Circle Paints- Lesson On Tolerance

It was the day before our long Thanksgiving break and I wanted to do lessons that were going to keep the students attention and have fun because lets be honest no one wants to focus the day before break. Our school had to teach a lesson on Tolerance. I was inspired by the art work I saw on we heart art: Circle Painting   and this video The Art of Weaving Faiths. 

The older groups worked together to create their mural circle paintings; working on cooperation and tolerance for one another. 

The younger students worked on their own circle for classroom management reasons. The circles will be connected in the display. 

The kids had a blast and we ALL came out enjoying the activity and day! I will post more pictures of how it will be displayed in the hallways.

Safety Blankets

I recently was told about an Organization called Donors Choose. I had this idea of making blankets with my 5th grade art club. My school is considered a high poverty school and I wanted to teach these children how to create something with their own hand that could be used in the future. While knitting is still on my list of things to teach them . A simple fleece blanket where you tie the knots around the corners and edges seems more practical and something that they will actually be able to use THIS winter :)
Long story short- I posted my project idea on DonorsChoose. I waited impatiently to see if it would be accepted. I sent a few emails out once it was and boom 24 hours later the project was funded. Now I have to wait for the materials to be sent... It might kill me but I know it will be worth it in the end!

Safety Blankets

Feel free to check it out!!!! I think it is a great idea for ALL teachers!

Abstract Circles- 1st Grade

This was my first lesson painting with 1st grade. While I love the results man was it stressful to get 25 little first graders at the end of the day to all be on the same page... I will have to mentally prepare and eat lots of chocolate before my next painting lesson with these kiddos :)

Kindergarten- Texture Turtles

I love to read childrens books to inspire a lesson. In this lesson I read Dr. Seuss's Miles and Miles of Reptiles and Yertle the Turtle. We drew our turtles and then glued different donated fabrics to our turtles shells. Some even tried to create patterns! The kids loved them and I think they are adorable.

I used to be against glitter and google eyes but once I saw how truly happy it makes the kids I have to use it.. :) I think the little things that make them happy are starting to rub off on me too.... 

3rd Grade Alphabet Art

At our school we are trying to enforce character concepts. Our character concept words are Gratitude, Empathy, Cooperation, Forgiveness, Respect and Patience. In this lesson we chose a character concept word that mean the most to us or one we want to improve upon. Our positive space is the word and our negative space was filled with oil pastel. Students picked either a warm color scheme or cool color scheme.

Fifth Grade- Banyan Trees

In this lesson we learned about Indian Banyan Trees. This tree has a huge trunk and roots that grow down in to the ground. We used paint to createt the positive space (the trunk, roots and branches) and used pastels to color the negative space. We talked about different color schemes too! 

4th Grade- Klimt Quilts

In this lesson students studied the artist Gustav Klimt particularly his painting Baby. In this lesson students drew the quilt out of organic (free form) shapes and made patterns inside the quilt using examples of geometric shapes. Materials the students used were makers and water colors. I hope you enjoy all the bright colors and patterns!

Shape Monsters

In this lesson we identified six basic shapes: oval, circle, triangle, rectangle, square and diamond. Then we did step by step directions to complete our monsters. Each student was able to pick which one of 6 basic shapes they used for each part of the monster. Students either chose the primary or secondary colors to color in their monster. A cute way for students to remember the primary colors is to sing it to the Farmer in the Dell. Red, blue and yellow, red, blue and yellow. The primary colors are red, blue and yellow. I used same strategy with the secondary colors too. They still are singing it :)

Second Grade- Tar Beach

In this lesson we read Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold. When we finished reading we turned off the lights and imaged we were flying in Tar Beach. When the lights came back on it was time to get to work. Students used tissue paper and card stock to create their buildings. The back ground was crayon rubbings. We talked about how the characters appear to be flat. Glitter was added as a final touch because after all Cassie Lightfoot was flying among the starts.

Second Grade- Shape Mobiles

In this lesson we studied artist Alexander Calder mobiles. We discussed 2d vs 3d and organic vs geometric shapes. We used foam to create and our shapes and pipe cleaners to create our mobiles.