2nd Grade Matisse-Inspired Still-Life

First, we talked about how to draw things that look 'realistic'. We did some blind contour activities with faces and still-life objects. Finally, we completed our first drawing...outlined in sharpie and then colored with crayons. (Pre-assessment)

The next day, we drew a new still-life on black paper, then outlined with glue.

Our next session, we will add realistic colors using chalk pastels....BLEND is the word of the week, fyi. :o) Hello academic vocabulary! See, we use it in art too....I'm legit.

Once the glue has dried, we began adding realistic colors using chalk pastels. I am loving these!

i made some absentee simple glue drawings for the kids who were absent that week...since i knew adding color to the wet glue drawing wasn't an option. I suppose they could have just drawn it in pencil then just started adding color, but I wanted them to have the same 'black glue line' effect.

it was a messy day in art!

i don't know what brand of chalk pastels these are since i inherited most of my art supplies from the previous teacher, but the colors are so bright!

1st Grade Pinch Pots

Over 100 pinch pots in one week...I'm tired of clay! Have I said that yet? So we had one explosion...not sure why, yet. I'm guessing it was all the air bubble's fault. Some pots were underglazed pre-fire....and some got bisque fired then underglazed...I was experimenting and didn't notice a difference. Also need glaze-free bowls for firing 2nd grade's fossil pendants and beads.  I really really like them though. So in the end, it was alllllll worth it.

3rd Grade Clay African Masks

Making the Mask: CLAY

To begin, they create a slab using clay.

Cut out the eyes, used those scraps to build coil/worm eyebrows.

Then created the nose and lips.

Once they were fired...which took forever, they finally got to paint using symbolic colors. We used acrylic paint and later sprayed them with a clear gloss to make them shiny.

Oh and of course we learned about African masks in the process....

Kindergarten Monster Sculptures

Teacher prep: cut little slits into the bottom of a cardboard tube

The kids can bend the 'ears' down.

Use those as tabs for gluing the 'monster' to it's 'base' ...which will later evolve into the monster's environment.

Using tempera, with no water, paint the base and monster...leave no cardboard showing!

I gave them blue, yellow and white...they mixed as they pleased.

little preview of our monster embellishments...