Shaded Christmas balls - grade 5/6

This is a project that was born out of necessity. The Friday before Christmas break ended up being.. wait for it.. another snow day! If you're keeping track, that makes THREE snow days in a period of two weeks. Sometimes when attendance is low, we'll pool classes together to give teachers extra planning time. My colleague offered to take the classes to the gym, after which I would take the classes for an art lesson. While they were in the gym, I desperately searched for a quick, Christmas-y related project that I could do with the supplies I already had, in about 40 minutes.  I unfortunately don't even remember where I came across this idea - it was basically a similar picture and I just copied what I thought was going on! If this idea belongs to you, please let me know so I can credit you!

Anyway, this project was as simple as it seems - students drew branches using chalk pastels onto black paper. Then, they drew Christmas balls on white construction paper using oil pastels. They cut out the Christmas balls and glued them to the black paper. The last step was to use gold Sharpie to draw little hooks. A very quick, very satisfying 40 minute project for a group of snowed-in students!

(Before you get to the photos, I'll add - they don't do this art justice! I had to take quick pictures with my iPhone, as the kids were taking these home for Christmas break.)

Ugly holiday sweaters - grade 4/5

 This is kind of the project that never was. We started it with three Mondays left to go before Holidays. Students were given an outline of a sweater, predrawn, that they got to decorate using bold patterns, drawings, and lines, a la Ugly Christmas Sweater. By the end of the first period, most students had finished the drawing, which meant they could paint them with watercolor the next week, leaving us a final week to do a Christmas card or something for their parents.

Fast forward a week later - our first snow day of the year! Most students weren't there that day, and the ones that were sort of staggered in late. Anyone who came worked on their painting, but most of the drawings sat untouched on my art shelf. I recalculated in my head - the next Monday, the last week before break, the rest of the students could finish up their paintings and at least have those to bring home for Christmas.

The following Monday, guess what...ANOTHER snow day! Most of the same students were there, so they finished up their paintings and glued them on cute paper, but really, all told, maybe 6 or 7 kids finished? The rest are, still, sitting in a pile on my art shelf. *Sigh.* I do really love the ones that were finished, though!

Quick and easy Christmas doodles

First of all, a big hello to my new followers! To me, a new follower is like a promise that someone is paying attention to me. This week, I've gotten about 35 new promises. Thanks so much guys - hope you all enjoy the blog! And now...

 What a day! Today ended up being a snow day, which always throws everything off and changes day plans drastically. We usually have about 3 a season, so I've gotten used to having a back-up plan for something to do with my kids.

Last time we had a snow day, I did this lesson with my kids, and it went over really well. I decided to do the same thing this year, with a holiday twist! I always start this lesson by giving the kids a sheet of 8.5x11 paper that I've drawn a border around. I find the border just gives them a good foundation in which to put their doodles. I could have them draw these themselves, but some kids would stress over the straightness, etc., of the lines (OBVIOUSLY not something I'm worried about!) and it's just simpler to get on to the actual doodles!

Once we've filled up the entire page with doodles, students drew a holiday or winter related object over top of their doodles, and colored in only inside of the drawing. We had about an hour of time today, and most kids were either finished the doodle part, or almost done. I'll post more as they finish!

 

Here's some closeup details from the drawings: