Machine Brains by 3rd Grade

This is an example of the artist statement I have my students do after each project.
This one is unusually long due the fact that I have each student write an explanation
for how their machines work. It goes along with the image above it. 

This project is probably one of my favorites among everything I teach. Part of the third grade science curriculum involves the study of simple machines. I take that idea and make it way more rad than a science textbook.


I start by introducing Rube Goldberg with a Keynote presentation. I'll put a link to that presentation at the bottom by the lesson plan link. For those of you who may not be familiar with Rube Goldberg, he was a cartoonist who had also been trained as an engineer. He was famous for creating drawings of complicated machines that did really simple tasks. My students absolutely love looking at these machines. 


We then talk about the six different kinds of simple machines (inclined plane, wheel & axel, wedge, pulley, screw, lever) and look at examples of each. The best part of the presentation comes next when I show videos that people have posted on YouTube of Rube Goldberg style machines that they have made at home. The best example is a music video by OK GO. Check it out-->



Each student then designs a machine using at least four of the simple machines to replace their brain. The machine is supposed to do something that happens in their head (blinking, yawning, remembering, making boogers, etc.). I really emphasize using logic in their machines. We go through several sketches in order to make sure the machines make sense. The rest of the project is dedicated to the kids using construction paper scraps (it's a great way to use up scraps) to create their machine on final paper. My students love the project and it really gets them to use their brains (pun intended)!


See the lesson plan here! 

See the presentation here!
**I don't usually upload the presentations I do because the files are often pretty big. This file is a .mov file that can be downloaded from google docs and navigated with the arrow buttons on the computer. It includes the Goldberg images, simple machines, and three videos. If you look at it directly from google docs, the slides at the beginning go really fast. You need to download it in order to have control of the speed of the slides. If it doesn't work for some reason, let me know and I'll try to troubleshoot and come up with a solution that works.

5th Grade Chuck Close Style Self Portraits

During the filming portion of the claymation project, I have one table at a time film. Because of that, I run another project at the same time in order to give the rest of the class something fun to work on. For the last several years, I have had my 5th graders create self portraits in the style of Chuck Close.


I take pictures (way too close up for comfort) of each student. I then take the picture files home and process them in Photoshop in order to convert them to the correct size and add a grid over the top. You can use actions in Photoshop to have it convert the images quickly. I did all 100 pictures in about 10 minutes.


The kids then use their gridded photographs as a guide for a slightly larger self portrait. I USED MATH (!!!!!!!) to make sure the final grid for the artwork would be exactly one inch by one inch so it would be relatively easy for kids to make their grid. I make sure to tell the math teacher that we're working with rulers and measurement in art. I'm out to impress.


It takes quite a while to complete the project, but the results are worthwhile. I have seen many drawings with this project that are by far the best that I have ever seen from several students. I give the option to use pencil to render the picture with pencil, use colored pencils, or use oil pastels. 


Find the full lesson plan here!

2nd Grade Wild Things - Special Display!

Here are a few of the pieces displayed at the Dublin branch of the public library!

I would like to start this post by thanking Loren Scully from the Dublin branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library. She specifically sought me out because of her desire to display artwork from students in Dublin City Schools. I dropped off over 100 pieces of artwork from this project on Monday afternoon and they will be hanging in the children's area of the library through the end of February. Thanks Loren! Your efforts are greatly appreciated by my students, their parents, and me!


This is a project that I've done for a few years now and I really like it. It is similar in artistic concept to a fourth grade project that I posted recently. I'm looking forward to changing that project next year to make it a little more difficult. 


I start by reading Where the Wild Things Are and having the students discuss how Maurice Sendak created his wild things. We also talk about how Sendak is the author and the illustrator of the book. These are important concepts for this grade level and this is a great time to reinforce those ideas. Students discovered that Sendak's wild things are made up of lots of different animal parts. They had a great time creating several of their own wild things. On the second day of the project, the 2nd graders chose their favorite wild thing to press into a 4x6 piece of printing foam. 


We took 2 class periods to print. Each student made two prints each day. I'm working with 45 minute class periods with zero time in between classes, so having plenty of time for cleanup is pretty important with a messier project like this. My kids absolutely love to clean anything in the art room, so it's easy to find helpers to clean brayers and plexiglass. I'm sure parents are super jealous of how helpful their children are here. I'm not so sure that enthusiasm for cleaning translates to the home!


The last day is spent writing artist statements, cutting out the prints, mounting them to construction paper, and using construction paper crayons (they are super bright even on dark paper) to write "Wild Things." This project is absolutely loved by the students and comes out well every year. 


Check out my lesson plan here! It's free!!! 

1st Grade Talented Squid

This is another project inspired by pinterest.com. If you haven't been to the site yet, it is pretty spectacular and worth taking the time to check out. 


I spotted a pin about a book called I'm the Best Artist in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry. The front cover illustration was hilarious, so I decided to design a project around the book. The book is about a squid who is a very talented artist, but a little oblivious of his surroundings. Sound familiar?!? At one point he paints a mustache on himself as he is traveling around the ocean making art. The book isn't the best I've ever read, but the concept is a lot of fun.


For the art project, each students drew their own version of the squid doing something that they are best at. My example showed me eating Chipotle burritos. Each student drew their squid and colored it with colored pencils. The following class, they created a watercolor background using liquid watercolors and some magic crystals (salt) to create cool textures. The students then cut out their squid. My big observation here is that too many students drew their tentacles too thin. I had to do a lot of helping with the cutting. If I do this project again, I'll definitely make sure the tentacles are thicker and easier to cut. Students then made a speech bubble for their squid and wrote about what they were best at. Additional underwater friends were added with some extra time. This was definitely a fun project for my 1st graders and a great way to get to know them a little better. One of my students is best at eating bananas. I wouldn't have ever known that if not for this project!


Check out my lesson plan here!!!

4th Grade Pop Art Prints

4th grade students recently finished a study of pop artists, specifically Andy Warhol. I do a very similar (a little too similar from a printmaking perspective I think) project with 2nd grade, so I think I'll be changing this one around a bit next year. I've seen some techniques on Pinterest lately that show how to change the foam by cutting parts out, then doing multiple color prints. I think that is the way of the future for me!


Students drew several sketches of items found in popular culture and chose one for their print. Several students used words, so we got to talk about how printmaking reverses images and how we could work around that to make the words come out the right way. After pressing their drawings into the foam printing material, students then made four prints over the course of two classes, then cut them out and mounted them on black construction paper. This is usually a very successful project and this year was no different. Feel free to check out the lesson plan by clicking the link below!


Click here to see the lesson plan!

2nd Grade Egyptian Cats & Dogs

 This project has become a favorite among 2nd grade students here at Thomas. We study ancient Egypt, which is always enthralling for the students. It is one of the ancient cultures that kids are more exposed to and therefor are more interested in. This year I allowed the kids to draw either cats or dogs.


The most favorite part of this project is writing their names in hieroglyphics. I have a (rough) letter by letter translation of the alphabet that the students use and they absolutely love it. I always have the kids who finish early write secret messages to their friends using hieroglyphics.


See the lesson plan for this project here!

4th Grade Paper Weaving

For some reason, I never got around to photographing this project while it was hanging in the hallway. The fourth graders have moved on to two different projects since they finished this one. I suppose the images will be strikingly similar to those I have posted from previous years of this project. That isn't a bad thing in this case. This project produces some of the most consistent results of any of the projects I do during the entire year. I find it's pretty rare to have a project that is nearly 100% successful, but this is one of those projects. 


After studying the work of Jackson Pollock and watching a short video of Pollock actually working in his studio, each 4th grader got to make two paintings in his style. Honestly, for me, this is the best and the worst part of this project. My art room is almost obsessively organized. I think that it sets a good precedent for my students if I keep the room clean and organized. Allowing 24 4th graders to make splatter paintings takes me a little out of my comfort zone. The flip side is that the kids absolutely love it. This year I condensed it to just one day of painting. It worked better and was a little less stressful for me!


The paintings were then cut up on the second day and woven together. The results are always very impressive. As always, feel free to use my lesson plans and presentations.


Click here for a link to my lesson plans and presentation files!

5th Grade Claymation

A basement.

A caveman's home.

Really nice city sidewalk set.

A cave woman and an evil bunny!

A minion!

It's high time for a claymation update! I usually start my claymation project about this time of the year, but we're just a few classes from being finished with it this year. I'm very excited to have my first ever student teacher coming in at the beginning of January, so I moved claymation up to an earlier slot in order to accommodate the change of schedule a little better.


What you see above are several sets and characters from the upcoming claymation. 5th grade students are working on making four commercials this year for their project. Each of my four classes breaks up into smaller groups to complete all of the tasks that are necessary for creating a stop motion animation. The groups include writers/storyboard artists, set designers, and character designers. It allows each student to join a group in which they will be most successful. We have just begun filming this week and I'm excited to see the finished animation. I'll post that with full lesson plans when the project is finished.

Recycled CD Snowflake Mosaics by 4th Grade

Recycling is really important to me. Honestly, I think it would be difficult to find an art teacher who wouldn't feel the same way. I try to incorporate recycling into many of my projects and I'm particularly proud of this one. 


A couple of years ago, I had two big boxes of old computer software CDs. They had been donated over the course of a couple of years and I had no idea what to do with them. Every once in a while I would look for ideas online, but I would usually come away empty handed. In the meantime, I had been doing a project with 4th grade that used paper mosaic pieces to create snowflakes. Last year the light bulb (CFL of course) finally popped on. I would break the CDs and use them to create the mosaics. 


The first problem was how to break them. I tried just about everything including smashing them with a hammer and even freezing them to make them more brittle. Nothing worked the way I wanted it to and I finally went to the old standby- the paper cutter. My paper cutter is probably older than me and that means it's awesome. The new paper cutters always disappoint me. They're just not as heavy or sturdy. I simply slice up the CDs on the paper cutter. From there, the kids can either snap them apart into smaller pieces or cut them with scissors. These pieces are glued onto a snowflake that has been cut out and glued onto a piece of silver chip board. They turn out great and end up making a nice piece to take home before winter break. 

Find my lesson plan here!