Georgia O'Keeffe Close-Ups

I had Georgia O'Keeffe on the brain and had my 3rd graders make these awesome zoomed in flowers. We used the 'glue drawing' technique on black paper. The next class period they 'blended' chalk pastels to create shading and depth.

Paper Quilling with 4th grade

So I found this project on dickblick.com and here's the link: http://www.dickblick.com/lesson-plans/eye-popping-paper-curls/

 

I had my first class choose their image to draw. The next classes seemed to need more parameters so I had them trace their hand as a starting point.

 

 

We used 8" x 8" black paper that I pre-cut for them. I also pre-cut 1/2 inch strips of paper. After experimenting, we found that the paper looked better if we cut it in half. Although the different heights look interesting.

Two pieces of paper quilled together looks neat and kind of 3-D~ish. 

We 'tapped' dots of glue along the bottom edge of the design and gently pressed it down for at least 10 seconds.

I had these small dowel rods that were pre-cut into 4 inch pieces. These worked best...pencils were too big and toothpicks were too small for this construction paper. It didn't want to conform to the small object. If you used paper from a book or thinner paper it would work much better.

It's a work in progress and may be something they can work on instead of free-draw.

 

It would take about 3 full class periods to finish.

 

I'll post the finished products as they complete them!

Realistic vs. Abstract Self-Portraits : 4th Grade

 

 This project was from the beginning of our 1st 9 weeks together and I just haven't gotten around to posting these. So here they are!

 

We discussed the steps of drawing a realistic self-portrait.

 

 

 

They outlined their pencil drawings with oil pastels....

 

They painted with tempera cakes...we talked about "arbitrary colors" that aren't realistic.

 

Finally, the next class I taught them about mixing skin tones using acrylic paint. (won't do that again!) And they painted over their arbitrary color with realistic colors....turned out pretty fun for an experimental project. :)

 

 

Henna Hands

 

Oh the school auction projects are starting. This year our auction is in November, but I like to get a head start so that I'm not super stressed the week of!

 

This year my 2nd graders are making "Mehndi" inspired hand designs. I'm going to put them into a radial design on a framed wooden board. The "hands" were a big hit last year, but I realized tying this into a historical and cultural standard would be fabulous.

 

Day One: We talked about "Mehndi", the application of henna as a temporary form of skin decoration in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. We looked at several photos of henna tattoos and talked about how Hindu brides decorate their hands and feet with henna for special celebrations like weddings.

 

First they traced their hand, outlined with black sharpie and added their henna tattoos.

2nd grade!!

 

Next we will paint with a watercolor wash and then they'll cut them out and place on the board. I'll attach more photos as the project develops.

 

 

 

And here's the completed auction projects!

 

 

 

Royal Kinders

This a new idea for this year...I don't usually do such a detailed self-portrait with my little kinders, but I found this via deepspacesparkle.com and I couldn't resist. I will say the addition of the crown template for them to trace was a great starting point.

Day one we drew with pencil and outlined with oil pastel, and today we started painting with tempera cakes...they are looking really nice!

1st Grade Self-Portraits

Each year, 1st grade starts the year with a self-portrait. This year we changed a few things....we outlined with black (looks so much better!) and we added texture rubbings to our backgrounds.

They look great!

After we added pattern backgrounds with texture plates, we painted the shirt and background with tempera cakes.