Cityscapes looking up - grade six

It has been far too long since I've updated - being 34 weeks pregnant makes it very unappealing to sit at my computer and edit photos. I have, however, been dying to share this project for a while, so tonight I finally bit the bullet and got around to editing them!

This is another great point of view lesson that I did with my grade 6 class. We started off with a tutorial on how to draw overhead perspective (if anyone is interested in this, let me know and I can post it!) Then I showed them how to add simple windows and doors. They traced everything with Sharpie, and colored in using markers (not my favorite technique, but I just couldn't think of anything that would work better for this project.)

As usual, I'm so happy with them!

Mixed media elephants and Hot Air Balloons - grade 5/6

 Probably every three months, I decide on a new "favorite ever" art project. This one is definitely my favorite ever as of right now!

I came up with this project based on the art of Juri Romanov, a fantastic artist I came across on Etsy. A lot of the art I do with my students is very happy and colorful, and this time, I wanted to try something different. We looked at some of Romanov's art on my iPad, and talked about how these kinds of colors evoke different emotions - sadness, loneliness, solitude. Very different than the kind of emotions we normally go for!

On watercolor paper, students began by drawing their design using pencil. Some of them stuck close to Romanov's inspiration, and others strayed and went their own way. Next, they carefully traced the basic outlines using Sharpie. Students then used a paintbrush and watered down brown or grey paint to stipple their backgrounds. The stippling gave a milky, cloudy look to the paper, which worked perfectly for this kind of design.

Once the paper had dried (maybe ten or so minutes later) students began to color in their detail using pencil crayon. I had originally tried marker for my example, but it didn't get into the grooves of the watercolor paper well enough, so pencil crayon it was!

Students then added in their newsprint details. They used old dictionaries to draw elephants, mountain peaks, and clouds. Once they had glued them in, they went back to their drawing with a fine Sharpie and added any final details - lines on their balloon, swirls in their clouds, or anything else that was missing.

These projects are beautiful. Like, I am lusting after many of them for my living room walls. They are so me, which luckily ended up being something my students loved as well. There was a lot of pride flowing around the classroom after this project, and it was truly one of those days where I felt so, so lucky to get to teach art, even if it's just for part of my days. I went home feeling very inspired.

 The one below reminded me of Iceland - it's just those perfect, grey colors, and I love the single house. So desolate!

 The one below had me laughing - I love the fallen elephant. Such amazing attention to detail!

Nutcrackers in golden frames - grade 1/2

 Here's a cute, simple project I did with grade 1/2, in the two weeks leading up to Christmas. I've always loved nutcrackers - something about their boxy faces and giant teeth that I just can't resist. I used the poster from the Nutcracker movie as inspiration for how to draw these simplified nutcrackers.

Students got to pick a frame from the Melissa and Doug picture frame pad (can't recommend this enough!) then sat down to begin their work. We did a group draw to make the exterior of the nutcrackers - students started with the heads, filling in the eyes, mouth, nose and mustache, then traced straight lines down to the edge of the paper to make the bodies.

When they were finished adding in buttons, lapels, and any other details, they traced their drawing with thin Sharpie. Even though we use Sharpies all the time, the thin Sharpies were a big novelty for them. They were so excited to be using what felt like a pen in art class!

The next time they came to my class, they colored in their nutcrackers using markers. Very cute, very simple project!

Ikea inspired art - grade 6

This lesson isn't actually mine, but one that the other grade 6 teacher in my class did with his class. I really loved his idea and inspiration, so I thought I would sneak a few photos and share with you guys!

He got his inspiration from a piece of fabric that he purchased at Ikea during the summer (found here.)

He did a lesson on drawing cartoon faces, using various worksheets that he has (seen below) to give students an idea of how to do different expressions. He then had them begin drawing on a piece of 11 x 17 paper, filling the page with all different shapes and sizes of faces (I particularly love the ones that go right off the page - something I would encourage them to do if I were teaching the lesson!)

He then had students pick a few colors that they would use to color in the drawing, leaving some key sections white, as seen on the Ikea fabric.

It's a really simple lesson, and was perfect for the beginning of the year. I wish I had a photo of them all hung up together because they look really great!

Black and white/colored line hands - grades 4,5,6

Would you believe this is a project that we did in September/October? I really am THAT far behind in posting some of my projects. This is one that I absolutely adore, and the kids seemed to really love as well. I DID find it somewhere online, and since it's been so long, I cannot for the life of me find the original source. If anyone happens to come across it, please share the link so I can credit it!

I did this project with kids in grade 4, 5 and 6. First, students traced their hand three times anywhere on a peicce of white paper. We did this SLOWLY, as I quickly realized that some kids had never really traced their hands before. Once they looked nice, they chose which hand was in the foreground, and erased all of the lines that came into it (this is hard to explain online, but it made sense when I was doing it on the white board with them.)


They did this again selecting a middle hand, and then traced all three hands in Sharpie. Once they were done, they drew designs inside the hands. They were allowed to do anything they wanted, with a focus on lines, and preferably NO letters (I really do hate letters.)

Once they had finished drawing inside the hands, they used three different colored markers to outline the hands, rotating the colors everytime they had completed giong around the fingers.

Some kids did a thin line of black in between the colors, which I REALLY liked! I think next year, I'll have them all do that.