I Want this...

cheese tray!

Fifth Grade: VanGogh in Perspective

This project, is one of my few original ideas...it's a twist off of 4th grade project:Van Gogh's Cat Wander's into the Starry Night. This is Van Gogh's Dog Wander's into the Cafe Terrace.

The student's love this project for two reasons. 1. The learn how to draw dogs. 2. It looks good no matter what.

I love this project for two reasons. 1. It has dogs. 2. It looks good no matter what.

Actually, I love it a lot more than those two reasons. This project is a great teaching opportunity for perspective, collage, color, painting techniques (dry brush, wet into wet, premixing). The students get to use their sketchbook to learn perspective, and to practice drawing their dogs. The dogs "pop" out of the picture plane. Also, the project has many different types of steps which takes a few weeks for them to finish, which teaches students that every project shouldn't be finished within 45 minutes.

Materials:

• 18x9 paper
• pencils
• tempera paint (primary colors + black and white)
• silver paper or aluminum foil
• construction paper
• crayons
• smal strips of cardboard

Day 1. Walk the students through drawing a simple version of Cafe Terrace at Night. Start with a horizon line and vanishing point. Add the porch, Terrace, store, and skyscrapers.(Don't draw tables yet)

Day 2/3. Paint yellow things (terrace, ground, sky scraperwindows, store window), then orange ( add to store window -dry brush-, doors, a little to the ground, then red on the porch and maybe a little dry brush to the store window to create a "glow". Green to the chandelier over the terrace and maybe some doors and the ground. Paint the sky blue. Next, paint all of the buildings grey and then outline EVERYTHING in black (normally I hate outline in black, but it looks much better outlined), and add "black,tiny rainbows" for the cobblestone. * May take longer than 3 days*

Day3/4. Practice drawing dogs in sketchbook, and start/finish final dog on construction paper and crayon. I always tell them "no floating dog heads, it needs a neck or a full body." I let them add funky details like sunglasses, mohawks, colored spots, brightly colored fur, etc. Cut them out. Add silver stars to the sky. Glue cardboard strip to back of dog, and glue to picture. * This day can be switched with a painting day if the kids get antsy after painting a while, or if cleaning up paint is too much for YOU that day*

That's it!

Third Grade: City Scapes

For third grade, for some reason, I always end up doing "scapes." Seascapes, landscapes, cityscapes. I borrowed this scape from Deep Space Sparkle, but instead of doing it in Sharpie, I let them use crayons and markers. Before this project, my students do the 3D Line Design, so they already have a good idea of how to feel in a space with lines, patterns, and textures. It took my 3rd graders two 45minute class periods to draw and color their cityscapes.

Food for Thought

My friend Caroline's blog posted this, and I had to steal it...

Monet's Watergarden

(display of daisies and watergarden)

I thought this project would be fun for my third graders for the beginning of Spring, and it was!

First day, I read a book on Monet, and showed some bigger prints of his work.

Then, I walked them through drawing the bridge, pond and lily pads(big circles with little circles on top) very lightly so they would have some gidlines when they painted.

Then I gave them teal, white, pink, and purple to put the first layer of tempera paint.

They painted Xs, with teal and white paint,big and small above the bridge, then painted verticle lines below the bridge with the teal and white, and the lily pads (but not the flower)then a layer of teal on the lilypad.

They painted the bridge with the purple.

Second day, I put ut the same colors as the class before (in case they need to finish), plus y ellow, blue, and a different green than teal.

I told them to go over their Xs, lily pads and verticle lines with the 2nd green and yellow. Then add touches of blue to their pond, and chose a color for their flowers.

They also were allowed to add little pink or purple dots to the verticle lines below the bridge to

make flowers. They were also asked to add some blue lines to their bridge to make it look more 3D.

After they were done we discussed what time of day it might be in our painting, as Monet often painted the same thing, but at different times of day so it looked different.

* I think next time I do this project I might let them choose what they want to draw in their watergardens.

Daisies

Here is a project idea I stole from Kids Artist, and I absolutley love it! It was an easy project for all ages to experience hands on what happens when you mix blue and yellow. I loved the results, and had considered asking to keep 1 or 2 to hang in my house, then decided to just tell them to have their parents frame them:-)

ps- my 3rd. 4th, and 5th graders loved it, and it took about two 45 minute classes to complete.

Progress...

Almost done. I have just a little touching up I want to do, and I am gonna finish! The great news is, I think I have sparked some interest in another teacher at my school, and I might have a next project:-) I am excited!

(original post here)

Different Kind of Coil Pots

I always do coil pots with my fifth graders, but I wasn't ever sure how to make them more interesting until I found this post on blog Art for Small Hands. The kids had fun adding a little more detail with clay.

Art is the best part of MY day

I am excited to be painting an actual art project for another teacher at my school. She found a tiny picture of two paintings of poppies and asked me to help her out. Well, I couldn't resist. I already love the project because they are huge, odd shaped paintings. Her husband crafted these amazingly strong frames and we stretched the canvas today (haven't done that in Y E A R S). I have put on the first layer of paint, and I can't wait to take pictures to post of the final product. Maybe I will be inspired to do some more painting this summer!

Please Hire Me Virginia!

Here is my sweet video I made for applications...