1st Grade Winter Trees

First grade students created these gorgeous trees in hopes of a little snow before our winter break (which unfortunately didn't happen).  The students first practiced drawing trees building branches on top of branches...no broccoli trees!!!  Once comfortable, the students then painted their trees and snow using white paint on blue paper.  Using light blue paint, the students added subtle shadows on the trees and ground.  I was so impressed with the first graders for their effort in creating more realistic looking trees!

Kindergarten Owls

Oh my goodness, these owls turned out so adorable!  Although it was tedious and time-consuming tearing the paper, the Kindergarten students were very patient and the results were well worth it...and great practice in developing fine motor skills!  On black paper, the students drew two ovals, one for the head and the other for the body.  Next, they tore quarter-size pieces of a variety of brown construction paper for the feathers.  Lastly, they added eyes, a beak, and feet.  Check out the last picture for the artwork display. 

Thanks to Wallenpaupack North Primary School's Arsonia page for inspiring this project. 

6th Grade Australian Aborigine Dot Paintings

Sixth grade students were put to the patience test with these incredible dot paintings.  The students examined a variety of Australian Aborigine dot paintings, noting common symbols and animal themes.  Using the the end of a paintbrush, the students painstakingly painted the dots.  I'd say that the time and patience it took was well worth it!

5th Grade Bald Eagle Oil Pastel Drawings

Fifth grade students these bald eagle flag drawings to celebrate Veteran's Day.  They were given a piece of black construction paper and then drew a partial bald eagle on one side or the other and added the flag stripes with pencil.  They were allowed to look at several examples of bald eagle photographs for this.  Next, they traced over the pencil lines with white school glue and let the artwork dry overnight.  Using oil pastel, they colored between the glue lines (and let me tell you that we went through a TON of white and red oil pastels.  Lastly we added a subtle shadows and shading around the head of the eagle.

2nd Grade Fall Trees

Another huge thank you to my student teaching supervising teacher for the inspiration for this project.  Second grade students studied the Elements of Art Color and Space for this artwork.  Using size variation and overlapping, they created the illusion of space.  The details were colored with crayons, the background with watercolor paints, and the leaves with sponge-painted tempera in warm colors.  This is one of my favorite projects to do with second grade because they are so successful!