Lei making

Today in art class, we worked with water colors and made our own lei.  Ms. Kalei incorporated her Hawaiian culture into our classroom today; we learned new vocabulary words and a lot of information about Lei Day in Hawaii.  We started off by learning four different water color techniques and used them to paint whatever we wanted onto our watercolor paper.  When this was drying, we started to make our leis with yarn, construction paper flowers, and straws.  Once our watercolor design dried, I cut flowers out of that also.  The lei is then started with a paper flower, then a small chunk of straw, then I decided to put a watercolor flower.  I continued this process until it filled the entire piece of yarn.  I ended up having 24 flowers on my lei!  

An extension activity would have them write about who they would give the lei to and why. We learned that they are supposed to give the lei to someone they love. So this would be a good writing assignment. 

3D Design

Today it was my groups turn to present! And we learn in Dr. Seuss' books that his illustrations are very curvy, straight, bendy, swirly, and loopy. We had the students create their own "villes" that resemble something that could be in Dr. Seuss' books. The first step was to back the white piece of paper because once the gluing process starts it would be hard to do so. We then reviewed various bends and folds of construction paper and reviewed how to glue them to a sheet of paper. We were instructed to have three different folds and at least seven pieces of paper in our assigned colors (warm, cool, or complimentary.) After they got the project done they got to choose the name of their town. It had to be a creative name to make it fun!

An extension activity for this would be having them write about their "ville". They would type it up and make it look professional so we could hang it in the hallway attached to their picture.  

Coil Pots

This project we created coil pots. We started off with a ball of clay, and worked all the air bubbles out of it. After that we took a some of it and made a circular disc for the bottom. After we had made the bottom we started of by making coils. We did this by rolling a section out with our hands till it was long and tubular. After we had a coil made we circled the outside of disc with the coil. We repeated the coil making process and staked them on top of each other until we ran out of clay. Our pots we were required to have a couple of things; a symbol that has meaning in out culture, a primary, and a secondary color. The symbols I used were a red cross on the inside and light blue to meet those objectives.

An extension activity would be to have them research different types of pots we could make and then each student would describe the type of pot they made and what in meant in the past. 

Print Making

Today in art class we were taught print making.  We were given a piece of styrofoam and then etched a design into it. We could use shapes or words.  I then chose to use light blue paper with red ink.  We used a roller to put a thin layer of paint on the styrofoam and then pressed it onto the blue paper i had chosen.  I kept doing this process until I had three prints that I liked.  Finally, we cut out the three prints.  We had to turn these three prints into a train.  I put coal in my train cars and used crayons to color a South Dakota farming country background. 

An extension activity could be have them do this design, then have them write a paper to go along with it. Describing where the train is going and the story behind it. 

Marbling

In art class this week we did a project with a marbling technique. We were each given a picture that we had to draw ourselves onto white drawing paper.  My picture was of the Pagoda of Fogong Temple in Shanri, China.  We started with pencil, then went over the pencil with permanent marker so we could see the lines. Next we cut out our drawing.  Over on a different table was the marbling station.  Here, we coated the bottom of  a tin pan with a thin layer of shaving cream.  We then chose three adjacent colors on the color wheel; I chose orange, red, and purple.  I put a few dots of each color on top of the shaving cream, then used a fine point to swirl the colors around until I got the design I was happy with.  Finally, I laid the cutout face down on the shaving cream/color.  When I lifted it up, the marbling stuck to the paper.  I wiped off the extra shaving cream and framed it on an orange piece of paper.

 An extension activity off of this project would be to have the students marble a landmark such as this one and then put a scenery behind it using different techniques we have learning in the past such as drawing or painting.

Puzzle Pieces

With this project we were practicing our drawing with warm and cool colors along with different types of shapes. As a class we made a huge puzzle with each student getting to make a piece of the puzzle. I had to draw a cool colored

animal with organic shapes in the back ground. So I chose to draw a fish. This was a fun activity!

An extension activity for this project could be have them make their own mini puzzle using the same concept only they had to do it on their own and have many different colors and animals in it.

Macrame

In art class this week the 6th graders made macrame keychains. We first learned about the history of the knotting of the hemp string. Our keychain had to be three inches long and have at least 3 beads in it. This is a very fun lesson to do with middle school students.

An extension activity would be to see what else the students could make with the hemp string. Have different requirements besides just the three inches long. 

Blind Drawing

One of the other projects we have done is a blind drawing. This can be used with almost any grade.  We were required to draw three flowers on a piece of drawing paper without looking, using a white crayon. We used warm and cool water colors to paint over the white crayon.  When we did this, the flowers appeared very clearly! 

An extension activity would be studying flowers and where different flowers grow and why.

Bunny Art

One of our recent projects in class was a project dealing with complimentary colors. It was on a first grade level.  My group was assigned blue and orange. We took a piece of white drawing paper and drew thick and thin horizontal lines using blue and then drew vertical lines using orange.  After the paper dried, we traced out pre-cut patterns onto our plaid paper. We then glued it all together to form a bunny. 

An extension activity would be to have the students make a picture of plaid. I would give them magazines to look through and find plaid in them. Then they could either make a collage or a scene made of plaid. 

Going on a Safari!

This project is used to introduce students to warm and cool colors. This project is called a hidden drawing. The picture is hidden, and you need special glasses to see the picture. We made our own glasses from red film and construction paper so we could see the animals. The project is done by drawing a picture in a light cool color, we used the color sky blue. Our theme was a hidden safari, so we all drew pictures of safari animals. We drew over the picture in shapes in a pattern form to hide the drawing with warm colors such as reds, oranges, and yellows. We also wrote three clues to be displayed with our animals for people to guess. 

An extension activity for this class could still be related to the safari theme but have them talk about what they did over the weekend or draw their favorite place and hide it behind the shapes. This way they can talk about what they drew and what is meaningful to them.

Story Collage

This week in class we talked about Eric Carle and how he created his books. We did the projected and mimicked his work. First, we took blank sheets of paper and painted them many different ways to get a swirled look. Next, we sketched out a part of a story that we wanted to create. After that we took our painted sheets and cut out the parts we wanted and made our storybook page. My story collage was inspired by the book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom". It was and still is my favorite story book so I took a page out of that and recreated it with Eric Carle's style.

An extension activity off of this would be to recreate a scene from another book that they are reading at the time whether it has pictures or not. They can use their imagination this way and use their senses to be a part of the story.

Van Gogh Inspired

This picture is inspired from Van Gogh's "Starry Night" painting. It is a city scape using tissue paper and focusing on background, middle ground, and foreground. We used tissue paper and sharpie markers or oil pastels. We were also focusing on movement in the background.

An extension activity off of this could be using a different medium to reenact the Starry Night. You could let the children choose or you could have the materials already set out.

Van Gogh Inspired

This is a finger painted picture inspired by Van Gogh's "A Starry Night". We did our own variation of it and used our imagination. It would be for the kindergarten level. We were focusing on the background, foreground, and middle ground to create movement like Van Gogh used in his paintings. Then I Framed it by putting construction paper behind it.

For this activity you could mix it up by having them either do their own type of starry night or have them try and paint the Starry Night again. 

Elements and Principles of Art

Below are 5 pictures of Elements and Principles of art. In order they are: emphasis, contrast, geometric shapes, texture, and organic shapes.

Footprint project

This is a neat project project to break the ice with your new students. Have them trace their foot or feet and then have them put symbols on the foot describing themselves. You can have them use different types of materials to help make the foot look more exciting and original.
On my foot i have a cross symbolizing my strong faith. Then I have my house with a heart on it for my family. And the ABC is for becoming a teacher. I have always wanted to become a teacher and it will always be a passion of mine, so it is symbolizing a big part of my life.