Kinder O'Keeffe Flowers

This is an adaptation of the project that I did with my kindergarten students last year.

Last year's projects: Kindergarten Georgia O'Keeffe

This year:

I decided to cut the paper in half this year and gave each student a 9 x 12" piece of watercolor paper. The size was much more manageable for painting.

When the flowers were dry, I gave each student a template to trace onto the back of their flower. We learned how to hold our scissors and they cut the general shape of a flower from their painting.

I had them glue these onto a piece of black paper.

They added details to their flower with crayons (I think I need to go back to using oil pastels for this part- the crayons did not show up as well as I would have like them to).

Then I gave the students 2 small pieces of green paper and showed them how to cut them into the shape of a leaf.

They glued these on ("just a dot, not a lot") and here are our finished products. Again, thanks to Mr. E for the inspiration on this one!

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PreKinder Navajo Sand Paintings

I repeated this project from last year:

PreKinder Navajo Blankets

This year, I made the "sand" more vibrant by adding much more food coloring to the white cornmeal and rubbing alcohol. The brighter colors look so much nicer!

I set up 6 stations on the patio outside of my room with 5 bottles of glue. I demonstrated to the students how to create a line of glue and "Sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle" (hearing 25 little voices whispering these words as they worked was priceless) the colored sand onto the glue line. They shook the excess off into the containers and then moved to their next color choice.

By having the students physically move from color to color this year, it helped keep the colors separate. Last year, each station had all of the colors in it and by the end, they were just a big rainbow of sand.

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Display Easels

This is an idea that I found originally on Pinterest.

I made these easels out of corrugated cardboard by cutting a 2 basic L shapes with my exacto knife. I taped them together with my fun duct tape.

To make them more fun, I have set it up an activity for the students to work on when they are finished with their work. They get an easel and decorate it using whatever materials they choose. The only stipulation is that they must demonstrate symmetry on the easel so that both sides are exactly the same.

My idea for these easels is that I will be using them at the end of the year for my Fine Arts Museum Night. I have around 800 pieces of art to display and I was short on space last year. I am hoping that the easels will help alleviate some of this.

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Fifth Grade Mandalas

I have done this mandala lesson for a couple of years, but have adapted it this year to allow the students some choice in their final product.

Here are some examples from previous years:

Fifth Grade Mandalas

I start out by showing the students this PowerPoint I found:



The students then had to plan their project in their sketchbooks. I had them decide on which project they wanted to do:

folded paper (to create 8 sections)
folded paper with a CD in the middle
print
hexagon

They had to decide if they were going to use geometric or organic shapes for their design and then which color scheme they wanted to use: primary, secondary, complementary or monochromatic.

While they were working on their plans, I began meeting with each group and helped them get started with the initial steps in their projects- folding paper, using compasses, dividing up their Styrofoam for their prints, etc.

As the project progressed, I met with the different groups to discuss their next step. How they needed to add color- using markers, Color Sticks, crayons, ink, etc.; how to build their hexagon, etc.

The students seemed to really enjoy that their projects had the chance of being completely different than everyone else in the class. I am really hoping that as we go along, they will start to think outside of the box and present ideas to me as to what they would like to do.

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First Grade Picasso

First grade did this project last year, however, this year, I have adapted it. Our district is really working towards varied outcomes this year, so I am trying to give the students more choices in their projects. This is easier on some projects than others.

Here is how I did it for this particular project:

Last year, everyone did a watercolor Picasso project:
First Grade Picasso

This year, everyone drew a Picasso portrait. They all chose their color scheme (warm or cool) and then I gave them 3 choice for how they could add color:

liquid watercolor
Crayola Color Sticks
oil pastels

They followed their color scheme to color their entire project. Here are some of the results:

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