Kindergarten Jasper Johns Inspired Number Paintings

This has to have been the most messy project I've ever taught.  Sometimes I think to myself, "Why in the world am I doing THIS with KINDERGARTEN?!"  But when the project is finished and I see the end result, I'm so glad I went ahead and persevered through the mess. 

Day 1:  Kindergarteners studied the art of Jasper Johns, specifically his number paintings.  I drew a "tic-tac-toe" grid on their paper and they added the numbers 1-9 inside the grid.  Choosing one color of tempera paint, they painted over their numbers. 

Day 2:  Trying to eliminate dirty water and dirty paint colors, we started with yellow, and they painted around three of the numbers, then three more with orange, and the last three with red.  I gave them clean water again, and they used green, blue, and then purple. 

Day 3:  Starting back at yellow, they filled in the empty spaces around the numbers.

1st Grade Spring Chicks

First Grade had the awesome opportunity to experience chicks hatching in their classrooms, and I thought this would be a perfect project to connect to what they had learned.  We started out becoming experts on texture.  We talked about how baby chicks felt and how they looked like they felt.  I had the students go on a "Texture Scavenger Hunt" where they made crayon rubbings of all the textures they could find in the art room.

To make the chicks, I had the students use sponges in clothespins and a little white and yellow acrylic paint on light blue construction paper (I found that the yellow tempera paint I have is a little thin and didn't create the intense yellow I wanted).  As they were sponge painting, I told the students it was like they were creating a 2-part snowman.  Once the paint was dry, the students added the eyes and legs with black marker, the beak with orange colored pencil, the wings with a darker yellow paint, and the grass with green paint.

Thanks to For the Love of Art for the inspiration for this adorable project!

5th Grade Impressionism Paintings

Fifth grade students studied Claude Monet and Impressionism for this project.  They quickly identified a few characteristics of Impressionism from examples I provided (bright color, visible brushstrokes, a "fuzzy" appearance).  I can't say our school has a very inspiring landscape, so I gave the students some pictures from old calendars to use as inspiration for their paintings.  (I wanted to attach the photos for you to compare, but wasn't sure about posting someone's photograph, so I just left them off to be safe.)

Here's where a little poor planning on my part comes in.  I didn't order enough supplies for the entire year!!!  I was running dangerously low on paints and painting paper, but had quite a few sets of tempera cakes and construction paper.  So that's what we used, and I'll have to say that they didn't turn out half bad. :)

First, I had the students sketch out the very BASIC parts of their chosen inspiration.  With this kind of paint, I thought it was best to have the students paint in layers so they didn't have to do too much mixing.  On the last layer, the students added some shadows and highlights.  Not too bad for tempera cake paint!  

6th Grade Cherry Blossom Branches

The weather around here has just been fantastic over the last month or so and the trees are starting to blossom early!  Also, The National Cherry Blossom Festival kicked off on March 20th in Washington, D.C.  I wish I could say I am the ultimate planner, but it was just coincidence I needed a quick project for my 6th graders to complete at the end of the grading period AND the trees were starting to blossom.  This made for the PERFECT project!

We started this project with a quick discussion on the history and significance of the Cherry Blossom Tree.  Next, the students traced a circle for the moon and painted the background a light blue with "homemade" watercolor paint.  (At the end of the year last year, I made this with old and dried up markers, water, and a few drops of isopropyl alcohol.)  The students then practiced making the branches using black ink and blowing through a straw.  Once comfortable with their practice branches, they made branches on the blue painted paper.  They then went back to their practice page and practiced a few blossoms using acrylic paint, and then painted the blossoms again on the final painting.  Lastly, we discussed Japanese artists using a "chop," or a signature, and the students added their own personal chop.

Thanks to A Faithful Attempt for the inspiration for this project.  I can't tell you how many "Ooohs and Aaaahs" I heard while hanging these paintings! :)

Kindergarten Spider Webs and Spiders

Some background:  This project was the result of an incredibly messy painting project I started with Kindergarten a few weeks ago.  I walked out of school that day with paint just about everywhere and decided on the spot to hold this project for a month or so while I recovered my sanity!  I started a Jasper Johns inspired number painting with the kids, which I have done (and successfully!) in previous years.  Due to time constraints this year, I'm finding myself rushing through procedures and demonstrations so that the students have time to work.  Maybe my lack of direction at the beginning of the project or my weak procedure reinforcement caused the mess...or maybe I just have extra messy kids this year!

So, I scrambled to find a non-messy project for the Kindergarteners and stumbled across these very colorful spiderwebs on Art with Mr. E's blog.  Perfect.  Drawing and coloring, while reinforcing their knowledge of pattern.  I always attempt to tweak the art projects I find, so I had the students make colorful spiders out of Model Magic to attach at the end.   

Maybe we should have had a conversation about REAL colorful spiders and their poisonous attributes as I overheard a parent in the hallway talking about this very thing.  Oh well...



1st Grade Painted Lions

First grade painted these adorable lions.  As we were drawing, we discussed shapes and showing emotion just by changing the shape of the eyes.  Most students chose to create some pretty ferocious lions!

The students followed along with me in drawing the very basic parts of their lion using black crayon on brown paper.  They were able to choose the emotion they wanted to express.  Once drawn, the students were given small cups of various shades of brown tempera paint.  We painted the lion's mane first, and the face last.  Lastly, they traced with black crayon over their original crayon lines.

Thanks to John Post for this adorable project inspiration!

6th Grade Victorian Houses

Sixth grade students studied the Victorian style of architecture to create these beautiful Victorian Houses.  The students looked at several pictures of the Victorian style to identify common characteristics.  Although not every drawing posted is true to the Victorian style, I believe the students should be able to put their own spin in their drawings.