End of year projects... Part Four

During the last weeks of school, I try to give the teachers a lot of different ideas for the final art projects of the year. I adapt each lesson to fit what the teacher needs, and many teachers selected different art projects. All of the art projects tied in with either the science, social studies or language arts core. Mrs. Purdy's 3rd grade class learned how to do a very creative art technique adapted from the Zentangle Teacher Training class I attended in Massachusetts. For this fun art lesson, we used large paper and markers. First we just wrote our name using our very best handwriting, then we added an aura around our name and finally we learned how to create "Mooka" ... a free flowing tangle pattern. Simply beautiful! The children had a lot of fun with this project.
Ms. Jacobson's class learned about the Aztec Indians and created beautiful foil masks using silver foil and wooden sticks to draw the designs. The children added a variety of pattern and texture to their masks. Once finished, we carefully cut the mask out and mounted it on heavy cardstock.
Mrs. Bostick's 3rd grade class did a similar project, but they chose to focus on butterflies. We studied the beautiful symmetry of the butterfly and looked at actual photographs of butterflies. Each child sketched a butterfly in their sketchbook and they traced it lightly onto the foil. Then they added pattern and design to their butterflies, cut them out and mounted them are heavy cardboard. Some children painted their butterflies with watercolor paint.

End of year projects... Part Three

We have been learning to sketch in 2nd grade art, but most of the time our sketches are pretty simple. During the last week of school, Mrs. Marx's 2nd grade class came to art and we decided to sketch a photograph of a clownfish. We started by drawing the contour edge to get the basic shape, then we added structure lines and finally we added pattern and shading! These are amazing sketches!

End of year projects... Part Two

During the last week of school some of the 3rd grade classes had fun playing with colors on the color wheel. We learned that warm colors advance and cool colors recede. Each child created a picture using oil pastels. We tried to put warm colors in the foreground of the picture and cool colors in the background. Then we looked at our pictures with 3-D glasses to give our pictures a 3-D effect! This was a very fun and relaxing project.
The ocean was a popular theme.
Miss Foley's 2nd grade class had a chance to learn Zentangle after I got back from the CZT class in Whitinsville, Massachusetts. Every child created their own individual masterpiece and then we put them together to create this beautiful class collage.

The last week of school can get a little bit crazy!
Each child made one 6 inch by 6 inch square and then we put them all together. This shows everyones interpretation of the same project! It is just beautiful and very amazing.

End of year projects... Part One

We had a lot of fun with unique art projects at the end of the school year but I ran out of time and didn't get many of them posted. I thought I would take a minute and pick a few of the best ones to share before things get too busy this year.
Kindergarten students studied the art of Paul Klee and made their own "Castle in the Sun" by gluing geometric shapes on brown paper. The children loved this project and every castle was different!
The first grade students had a great time learning the Japanese are of Gyotaku. Mrs. Peterson brought it a lovely large carp and each child was able to make a beautiful print from it using acrylic paints.
Some of the third grade classes had the chance to paint these stunning warm and cool Lizards. First we practiced drawing a lizard in our sketchbooks, then we drew a lizard on our watercolor paper with a white crayon. We added patter and design. Finally we painted our lizard with either warm or cool colors, then we painted the background with the opposite family of colors. You could do this same project by drawing almost any animal.

This is one of our all-time favorite projects. The inspiration for this artwork comes from Mimi Thomas and her collection of "My Painted Ponies". I showed the children how to draw the basic shape of a pony and then we divided our pony into sections and decorated each section with symbolic art that represented all the things we had learned during the year. Finally we painted our pony with watercolors, cut it out and mounted it on a piece of art board to create a beautiful piece of art suitable for framing.