Candy House

I've made these candy houses for several years with 1st grade (man do they like talking about candy). This year I tied in a literacy aspect and read "Hansel and Gretel" by James Marshall. To start out the house they make two candy canes for the sides (upside down "J"s), connect the bottoms of the candy canes, and make a pointed roof. After that the decoration is up to them. The houses that look the best usually have the most details. A fun lesson for right before winter vacation.

Klimt Winter Trees

I got this idea from another blog (artolazzi - an awesome one if you haven't checked it out), here's the link to the original lesson http://artolazzi.blogspot.com/2009/11/klimt-winter-trees.html

These trees turned out awesome! It took us 3 sessions to make, but didn't take the whole time of each session (we were working on finishing our last project). The kids really loved making these and it was a great way to introdce Klimt! Day 1 we painted the background, day 2 we painted swirly trees and learned about Klimt, and Day 3 we did the decorating (snow, metallic paint designs, sequins and rhinestones). A great wintery lesson!

Horse of another Color

This is based on several books.."Everything but the Horse", by Holly Hobbie, "Hush, Little Horse", by Jane Yolen, and a really old story, "Horse of a Different Color"...which I cannot now find.
The students will make a jointed horse shape by tracing pieces of the horse onto the desired color of paper and coloring the pieces with either patterns or realistic shadings, depending on which book you are illustrating. The sections are cut out, put together with brads, and a yarn tail is added to finish it off. The students love them, and move them around the table in a varity of positions.
I did this with first graders, but it can be used whereever...the older students do better with the more realistic horses. I used construction paper and markers for most of the horses, but you may wish to use oil pastels.

Enjoy!

Fall Trees

This is a project that I used to do every year. I found my sample and decided to do them this year. I was so happy I made that decision, they came out beautiful. I did them with fourth grade. We made the tissue paper collage background one week, and then added the tree with oil pastels the next. We were able to review our shading to make things look three dimensional.

Birds of a Feather

This is an excellent lesson for those who wish to cover the Art SOL's  and  the schools' language arts requirements. Second grade students will fill an entire 12''x 18'' paper with a varity of lines;zig-zag,curved, slanted, broken,wavy, dotted...any kind of line imagined. Any left over space may be filled in with dots and dashes. This will take one class period. Next class, students will draw ON THE BACK OF THE PAPER a large figure "8" --from top to bottom--this will be the body of the bird. ( .....make the neck of the bird a little thicker than it is.) On the rest of the paper, use feather patterns---made ahead of time ---to trace 14/15 feathers. Glue the body of the bird to the middle of a constrasting color 12''x18'' paper. You --the teacher--draw the top line of the wings while the class cuts out the feathers. The class puts glue onto each ''wing'', and glues the feathers down. Add tail feathers, google eyes, feet, and a paper beak.   Instant bird!
This lesson may be used with a varity of books,...just check out your library.

Quick Clay Owls

Quick Clay Owls
This could be done with K 1 or 2 after reading Owl Moon or a similar owl book.

This is from the blog 4 Crazy Kings:


Start with a ball (any clay will work)

Smoosh to make circle

Use marker cap to make UUUUUU's on belly

Fold sides in

Fold top down - pinch ears a bit

Use marker cap to make eyes

Use butter knife or similar to make beak -
Finally you can play with a bit by smooshing sides a bit to make owl more round.

Fire and glaze. (You could also use oil pastels/crayon and ink instead of glaze.(See OZ KIDZ ARTZ)

Birds

This lesson is based on the book "" Birds"", by Kevin Henkes. The lesson may be found in Deep Space Sparkle Lesson Plans/Art & Literature II, which in turn may be viewed online. Janis Gillespie payed-yes, it costs money-and downloaded the unit. We reviwed the lesson and then selected  a section which we thought would be useable at lower elementary.

We started by drawing a branch with leaves on a light blue paper.  We outlined with black oil pastels, and painted in with tempra...... this would take one class period. Next we used scrap paper to draw 3 birds, and colored these with more oil pastels. You may spend additional time on a "how-to-draw-birds'', or you may just have the students wing it. When the birds are complete, cut out and glue onto the blue paper, carefully placing them on the branches. We did not add insects/clouds/sky, but feel free to improvise. This lesson would do well in the spring.!

Cubist Hands

This is a neat lesson to do with your upper elementary students that covers shades and tints, color mixing, and Art Appreciation. Students trace their hand 2 times onto a 12'' square piece of gray bogus paper, once from the bottom, and once from a side. Using a ruler, trace 3 lines from the top to the bottom, and 3 times side to side. Don't forget to slant the lines a little. Now-very important- outline everything with a black sharpie. Begin painting. EVERYTIME YOU HIT A LINE, CHANGE  COLORS. You may place the same colors kater/corner. When all the painting is complete, let dry completely, re-outline with sharpies, and  make the lines dark and even. They are very colorful, and you may wish to limit the paintings to certain colors of your choice.

Fall Still Life

I did this lesson with second graders. They created their piece by looking at a still life of a pumpkin and 3 gourds. There was a different arrangement of pumpkins and gourds on each table. We painted paste papers (1 orange, 1/2 green and 1/2 yellow) in one class while they were finishing up another project, then used them to cut out the shapes for our still life. They then added all the details of the pumpkins and gourds with crayons. If they had time they could color the background. They all came out really different and the paste paper added a nice texture. The kids loved painting them and combing through a design!

Face Book Books

This is an entertaining lesson, which may be used with the older elementary classes. Students will need an old paperback- (the thicker the better)-paste, and a short wooden dowel. I have a lot of short pieces of dowels  around as I do wall hangings with the fifth grades in the spring, but you can buy them at Lowe's if needed. First, students will tear off the back and front cover.  Decide on what shape the outside edge of the pages will take, and cut a pattern. Trace the pattern on a page, then bunch 5-8 pagrs together and cut. In my sample I used a profile of a face, but you can use any shape; apple, house, animal...any shape that is not too complex. When all pages are cut, load the dowel and the first and last page with paste. Put the dowel in the middle, press the first and last pages together, and let dry. The''book'' will stand up by it's self when dry. You can buy expensive YES! paste, if you wish, as that is what was used in the Bookmaking class.