Getting caught up on blogging requires a lot of posts sometimes. Today may be a three post day!
This is a project that was hung in the art show a couple of weeks ago. It wound up being a crowd favorite. The project was based on the artistic style of Eric Carle. My 2nd grade students copied Carle's style by making textured/patterned papers. Each student created two textured pieces using tempera paint and a wide variety of non-traditional painting tools.
After the papers were created, one was folded and a basic butterfly shape cut out of it. Students used their other textured page along with construction paper scraps to make symmetrical designs on their butterfly wings. The final product was mounted on black or white construction paper and cut out a final time to give the butterfly a nice border.
For many years, my first grade clay project has been the pinch pot turtle. It was simple, fun, and turned out pretty well every year. It just had one problem. Those turtle legs/heads/tails broke off so easily that I felt like I was running a turtle vet clinic toward the end of the project.
This year, I was contemplating doing something a little different and found this little project on Pinterest. The concept is the same as with the turtles. Kids start with a pinch pot, invert it, then add details on the pot to turn it into a ladybug. I had each student poke six holes into the clay on the bottom to later use for the legs. After the work has been bisque fired, I hot glue little bits of wire into the holes to make the legs. Finally, the bugs are painted with watercolor paints. This is a pretty successful and simple two day project for 1st grade.
Want to amaze and astonish your colleagues and principal? Want to look more rad than you already do? Integrate other academic subjects into your art curriculum!!! Yeah, I know we all pretty much do this already, whether other staff notice or not. It's something I enjoy doing anyway because I really enjoy science and social studies.
This is a project that Mrs. Heimlich, my student teacher, came up with. She started out talking about the life cycle of a butterfly and reading a book to the students that described each part of the cycle. Student then chose one of four native Ohio butterflies (Monarch, Tiger Swallowtail, Buckeye & Painted Lady) to sketch. They then created the caterpillar and butterfly body out of clay. While the clay was drying and being fired, students created textured paper (Eric Carle style) with the colors of the wings of their chosen butterfly. With the scraps from the butterfly paper, students made a chrysalis by taking a small scrap and wrapping it with wax paper. They then taped the chrysalis to a real stick. Everything was then mounted to a piece of railroad board. My only concern about this project is hanging it in the hallway. The clay pieces are hot glued and tied on with fishing wire, but I don't trust over 600 kids rushing around in the hallways not to send random butterfly parts crashing to the floor and shattering. I prefer to avoid art related tears whenever possible.
For once, I don't have an electronic version of this lesson plan. Mrs. Heimlich gave me a paper copy to check out before she taught, but I don't have the digital file. It's pretty self explanatory, so I'm sure you super smart art teachers can figure out how to teach it if you want to do so.
The first project of first grade is about texture. Students learn that texture is how something feels. We spent time examining many textures in class. Each student made one circle with crayons and texture rubbing plates. When everyone was done, the texture circles were attached to each other to make a giant caterpillar!
The bottlecap mural completed last spring has been hung in the stairwell over the summer. It looks fantastic! Here are a couple views of the finished product. The mural is the same size as the one done last year, 16' x 4'. Great job 4th grade!
After recently finishing a bug project with an emphasis on habitat, 2nd graders dove into making clay bugs. This has become a favorite project for 2nd grade students. Ceramic vocabulary such as scoring and wedging were learned as 2nd graders are beginning to make increasingly complex sculptures. The legs and wings are made out of wire and were glued in after the bugs had been fired and painted. They are on display in the commons and will be there until the spring Art Show on May 13th!
I have recently witnessed the best painting by second grade students that I have ever seen. Boy, we have some talented students here at Thomas! I have done a ceramic insect project for the last couple of years. Kids love bugs, so this year I added an introduction project for the clay bugs. After learning about body segments (head, thorax & abdomen), exoskeletons, insects, and arachnids, each student used books to research and draw their favorite bug. We then drew and painted habitats for the bug. The habitats are drawn very large in order to show the bugs in the correct scale. The really cool part of the project came next. The kids all drew their bugs on a piece of tag board. Once they were colored and cut out, they were able to attach them to the habitat painting using 3D O's. 3D O's are small pieces of foam with adhesive on each side. It makes the bugs pop right off of the background. This was the first time I've used that product, and it was a huge it.
