiet reading time.  If you have never tried straw weaving before it's a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed it.  You could do 3 straws and make a bracelet.  That would be quick and still give students the chance to learn the weaving technique.  

Fun with Texture

First grade students had fun learning about texture by pressing objects into slabs of clay.  It is always so exciting to see the impressions that the different objects make.  Some of the favorites were the plastic bugs and bead necklaces.  This is part of our texture unit.  We created rubbings from objects around the room and texture plates, these clay bowls and also experimented with creating textures on  paper by rolling, crumpling and folding.  We used the textured paper to create relief sculptures.

                 

                       
                
Examples of Paper Texture Sculptures Grade 1

Radial Symmetry

I love creating radial designs with my students.  This is a lesson that I saw awhile ago and always wanted to do with my students.   The Students created one section of their design using lines that connect to the sides of the shape and then traced them onto their remaining pieces.  I asked students to choose a color scheme for their designs.  We talked about warm and cool colors, primary and secondary colors, complementary colors and analogous colors.  While students were working on their designs we took turns using the Doodle Dandy app on the ipad.  This is a fun app that allows students to create all different kinds of radial designs.  You can change the pen size, color, and number of symmetry.  The kids loved it.  At the end of the lesson we used the ipads and the infuse learning website to review our knowlege of color schemes.  Infuse learning is an ipad student response system.  I love it because I can display an image onto my smartboard, ask my students questions and they can draw onto that image on the ipad to show me their understanding.  I projected a color wheel onto my smartboard and asked my students some questions like; circle the warm colors or put an X onto the primary colors.  The students had fun and I got to see what they learned about color.

 

Pumpkin Paintings- Tempera and ipads

Second grade students were painting pumpkins.  We talked about how we could use value to make our pumpkins look more three-dimensional.  Students painted their pumpkins using light, medium and dark shades of orange.  We also talked about blending the colors together using our paintbrush.  I found a free painting app on the ipad called Hello Oil Painter.  The students were able to practice the same painting techniques on the ipad without the mess.  The app is really amazing.  It has a paint palette and you can virtually mix colors just like you would with real paint.

Sketchbooks

Fourth grade students just finished making their own sketchbooks and they came out great.  We tried a different type this year.  The students really enjoyed making them.  We will keep them in our class and use them throughout the year for sketching and free time drawings.  These are a great size to keep as a travel or summer journal too.