Decorated door

Our school had a contest for the best decorated door for the season. I decided to make mine in the theme of Star Wars since the movie got released on the day of judging. 

Rainbow Birds

First graders are learning about color and the rainbow order in this project. The kids started out drawing a bird, adding in details and naming their bird. 

The next week students worked on coloring their birds and background in with crayons. 

The final week was spent painting in the sky and gluing the artwork onto a colorful frame. 

So fun to see how they all turned out so different! The kids really loved these birds. 

Apple Still Life

This project took us quite a long time to do. We worked on it for over a month!  We started out by looking at artworks by Cezanne and discussed how he did his art. We talked about what the word "medium" means in art. Many thought it had to do with size. We learned medium meant what tool you use to create the art.  We worked in 4 mediums. 

   We also talked about how creating a still life meant we were looking at it in real life and drawing what we saw.  Four apples were drawn this week. 

The following week, the first medium used was tempera paints. Only primary colors, brown and white were used. Students had to work on mixing correct colors. 

The next week, the medium used was colored pencils. We talked about overlapping and layering colors. The apples were glued onto black paper. 

The next week, crayons and water colors were used. We began by coloring, then water coloring over the crayons. 

The last week was very busy! We worked in the last medium of oil pastels and glued on the final apple. Students used a sheet to interview each other about the entire project. We then got in a circle and the kids shared the answers to the questions they asked their partner.  

These artworks turned out amazing! I'm so proud of how hard they worked on these. They are definitely proud of them.

Newspaper Kitten Collage

Kindergarteners looked at shapes found in cat pictures and circled them. This activity was to get them thinking about shapes in pictures. They drew shapes on newspaper, cut them out and glued them on to create the kitten. 

The next week, eyes, eyebrows,nose, whiskers and a mouth were added. 

Finally, the kittens were finished. A black frame was added and then the part they had all been waiting for was here-- putting on the fancy collar with all its jewels! 

I love how every kitten seems to have its own personality!

Collaborative art project

The high school is putting on the play The Wizard of Oz.  The director of the play asked if my art students could help make the flowers for the poppy scene. Of course! Kindergarteners got to paint a paper any color they liked and I told them the 1 st graders would be using their art to make a flower. 

The next week the 1 st graders were given a colored piece of paper, a tray of colorful scraps,  and oil pastels. They were given instructions to use their imaginations to create a flower and two leaves. 

In the end, around 200 flowers were created in all shapes and sizes for the play. It was a great collaborative effort and I just love how different they turned out. Be sure to make it to the play to see all the flowers and the talent of Becker students!

Primary cows

Kindergarteners are learning how to draw a cow using shapes they already know. Most of the kids when asked thought they couldn't ever draw the cow when I showed them the finished example. By the end of class, almost all the kids said they could go home and draw a cow for their family. Great to see their confidence blossom!

I the next class, the students were introduced to the primary colors ( red, yellow, and blue). They were able to paint their cows however they liked using only those colors. 

On the last day, a primary colored frame was glued on to the artwork. I love how the cows seem to have their own personality!

Pumpkins at night

Second graders learned about color mixing as they mixed primary colors together to create an orange pumpkin and green leaves. 

The next art class they detailed their pumpkin and leaves with construction paper crayons and oil pastels. Students also created a background for their pumpkin. 

Finally, the pumpkins and leaves were cut out and glued onto the black background. Extra details were added and a colored frame completed the artwork.