The spider and the fly

 Students in 2nd grade made these 3-D aluminum foil spiders!  We read "The Spider and the Fly" (sorry I already returned the book to the library- so I don't even have the author).  But they made all the parts and I assembled the pieces into spiders with the hot glue gun.  
Here are the steps to make the project:
1)  Fold the black paper into 1/8.  Draw over the spider web lines with elmer's glue.  Let dry.
2)  I had cut the aluminum foil in half for the students.  When they got the aluminum foil, they needed 2 sheets.  One sheet was used to make the body of the spider, the second sheet of aluminum foil was used to cut into 4 pieces for the legs of the spider.
They brought the spider over to me to hot glue.
3)  Students used chalk pastels to color the web.  I had them use a throw away towel to blend the chalks to the black paper.  Then the students brought the project to me to glue the spiders onto the paper.

Clowns!

 Clowns are perfect for a lot of art elements.  Line, shapes, color!  Awesome!  Students were supplied with a white oval.  We began with 3 simple circles for the eyes and nose.  We drew a hotdog shape for the mouth, and colored with oil pastel. 
When the face was complete the students glued the oval onto a large piece of construction paper (right in the center of the page)... and I asked, "what's the clown missing?"  Clothes, hair, hat.... and then the students draw crazy clothes with crazy hair and a crazy hat.  What a great way to let creativity flow while utilizing art elements.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

 CUTE, cute, cute....  Kindergarten students did an awesome job of making these hungry caterpillars!
What a great way to learn about watercolor resist, a literacy connection, collage, and motor skills (cutting circles can be tough!)  :)

 Begin by reading Eric Carle's "The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  I explain that this book is written by the artist.
1) I give the students a sheet of paper that already has 6 circles on it.  The students use crayon (thick) to draw simple lines.  Do not color the circles in.  Then we use watercolor to paint the paper.  Wow, Can you see both the crayon and paint? 
Let Dry.

2)  Cut out the circles to assemble your hungry caterpillar.  (I supply students with eyes, nose and antenna)...  They collage it all together.  What a FUN project!

STAR SHIRTS

 6th graders get to make their own STAR SHIRTS.  STAR at our school stands for: 
Shows respect
Treats others with kindness
Acts Responsibly
Reaches for our best together
On STAR days kids get together in STAR groups to talk about being good citizens and making good choices.  We get together about once a month for these activities....

 Kindergarten through 5th grade already have "STAR SHIRTS" that were designed by me...  :)  and they are supposed to wear them for every STAR day...  Well, 6th grade is special because they get to tie-dye and make their own STAR shirts.  NICE!  I love the way they turned out! 
CAUTION:  word to the wise:  Make a note to take home to the parents before hand about wearing old clothes the day they do tie-dye...  If it gets on their clothing...  it's dye- it will be there forever. 

Dinosaurs!!

 2nd graders made these cool dinosaur pictures!  We first started off by reading the book:  Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp by Carol Diggery Shields.  It's a fun rhyming book.  We began this project by using Spectra tissue paper (it bleeds). 
1)  We started by taking small tissue paper pieces and placing them on the white paper. 
Take a clean paint brush to make the tissue stick to the white paper...  Add PLENTY of water.
Let dry.
2)  Next class period:  the tissue that was once wet is now dry and has "stained" your paper.  Take away any of the extra tissue paper and throw it away.  Look at your beautiful paper!
3)  I do occasionally like to use "how to draw" books.  I like them because it will break down a difficult object to draw down into managable "shapes" for the kids to see and draw. 
So, I had some of the pictures of dinosaurs on paper so the kids could feel success at drawing dinosaurs.

 4)  After outlining in black sharpie, students colored in their dinosaurs with oil pastels. 

5th Grade Mandalas

WOW!  What a great way to recycle.  Mandala's is a project I found on someone's blogsite, but I cannot trace who's it was.  They also posted fabulous directions on how to make the project.  Bear with me...  I'll do the best I can. 
On day 1 the students took one of the cd's that were donated to the art room.
1) Draw 2 circles on the page (I have patterned circles that I use all the time for multiple projects.  We used my large and medium sized circles).  Glue (hot glue) or use masking tape to attach cd to paper.  We used a ruler to draw a line across the center of the cd. 
2) We used a protractor to make marks at 30, 60, 90, 120, and 150.
3)  Flip the project around and do the same to the other side of the cd.
4)  Draw connecting lines through the cd to make "wedges" onto your cd.  Now, focus only on ONE wedge.  Draw simple lines or shapes in that wedge.  KEEP IT SIMPLE.  Repeat the same design into each of your wedges. 
5)  Color with permanent colored markers.

For the white part of the paper:
1)  Use your ruler to extend the lines from the cd onto the white paper. 
2)  Again, look at one wedge.  The two circles in pencil will help you draw lines and shapes that are approximately the same sizes and shapes.  Keep it simple and draw lines and shapes in one wedge.
3)  Repeat the design in your wedge again and again all the way around the paper.
4)  Color with crayola markers.

LOVE the way these turned out.  They are not "perfect"....  in the way that each wedge is EXACT, but who cares- boo boo's are beautiful in the artroom!  I was amazed at how these turned out. 
Great way to incorporate symmetry, repetition, pattern, balance....  and math!