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 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!
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!
