Fall Trees

Fall Trees

I do this lesson with my first graders. First we use tempera cakes to paint a sky and grass landscape on a 9x12 piece of white paper. Students get a second piece of paper (it can be 6x9 or smaller) and on this paper they are instructed to paint it reds, yellows and oranges. The second week, the students cut out a tree trunk from brown paper and I tell them it can't be a straight rectangle. (This example actually had a nice Y shape at the top but it got covered with her leaves.) After the trunk is glued to the paper, they cut up their red/orange paper for leaves.

Origami Owls

Origami Owls

We have talked so much about origami owls, I decided to give it a try with kindergarten. We folded the owls together (some of course turned out better than others) The students then folded the corners for ears and slit the bottom for feathers. Eyes and a beak were cut from scraps. We discussed and read Good-Night Owl. A tree was ripped from gray paper, a moon was cut, stars were drawn and voila!

Neon Faces- Printing

This is a really cool printing lesson. It may be done with any subject, but for the last 4 years, I have used faces. I think it gives a strong , personal  feel to the finished project. Students select a face to draw.I have about 45-50 faces from newspapers& magazines to choose from) Draw just the face onto a 6''x8'' piece of thin paper and tape it to a 6''x8'' piece of styrofoam. Gently go over the lines, remove the paper and go over the lines again. Remind them not to write their name on the front of their styrofoam as it will print backwards.
I have them each print 4 copies, which we then let dry and tape together. Presto--instant Andy Warhol.

Landscape Shades& Tints Landscapes

This is a shades and tints painting lesson for fifth graders. Students will draw layers of ground and mountains, plus one tree and one sun, onto a 12'' sq. piece of bogus paper. Outline with black sharpies. Define the terms ''shades'' and ''tints'', go over your painting rules, have students pick 2 colors, and start painting.. I have the class begin at the bottom and work their way up---leave the sky for last. When everything is painted, let dry overnight and redraw the black lines- this time adding hatching and texture lines.This always turns out well, and as they have to actually mix the shades and tints , it plants the information in their brains.



Abstract Birds

I did this activity with fourth grade. We used sharpie to draw and markers to add color. It took about 2 sessions, with a few students still working into a third week. Our goal was to create an abstract bird while exploring variety, repitition and unity.

Williamsburg Drawings

This is a project that I do with my 4th graders when they are studying Williamsburg Virginia in the classrooms. I print off one or two inch grids on drawing paper. (I have had them draw their own grids before, but have found it to be too time consuming.) I give them print outs of real people from Williamsburg history that had assorted jobs in the community. They sketch their person with the assistance of the grid for proportion. This hits many of our art SOLs for 4th grade drawing while connecting to their social studies SOLs.

We use light and dark drawing pencils, gum erasers and blending sticks. When they are finished they use gel markers to create a colorful patterned background. The black and white drawing looks great with a colorful background. The kids really like this project.

Apple Basket Weaving

I did this activity with second grade. They got a strip of brown paper and had to mark with a ruler the lines for the basket. After cutting their lines, they were ready to weave. When the basket was finished, they cut the corners off the bottom of the basket to make it rounded. The basket was glued to a piece of 12x18 white paper. At first I used real apples and paint, but it didn't work out so well so I eventually had the students use crayons to draw their apples. You could also use tracers or have them cut apples out of construction paper. Note: the weaving takes longer than expected!!!

Fall Pumpkins

I did this activity with kindergarten. I prepared some brown paper strips so the students could make a fence out of them. I showed the students how to cut the corners off of a rectangle shape to make a circular or oval shape for their pumpkins. They glued their pumpkins to their paper and decorated their papers with construction paper crayons. We finished up with a bit of glitter in the sky.

Fall Leaves

Second Graders traced leaves on manila paper. Then they took chalk pastels and put color around the edges. Placing the leaf on their white paper, a tissue was used to remove the pastel. A leaf outline is left on the white paper. After overlapping and doing this procedure several times, the students drew veins on their leaves they traced and glue them somewhere on their paper.

Banyan Tree

This is a project that I recently did with my fourth grade classes. Black tempera painted Banyan Tree with oil pastel sky to show cast shadow and reflected light. We drew and painted the trees in part of one class session and took two days to add the oil pastel, activating the negative space.