Watercolor Doves

Let me start by saying this lesson came from That Artist Women who I've spent the year stealing lesson from in an effort to improve my student's painting skills. We tweaked the project just a touch. It took two 40min lessons with a 5th grade group.
Each student got a sheet of watercolor paper and were asked to cover the paper with lots of color. We used wet on dry and wet on wet technique. Then we dropped some salt on and THEN we put saran wrap on top. I learned to make sure the paint is wet but not too wet. The next day I gave the kids two dove templates and a selection of quotes from various people about the concept of Peace. I asked the kids to choose a quote they liked, glue down the dove and write their peace quote either around the dove or in the dove.

Asian art unit : watercolor koi

When students were done with their paper cuts they learned how to draw a koi from a step by step guided drawing lesson. After drawing one, two or three koi students went over their lines with black crayon or oil pastel. Finally students used watercolor to make vibrant works of art. Some students dug the salt out of the student supply cabinet to give a special effect to their water.

Asian art unit : Paper cuts

Paper cutting is an art from in Japan and China. We looked at a power point of traditional and modern paper cut artwork then choose a paper cut design to work on from a Dover book I have. The designs ranged from small and simple to large and very complex. Students who really struggled with this project were asked to use a stencil to write their name and then cut out their name.

Students choose their paper cut design. They put their paper design on top of black construction paper and taped it down at the edges. They put the papers on top of a magazine and then listened to me give a long boring lecture about using exacto knives safely. Then they cut and cut and cut. Many had to start over several times and switch to simpler patterns. When everything was cut out each student choose a bright color to put behind the black paper and I laminated the finished product. These took about two weeks but the end results were amazing! (P.S. I had another project, the watercolor koi, for students who did simpler paper cuts and were done early)

Asian art unit : Sumi-e Pandas

Now for some photos from the 6-8th grade Asian art unit from right before spring break. I posted photos of the clay kimonos about a month ago but they were also part of this unit.
So the kids wanted to learn how to do brush painting which meant I needed to learn how to do brush painting. In the end we did three mini paintings. 1. a straw blown cherry tree, 2. our version of Mt. Fuji (Mt. Hood here in Oregon) and 3. a panda.
These samples are from a talented 8th grade student. She is a far better artist naturally then I will ever be, but a modest and eager student. I will really miss her next year.


We looked at a power point of brush painting from China, Japan and Korea to compare and contrast common themes and styles. We then did the Mt. Fuji painting because it was a pretty simple perspective watercolor. Next we did the straw blown cherry tree. If students added a bird to the tree they got bonus points. Last came the pandas. Argg the pandas. I watched a lot of videos on You-tube to learn how to paint those pandas. I was shaking under the document camera when I first showed the kids. This was a good chance for me to point out that I am constantly learning and growing in MY art skills along with them. I showed them some of my less then perfect panda paintings that I did while learning how to show them how to paint the pandas.

Part of my job this year is to teach persistence. I think there is no better way to teach persistence than to model persistence. I try to do this by showing my students my learning process and how I have to start over and over again and my "mess up" projects. it is easier to ask them to try again when I have shown I am willing to try again and again.

Our practice pandas put into class collages:

hidden animals

Done several years ago with a 5th grade class. The focus was on pattern and camouflage. Students used markers to fill a paper with colorful patterns in a radial design. Then they chose a template of an animal that uses camouflage to stay safe. I believe the choices were lizard, snake, rabbit and butterfly. Students tracked their animal onto tooling foil (you could also use card stock) and they cut out their animal. I then asked them to use a stylus to press 1 pattern into the animal. Next they placed the animal on the middle of their pattern paper and had to "hide" their animal in the picture by continuing the design onto the tin animal. Finally we taped the animal onto the paper by putting a little bit of foam core between the paper and tin animal. They turned out so well and everyone loved looking for the hidden animal.

5th grade Koru paintings

I found this lesson last December when looking for Australian/New Zealand art projects. I saw photos of these on the homepage of an elementary school in New Zealand and while there were no lesson plans I really thought they were beautiful. (In the year sense the original author of this lesson has put the project on kinder art here is her lesson) The label said they were Koru paintings. What the heck is a Koru I though. It turn out it is the Maori word for a baby fern, which represents new life and rebirth. Anyway I did my version of this on large 12"x14" paper and lead my students though a guided drawing of the Koru using the idea of parallel lines. ( I had my students do a small practice drawing first and look at photos of baby ferns). My 5th grade students had no problem with the DRAWING part. I had them draw some double lines inside their basic shapes to make the layers of design. Then I had students choose two to three colors plus white tempera paint. Students carefully painted in their drawings. The next class the students went over the pencil lines with black paint. I love how these turned out. In the photos these are accompanied by 4th grade dot paintings of aboriginal symbols.

kinder quilts

Back in early February we did a quilt unit with all grades. These were the kinder pattern quilts. I this project I had the students really focus on spacial skills. Each student was given a "puzzle" board which was a black line template for the quilt square. I then put all the puzzle pieces down and they had to "build" their puzzle. Students had to match the correct color to the color word marked on the puzzle. They also had to keep manipulating the shape pieces till they matched the puzzle board. I did pre cut all the shapes for this project because I wanted the students to focus on word matching and spacial skills. I also made sure to only use colors where the words had been taught already in their classroom. Finally I had a cheat sheet on the board that had the color word and = sign and a rectangle of paper in the color that matched. I think this would be a good lesson for early ELL learners who are working on color and shape words.

Tigers!

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Here are some photos of our tiger drawings that 4th grade did. The lesson came from Art Projects for Kids I had them trace around a paint pallet to get the right size and shape of head. I also gave them almond shapes to trace around for the eyes if they wanted. They did a really nice job on drawing these. About half finished coloring their tigers and the rest got tired. I'll keep bringing them out every few weeks till the end of the year in hopes that I get at least 80% of them done. I've put up photos of the kids working on their drawings and the finished projects.

french curves and watercolor flowers

Another old-ie but goodie from my year at Damascus. I got this from a lady that taught middle school in either Minnesota or Wisconsin. I got most of my first year lessons from her site, she was amazing. I could have sworn her last name was Max-Weber or something like that. Her site has sense disappeared and I've spent hours trying to find her/it with no avail. Sigh.
Anyway this project was done with my 8th grade students. I had them draw a rectangle in the middle of their paper and then do a close up drawing of a flower using watercolor pencils. Then around the flower I had them use french curves to create a design. They had to go in and color in parts of the french curve shapes. I'm going to do a spring advanced art class after school and this will be one of their projects.

Click on photos to see larger close up of the images.

Egypt projects

click on photos to see them larger and close up











from back in November here are photos of several of our Egypt projects
the profiles are done using the lesson plan from Deep Space Sparkle. You will also see one of my "triad" assignments. I like to give the kids a theme and have them carry out projects in three different media using that theme. In this project the kids learned to draw about 6 different Egyptian symbols (Ankh, Egyptian eye, scarab, two ways to draw Horace, and a cat) and were then asked to make one in model magic, one with a aluminum reproach and one done in scratch foam print.